7 Feng Shui Tips To A Happy and Unique Thanksgiving Celebration

According to Thrillist.com, the number one holiday celebrated in America is, Thanksgiving. With that said, I have to admit, the origins of this holiday for me seem a bit unsettling having knowledge about the history of conflict between Native Americans and Europeans. Being aware of this, I have chosen to approach this National holiday by giving thanks and sharing a day of appreciation with family whom I may not always be able to see. Segwaying from this brief introduction, below are 7 Unique Feng Shui Thanksgiving Tips To Consider:

1. Surrender to the Chaos of the Holidays

The modern day translation for the word holiday means to rest and relax. Yet, the irony of this is, before getting to that state of mind, there is a bit of chaos that unfolds. It seems the collective consciousness of this country projects a mad dash to grab the necessary food ingredients for cooking a ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving dinner, along with possibly experiencing hectic travel schedules by car, bus, plane or train to be with family. To avoid this unnecessary polarization, pre-plan your travel methods ahead of time and understand you may still get caught up in the ‘travel rush hour.’ If cooking at home, its recommended to make a list of what you need and go to the grocery store at least two or three days prior to Thanksgiving. If you’re not in the mood to cook, be sure to book reservations at your choice of a restaurant in advance (if possible). But, what if you can’t plan ahead? Feng Shui Tip number 2 and 7 could be of help.

2. Center Yourself

Just because the holidays are here, does not mean you throw out your daily practices of wellbeing. If anything, this is the time to really maintain healthy body, mind, and spirit routines. For me, I start my day off with a brief meditation, eat my breakfast, and then get in my daily exercise which releases endorphins to help reduce stress. Because life does not always allow for this lovely routine to unfold exactly as written, adaptations are made when needed.

Also, pay mind to your own breathing patterns. Even this observation can help shift your energy and attitude for the better. Ask yourself, are you a shallow breather? Most of us these days tend to be so, and that is not good. Become conscious of this and allow your lungs to be filled with solid breaths of air. Scientific studies have shown that controlling your breath can help to manage stress and stress-related conditions.

Another component to Centering Yourself is to simply practice gratitude. Yes, this is cliche, but it’s TRUE! Practicing gratitude reminds us to be present with today. And that sets the tone for tomorrow.

Here is one last additional tip for those cooking on Thanksgiving in regard to Centering Yourself. If you could, declutter and organize your home a day or two, or at least the night before Thanksgiving. This may sound silly, but its not. The household and especially the kitchen area will become zinged up with a bit of hectic energy due to the anticipation of guests arriving, paralleled with preparing and cooking your Thanksgiving meal. Providing yourself with a kitchen that has everything you need (cooking utensils and food ingredients) in a organized manner allows for a much smoother and enjoyable cooking experience. And if you need help, ASK FOR IT!

3. Be Playful

Growing up, I remember holiday gatherings provided awesome opportunities for PLAYFULNESS! As kids we would run around my grandmother’s home playing tag and in the evening, we would gather around the dinner table after dessert to play cards or board games. So yes, as an ADULT, please remember to be playful!

4. Conduct A Mini Space Clearing Ceremony Inside Your Home Prior to Thanksgiving

Whether you are hosting Thanksgiving or not, it’s always a great idea to Space Clear your home. Why? As you get charged up from the holiday energy (let that be positively or negatively), those thoughts and emotions are projected into your home. Ideally, in Feng Shui, you are aiming to cultivate an environment that offers a sense of neutrality. This means, the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual atmosphere of your home and self have become grounded and peaceful.

A very easy method of space clearing could be done through lite burning of Native American White Sage:

• Before burning any ceremonial white sage, set an intention for why this ceremony is being performed. And example could be, “I am clearing away old stagnant energy to welcome in warm, heart centered energy for my Thanksgiving gathering.”

• Once your intention has been stated, burn a little bit of the Native American White Sage between 10am - 2pm. Why within that specific time frame? According to the alchemy of Feng Shui, this is when the sun offers the strongest blessings along the Earth plane. Ideally, this type of mini Space Clearing could take about 20 - 30 mins or a little more, depending on the size of your home.

• Starting at your front door, walk through your entire home to smudge (clear) the space. Allow the smoke of the white sage to be wafted into all the rooms throughout your home. To complete the space clearing, return back to the front door (where you began).

• To conclude the mini Space Clearing ceremony, recite short prayer of thanks either out loud or within your mind. An example of this could be, “ Thank you universe for your assistance in preparing my home and self for a pleasant and peaceful Thanksgiving celebration.”

5. Conduct a MIni Space Clearing of Your Home AGAIN After Your Guests Leave

Because energy never disappears, it needs to be transmuted. After you celebrate with friends and family (especially if you are hosting Thanksgiving) it is a good idea to Space Clear your home again. This helps to shift the energy left behind from your guests to a level of neutrality while allowing you to reclaim your homes energy as your own. Do you need to Space Clear right away? No. Yet, it is suggested to do so within a weeks time span after Thanksgiving.

6. Reiki Your Food

Reiki, just like with Feng Shui, is utilized to help shift the energy that surrounds you and is within you. In short, Reiki is a Japanese method of energy healing that allows the human body to consciously become a channel for energy to immediately be directed for healing purposes. This healing method could be directed toward all living organisms (humans, animals and the environment), your home, inanimate objects, and even food that is being grown, cooked, or about to be eaten.

Keep this in mind in regard to your Thanksgiving dinner. Anyone who handles the food is transferring their energy onto it. So, pay attention to the mood of those preparing, cooking, and serving you. If for some reason they are not in the best of spirits, Reiki your food.

Simple Reiki Technique To Do Before Eating Your Meal:

• This is one of the simplest options in how to add Reiki to your food right before you eat. Place your hands just above your plate of food, hovering over it, about an inch or two in distance.

• Channel Reiki, meaning saying the word Reiki or thinking the word Reiki. By doing this, you hold the intention to, “clear away any unbeneficial energy from the food and make it healthy, right down to its cellular level.”

• For those of you who practice Reiki, feel free to include the drawing of the Mental/Emotional Reiki Symbol toward your food. This provides a deeper energetic clearing.

7. Maybe choose NOT To Follow Tradition Of Thanksgiving

Maybe take a break from the traditions of Thanksgiving all together and go camping, hiking, or travel someplace new within the United States or outside of the country, just for the sake of traveling. If you stay local, perhaps you could create your own unique menu for the day.

Or, just treat Thanksgiving as another lovely day and host your Thanksgiving gathering the DAY AFTER. What?! Yes, that’s right! By doing this you may very well save on food, such as with pies! My husband and I visited Marie Callender’s the day after Thanksgiving to pick up a pumpkin pie just for the heck of it and returned home with two pies! How so? They had a sale: “buy one pie at regular price and get the second one for $1.00.”

Bonus Tip!!

Please don’t wait for the holidays to appear in order to give yourself permission to be good to you. Be kind, be gentle, show love and appreciation, to yourself as often as you can. The more you practice self-love and care, chances are, you will raise the bar of respect, positive boundaries and assertiveness. And this can come in handy when dealing with challenging personalities. In the metaphysical community, this is also referred to as, stepping into your personal power.

So with that, from our family at Feng Shui Manhattan, we wish your family a very warm, happy and safe Thanksgiving!!

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BEST FOODS FOR AUTUMN

Autumn has arrived! Besides transforming the energy of your home, it’s vitally important to also make adjustments within your body as to align with the season’s frequencies. Marie Regis, L.Ac., founder and owner of ‘Marie Regis Acupuncture & Wellness Center,’ has generously provided us with practical guidelines on how to enhance our body and energy for Autumn through the mindful selection of certain foods based on the Five Elements Theory in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

by Marie Regis, L.Ac.,

“The forces of Autumn create dryness in Heaven nad metal on Earth; they create the lung organ and the skin upon the body... and the nose, and the white color, and the pungent flavor...the emotion grief, and the ability to make a weeping sound”

— Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic

AUTUMN

When we think of Autumn in the Northeast, we visualize cooler temperatures, falling leaves, squirrels frantically seeking out and burying nuts, birds flocking together and flying in awesome formations...We may notice that the air is dryer, that we are more likely to think of people who have passed, of our own lives passing by. Chinese medicine would add that the energy of living things pulls inward and downward, As the sap of trees goes into the roots, and leaves and fruit fall to the ground, these same dynamics apply to human physiology. Autumn reflects the element Metal, which is associated with the lungs, large intestine, nose and skin; the color white, the sense of smell and the spicy or pungent taste. Emotionally both the lungs and large intestine support letting go of what no longer serves us: a good time to release and resolve old grief and resentments.

AUTUMN FOODS

Autumn foods should reflect the change in season: warming, moistening, and more astringent and concentrated, combined with spicy/pungent flavors.

WARMING foods:

• Cooked foods instead of raw: Soups or stews with less water tend to concentrate the nutrients, and are moistening .

• Avoid raw foods and salads as they are cooling in nature.

MOISTENING foods:

• Fall fruit tends to be moistening to the lungs, large intestine and skin: Apples and pears, especially Asian pears or Bosc pears, persimmon, loquat.

• Other moistening foods: spinach, seaweeds, almonds, pinenuts, sesame seeds, honey, eggs, clams, crab oysters, mussels, tofu, yogurt, herring and pork. Using a little salt in cooking supports the absorption of water for people who are dry.

PUNGENT foods:

• Pungent foods provide support to the immune system (ie garlic can ward off

  colds).

• Hot pungent foods such as red chili peppers, while helpful in warding off colds, should be avoided by people who suffer from gastritis, ulcers, etc.

• White pungent foods relate to the Lungs due to their color: Garlic, turnip, fresh ginger, horseradish, cabbage, red radish (white inside), daikon radish (shaped like a large white carrot), and white peppercorn.

MUCILAGINOUS foods:

• These help support the mucous lining of lungs and colon. These foods remove old phlegm or thickened mucous and coat the lining with a moist clean layer of mucous: seaweeds, kombu, marshmallow root, fenugreek and flaxseed.

CHLOROPHYL-RICH foods:

• These are generally detoxyfying to the liver and the blood, remove harmful chemicals, reduce viral and bacterial load and support the digestion of fats and proteins. (All of which support colon health).

SQUASHES AND PUMPKINS:

• These are harvested in the late Summer / early Autumn, and tend to be rich in B-Vitamins (especially those orange in color) to support the immune system; they also are moistening.

HOW WE EAT:

• As important as WHAT we eat: let’s release our must-do lists and worries, and center ourselves, focus on tasting and appreciating the food, and all the energy that went into growing, harvesting and preparing the food. When we give thanks, we give our body the chance to start the digestion process.

Last of all, ENJOY every bite! And the BEST OF HEALTH to you!

Marie Regis Acupuncture & Wellness Center

Address: 14 Vanderventer Ave, Suite L3C, Port Washington NY 11050

Phone: 516.455.2206

Website: www.marieregisacupuncture.com

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