There has been a lot written about wealth, relationship and family enhancement utilising feng shui, but what about our health. Can we use feng shui to help us achieve optimum health? In answer, let me share a little story with you...

I have always been actively involved in the complementary medicine field, having owned and operated my own Complementary Health Centre for over 8 years. While living in Malaysia I was constantly 'not well', suffered so called migraines and spent a huge amount of time in bed. Despite all my knowledge, commitment to diet, juicing, taking herbal and allopathic medication etc., I simply could not make any major difference to my health or rather illness status. My doctor, while simply wonderful and supportive, was equally dumbfounded as all blood tests came back displaying excellent results. Then I read some of Lillian Too's books, attended her master practitioner course and learnt about feng shui and the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place.

So to answer my own question, YES... feng shui can definitely nudge your health in the right direction, although of course, a healthy diet, appropriate exercise and regular check-ups are also essential components. I now incorporate feng shui as part of my health regime and trust this article will give many of you insights to do the same.

Possible Afflictions Of Health (P) & Solutions (S)

House Layout :

• (P) Is your house a regular shape, rectangle or square, or are there sections missing? Modern architecture often veers away from the so-called 'box' look, resulting in poison arrows (shar chi) and/or missing sectors.
  
  (S) Fill in missing areas of house or garden with lights placed where the missing corner/s would normally be. Deflect any poison arrows from columns, sharp corners etc., with plants, material drapes, anything that softens/covers the 'sharp edges.'

Front Door :

• (P) Which way is it orientated?
  
  (S) Try to orientate your main entrance door to face (inside looking out) your best direction. If it faces any of your worst directions, try using another door to enter and leave your home. Failing all this try, when you exit and enter your house, to angle your body to face one of your best directions. If you drive, you could also try parking your car so that you approach it from (walk towards) a favourable direction.
  
  
• (P) Identify any poison arrows 'hitting' your front door? These can be in the form of an electrical pole, footpath, street, wall/roof angle from another building etc., 'aimed' directly at your front door.
  
  
  (S) Screen your front door from any poison arrows. Use shrubs, pot plants, trees, but remember to keep the overall harmony. Lillian Too's book, Feng Shui for Gardens offers some excellent illustration and solutions.

Master Bedroom :

• (P) In which sector of your house is your bedroom located - is it in one of your worst directions?
  
  (S)The best solution is of course to move into a bedroom located in either your best or second best directions. If this proves absolutely impossible, the best you can do is improvise. Try to ensure your bed head is against a solid wall facing (inside looking out) your Sheng Chi or Tien Yi direction. Wu Lou are excellent for health, protection and longevity, so place a Wu Lou next to your bed or buy a small jade one to wear around your neck.
  
  
• (P) Which direction is your bed head against as you lie in bed?
  
  (S) Make sure your have something solid behind your head as you lie in bed. Have your head be against your best direction or your second best directions. If your bed head is under a window, keep the curtain or blind closed, to form a solid background (support).
  
  
• (P) Is your bed in the coffin position (feet directly facing the doorway)?
  
  (S) Put some kind of screen/shield between the bottom of your bed and the doorway. If you don't have enough room for a solid screen, why not buy a beautiful pashmina and hang it from the ceiling to create a colourful, light screen?
  
  
  
• (P) Do any poison arrows 'hit' you while you are sleeping? Watch an open door does not inadvertently create a poison arrow. Beams can also be 'suppressing' and therefore 'poisonous.'
  
  (S) Alter the angle of the open door to stop it 'piercing you' in your sleep.Soften any corners from pillars, protrusions etc., by draping with scarves, pashminas, material etc. NOTE: No pot plants in the bedroom please. Place wind chimes, 2 bamboo flutes or a fan on any beams to counteract the negativity.
  
  
• (P) Can you look into a mirror while you lie in bed? It is like always having another person in the room at night, someone who never sleeps - very unsettling!
  
  (S) Cover the mirror up at night or move it to another location. Modern design often means that mirror wardrobe doors are placed at the end or on one side of a bed. For a simple solution put up some plastic covered spring wire across the front of the robe, made a curtain to cover the doors and threaded this onto the wire. When you need to access the wardrobe, simply pull the curtain back, but know that you will sleep really soundly at night when the curtain is drawn across the mirrors.

Kitchen :

• (P) Your cooker (rice cooker) is connected at (wires coming in from) one of your worst directions.
  
  (S) Make sure you predominately cook in an appliance that plugs into
  your Tien Yi (second best) direction.

General :

• Your second best, or Tien Yi, direction is the direction to tap if you headaches, migraines or any other health issues. This would be the best location for your sleeping area and placement of one's bed head. Medicines can keep on enforcing the fact that we are 'sick'. We all need medication at some time or another, but keep them in a cupboard or drawer. Better rename
  them in your mind to something like 'health pills'. You could even make a label of this new name and place it on the cupboard, drawer and area that you keep your medications. The power of the mind is never to be underestimated
  so watch how you program yours. Do you talk 'well talk' or 'ill talk'?