The Qi Connection

Around February 4, the Chinese Solar year begins and if you are a good Feng Shui student, you have prepared your home: redecorating, moving furniture around, maybe even painting a few walls. Then you set back and relax…or do you? If you are new at Feng Shui, you may ask yourself questions like, “have I done it right?...am I imagining the Qi at work?...am I being influenced by superstition or what other people say?...have I really started to recognize Qi flow and its influences?“

For those of you who have recently started using Feng Shui and/or Ba Zi, learning to understand Qi energy is a matter of observing and recognizing subtleties. To help get you synchronized with Qi, look for external and internal confirmation.

EXTERNAL CONFIRMATION

Use your notes from courses you have taken, read (reread) books you have on the topic, and go to your favorite FS sites and read what is happening with the energy in the world for the year, the month or maybe even for each day. Comparing external resources with what you are doing will give you a wider range of information to help you construct a basis for your understanding.

INTERNAL CONFIRMATION

Internal confirmation means understanding how you personally relate to Qi. So after painting, redecorating for the year or after comparing your Day Master to the year’s binomial you may still be unsure as to whether you are recognizing the effects of Qi. In this case, a diary is an excellent way for you to build that connection between your understanding of what Qi is and fine-tuning your observations.

For Feng Shui, write down changes you have made to your home and why you made those changes. For Ba Zi, use a list of the 60 binomials and how each stem and branch affects your Day Master (click here for download). Then keep a diary: include what you see, feel, and where you spend your time in the home as well as what happens to you throughout the day.

At first, it may seem a bit troublesome to keep up this exercise, but on the other hand, it is quite easy to confuse what happens when and where. A written record lets you look back and helps you remember with better accuracy. Pay attention to how monthly energy from stems and branches interact. For example, is there a recognizable shift in energy (especially in those months when there is only one branch element)?

Keeping a journal, let’s say, until the end of the year, you will develop a sense of how Qi moves around you and affects you and your home, and you’ll be well on your way to knowing how to use this energy to help you and in turn, help others.