20 - North Shore News —

livinargem

Wednesday. May 31, 2000

ARETE RISA nN ie Eee aT a tae

Control your home, control life

From pane 18

and children.

After that, she says, every-
thing fell into place. “She now
spends far more time at home
and completes about two com-
missioned paintings a month.

“I used to be tired and
overwrought,” she recalls.
“This has been a significant
tool for me.”

They both insist that feng
shui does not have to involve
spending a lot of money.
Rather, it is about first getting
rid of clutter, and then arrang-

ing things creatively. Even bad
feng shui can be fixed with a lit-
te imagination: when
Bockhold points out that the
placement of a sofa with a chair
at the edge is “out of balance,”
Peake leaps into action.
Reclining on the sofa in the
love area of the room, she
shows how it creates an image:
a “beautiful maiden” in a com-
fortable position with. an
“antentive suitor” at her feet.
She calls it “asymmetrical bal-
ance.”
“It sends an intense mes-
sage about romantic love,” she

insists. “You see the stories,
how lavish they are.”

When someone walks into
the room, they don’t know
what these symbols mean. But,
Peake insists, they feel it.

Bockhold, for one, agrees.
Constantly looking for ways to
improve her home's feng shui
takes the mundane out of
cleaning. It may even inspire
her to clear out the garage,
which is located in her creatni-
ty section of the house.

“If you can control your
home,” she said, “you can con-
trol your life.”

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The effect of environment

Marcie Good
Contributing Writer

B The Practical Encyclopedia
of Feng Shui by Gill Hale,
Lorenz Books, 251 pages,
$39.95.

PICTURES are the
best way to describe
how feng shui works,
and this book has lots.

While practitioners can go
on for hours about concepts
like balancing elements and
using the bagua grid, nothing
makes sense until you see how
it locks.

Even if you don’t grasp the
explanation that a round table
enables the flow of chi, you
can see that it looks more
inviting in a room meant for
relaxing and chatting. If you
don’t understand why it is

“inauspicious” for your head
to be facing the window when
you sleep, it’s not hard to see
the benefits of using light and
views to the best advantage.

Acknowledging that: feng
shui has strayed far geograph-
ically and philosophically from
its Chinese roots, book
does a good job of explaining
the origins and showing how
ancient ideas work in the

modern world.

Why feng shui
has caught on in
the western
world is best
shown by the
short case stud-
ies that
describe how
people have
used the prin-
ciples to
improve
their _ lives.
Onc tells
how a hus-
band and wife were each
feeling lonely, even though all
aspects of their lives were

oing well, A look at their

edroom reveals why: a large
TV and VCR dominate the
room; children’s toys clutter
the space; and a stack of
unread self-help books stock
the shelves.

. According, to feng shui,
bedrooms should be dedicat-
ed to sleep and romance. By
getting rid of those distracting
items, that couple probably
gave more thought to their
relationship and felt much
better about themselves.

That demonstrates the
strength of feng shui: it draws
attention to different areas of
life and focuscs on tangible

IF
S

ty
ete tie hes,

a:
-

ING;
HUT

things you can control. The
annoving sound of con-
stant television
may be driving
you nuts, or a
dark and dingy
room with an
awkward table
where you con-
stantly stub your
knee might really
aggravate you. That
is feng shui in the
simplest terms: how
your environment
affects you. This -
book makes that clear.
090 .
BB The Feng Shui Kitchen by
Master Lam ‘Kam Chucn ..
with Lam Kai Sin, Journey
Editions, 152 pages, $26 95":
Food and energy are natur-
al companions, so a book - :
about feng shui in the kitchen - 8
is not out to lunch. : :
Suggestions of how to dec. :
orate and arrange cooking anc and
cating spaces, chopping tech
niques, recipes and tips: for”
preparing bok choy ur vinger
root are all framed in the phi-
losophy of feng shui.”

feng shui fans who also want
to refine their. Chinese cook:

See Falanee following page

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