What is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui is basically the art of living in harmony with the earth. This practice dates back 5,000 years to ancient China. The main purpose of Feng Shui is to attract chi; the beneficial life force which then in turn attracts prosperity, health and happiness.

Using Feng Shui in the garden

There are two main reasons why you would want to create a beautiful small garden that will create an abundance of chi. First you want to be able to enjoy the chi in your garden. Secondly you want to attract as much chi as possible to the front door of your home so it can then enter.

The Principles of Feng Shui

Yin and Yang – A popular principle of Feng Shui is the opposites of yin and yang; neither of which can exist alone. In a garden you balance yin and yang by including vertical objects; tress, walls, etc.(yang) into the flat environment (yin). For example, in a Japanese Zen garden the Rocks (yang) are are used to balance the flat landscape (yin).

Shars – Straight lines and angles (shars) are undesirable especially when leading or pointing to your front door. An example of this would be a walkway that leads straight to your front door. In order to hide this trees and shrubs can be used in between the shar and your front door.

Pa-kua – Also spelled ba gua, bagwa or baqua. The magic square grid consisting of 9 smaller squares each representing a different area of life such as; marriage, family and health, career etc. How it works is that you place this pa-kua over your small garden and define each area as it pertains to your garden. There are different ways you can do this; 1. place the pa-kau over your entire plot, 2. Place a the pa-kua over each individual garden (front, back and side gardens), 3. Place the pa-kua over individual sections within each garden area. By improving these individual areas of your garden you will be improving those area of your life.

Keep trees and plants healthy – They will create abundant chi. Remove any dying or rotting trees or plants; because they will bring negative chi.

Water – Symbolizing wealth and prosperity, water should be flowing, clean and placed in front of the house. Flowing water also creates chi.

Sound and movement – Objects that create sound and movement such as; wind chimes and mobiles are beneficial in creating chi. Another great way to bring in sound is by attracting birds to your garden. They bring benefical chi and joy to the garden.

Color and fragrance – These are also very beneficial to your garden’s Feng Shui. You should choose colors and scents based on their locations in the garden. Each color has a specific effect and meaning within each area of the pa-kau.

The Elements – There are basically five elements in Feng Shui believed to make up everything in the universe; Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth. One  of these corresponds to each person’s birth year. For example, I was born in 1970 so my element is wood. So I should bring in wood objects into my garden. Also each element interacts positively or negatively with the other elements. You want to avoid or lessen the negative element and increase the positive. You can look up your element here.

There are a great many other things involved in Feng Shui, but the main goals are to create a garden that’s welcoming and that invokes happiness by attracting chi, balancing yin and yang, remeding any shars and areas of the pa-kua that are lacking.

If you want to learn more about Feng Shui and how to apply it to your specfic small garden you can check these sources out:

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