Five Feng Shui Mistakes

July 20, 2020

As feng shui practitioners, we hear from a lot of people who are afraid of doing feng shui the “wrong” way. If you’ve followed us for a while, you know that our goal isn’t to make people fearful or tell you that you’re doing something wrong. However, here are a few suggestions we have for things not to do when it comes to feng shui:

1. Be afraid of bad feng shui

   As humans, it’s natural for us to want to put things into categories and label them as “good” or “bad.” However, in BTB feng shui, there’s nothing that’s an absolute no-no. We always look at a situation from a wider perspective and take into account the nuances of the situation. Additionally, just because a situation seems negative doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the case. Often people are drawn to homes with “negative” feng shui because their subconscious mind is ready to work through something. Things that may look like problem areas in our homes or spaces may be exacerbating certain issues in order to help you deal with them and grow through them.

2. Worry about plants in the bedroom

   Different practitioners have different opinions on this, and all schools of feng shui are valid and correct. Some people believe that plants introduce too much active energy or are worried about the levels of CO₂ that they produce at night. However, you would have to have a LOT of plants for your CO₂ levels to be a concern. If you are worried about plants in your bedroom, we encourage you to experiment. Try taking the plants out of your bedroom and see if you are able to sleep better. We generally don’t notice any negative impacts from plants in the bedroom, but everyone’s qi is a little different so you should do what feels best for you.

3. Try to adjust all of the bagua areas at once

   When you first learn about the bagua, it’s tempting to make adjustments in every area. After all, if you can improve your health and career, why not work on wealth, relationships, and helpful people, too? It’s ok if you’ve done this (a lot of people do), but we don’t recommend it. First, it encourages you to spread yourself thin, rather than diving deeply into a few areas to see what’s really going on. This makes your feng shui adjustments less effective. Second, it’s overwhelming! If you’re trying to adjust all nine areas, you probably won’t get around to doing all of the things you’re wanting to do. Another thing to keep in mind is that life works in cycles, and if you somehow are able to make everything perfect, the only place to go from there is down. Rather than focusing in perfection, it’s best to start small and work on things as they come up organically.

4. Try to change someone else’s feng shui without their permission

   It’s natural to want to change someone’s behavior if they’re bothering you, but it’s not ethical to try to manipulate someone else’s energy. If you’re making any feng shui adjustments that involve other people, you really need their permission and participation as well. Instead, think about how the other person may be a mirror for you. If something is bothering you, it’s really something for you to look at within yourself. You’re the only person that you can change, anyway. What we can do as feng shui practitioners is help our clients protect, strengthen, and transform their own energy, which in turn shifts how they are able to respond to challenges when they come up.

5. Do your own feng shui

   There are of course things you can do on your own-; we share a lot of tips on our blog, podcast, and Instagram to help you explore feng shui and start to apply some simple, general principles to your own life. However, when you are turning to feng shui to help you with a specific issue or an area where you feel blocked, it’s important to get support from a trained practitioner. They are able to come into your space with fresh eyes and see things that you aren’t able to. We can become so stuck in our ways of being that it becomes easy to overlook things that a trained consultant would be able to point out and help you with.

If feng shui resonates you, we encourage you to go deeper and work with a practitioner or deepen your study of the practice. Enrollment is now open for our certification program and we’d love to see you at one of our free live info sessions!