Top Feng Shui Plants for Your Home and Office

The FIVE ELEMENTS (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood) work best when blended together in a harmonious way inside your home. Today, we are focusing on the element of wood (a.k.a plants,flowers,trees, bushes, etc). Not only do they help to spruce up the overall ambiance, they are also scientifically proven to reduce stress, purify the air, improve learning, compassion, speed up the healing process, memory, and communication!

Incorporating wood element could be achieved through the arrangement of real plants, plant inspired artwork or artificial flowers. How about wood flooring, panels and furniture, do they count? Yes. Yet, when it comes to feng shui we are even more interested in replicating or actually using real natural elements inside the home. Below is a list of 4 plants you could include into your home.

Aloe Plant:

This plant offers great healing properties. Not only does it soothe skin burns and cuts, it can also help to monitor the air quality in your home, including; air of pollutants found in chemical cleaning products. When the amount of harmful chemicals in the air becomes excessive, the plant's leaves will display brown spots.

From a Feng Shui Shamanistic perspective, if your home is effected by spiritual activity, Aloe is said to help ward off that energy and protect the home.

English Ivy:

NASA scientists listed the English ivy as the number one best air-filtering houseplant, as it is the most effective plant when it comes to absorbing formaldehyde. It’s also very easy to grow and adaptable.

Rubber Trees:

Rubber trees are good for cleaning the air and are one of the easiest plants to grow, as they thrive in low lighting and cooler climates. Theses plants are a powerful toxin eliminator and air purifier. In feng shui the rubber tree is commonly referred to as the “money tree.”

Snake Plant:

Can I have a plant inside my bedroom? The response to this question will vary from feng shui expert to expert. From a scientific perspective, the plant absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen at night. Why does this matter? When sleeping, this could a plant exception to the principle of ‘no plants inside your bedroom.’ Its advised not to add too many, as the purpose of plant metaphorically is to stimulate the energy. Perhaps one, maybe two, at the most and keep them at a distance from your bed. 

Some other pointers to keep in mind:

1. Do your best not to overwhelm your home and office with too many plants. Looking to the five element theory of feng shui, we are always establishing a harmonious connection with all the elements. If you have too many plants, this could produce the opposite effect of ‘growing’ and stagnant the energy flow. In regard to how a person could react to that energy they may feel; sluggish, impatient, slow and inflexible.

2. The size of the plant can depend on the size of the room. When it comes to the shape, follow the energy principles of ‘sheng’ vs ‘sha.’ In short, Sheng is life nourishing chi (rounded and curved designs in the physical world) and Sha is share edges. 

There are many more plants to list, yet this is a great start! 

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Laura Cerrano is a Full-time Certified Feng Shui expert with 20+ years of experience. She provides bi-coastal consultations and workshops for residential, real estate developments, Fortune 500 companies, and healing facilities. She is currently conducting research for her upcoming book that focuses on bridging the gap between the ancient wisdom of Feng Shui and modern day science to establish the practice of Feng Shui as a credible form of health care.

5 Feng Shui Back to School Tips to Establish Stronger Cognitive Function and Reduce Stress

1. The buzzing sound of “Declutter” will continue to be the #1 starting Feng Shui suggestion during these current times because our society has adopted somewhat of a clutter-bug lifestyle. As the saying goes, less is more. This is essential for everyone to practice. 

A team of UCLA researchers in 2012 32 Los Angeles families and found that all of the mothers' stress hormones spiked during the time they spent dealing with their belongings.” Belongings included material goods, paperwork, and even their children’s toys. For the dad or father figure that lives in the home and children, please help out with keeping things tidy. This lifestyle change requires a team effort. To the best of your ability, make it a priority to establish the healthy habit of balancing routine and structure; verbally, visually, and energetically.

2. Minimize Electronics in the Bedroom. Researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston conducted a study to understand the impact of electronic devices on circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. In short, the team found that those who had read LE-eBooks in the hours before bedtime reported lower subjective sleepiness and showed decreased EEG delta/theta activity. 

Just about everyone uses computers daily. To negotiate this habit, the practice of Feng Shui is asking for you to find a balance. The bedroom is a place of rest, rejuvenation, and reconnection. If any room in your entire home that you could reduce or totally remove major EMF’s, it would be from inside your bedroom. 

Reference for Brain Waves: Delta waves (.5 to 3 Hz) are the slowest brain waves and occur primarily during our deepest state of dreamless sleep. Theta waves (3 to 8 Hz) occur during sleep but have also been observed in the deepest states of Zen meditation

3. To give students stronger cognitive function during the day, allow natural light to filter into the classrooms. A study conducted by Productivity and Buildings Science program found “Classrooms with the most daylighting had a 20% better learning rate in math and 26% improved rate in reading compared to classrooms with little or no daylighting.” Of course use common sense with this suggestion. If your classroom requires a reduced amount of light, that is just fine. If anything, it's best that the main communal areas of the school (lobby, offices, hallways, cafeteria, library, etc) make up for the lack of light in other classrooms. 

4. Establish a Commanding Position. This becomes a metaphor for the occupant sleeping, working, teaching, or studying to ‘see’ unlimited possibilities and have clearer focus while also being able to avoid unnecessary situations in daily life. In other words, its symbolic for that person to always remain in their ‘personal power.’ This position also references a protective stance and energetic support.

5. Mindfully select and display images that inspire, strike curiosity, and motivate. You could implement this suggestion at home, in the office, and in the classroom. At home you can choose more personalized imagery. Think about what strikes your curiosity and inspires you. Is it the arts, technology, engineering science, astrology, or something of your own creation? Only you can answer this. 

It could be displayed through artwork, objects, books, word art, sculptures, or even instruments. At work you could establish a more professional representation of those visual inspirations. At school, the teacher could choose to display untypical posters that feature different role models, quotes, positive affirmations or imagery, thus helping to introduce new perspectives about the topic being taught, life, and the world we share. Again, for all these environments the selection will have to be customized to the function of each space. 

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Laura Cerrano is a Full-time Certified Feng Shui expert with 20+ years of experience. She provides bi-coastal consultations and workshops for residential, real estate developments, Fortune 500 companies, and healing facilities. She is currently conducting research for her upcoming book that focuses on bridging the gap between the ancient wisdom Feng Shui and modern day science to establish the practice of Feng Shui as a credible form of health care.