Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (19 page)

• You received bodywork yourself and want your home to also have

a renewed state of well-being.

• After cleaning your home.

• General fatigue.

• Coming home from vacation.

• Spring cleaning.

• At the New Year to invoke positive new energy.

Even if you are space clearing for general maintenance, it is still important to set an intention while space clearing. For example, “to create a positive energy flow” or “to have a fresh start for the month.” Once you have finished space clearing, look around the room. You will notice that the room looks crisper and colors are brighter. Also notice your breath.

You will be able to breathe more deeply. Feel your body. You will feel

much lighter. You will feel immediate benefits from clearing your home

that will positively affect your health and well-being.

C h a p t e r 6

Our Energy, Our

Emotions, and Our Stuff

Your living space is such a powerful metaphor because

everything in it—every pot, plant, and pillow—reflects choices

we make from among countless options, for countless reasons.

The portrait that emerges is all the more

accurate for having been created unconsciously.

—martha beck



Remember the last time you moved into a new home. Within minutes,

the quiet space turned into an energy soup of chaos with boxes, furni-

ture, and a boatload of emotions. We quickly begin filling in the space with our furniture, décor items, artwork, storage, dishes, memorabilia, and collectibles. We also fill the space with our own personal energy.

Not only do we bring our physical baggage, but our emotional baggage

into the space as well.

Beyond the walls of the floor plan, we further divide the energy in

a space by placing furniture around the house. Furniture directs the energy in new ways, which directly affects us—physically, mentally, and emotionally. And then there is our stuff—the dishes, clothing, and jewelry with our energy imprinted upon them. There is the quilt from Aunt Sylvia,

111

112 Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff

the vacation albums, the armoire you inherited, your favorite books,

and so on. Our stuff holds our emotions and further affects the energy

in spaces.

Feng shui, green design, and other environmental sciences pro-

vide us with important tools for utilizing and harmonizing the Earth’s

energy into our home. But the energy
we
bring into our home is underestimated and overlooked. The human mind is one of the most so-

phisticated and powerful instruments of energy known on Earth and

has a profound impact on our immediate environment. Our energy

field, which includes all of our thoughts, intentions, emotions, physical health, along with our past and present, affects our space. To further

understand this unseen world of energy in our home, let’s first take a look at how energy fields work.

Energy or Aura Fields

We’ve all had one of those days when nothing is going right. As you

rush to get to work, you spill coffee all over your shirt. In frustration, you blame your dog by raising your voice as he drops his tail between

his legs. Then while impatiently sitting in traffic, you call in to work to let the receptionist know that you are running late just as your cell phone drops the call. To top it off, when you finally get into the office and turn your computer on, an error message comes up when you try

to log in. Are all these problems coincidental? Of course not. Each incident affects the next as the negative energy builds and builds. Not only are you negatively affected, but so are your dog, the receptionist, your cellphone, and even your computer.

Because most people cannot actually see energy, we underestimate

its impact on other people, objects, and our environment. We now

know as the result of major advances in the science of quantum phys-

ics that everything, living or not living, is simply a composition of energy. Nothing is solid. A brick is actually a mass of vibrating atoms with the space between each atom equal to the space between each star in

the Milky Way. Everything in your house, from your kitchen table to

kitchen plumbing is made up of vibrating energy.

Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff 113

Although I had accepted this concept as scientific truth, I didn’t fully grasp it until one rainy Saturday morning when I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was gazing off out the window daydreaming about either the

meaning of life or what I was going to have for lunch. That’s when I

noticed a glow around the curtain rod. I was seeing the curtain rod’s

energy field. I looked around the room with the same lazy gaze and

could see energy fields around anything and everything in the room.11

This moment completely revolutionized my feng shui work. Until then,

I had only seen aura fields around people and plants. But this curtain

rod had its own world going on. It emits and takes on energy as do

plants, animals, and people.

People, animals, plants, and all objects are made up of vibrating en-

ergy, as is everything in our solar system and the universe itself. This vibration extends beyond the physical body or tangible object and is

referred to as an energy, or aura, field. Think about a loud bass stereo speaker or a bright light bulb. You can feel the vibration beyond the

actual speaker and see the light beyond the bulb. The same is true for

energy fields. Although they are not as readily visible or heard at the frequency that most of us can see or hear, they are nonetheless very

real.

The human energy field extends from six inches to three feet be-

yond the physical body. Thoughts and emotions swirl around the

human aura field producing different colors visible with Kirlian pho-

tography. For example, an angry person will have bursts of red coming

from around their head, while someone feeling very loving may have

pink or green in their aura field. Because objects are not conscious beings with thoughts and emotions, their aura fields are not so change-

able. The energy field of an inanimate object is determined by its

physical composition and color. Plants, animals, and other living things have more complex and changing aura fields depending on their level

of consciousness.

11. The best way to see aura fields is to relax the eyes and gaze beyond the person or object. While everything has an energy field, the more “alive”

something is, the higher its frequency and easier to see its energy field.

114 Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff

Although most people do not see or tangibly feel energy fields, we

have all detected them at some point without even realizing it. For ex-

ample, your loved one walks into the house from work. The room is

instantly tense or light depending on what kind of day he or she has

had. Or perhaps you feel drained just being around a particular person.

Another example is when someone stands in your personal space mak-

ing you feel uncomfortable. That person is actually encroaching upon

your energy field. We can also detect someone in the room or coming

up behind us without actually seeing or hearing them.

Energy is often characterized in terms of being tangible, such as

with the phrase, “You could cut the tension with a knife.” All of these are instances in which we can detect energy beyond our five senses. In

fact, we pick up on the energy through our aura field before our five

senses ever do. One or more of our five senses then communicate the

message to us. Although energy is not visible to most people, it is very real. We also don’t see radio waves, but listen to the radio. We can’t see electricity, but continue to plug in. And we can’t see microwaves, but

our soup explodes nevertheless when cooked too long.

When we think of being
energy conscious
, we normally don’t think of it with regard to ourselves, but we should. Being conscious of our energy or thoughts is often referred to as using intention or being intentional. Everything in our physical surroundings is a manifestation of our minds and can be physically seen in form, such as a new car, a business, or a cup of coffee. But we can also consciously manifest on an energetic level. For example, if we want to cheer someone up, we might

consciously say something funny. As a result, there will most likely be an energetic shift in the other person and in the entire room. Taking

it a step further, you decide to send love to your mother by energeti-

cally sending her loving thoughts. Ten minutes later she calls you just because she was thinking about you. Also just as we can affect others

positively, we can affect others negatively.

We are very powerful beings with the ability to consciously and

unconsciously shift, or transform, energy. Thirty years ago, we would

have found incredulous the idea of transacting business, buying stock, and Christmas shopping just by pressing a few keys on a computer. The

Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff 115

same is now true with the power of the mind. We are living at a time

when we can have profound and powerful effects on ourselves, others,

and spaces with the power of the conscious mind by just sitting still and using our energy.

The human energy field is an exact blueprint of the physical, men-

tal, emotional, and spiritual body, but in the form of energy. For ex-

ample, during surgery, if an incision is made on the physical body, there is also an incision in the energy field. Current emotions and thoughts, along with any unreleased past emotions and memories, are also part

of our energy field. It is believed that past life karmas are also held within our energy body. In yoga, this is referred to as
samskaras
. Samskaras are those deep impressions from past or current life events or

habits that are imprinted into our energy body and form the root basis

of our karmas. According to yogic philosophy, our path to liberation is to clear our samskaras, which will in effect unbind us from our karmas.

The Chakras

The human energy field can further be divided into seven energy

centers, called the
chakras
. The energy we draw up from the Earth is processed or metabolized through the chakras. A chakra is an energy

center that receives, processes, and expresses life force energy. The

word
chakra
literally translates as
wheel
or
disk
in the Sanskrit language and describes the vortex of energy centers located in the human energy

field. There are seven primary chakras that directly connect the physical body with the energy body. This connection is made via the endocrine

system and is the basis for the mind body connection between the phys-

ical, emotional, and mental bodies. In other words, the chakras are the energetic bridge between the mind and body.

The seven chakras are the main portals through which we receive

and metabolize energy. There is also a vast network of minor chakra

points throughout the body as well, similar to the hundreds of merid-

ian points used in acupuncture as part of Chinese Medicine. Although

chakras are not visible to most people, they can energetically be felt, seen, and scientifically documented by many. The chakras emanate up

116 Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff

from the physical body, reaching out into the aura field as a spinning

vortex connecting our internal and external worlds. Listed below are

the seven major chakras with their correlating Sanskrit name and how

they affect the energy in the body:

1st Chakra (Muladhara)

The 1st chakra is often referred to as the
root chakra
. It relates to our primal security and survival needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing.

This chakra is located at the base of the tailbone and affects the low back, legs, and feet. It is our grounding force that connects us with

Mother Earth. If this chakra is out of balance, it can lead to feeling ungrounded, scattered, or anxious, and a sense of feeling lost in the world.

In times of financial worry, the 1st chakra can be triggered, bringing about imbalance as well.

2nd Chakra (Swadhistana)

The 2nd chakra is referred to as the
sacral chakra
and is located near the sacrum. It relates to our emotions, sexuality, creativity, and passion.

This chakra corresponds with the reproductive organs, the elimination

organs, such as lower intestines, kidneys, and urinary tract. Traumas

that occur in childhood often get stuck in the second chakra. It tends to be the storehouse for repressed or traumatic emotions.

3rd Chakra (Manipura)

The 3rd chakra, or
solar plexus chakra
, is related to our sense of self-confidence and power. If we feel insecure, then our third chakra is out of balance. The flip side of the coin is feeling arrogant and controlling.

This is also a byproduct of insecurity and a third chakra imbalance. Because the 3rd chakra relates to how we use our energy, it relates to the digestive organs. Third chakra imbalances most commonly show up in

our 20s when we are independent and on our own for the first time.

4th Chakra (Anahata)

The 4th chakra, also referred to as the
heart chakra
, is located at the physical heart. It correlates to how we relate to others and is associ-Our Energy, Our Emotions, and Our Stuff 117