There are many forms of subtle energy that we cannot detect with our usual physical senses. The Chinese art and science of feng shui (prounounced fung shway," meaning "wind-water"), which has gained enormous popularity throughout the West in recent years, is based on an understanding of the life force, or chi energy from the Chinese perspective, which is always moving throughout creation, as the wind is always moving. But at some points it can become blocked or trapped, even becoming stagnated, like unmoving water. By learning this art or consulting a feng shui practitioner, one gets to "see" and "feel" where this energy is trapped or has built up unnecessarily. One then must create balance between the light and the dark (the yin and the yang) of all the features in the environment - including the light, the color, the decorations, the placement of objects, the design of the room or the space, the sounds, the movements. A particular balance of these energies and features will maximize the environment's ability to foster health, wealth, and happiness: that is, for relaxation, for energetic accumulation, for healing, or for doing business.

Examine your home and workplace in this light. What moods does the lighting in various rooms create? Where is clutter building up, causing you to feel uneasy? If green plants can't thrive in your room, how do you expect to? Learn some valuable lessons from your green, growing friends. Experiment with lights of different colors and with altering the color scheme and furniture placement of a setting. You will discover that certain colors have a more relaxing effect on your nervous system; certain arrangements will open up something, giving you a sense that you can breathe more easily. Trust your intuition. Surround yourself with simple and beautiful things; dress yourself in colors that you really like. You are the judge of what feels good to you.

By developing this nonphysical sense that is built upon color, form, and location (but is more than a physical sensing of these elements), you will experience a systematized aspect of what we in the West might call aesthetics - an attunement to beauty and artistic expression that includes the sense of where and how energy is flowing, or feng shui.

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