Published in the International Council of Reflexologists newsmagazine, September, 2006.

Reflexology and Feng Shui came into my life in the same year, 1994.  I needed reflexology for self-healing, and was ready for a career that was more meaningful than moving post-surgical patients through a day surgery center like cattle.  Initially I focused on professional training in reflexology – first the Ingham method, then certification in the Laura Norman method -- while Feng Shui went into my  mental file  under "curiosity,"  with an occasional class, articles, and books.

The Chinese characters, Feng and Shui, are translated as wind and water.  They are used to describe the effect of what is not visible on what is visible.  I saw this as a practical application of a biblical principle:  We cannot see the wind, but we see the evidence of wind in the movement of trees and water, and the feeling of it on our skin.

Author Sarah Rossbach, in Interior Design with Feng Shui, writes, "Feng Shui is a language of symbols."  To be a practitioner of Feng Shui means to learn and know this language of symbols, and to know what is needed to change (adjust or correct) a symbol that is associated with a negative pattern in one's life.

For example, clutter is a Feng Shui symbol for blockage and stagnation.  Feng Shui theory says that certain symbols in a certain area of the home lead to specific physical and emotional symptoms.  Based on some thousands of years of observation, an intentional change in symbols often is followed by movement and change in a person's life.

Relationship Between Health, Life Challenges, and Symbols

Over the next five years, my awareness of the relationship between health and life challenges and the symbols in one's physical surroundings grew.  At first the observations were of my own life events, then family and friends, then clients.  When a client described being stuck in a life or health situation, I began asking questions about their homes and workspaces.  Clients would sketch their floorplans while having their footbaths, and more often than not, design feature symbols or an area of frustrating clutter collection would line up with what was happening in their lives.

I began being invited to the homes of clients, and more of the stories would unfold.  When they followed the recommendations that I made, changes often began happening in their lives.  It was very intriguing, and very exciting to be able to help people in this way!

Terah Collins' books, the Western Guide to Feng Shui series, published by Louise Hay (Hay House) were important resources for me at that time.   Collins teaches that the décor in our environment can serve as positive or negative affirmations.  For example, a hutch that belonged to an emotionally abusive mother may serve as a symbol that continuously reinforces low self esteem and, thus, could serve as a negative affirmation.  Helping clients to identify the meaning of things in their surroundings, and to choose to decorate with positive affirmations is both empowering and healing.

In 1999 I reached a point where I felt I needed formal training to responsibly counsel clients. Collins' philosophy parallels Laura Norman's strong emphasis on the power of words and use of affirmations with reflexology, so Collins' professional consulting program, The Western School of Feng Shui, was an excellent choice for me. I studied Feng Shui as a language of symbols under the mentorship of Katherine Metz in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition taught by Grandmaster Professor Lin Yun for ten years.  It is a lifelong study.

Feng Shui, Reflexology and Energetic Blockages

In the September, 2004, issue of the International Council of Reflexologists Newsletter, Beryl Crane wrote  "...physical illness is often the manifestation of emotional imbalances, which may lead to blockages within the energy pathways of the body."

I couldn't agree more, and would like to add that physical and emotional illness may also be related to blockages within the energy pathways of a home or office.

Both reflexology and Feng Shui are healing modalities that can be used to clear congestion -- blockages of energy pathways -- and restore energy flow.  The body and emotions, and the home and workplace are intricately and intimately related, and the two modalities can work beautifully together to help restore health.

As the professional relationships with our clients unfold, they often begin to speak to us about the emotional stressors that may be core factors in their current dis-ease.

In the Empowering Women seminars sponsored by author/publisher Louise Hay (Hay House) some years ago, wholistic gynecologist and author Christiane Northrup, MD, described her belief about why people get sick and don't heal.  She showed a slide with a circle divided into a number of pie-shaped segments.  She identified each pie slice with an aspect of life such as (my words) finances, relationships, genetics, environment (air, water, pesticides, etc.), career, creative expression, self care (sleep, food, water, exercise), emotional support system, immune system condition, and others.  She said that when too many of those pie slices are stressed, the system is overwhelmed and voila, illness.  What is "too many" and which ones carry the heavy weight is different for each individual.

The Body, Dis-ease and Affirmations

In 1982, Louise Hay first published her little booklet, Heal Your Body.  It contains detailed lists of body parts, conditions, and illnesses, the thoughts and attitudes that might be contributing factors to the creation of those problems, and positive thoughts that may help to reverse the problems.  Here again is a contemporary interpretation of a biblical teaching: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made Flesh..."   Words, thoughts, and emotions create the physical.

This symbolic system corresponds to Deepak Chopra's view that the body is always "eavesdropping" on the mind. I have been amazed at the insights I have had from using Hay's list of causes and affirmations as a key for myself, and how quickly a condition resolves once I work through an emotional blockage.

Because of my own success with Hay's system, I keep a copy of this book by my chair, and will sometimes offer it to a client open to the page with the physical condition that brought them in.  I love to watch the smile of recognition as they read, for example, about constipation: "Refusal to release old ideas. Stuck in the past.  Sometimes stinginess."   Hay's affirmation, the positive thought that may reverse constipation, is:   "As I release the past, the new and fresh and vital enter.  I allow life to flow through me."

I suggest to the client that if the positive affirmation for that condition seems meaningful for them, that they focus on it during their reflexology session.  With their consent, I even read it to them at a point in the session when they are deeply relaxed, while I hold the solar plexus points.  And I offer them paper to write it down and take with them, and hopefully use often so that their words will become flesh.

Health and the Bagua Map

Back to the Northrup pie.  I can easily place each of those pie slices into sections of the bagua map.  This Chinese word, meaning 8 areas, is the diagram used in Feng Shui to see the energetic effects of our physical surroundings on aspects of our lives.  Without question, the spaces we live and work in affect our emotional climate, our thoughts, our physical and mental wellbeing, and even our spiritual life.  In fact, I prefer to expand the trilogy, Body/MInd/Spirit, to the quaternity, Body, Mind, Spirit and Space.

A key principle of Feng Shui is that clutter (an accumulation of things not being used or things out of place) represents stagnation and blockage of the flow of vital ch'i (life energy).   The bagua map gives us information about where in a person's life the stagnation is occurring, or the reverse -- the identified problems in career or finances or relationships, for example, can lead us to a place in the home or office that needs a serious clean out.

Many of my Feng Shui consultations have been with reflexology clients, and I have repeatedly seen that there are correspondences between the two modalities, that they support each other in a profound way, and that intentional use of affirmations in words and images can augment and accelerate the process of healing a life.   The following is an example of this.

"Fairy Tales Can Come True"

This woman in her 40's had been a regular reflexology client several years before, and returned with the complaint of a sleep disorder.   We did several sessions, but her disturbed sleep pattern remained.  She shared with me that she was processing several big issues in ongoing therapy -- conflicts with parents and ex-husband, and a need for something that would give meaning to her life.  The relationship with her parents was particularly distressing.  Finances were also an issue, tied to the parents and her work in the family business.

Because we already had an established, safe relationship of several years, I proposed a Feng Shui consultation to look for possible keys to the insomnia and the ongoing challenges in her life.   We scheduled her next reflexology session to be done in conjunction with the consultation in her home.

We began with the Feng Shui assessment.  In her bedroom, her bed was directly in front of the door, a symbol of disempowerment.  Upon questioning, she revealed that this was the bed she had shared with her ex-husband.  It was also the scene of her husband's affair, which precipitated the ending of the marriage.  Same bed, same linens, same location in the room.  She agreed to move it into another position -- we did that together on the spot.  Accepting that the bed was a symbol of disturbing memories, she agreed to dispose of it and the linens as soon as possible.

Using the bagua map, we next looked at the Family sector for keys to her ongoing conflicts with her parents.  The room in this area of the house was dark, and had bookcases and cabinets filled with old photos and memorabilia from the marriage that hadn't been touched in a long time.  We rearranged furniture and made a list of ways to brighten it and bring in vitality.  And she agreed to clear out the bookcases, all to be done with the intention of improving the troubled relationships.

After completing the assessment of the other areas of the house, clarifying her wishes and intentions and making recommendations, we began her reflexology session in the living room.  At a point in the session when she was deeply relaxed, I held the solar plexus points and guided her to do some deep breathing as I always do.

This time I suggested that she use these few moments to visualize the releasing of the old ways of relating to each of the people, one at a time, silently, prayerfully asking for each relationship to be healed.  As she did this, she began to cry.  Then came a sudden, unexpected, very loud crack of thunder -- and the lights flickered and went out momentarily as a thunderstorm moved in.  During this time, she never opened her eyes -- she continued her visualization until she was done, took a deep breath, and we completed the session.

It was a very profound experience -- the timing of the thunderbolt and the lights going out seemed an awesome synchronization with her heartfelt attempt to heal the relationships.

That night she slept through the night for the first time in many months.   The next day, she gave the bed and linens to her housekeeper, and received a bed that her brother and sister-in-law were not using.   The insomnia was history.

She did the recommended clearing out, and made the changes in the Family area and other areas with intention and enthusiasm.  And she found the courage to begin an internet search for a graduate program she had not dared to pursue before.

Her mother called unexpectedly during this time, and they met and she experienced an openness and understanding that were not previously there.  She felt safe to discuss her thoughts about graduate school, and was amazed at the emotional encouragement and support she received from both parents.

All of this took place over the course of a year, but began very soon after the joint Feng Shui and reflexology session.  She is completing her graduate program in counseling this spring. This is excerpted from an email a few months after the consultation:  "If I started listing the blessings that have come in the last few months, it would be astonishing. They have come in abundance. Things I never expected but am certainly welcoming. Thank you for being there when I was face first in the mud and feeling absolutely hopeless. Now I feel so fresh and positive."

And this, from her email entitled Fairy Tales Can Come True, giving me permission to use her story:  "If ever there was hopelessness and despair, turned around by applying the principles, this is it!   It seems only fitting that someone else gets to learn and benefit from this. That's part of the giving back."