Feng shui: In harmony with our surroundings

Jeannie Tower has been organizing people’s lives since 1995 through the ancient Chinese medicine “feng shui.”
Tower is a consultant who runs her own business, Feng shui Magic, dedicated to designing a space with an individual’s goals in mind.

“Everything is energy,” Tower said. Dubbed “acupuncture for the home,” feng shui is “a part of the holistic sense of emotional, spiritual and physical health,” Tower explained.

Tower has been teaching classes at First Class Inc. in Dupont Circle for 13 years. Her next class is March 29 at 10 a.m. She also makes house calls to businesses, homes and cubicles.

“I enjoy working with people in their homes,” Tower said. “I have many repeat clients who start off in apartments, then now own their own homes.”

Most of Tower’s clients are single women who want partners.

“Everyone’s home tells a story, and some women have lots of pictures of single women in them,” Tower said. “Their bedrooms have one table, and half their bed is covered in books. I build with them and work through their home. My forte is not clutter; it’s bringing in a different type of energy.”

When Tower makes house calls, she brings a little puzzle with her to help with her feng shui. She helps others organize by getting rid of things they absolutely don’t want in the house.

“I review the process again with the client, and most of the time they have a wavering pile, and then finally other things they are in no way ready to get rid of,” Tower said.

For those who are looking to try out feng shui on their own, Tower said there are a lot of books about the subject.

“Of course, though, the book can’t replace the experience,” she said.

Towers said that some people end up with feng shui clutter, some of which can be items as little as a red coin.

“People sometimes miss the bigger picture of what’s going on in a house,” Tower said. “Homes can sometimes be too yin or yang — they are too fast. I mean, kids sleep in racecar beds at night when things should be calm.”

According to Tower, people should start in the bedroom. “As a society, we suffer from lack of sleep,” she said. “We need to move stuff around if it’s too cluttered, or at least out of the bedroom.”

Tower also recommends putting up a picture of how you want a room to look, or perhaps a picture of your cluttered room in order to remind them of what it could be.

“I consider myself very organized,” Tower said. “I was an Army brat, so we constantly grew up with the mentality, ‘Get rid of it, we’re not moving it.’”

Tower has tons of success stories, she said. She shared a letter written by a female client whose husband suffered a stroke.

“He wouldn’t get out of his chair, but once I moved their exercise room farther away from electrical panels, it was like a miracle; he got out of his chair,” Tower said. “He got off all his meds and the client shared that their bedroom felt much better and more secure. They felt more like a couple.”

Tower recommends the Web as a resource for feng shui. Those who are interested in working with Tower should call her at 703-684-6502 or visit her website at www.fengshuimagic.com .

“Feng shui is an easy way to change the direction of your life,” Tower said. “We lack connection with our environment because we spend so much time inside. We’re not a very healthy country.”

An objective analysis of your space:

• Optimize your home/office for success and abundance
• Improve your health and sleep
• Create a feeling of renewal and optimism
• Remove stagnant chi that may be blocking areas of your life
• Clarify colors, reveal energetic patterns and improve placement
• Align you with beneficial chi and raise the vibrational field in your home through art, placement and cures

courtesy of fengshuimagic.com