Finally, the weather here on the east coast is warming up; and when that happens, we look to spend more time outdoors. Just like the indoor environment, the outdoors need attention and design to navigate chi to flow freely. Here is the short list to get you started with your own natural environment, the area around your home.
Use Your Intuition:
A certain amount of intuition is always good to help you identify problem areas around your property. For example, an area that always seems to be stagnate would bode well by infusing some yang chi such has a bird bath, or bird feeder. The activity created by life force will help to restore balance in this overly yin segment of the property.
You might want to consider how you prefer to navigate your property in terms of directions. It is very helpful to simply extend the directional points from your floor plans right out to your property to give you ideas of landscape choices. For example, it might be a good idea to create a butterfly garden in the southern portion of the yard. This is a wonderful fire energy to assist with the natural element of this direction.
Simple Garden Remedies:
There are many dynamics that can cause energy to move too quickly or not move at all. For example, chi may be extremely sluggish in any area that is too dark, so this can be remedied by introducing more light with the use of landscape lighting or clearing and cutting back overgrown vegetation.
Albeit nature provides beautiful sounds, areas that are stagnate in your yard can be reactivated with infused sounds from chimes or man-made water feature. This is a fabulous way to generate activity and wildlife. On the flip side of things, sometimes chi is overactive and therefore requires stillness. Placing a large heavy object such as a statue, or garden urn can work especially well and look fantastic.
When chi tends to linger in certain areas of your yard, you can encourage it by using straight paths. You can also use arches and obelisks, or by planting straight stemmed plants. Incorporating functional objects such as a sundial, or barbecue is also a great way to revive sleepy or stagnating energy.
Boundaries:
Having boundaries in your garden is very important as it gives you a way to control the energy that reaches your house. Essentially, there are two basic ways to vary the amount of energy that your boundary lets through. You can adapt the height of it via a tall fence, wall or hedge. If you want to encourage more chi from a particular direction, you can do it by lowering the boundary. For example, let's say you want to encourage chi to enter your wealth area, you might consider a low boundary with a gazing ball or bird house to pep up your finances.
You can also alter the density of your boundary. More chi flows through an open trellis verses a solid wall. If you have an open trellis and you want to slow down the movement of chi, then plant close-growing climbers up it, such as ivy or Virginia creeper.
Paths:
This is one of the most important features of almost any garden. Keep in mind straight paths encourage energy to flow down them, and to flow fast. This bodes well if you are trying to navigate chi to an overly yin (stagnate) area. If the chi is already flowing well, your paths should curve gently.
When creating pathways, mix up the materials you use. For example, in a shady area, a light colored path such as gravel will create a contrast and bring light to the area. Use darker materials for those areas that are too bright and need toning down.
Beds and Borders:
Flowerbeds can be an extremely attractive feature in any garden. Generally speaking, the edges of beds and borders should follow gentle curves rather than straight lines. Wide flowerbeds also bode better than narrow ones, with the ideal width to be between 3 and 6 feet. This of course will depend upon the proportions of your yard.
When constructing beds, consider varying heights of vegetation, as the change in height encourages chi to flow from higher to lower parts. If space permits, island beds are wonderful. They give you the opportunity to infuse lots of different materials, pathways and vegetation.
Have fun this spring restoring your yard and garden. Enjoy the essence of nature and live consciously!
Om,
Mary Jane - Feng Shui Yoga Girl - www.fengshuiyoganj.com
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