HEALING HOUSEPLANTS

"In the Depths of Winter,
I Found Inside Me,
An Invincible Summer"

Albert Camus

Feng Shui is about looking at the extremes in our environment and bringing them back into balance. Winter is a Yin time of year which represents an extreme in nature. As we look outside the Ch'i is very still. Have you been feeling tired lately, lacking motivation, a little nature deprived, perhaps? You might even start to feel the effects of stagnant energy within your living space as well as your body.

"Good Feng Shui is about strengthening our connection to the natural world"
We can do this by bringing houseplants and fresh flowers inside to lift the life force around us and create a natural environment. According to Feng Shui, living plants are represented by the wood element. Their color green symbolizes vitality, growth, expansion, and new beginnings.

Because their life force is so strong they can improve the Ch'i flow of a room and freshen the air by supplying oxygen. Plants add beauty to a room, while making it friendly and inviting. They play a key role in weddings, funerals, birthdays and periods of illness. What is the first thing you instinctively send to a person who is in the hospital with low Ch'i ? Fresh flowers because they symbolize joy and new life. Studies have proven that patients who could view nature from their windows had shorter hospital stays and needed less medication.  Some of the top hotels and restaurants use plants and flowers to attract customers.

Some ways to connect with nature in our spaces are:

Create an inviting front entrance – inside and out – with a meandering path of flowering plants to the front door or a colorful bouquet inside.

Place fresh flowers with fragrance throughout your rooms - your sense of smell is closely linked to memory.

Use plants with round leaves and dark green color, they have the most life force ( Ch'i ) and are the most auspicious.

Have only healthy plants "new fresh energy"– good quality silk is okay.

Replace dying or dead plants with new ones – or they will drain your positive Ch'i away.

During winter months use plants and flowers with colors of red, orange, and yellow – to add vitality and yang energy.

Invite nature in – maintain a view to the outside. Windows are the "eyes" of a home, think of them as links rather than barriers to nature.

Open doors and windows letting sunshine and fresh air move through
your space and illuminate it with natural light.

Living plants can also clean the air we breathe by removing toxins.                    Indoor air contaminants are all around us. Furniture, plywood ,new carpeting and the glues that back them, paints, synthetic fibers and household cleaning products just to name a few. These sources off gas emitting VOC's  (volatile organic compounds) into the air without us being aware of why we might not feel well. Some symptoms could include: headaches, dizziness, upper respiratory irritation and rashes.

Research has been done by N.A.S.A. scientist Dr. B.C. Wolverton " How to Grow Fresh Air" in proving certain plants can reduce toxic chemical levels in interiors with poor air circulation.  
                                                                                                                       Some of these plants and the toxins they remove are:

   Plant                                     Toxin Removed                      Found In

English Ivy                                                                                   Plastics                 Dracena Marginata                       Benzene                                 Paints
Gerbera Daisy                                                                             Synthetic fibers
Peace Lily                                                                                   Tobacco  Smoke
Spider Plant                                                                                 Plywood                                        

Bamboo Palm                                                                              Carpeting
Philodendron                               Formaldehyde                          Foam Insulation
Golden pathos                                                                             Paper towels                                                                                               Household Cleaners

Chrysanthemum                                                                          Paints
Gerbera Daisy                            Trichloroethylene                     Varnishes   
Peace Lily                                                                                   Lacquers
Dracena                                                                                      Adhesive                                                                                                                       


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Feng Shui Design
Joan M. Stigliano IIDA is  a Feng Shui Eco Design     Practitioner and Educator.   Joan has an Interior Design practice in Locust Valley ,N.Y. and teaches Feng Shui and Eco Design at New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury and at The Long Island Feng Shui Institute. She is available by appointment at  516-671-6463.  Or at her web site.
Read more articles by Joan:
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