Finding your Best Directions

In Feng Shui we use many tools to analyze and improve an environment; from Yin/Yang theory, to Form School , to clutter control. Another very important tool is the eight trigrams (see above). These trigrams come from the ancient Chinese text called the I’Ching or Book of Changes. Each trigram is associated with, among other things, one of the eight compass directions (North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest).

One way in which we can use these eight Trigrams is by finding which one is a clients personal Trigram. When you know someones personal Trigram you can determine which are their most supportive directions. For instance, orientating your bed or desk while being mindful of your supportive directions will create a favorable environment.

There are mathematical equations used to find your personal trigram based on your gender and the year you were born. I thought it might be easier though for you to find your personal trigram on the Asheville Feng Shui Trigram Finder. Now that you know with which Trigram you are associate, here are your four supportive directions.


The Kan Trigram. (Pronounced kan) The Kan Trigram is the water trigram. It is a persistent force that ultimately gets to its destination. You may be characterized as flexible, focused, or determined.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
Southeast - Good Fortune & Great Fame
East - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
South - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
North- Peace & Good Management

The Qian Trigram. (Pronounced ch’ien) The Qian trigram represents the heaven, head of the house or head of a company. This trigram is the most Yang. You may be characterized as a leader, authoritative, or headstrong.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
West - Good Fortune & Great Fame
Northeast - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
Southwest - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
Northwest - Peace & Good Management

The Gen Trigram. (Pronounced ken) The Gen Trigram is the mountain trigram it is immovable. Gen people tend to be like a mountain, they might be slow to move or change. It also relates to children, so a youthful nature can also be present. You may be characterized as stable, youthful or stubborn.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
Southwest - Good Fortune & Great Fame
Northwest - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
West - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
Northeast - Peace & Good Management

The Xun Trigram. (Pronounced s’un) The Xun trigram is often known as the wind or the traveler. People of this trigram tend to never stay in one place. You may be characterized as restless, unpredictable or unsettled.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
North - Good Fortune & Great Fame
South - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
East - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
Southeast - Peace & Good Management

The Li Trigram. (Pronounced lee) Li people are typically very active. You may be characterized as passionate or hot tempered. A Li person sometimes has the tendency to burn out.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
East - Good Fortune & Great Fame
Southeast - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
North - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
South - Peace & Good Management

The Kun Trigram. (Pronounced k’un) Kun Trigram is like mother earth and is a very powerful Yin trigram. Kun people can be successful leaders, but gain authority from their caring. You may be characterized as nurturing, gracious or caring.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
Northeast - Good Fortune & Great Fame
West- Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
Northwest- Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
Southwest- Peace & Good Management

The Zhen Trigram. (Pronounced ch’en) The Zhen Trigram is the thunder Trigram. The personality of this Trigram is a person who is usually even keel, but can be explosive, like thunder, at times.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
South - Good Fortune & Great Fame
North - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
Southeast - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
East- Peace & Good Management

The Dui Trigram. (Pronounced T’ui) The Dui Trigram is the social trigram. People belonging to this love to talk and communicate, they are usually social and artistic.
Complementary directions - with your back or head of the bed to these directions.
Northwest - Good Fortune & Great Fame
Southwest - Good Wealth & Helpful Friendships
Northeast - Family Harmony & Good Public Relationship
West - Peace & Good Management


Now I would suggest that before you start moving furniture around you make sure to get a good compass reading of your home or office. Stand with your back flat against the building with your compass at your waist. If your not sure which direction the building is facing keep the following guidelines handy.

North is between 337.5 and 22.5 degrees.
Northeast is between 22.5 and 67.5 degrees.
East is between 67.5 and 112.5 degrees.
Southeast is between 112.5 and 157.5 degrees.
South is between 157.5 and 202.5 degrees.
Southwest is between 202.5 and 247.5 degrees.
West is between 247.5 and 292.5 degrees.
Northwest is between 292.5 and 337.5 degrees.

Lose the Kitchen Paper

After reading (no I haven’t seen the movie) An Inconvenient Truth I decided to find as many changes that I could make in my household immediately to help become more “green”. The first thing we did was to quit using paper napkins and paper towels and, you know what, it wasn’t that difficult.

Did you know that if every household in the United States replaced one roll of virgin-fiber paper towels with 100% recycled paper towels; we could save 1.4 million trees. If every household in the United States replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees. Now imagine the numbers of trees saved if you switched to cloth all together. With those numbers in mind, using virgin fiber for single use items seems simply outrageous.

Here’s what I did to keep my kitchen for 4 messy children and 2 “work from home” adults moving along smoothly. Have a basket of napkins near or on the table ready to use when needed. You’d be surprised but adults don’t always need a new napkin for every meal. My mother even found these small napkins that are just the perfect size for kid use. I also keep a bowl full of washcloths next to the sink for extra messy clean up of face and hands or wiping up a spill. These, in conjunction with our usual dish towels has kept paper usage down to a minimum. I can’t say that we’ve wiped out our use of paper towels all together. I do sometimes use them for the dirtiest of jobs but a roll of paper towel can last us for a month or even two! Now that is amazing.

To be certain the dirty cloths stay out of the way I have a small laundry receptacle in the kitchen as well. Now I don't need to bring dirty napkins or wash cloths to another room each time I need to put them in a hamper. This also presorts the laundry. You can plan on everything coming from the kitchen needing to be washed in hot so that it is sanitized.

I thought this switch would be much more labor intensive but once you have the system set up not only are you buying and storing less paper products but you are also producing less garbage. Less clutter to control and fewer trips to the trash have to be good. Try it and see if you can green up your kitchen a little more.

Fighting the Yin of the Basement

Basements, in their natural state, are bad Feng Shui. The damp, dark, and cold make them too Yin to be a good environment. But, as a household that has our only family room in our basement, I feel there is a way to combat the yin aspects and add to the living space of your home. Here are a few steps you can follow to turn around the Yin nature of your basement to make it an inviting space.

1. Keep it dry. To remove the chance of dangerous molds and mildew it is very important to take steps to make the space dry. I always suggest a dehumidifier in a subterranean space. Some homes have to go as far as secure water proofing companies to make sure seepage issues are controlled.
2. Let there be light. Adding as much light as possible to combat the dark. A lamp or two usually won't due, rather, overhead recessed lighting or track lighting should be used for maximum brightness. They even make compact fluorescence in daylight spectrum. Add a dimmer switch if you want to be able to control the lighting for movie watching.
3. Wood over carpet. Using wood or tile flooring instead of carpeting is going to help with the first step. Carpet only holds moisture and adds to the possibility of molds and mildews creeping in.
4. Lighten up. Use a light color pallet to help add to the yang and decrease the yin. Dark colors are fine but should only be used where lots of nature light is found. Light colors, like the example on the left, will brighten the entire room.

So go for it and turn that basement around. Add to the square footage and enjoyment of your home.

Bathroom Organization

My up-stairs bathroom is very troublesome to me. I find I am constantly battling the stuff that is all over the sink. We live in a 1920 Cape Cod and have only one bathroom that all six of us use on the bedroom level. It is an old bathroom with a pedestal sink and no medicine cabinet so I have tried to be creative on how to handle the "stuff". A few months ago I wrote a blog about Feng Shui in the bathroom and keeping things clean and organized is a must for good Feng Shui, always, even in the bathroom.

We tried putting a shower caddy on the back of the bathroom door to hold the bottles and such. Two problem; first, every time you opened or closed the door the caddy would bounce against the door and occasionally things would fall through the space in the back. Second, the kids couldn't reach it so they could get their tooth paste or put it away. Not too go for teaching independence.

The other day I had an evaluation of a classroom This teacher was really extremely organized. She had a shoe organizer hanging on the back of the closet door which she used to keep all of her craft supplies. I told her what a great idea it was. I don't have a problem with craft organization but then it dawned on me last night that this would be a perfect solution for the bathroom. Check it out. I put the children's tooth brushes and paste near the bottom and our stuff at the top. Easier access for everyone. and you can open and close the door without fear of an avalanche of bottles falling on you.

And look at how wonderful the sink looks now! Easier to clean and keep clean. Now I just have to train everyone to put their stuff away, but that is always a never ending job!

Canvas Keepsake

Every summer I give my kids a canvas and some paint and let them do what ever they want with it. It all started when my Hazel was 2 and Wyatt was 3 and I was looking for ways to fill the long summer days. We would always have the easel out for them to paint on but I wanted to do something a little more long lasting. Michael's usually has a 2 pack of pre-made canvases on sale in July for around $9. How easy is that?

Now I have 4 little ones; Wyatt is now 8 and Hazel 7 and the twins are 3. I let the twins start their own canvases last year. You definitely have to let go and not worry about the mess when little one's are working on their master pieces. Oliver got especially messy but his work was more special because you can see his little finger prints all over the canvas.

It is amazing is to see how these children have evolved over the years. We have all of the works hanging in the playroom and it is so fun to see how Wyatt for instance went from painting bold brush strokes to an overview of a hot wheels map to, this year, clone troopers. I only wonder what next summer will bring.

Flushing your Luck?

After two clients asked me the significance of Feng Shui and the bathroom this week I thought I should expound on it a little bit. After searching the web I see that there are many, many misconceptions about the bathroom, specifically the toilet, and Feng Shui. I saw everything from keeping your toilet lid closed so you don't flush away luck and wealth, to placing an odd number of plants in the room, to tying a red ribbon or red tape around outgoing pipes to keep energy from flowing out. I don't know about you but I want what ever energy is in my bathroom pipes to continue traveling out! Why all the confusion and misconceptions?

If you think about the fact that Feng Shui was developed thousands of years ago, well before modern plumping existed, many of the early suggestions imposed by Feng Shui Masters, were dealing with trying to keep people healthy in an environment that wasn't as sterile as ours is today. Even a hundred years ago having your bathroom near where you were preparing food would've been a health hazard. Many of the misconceptions seem to be coming from ideas forged during those times.

So what do we need to think about as far as bathrooms and Feng Shui goes. It is true that where your bathroom is placed matters. Each house has a unique energy pattern based on the year it was constructed and the direction it is positioned on the earth. I have had clients whose bathroom was located in the area of the house that had the best energy; the most prosperity and creativity was being "lost" in the bathroom area. Unlike our bedrooms, we just don't spend enough time in our bathrooms to absorb much of the energy there, so if much of our houses beneficial energy is found there it is hard to take advantage of it.

What can we do in general to give our bathrooms good Feng Shui? Keeping them clean is the most important. Dirt and grim is very yin and we want to keep it under control as much as possible. Adding plants is a good way to keep the air fresh in a room that is usually closed off. Also, do keep the toilet lid shut. If you don't need a water element in that room then closing the lid will minimize the effect of the water. Lastly, keeping your plumbing working well will keep the negative aspects of a bathroom flowing away from the house. This is just common sense, if your toilet is backed up, your not going to be having a good day and certainly your home will not be welcoming and supportive to you.

Facebook Feng Shui

I love Facebook. I was duped into joining during the election when a friend e-mailed me an article that I couldn't read without joining, so I thought, it's free, why not? I had heard about Facebook from my high school aged nieces and didn't know adults were on it. At first I was taken aback by all the old highschool friends that wanted to "friend" me. "I don't have time for this", then a friend explained that you don't have to send people messages all the time, just share what you want to. Now I'm hooked. What a great way to keep in touch with friends and family as well as sharing information that you find interesting and useful. So I have created a page for Asheville Feng Shui. My hope is that we can get some great conversations going on Feng Shui and share insights. Come visit my Facebook page and join the conversation.

Feng Shui in the School

Recently I was asked to take a look at a local school for a potential Feng Shui evaluation. Some of the parents believe that the building that holds the older children has "bad energy". This got me thinking about the effect of Feng Shui in the classroom.

A classroom with "bad Feng Shui" can have the following effects:

increase absents

trouble communicating with each other

arguing or fighting

inability to focus on tasks

general dislike of school

In general, our schools are showing the lack of energy we have been putting into them. It is my belief that increasing our focus on the space where our children spend on average 180 per year, will have a tremendous impact on every aspect of our society. Let's start with a little good Feng Shui.

The Mini-consultation is a big sucess!

This month I launch what I called a mini-consultation. Instead of evaluating a client's entire home I pared the consult down to the two most important rooms. I was worried that the consultation wouldn't be effective enough with just the two rooms. But after my first mini-consult I was so excited. Not only did the client save money, I was able to see that she was having pain issues due to the energy of her office. I look forward to hearing from her after the remedies have been in place for a month.

What a great idea! This is just what we need in these troubling times; something that cuts right to the problem at hand.

Green Living and Feng Shui

Green Living is living with a mindful intent of your effect on the environment. This movement is becoming more and more popular and it is about time. As we learn what disastrous consequences the industrial and technological era's have had on our earth, we find ourselves making changes for the better: buying more fuel efficient cars and home products, eating organic foods to lessen the chemicals being used in the soil and ingested into our bodies, also reducing garbage by recycling and reusing.


How does Feng Shui fit into this movement? The goal of Feng Shui is to arrange your environment to support your well-being. The practice of Feng Shui began as the study of the land and how your position on the earth changed your life. Striving to live in concert with our earth can only support our well-being also. If we disregard the earth, how can we expect the earth to nurture and sustain us?

I don't think one can practice Feng Shui without being apart of the "Green" movement. Living while being mindful of our earth is just another level of good Feng Shui.