Feng Shui Decoded – the Western School of Feng Shui® Podcast

The Center of the Bagua Map is considered the 'hub of the wheel' around which the treasures of life flow. 

It's associated with the Earth element and with residents feeling grounded, centered, and connected.

Includes stories about overcoming architectural challenges such as closets and stairways to establish a strong Center. 

• A request for a specific webmaster, placed in the Helpful People and Travel gua, brings the perfect person at the perfect time.
• Placing lights and fresh flowers in an empty HP&T room brings greatly expanded business success.
• Anchoring the HP&T corner out in the yard brings a perfect new home at the perfect price.
• An emergency request for a new heater at a budget price, placed in the HP&T gua, brings it immediately.

Children & Creativity is found in the middle right side of the Bagua Map as viewed as a tic-tac-toe shape. Love & Marriage is above it, and Helpful People & Travel is below it.

This area is about bringing the ideas incubated in the depths of Love out into the world– those expressions could be children and could be creative work. Awe, wonder, playfulness, whimsy and light-heartedness are words associated with this area of the Bagua.

Children & Creativity stories:

• A couple wanting children creatively filled empty vessels and became pregnant
• A beauty salon moved the vivacious, talkative, fun-loving stylist ‘s station to this area, where she thrived, as did the business.
• A couple found clarity in their desire to continue to live the fun and activity- filled life they created as partners.
• Placing a large metallic gold, world map mural on an office wall increased this client’s international business, and travel.

Love and Marriage is in the top right box of your Bagua Map, between Fame and

Reputation on the left and Children and Creativity below.

This area is associated with Yielding and Softening as well as Intimacy, Nourishing, Sustainability and Adaptability.

Love and Marriage Stories:

• A newly separated single woman crafts her space to hold self-love

• A pair of childhood photos creates a new opening for a gay couple

• A family disposes of an aquarium with stagnant water and experiences the flow of renewal in their relationships

• A couple intuitively enhances their environment to deepen their connection

Fame & Reputation is located in the top middle box of your Bagua Map, between Wealth on the left and Love on the right.

This area is associated with the Fire element; emotional warmth and connection; and Integrity, Honesty, and Recognition.

Fame & Reputation Stories:

-A teenager works with his bedroom and eliminates reputation issues at school 

-A couple lights up their back patio and receives well-earned community recognition 

-An entrepreneurial woman intentionally crafts a vision board to bring recognition to her new business 

-A store owner transforms a back bathroom and ignites her success

Brief introduction to the Bagua Map.

Key Words for Wealth and Prosperity:  Flow, Abundance, Expansion, Gratitude, Appreciation 

Experiences shared about applying Essential Feng Shui® to the Wealth and Prosperity Area:

• What to do when the Wealth and Prosperity area falls in a garage, on a balcony, or out in the yard.
• "Preemptive Feng Shui" -- applying Feng Shui remedies to a future home purchase.
• Fresh roses bring successful sales to a jewelry store.
• Using written affirmations to expand and uplift your wealth capacity.

Brief introduction to the Bagua map and how to apply it to floor plans

Key Words for Health and Family: Wellness, Trust, Intuition, Strength, Family and

Chosen Family Relationships, Foundation, Growth

Stories about applying Essential Feng Shui® to the Health and Family Area:

• How a couple rearranged their Health and Family area that had exposed medications and hospital décor to establish areas of beauty that saw them through their healing
• How an unattended, covered hot tub with mold and uncleanliness was contributing to a stomach upset long held in place. Cleansing it and using it in its renewed state contributed to the well-being of the client
• How an office area in the Health and Family area was renewed and cleansed and a cherished memento restored to its original state. This created space for new opportunities.
• How a spouse who was suffering from an autoimmune disease was able to enroll support systems and family members to engage with healing after clearing away all of the landscape that was not thriving; replacing a mirror that was in Health and Family that was “fractured” and did not reflect a healthy image encouraged Wholeness.

Key concepts to describe the Knowledge & Self-Cultivation area include:

• Taking the time to connect to and care for your mental, emotional and spiritual self

• Finding calm and peace in order to focus your mind
• Gaining new knowledge and experiencing flashes of insight.

Stories applying Feng Shui to this area include:

• A wife and mother finding the courage to attain independence
• A family struggling with decision-making allowing answers to arrive, and then acting upon them
• A chef desiring an opportunity to showcase his creativity who found a new job allowing him to do that
• A meditator/yoga student/massage therapist who just needed to balance her too-much-of-a-good thing space.

Seijaku = The profound stillness and peace found in moments of solitude and quiet reflection.

• Brief introduction to the Bagua Map (click here for a free how-to video on how to map your home)

• Key words to describe the essence of the Career area: Courage; Depth; Journey; Vocation; Identity; Connected to Spirit; Awakening; Freedom; Authenticity; Opportunity; Purpose

• Stories about applying Essential Feng Shui in the Career area of:

-a retiring couple; 

-a business;a realtor/artist; 

-a business executive;

-a family.

• Story about a business

• Hallways and Staircases can be extreme in character and need to be balanced and enhanced.
• When decorating your hallways, consider the width and height of your hallway.
• Stairways create a waterfall of energy flowing downwards and if facing your front door, that means your Ch’i is flowing out of your home. We cite examples of how to mitigate this challenge.
• In these two areas of our home we want to slow down the fast-moving Ch’i so that you have a greater sense of peace in your home.
• Our new series begins on the Bagua Map. To be prepared go to WSFS.com and go to “free material" to see Lorrie Webb Grillo’s Bagua explanation. It is a short brief video of how to place the Bagua Map over your home.

• Storage areas hold hidden power – when they are decluttered and cleared out major transformation occurs

• When decluttering, bring things up off the floor, into the light and air them out

• Make it fun – add music, set a time for work and reward yourself

• Feng shui is operating everywhere – including garages and all storage areas – make them delightful!

• Get decluttering guidelines at WSFS.com

• Brief overview of our last podcast on Sanctuaries

• Bathrooms as spas of comfort and renewal

• Bringing bathrooms to life with Feng Shui Principles, Color and the Five Elements

• Placement and Maintenance in the bathroom from a Feng Shui Perspective

• Stories shared about positive results that occurred as clients made necessary changes to bathroom spaces to achieve more peace and tranquility

• Brief overview of our last podcast on bedrooms 

• Definition of Sanctuary

• Stories about creating a wide variety of sanctuaries

• Redefining room designations to claim a space for a sanctuary in your home

• Your inner sanctuary - the one you have within you wherever you are

Specific guidelines on creating bedrooms ideally suited to

everyone in the household:

• Setting up your bedroom to support and encourage a love relationship

• Helping children grow with age-appropriate furniture and accessories to support their maturing bodies and minds

• Designing guest rooms with comfort and beauty to invite family and friends to stay

• Changing furniture and linens after a divorce

• Covering mirrored closet doors to quiet down the room and create calm for rest

• Spice up a stale/stuck relationship with decluttering, cleaning and new linens, pillows and curtains

• Honoring aging parents with a familiar bedroom – in your home or an assisted living facility

The book mentioned in the podcast was Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker. A description of the book can be found here.

• Specific guidelines for setting up your home office for success
• How to choose the ideal size, shape, and placement of your desk and chair
• Piling and filing - how to honor and encourage your natural work-style
• How to create a work space when there's no home office
• When to make your work space bigger and when to make it smaller 
• Notice your 'Greeters' - why the 1st thing you see when you enter your home office is important 

Episode 4: The Kitchen

Podcast Hosts: Terah Kathryn Collins, Lorrie Webb Grillo, Ellen Schneider and Ro Rusnock

Recorded: June 18, 2024

Show Notes:

​The Kitchen defined as more than a space to prepare food.

• ​How to refine the kitchen with organization and the intention to create a happy, gathering place.
• ​Feng Shui principles applied to create comfort, safety and beauty.
• Before and After stories that demonstrated the impact Feng Shui has on creating a warm, functional and beautiful kitchen

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