Light Me Up: a Simple Guide to Feng Shui Lighting
Good Feng Shui makes us feel nourished, comfortable, and secure in our spaces, allowing us to live happier and more stress-free lives. One powerful way to achieve this is by utilizing light to improve the energy of your home or office. Since Feng Shui is all about energy, and light is the strongest manifestation of energy, lighting has a dominant influence on the quality of “chi” in your home:
Good Lighting = Good Feng Shui
Lighting is one of the “Nine Essential Feng Shui Adjustments” that can be employed to ensure your home or office has good “chi” or energy. Positive energy benefits ALL aspects of life – boosting health and finances, attracting romance, healing troubled relationships, finding a dream job, getting a promotion, and much, MUCH MORE!
From a 5 Elements Theory Perspective, lighting represents Fire Energy and is therefore essential to the creation of balance. Fire aids in the support and creation of Earth, as well as controlling an overabundance of Wood. Good lighting also balances the darkness of YIN energy (intimate, cool, quiet energy symbolized by nighttime) with YANG energy (lively, social, hot energy symbolized by daytime). Poor lighting can lead to the slow down or stagnation of the flow of good energy into your space, while stopping the outflow of the old, stagnant energy.
Natural light, emitted from the sun, is the greatest source of light energy on our planet and is, hence, crucial to the balance of “chi” in our homes. Invite as much natural light into your space as possible through the use of both windows and skylights. Create a balance of different types of lighting based on the needs of our home space and the function of the rooms you are lighting. Ideally there should be a balance of up-lights (torchieres, sconces), and ambient lighting (table lamps, etc.) that support conversation and relaxation. Single overhead lights should be avoided as they are harsh and jarring, cast dark shadows, and are in many cases bad Feng Shui!
Lighting set up in threes around a space can create a “triangle of light” balance and is very auspicious. Task lighting for specific purposes to allow you to read, study, or work easily (e.g. next to your bed, sofa or desk) provides support that removes stress and creates a feeling of safety and comfort.
As an interior designer, I insist on the installation of dimmer switches into every room. This allows for the control of lighting to suit different purposes at different points in time. And remember, flexibility brings comfort. The current crop of modern lighting options makes it easier than ever to create the type of atmosphere that you want. Using bulbs with a warmer color temperature (i.e. below 3,000K) creates a more relaxed YIN environment (particularly good for the bedroom), while cooler temperatures are great for more energetic parts of the home. And, again, the use of dimmer switches can help to control how YANG the atmosphere become and gives you the ability to make changes when needed.
Lighting also plays a crucial role when it comes to home staging! For more useful tips about how to light your home for sale, check out my previous blog “Let There Be Light!”.
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