Feng Shui Course - from hobby to professional consultant

A feng shui course could be the start of an interesting hobby, a service you provide to family and friends, or a full-time career. It all begins with a few hours a week of study while you complete an online course in feng shui.

People utilize feng shui to create spaces that feel good by utilizing proper feng shui techniques as well as incorporating feng shui into interior design. To achieve the best results one should consult an expert feng shui consultant. Some day in the future you could be that consultant.

You may have already used feng shui instinctively in your daily life. Have you ever lifted your mood by simply cleaning and tidying your room or even just your desk? With a freshly cleaned and tidied desk do you find your concentration has improved? If so, you already understand the benefits of the art of placement.

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The Feng Shui Bagua: A Master Class with James Jay

What is feng shui?

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement that harmonizes people with their environment, balancing energies to create flow. This harmony is achieved by arranging items, structures, buildings, gardens, etc in specific ways.

Before feng shui was used in space clearing and interior design in the West it was originally used for life improvement or betterment in the East, and it continues to be used there in its original form. As feng shui became more mainstream, feng shui consulting evolved into feng shui space clearing allowing consultants to reach a much larger audience.

At first, most people in the West preferred not to dwell too closely on the mystical and mysterious elements of this craft. Instead, they focused on the interior design aspects and this allowed them to bring feng shui into their lives. It was a soft introduction to the power of chi.

As time has passed since its appearance and adoption in the West, minds have opened up to the idea that chi is real and that it can be manipulated. One only has to count the many widely accepted ways in which the flow of chi or prana is enhanced; Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Yoga, etc.

Every feng shui consultant has his or her personal techniques. One thing they will probably all do is to incorporate the bagua in one form or another. The bagua is a diagram that maps out eight areas of life and influence. The feng shui consultant will spend much of the space clearing correcting sub-optimal placements of furniture and room fixtures, such as a bed facing the wrong direction or an obstruction in the directional flow of movement in the location.

The feng shui consultant may also use oriental astrology during their consultation. This involves the feng shui consultant considering the person’s birth date, age, and gender to select feng shui cures.

The essential tasks of a feng shui consultant are; clear blockages to allow the smooth flow of chi, slow down excessive flows of chi, optimize the living or working spaces so that each area is conducive to its corresponding aspect in the bagua.

Feng Shui & Space Clearing

Space clearing is based principles that likely to be covered on your feng shui course, which are intended to create harmony with nature and to optimize the flow of chi in living spaces.

According to feng shui, there are five elements in the world: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The feng shui philosophy suggests keeping these five elements balanced in one’s personal space or at home.

The feng shui practice of space clearing aims to clear energies from both people and places through various methods such as smudging (burning herbs for cleansing purposes) or removing, adding, or reorienting certain objects from the house. An expert feng shui practitioner will then recommend how best to organize spaces so that they have a better flow of energy throughout.

Benefits of feng shui space clearing include:

More energy and a sense of peace in your personal space
A better flow of chi, or life energy, through the home which can result in greater health for inhabitants
Increased happiness and harmony within homes
Clarity in thinking and improved intuition due to abundance of positive energy at home

Hoarding & Clutter: What It Means

If you have any doubts about the impact that our living spaces have on our mental and emotional states then you only have to approach the subject from the opposite end of the spectrum. Look at what happens when clutter turns into hoarding.

Hoarding is not just a storage problem. It can be directly linked to the mental and emotional health of an individual. The condition, known as hoarding disorder, has been included for the first time in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association. The DSM is considered the ‘bible’ of psychiatry. As hoarding becomes more prevalent, families must understand what hoarding means.

It’s estimated that 2% to 6% of the population are hoarders in the USA. They struggle with excessive saving and discomfort when throwing items away, even if they appear useless or worthless. Hoarders also experience distress at the idea of letting go of their possessions. Their homes can become so cluttered that it’s difficult to use rooms for their intended purpose or even move around the house.

Clutter and hoarding are linked to the mental and emotional health of an individual. Hoarders may experience feelings of indecisiveness, perfectionism, procrastination, and difficulty organizing tasks which all negatively impact daily life. Hoarding disorder often co-occurs with other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, anxiety disorders, social phobia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sleep problems, or alcohol/substance abuse. If hoarding is left untreated it can lead to eviction or fire hazards due to clutter piling up.

There is no medication currently available for hoarding disorder, but there are several effective treatments. They include psychological therapies such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and Habit Reversal Therapy, which focus on identifying the thoughts and feelings that cause hoarding behavior, then learning how to manage them.

Feng Shui Course - Hoarding — How does this make you feel?

Hoarding & Clutter: Treatment Options

Family members can provide valuable support by encouraging a loved one to seek further help or attending therapy sessions themselves

Treatment of hoarding and clutter often focuses on three levels: practical steps; coping strategies, and modifying core beliefs. Many therapists will work with hoarding clients using a series of ‘homework’ assignments such as keeping an inventory of objects saved, discarding unnecessary items, or sorting possessions into categories such as ‘use now’, ‘use later’ and ‘discard’. Some hoarding treatment programs include:

Getting rid of items and clutter (e.g. in a garage, attic, or yard sale, or by donating it to charity)
Developing organization skills (like keeping a calendar and using checklists).
Learning about hoarding and how to address it through CBT treatment like Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) within the hoarding therapy sessions.

Family members can provide valuable support by encouraging a loved one to seek further help or attending therapy sessions themselves. If someone is at risk of harm due to hoarding behavior, mental health professionals may approach the situation more proactively with a crisis intervention strategy called harm reduction. This can help prevent hoarding behavior from worsening.

Sufferers and family members often need support and practical advice, as hoarding can be a lonely condition to live with. If you or someone you know struggles with hoarding disorder, ask for help. With the right treatment and support, people can learn how to manage their hoarding and clutter.

Space Clearing

Once the extreme effects of hoarding and clutter have been removed it’s time to clear the stagnant chi. The piles of rubbish and clothes may have gone but the invisible stagnant chi remains. As well as therapy and emotional support for the client there needs to be some space clearing. Here are some ways to clear space energetically.

Use sound – sing, chant, or tone
Use incense sticks or essential oils
Use prayer or ceremony to ask for the removal of spacetime garbage and stagnant chi
Use a smudge stick or mop to sweep away Astral garbage
Use a sage stick or other elements to send Astral garbage and stagnant chi back to the Earth’s or galactic core where it can be recycled by transformation back into neutral energy

Space clearing should be done after every intense session of hoarding therapy. Clients need time to process their thoughts and emotions as well as build up resources so they can face the next hurdle in their recovery journey. This is an important step as without space clearing the clutter and garbage may gradually reappear, and with it, the depression and anxiety will return. It doesn’t matter if this is your first day of treatment or you have been working on your recovery for years – space clearing is an essential step for lasting positive effects.

Remember also that the clutter and garbage may be appearing through the post in the form of catalogs and junk mail, and in cyberspace in the form of spam and unwanted subscriptions to mailing lists. It’s the multitude of things that are demanding our attention that generates the sense of being overwhelmed and out of control. Stop the flow of junk at its source.

In extreme cases or where the flow of junk, the clutter, or the hoarding has taken a firm grip, it may be necessary to return several times before the space is fully cleared of Astral gunk.

Space clearing can be done by yourself or with a friend or loved one. It’s simple and only takes a few minutes, but it has lasting positive effects for the occupier and any visitors to the premises.

Feng shui is a form of geomancy that turns chaos into order, settles the mind and emotions, and brings clarity of vision and purpose.

Feng Shui Course – from hobby to professional consultant