Feng shui is the ancient Chinese belief that every object is composed of energy. Aligning your house according to the principles of feng shui is supposed to channel positive energy and make your home a happier place to live in. Because plants are alive and vibrant, they’re generally considered a great feng shui-approved addition to any home. While all plants are considered beneficial for your home, there are certain things you need to keep in mind.
You Have To Keep Them Alive
If you’re terrible at keeping your plants alive, then you should probably avoid bringing them into your home. Feng shui believes that plants bring positive energy and vitality into your home only as they’re alive. Dead plants suck out the positive energy and can affect your emotions and mood. If you don’t have a green thumb but still want to benefit from the positive effects of indoor plants, then you could try using low maintenance plants. The lucky bamboo plant is most often associated with feng shui and is believed to be the most effective at warding off bad luck. It also requires almost no maintenance, so as long as you remember to water them, they should be fine. If you do notice your plants dying, it’s important to remove them from your home immediately or prune any dead leaves. This will keep your home a happy place to live in.
Where To Keep Plants For Maximum Effect
A feng shui bagua gives you a map of the energy of your home and how they’re connected to different areas of your life. Because feng shui is primarily about influencing the flow of energy within a room, these baguas give you an idea of how to do that. With plants too feng shui specifies certain areas where they can have the best effect. East, South and Southeast areas of your home or office are the best spots to place plants in. These bagua areas are traditionally believed to be influenced by the Wood element, so having plenty of indoor plants in these areas strengthens it.
North bagua areas don’t do well with the Wood element, so placing plants here can adversely affect the energy within your home. While the West, Southwest, Northwest and Northeast areas of your home aren’t completely incongruous with the Wood element, it’s still advisable that you don’t put too many plants in here. Feng shui places great emphasis on keeping plants in those areas where you require energy, positivity and creativity. This is why you should definitely consider keeping plants in your workspace if you want to boost your productivity.
Best Plants For Feng Shui
While feng shui doesn’t technically forbid you from using certain plants, there are some plants which are thought to be better. Plants that purify the air are considered to be very good at bringing positive energy into your home. Areca palms are very good at removing toxins from the air and they’re not very difficult to maintain. They also do very well as indoor plants, so they’d make a great addition to your home or office. Money plants and lucky bamboos are also traditionally associated with feng shui. Money plants are considered to make a home more prosperous and increase their financial successes. Lucky bamboos are thought to be very powerful at dispelling bad luck from a home and bringing in only positive energy. Both these plants are also very easy to maintain.
Plants That Aren’t Recommended
Feng shui places great important on the visual appeal of plants and how they can affect us emotionally. Lush plants like ferns and palms are supposed to be energizing. Prickly, stout plants like cactus however, are thought to do exactly the opposite. Their prickly look is supposed to encourage bad energy to seep into the home.
