Feng Shui

Feng shui: letting the qi flow

Originating in ancient China, feng shui developed more than two thousand years ago. Its name literally means “wind and water”. This tradition looks at the way qi, the vital breath in traditional Chinese thought, gathers, flows and is retained within a landscape or a place. When it is favourable and alive, it is called sheng qi. Conversely, certain configurations are associated with sha qi, an aggressive or harmful qi. These notions belong to a broader understanding of yin and yang, also found in Chinese medicine.

Geobiology: reading a place

Geobiology, in its contemporary sense, studies the natural and environmental characteristics of a place: the nature of the subsoil, underground water, faults, electromagnetic fields and, according to practitioners, so-called telluric networks. This Western approach is often combined with feng shui in the way homes are arranged today, especially when deciding where to place a bed, a desk or a treatment table.

Harmonising the qi of your home

In feng shui practice, a major change in the life of a place is an opportunity to clean and reorganise it, in order to dispel the sha qi that has built up and encourage the return of sheng qi. Airing, decluttering, rethinking the layout of rooms and paying attention to how people move through the space are all ways of renewing the atmosphere of a home. This cleansing is often accompanied by a purifying gesture using plants or smudging.

Protecting the practitioner from miasmas

In traditional Chinese medicine, the term xie qi refers to pathogenic factors likely to disturb the body's balance, as opposed to zheng qi, the upright or defensive qi. It is often compared to what the West once called miasmas. In contemporary energy work, the notion is used in a more symbolic sense to describe what may linger in a treatment room after a session. Airing, cleaning and renewing the atmosphere of the room then become a ritual of transition, allowing practitioners to protect themselves and to welcome each patient into a calm space.

Mugwort, a protective plant in Chinese tradition

Mugwort, ai ye, holds a special place in Chinese tradition. During the Dragon Boat Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, bunches of mugwort are traditionally hung over doorways, often alongside other aromatic plants, to protect the household and ward off illness. Mugwort has also long been used in smudging and moxibustion.

It is this long tradition that we carry on in our own way: the mugwort we hand-pick in Occitania has been processed in our workshop since 1985 to make our moxa and smudging products.