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The kitchen is the heart of a home. It represents the health and wellness of a family. Food prepared in the kitchen nourishes us, and the kitchen also provides a place for nurturing family connections. According to Feng Shui—an ancient Chinese philosophy of creating balance to improve well-being— kitchens also represent a family’s prosperity. The Chinese relate the nourishing power of the stove to the ability of family members to earn money. So, it’s not far off to say that it’s probably one of the most important rooms in a house.
Incorporating Feng Shui into your kitchen can bring more harmony to the health and wealth of your family. Here are some tips to help you get started:
Encourage Beneficial Chi (energy)
Feng Shui literally translated means “Wind and Water,” two of the most powerful forces of nature. Chi is the life force energy that travels in patterns and can be likened to the path of the wind or the flow of a river. There are three types of chi that are important to pay attention to: beneficial chi, rushing chi, and stagnant chi.
Beneficial chi occurs when the layout of a space encourages a gentle flow throughout the room. Picture a meandering stream that nourishes a countryside; it is neither too fast, nor too slow.
Rushing chi, on the other hand, happens when chi moves in straight lines, unimpeded, and accelerates, causing a disturbance to the balance of the room. Chi rushes through the room and does not stay long enough to bring the beneficial effects. For instance, if your kitchen door and back door are aligned, the chi flows in one door and directly out the other. To remedy this, you can move a piece of furniture or a large object, such as a plant, into the path of the chi so that it’s forced to flow around the object and around the room.
Stagnant chi—even more detrimental to a kitchen—occurs in dark corners and areas where dirt, piles of clutter, and stale odors can gather. It can even occur when you do not use all the burners on your stove. Keeping the kitchen clean and tidy, and being sure to rotate use of your stove burners, will help you to increase the flow of energy in all areas of your kitchen. Other ways to improve the movement of chi are to open windows, use proper ventilation when cooking, and use natural, pleasant scents, such as citrus, to freshen up the room.
Balance Shapes and Textures
Since kitchens have predominantly hard, angular lines (from cabinetry to appliances) you can create more balance by bringing in softer shapes and textures. For instance, a round or oval kitchen table creates more harmonious family interactions and allows the chi to flow more freely throughout the room. Textiles such as curtains, area rugs, chair pads and other fabric also
add softness to the space.
Maintain Cleanliness
For obvious reasons, it is important to keep your kitchen clean. Leftover food, crumbs, and dirty dishes attract bugs, while spills can create a physical hazard. However, on a symbolic level, dirt can attract poor health and finances by attracting negative energy into the heart of your home—the kitchen. So keeping your kitchen clean has a greater impact than you would think.
Calm Food Preparation
Just as the ingredients in a home-cooked meal influence the well-being of the family, so does the cook’s energy while preparing the meal. The Chinese believe that if the cook is happy and emitting positive energy, the meal absorbs the energy from that emotion and the family members ingest it. If the cook is unhappy or emitting negative energy, or is compromised in any way while preparing the meal, his energy will have a detrimental effect on the food. This can lead to health and money issues. (Remember, the kitchen represents both health and wealth.) The positioning of the stove, for example, can create an environment in which the cook will feel vulnerable. While at the stove, if the cook’s back is to the kitchen door, he can be easily startled. A simple remedy is to add a mirror to the back of the stove, where the cook can see behind him.
Incorporate the Color Green
According to Chinese philosophy, there are five elements or forms of energy which make up everything in the universe—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In Feng Shui, the elements can be incorporated to bring natural balance to a room in several ways—using the element itself, its corresponding color, or geometric shape.
To help bring balance to a kitchen—a room which is heavily represented by the Fire element (stove/oven) and Water element (sink, refrigerator, dishwasher) – consider adding the Wood element, which complements both Fire and Water. Consider incorporating the color green into your kitchen scheme. (Blue is known to suppress eating, so it is not beneficial as a kitchen
color). Fresh flowers and plants bring the message of vitality and life to a kitchen, which is not only esthetically pleasing but symbolically beneficial as well.
Whatever you can do to improve the Feng Shui of your kitchen, the more your family will benefit in all areas of life.
Maureen Calamia is a certified Feng Shui consultant, board marketing director for the International Feng Shui Guild (IFSG), and member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Long Island Chapter. Visit her website at www.luminous-spaces.com.
