CHI AND ME

CHI and ME
Blob #1
April 6, 2010 9:30 pm
by Myrna
I have spent 30 years studying energy – how to preserve it, how to protect it, how to enjoy it. One day when I woke up (in my mid 30’s), I was almost paralyzed with exhaustion. Every limb hurt, the fatigue was overwhelming, every bone ached and I was unable to maintain my very busy life. My mother was dying of cancer and I was a new mother, breast feeding every two hours. After extensive tests, it was decided that I had Epstein Barr Virus a disease that had no cure, no exact time for remission, not much known about it. My life as I knew it, was over (or so I thought). Since my husband is a physician (a family doctor), he knew that allopathic medicine had no cure for what I had. There were no pills, no prescriptions, no known way out that he or his colleagues could offer me. I remember the loneliness, the fear I felt and the challenge that I knew I had to face.

But that was just the beginning for me. I knew that I loved my life. I adored my children and my husband. I had been so active, so happy, so together and here I was unable to enjoy one minute of my existence. I knew that it was up to me to figure a way out of my life destroying predicament. Because I have always been iconoclastic, a bit different, a ballet dancer, English teacher, yoga student devoted to learning about other cultures, I knew that my way out would come from my personal decision to fight back in a different way. And I did. We left the medical establishment, stopped taking their tests and my husband and I merged our intellects, our passions and our trust in each other to jump into the wisdom of other cultures.

We had the great good fortune to study energy and food with Michio Kushi and macrobiotics. The gift of yoga, meditation and the power of prana were presented to me by my beloved teachers Katy and Behramji Guard. Together they unlocked so many of life’s mysteries of the mind and its relation to the breath. My husband and I studied with Dr. Vasant Lad and Ayurveda with its interest in the power of food, meditation and herbs. We met a magnificent oriental medicine physician named Dr. Matt Van Benschoten and I started taking Chinese herbs four times a day which by the way I still take to this day. His way of diagnosing illness, his genius in regards to the body has blown my mind for the past twenty years. But most of all, when I realized that I got sick right after I moved into my beautiful home, I was led into a deep and rich study of feng shui which ultimately has changed my life for the better.

I am very personally moved by the power of feng shui. For me, it is not an intellectual exercise, a religion or a set of superstitions, but instead a pathway to health and a deep understanding of chi. My studies have given me the gift of information I needed to get out of my dilemma. I read every book on the subject and studied the wisdom of several teachers who have enhanced my life long study of energy- both seen and unseen.

Today I enjoy a normal and full life filled two beautiful children, a deeply fulfilled marriage, good health, a contemporary feng shui website, a shop filled with feng shui goodies, and a life commitment to the study and practice of feng shui as a consultant and teacher. I recount my personal story because it has overtones and lessons for us all. I refused to give in, to accept my fate of being a sick person, a weak person, an unhappy person. I mention this all because it is so keenly tied in with feng shui theory of LUCK which has marvelous meaning for each of us in our modern life.

There are three kinds of luck according to feng shui theory. The first called Heaven Luck cannot be changed. The moment, the hour, the day, the month the year we take our first breath assigns us to personal karma, fate that we cannot fight against. The second kind of luck called Mankind Luck consists of our unique thoughts, our desires, our personal actions in this world; the way we live our lives. This is up to us. We can mold it, change it, alter it and connect to others in positive and creative ways. The third kind of luck Earth Luck has to do with the practice of feng shui, creating our environment in healthy ways, protecting ourselves against negative energy, enhancing good energy, creating homes and work places that encourage good health and vibrant auspicious luck. Thus, if we look closely, it is easy to understand that two thirds of our lives are within our hands to mold, to shape, within our power to develop, to change. This is very encouraging the way I see it. Perhaps our fate hangs over us but in the here and now, we can all commit ourselves to living the best life, the safest life, the happiest life, the most abundant life every day of every year.

I adore studying the concepts of feng shui. I find the theories exciting and useful. I am mesmerized by the rich significance of feng shui symbols. I am enchanted by feng shui interior design. I love working with clients helping them to create happy homes where balance reigns sublime. In my actual practice and experience, I have never looked at feng shui as an old fashioned Chinese mythology from a foreign culture. It has never been for me a series of out dated formulae that have no relevance to modern life. Over years of applying feng shui principles to real people in real homes and offices, it has never ceased to amaze me how valid, correct and potent the results of feng shui can be. The wisdom of its subtleties and nuances have encouraged a workable, creative, positive paradigm for improving my life, all life.

I encourage you to follow along with me through the days and months and hopefully years of this “blob” or blog, or whatever you may want to call it so that I can help you understand, uncover and simplify many feng shui principles so that we all can apply them. I am excited by the prospect of continued writing and sharing about a subject so dear to my heart and I encourage your feedback, your comments and your questions. I am committed to answering them all as best I can. It is fitting on this first day of spring and renewal of nature to lift our crystal glass to learning, to balance, to life.