The Bagua is a Feng Shui energy map that shows you which areas of your space are connected to specific areas of your life. Earlier this month I had the chance to speak with my friend Sharon Breslin on how with clear intention, the Bagua can be used to make significant changes in your life. Listen in to discover the power of the Bagua and how focusing on the small can bring big changes.
Setting Intentions is not that difficult however setting them in a way where you have TRUE CLARITY in what YOU wish to achieve, is where the challenge can be. It starts by determining where your life is out of balance and listening to your internal voice so you can face what needs to be addressed.
Working with the Feng Shui Energy Map – the Bagua and a very specific ‘Intention’ can be very powerful. Without the ‘intention’ being clarified and focused upon you may not achieve as good a results.
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Transcript
The Bagua: Manifesting & the Clarity of Intention Feng Shui interview
Sharon Breslin: Welcome, everybody, to the Interior Alignment Blog Talk Radio show. Today, we are going to be talking about manifesting with the Feng Shui Bagua. But before we get started, I’d just like to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about the school itself and what’s happening and just what we’re all about.
My name is Sharon Breslin, and I’ll be your host for the next thirty minutes. A little bit about myself. I’m a master teacher with the Interior Alignment School of Feng Shui and New Zealander, or as we call ourselves “Kiwi”, and I’m based in Melbourne now, and loving being now called an Aussie. I also have a tour company called Lifestyle Journeys, and we take spiritual journeys around the world to many ancient sites. We work with the local indigenous groups. Probably this is what attracted me to the Interior Alignment School of Feng Shui in the first place because they, too, work with many of the indigenous ways, practices, their ceremony and the way in which they look at their environment and community and their people.
So, Denise Linn, the incredible founder of our school has spent a large number of years practicing as a powerful healer, where she lived with many of the indigenous groups around the world. In doing so, she became fascinated in the way in which each of these groups work with energy, space and their environment to support their communities in a deep and profound way. This lead her to write the second book in English on Feng Shui and also coin the term “space-clearing” as we know it today. You have to excuse me. I have a little bit of a cough. She’s a wonderful woman who respects the Earth, connects with spirits in a very humble and authentic way, and is now a sought-after speaker and also with the Hay House group.
We have a unique certification program including training in instinctive Feng Shui, space-clearing, medicine wheel Feng Shui and sacral alignment which is a powerful process to connect our clients to the environment. You can go to our website which is interioralignment.com or our Facebook page to learn more about the program. If you’d like a private consultation, you can secure a practitioner there to work with.
But, today, let’s get back to our topic, which is manifesting with the Feng Shui Bagua. I have a wonderful guest with me today, who is a dear friend of mine, Rosemary Nelson, who is based in Wellington, New Zealand. A fabulous landscape designer and of course Feng Shui consultant practitioner. Welcome, Rosie, are you there.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, I’m here, Sharon. Hi, how are you?
Sharon Breslin: Fabulous. I’m very good on this Sunday afternoon.
Rosemary Nelson: Hello, and hello, everybody.
Sharon Breslin: We have a wonderful topic to talk about today which is manifesting with the Feng Shui Bagua, and I know you have been delivering some workshops recently, and have come across some very interesting observations and also what’s so very important about giving certain aspects ways to manifest fully what you want when working with the Bagua. I just wanted to, before we start, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you’ve been going with your workshops and maybe just some of the observations that you’ve seen.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, yes, I’ve been running Feng Shui Made Easy workshops for people who are just starting out looking at the Feng Shui Bagua and how it’s relevant to their life. I’ve found it’s really good with small groups of women who want to actually share and talk about this and surprised at how much interest and also how much they know about it already. What I’ve come to learn through this is how they approach the energy map, it’s almost like they don’t see it as a three-dimensional chart or as a direct reflection of their lives.
Sharon Breslin: That sounds wonderful. You know, it seems such a simple thing at first, but the more you work with your clients and work with them on an individual basis and you look at what areas of their lives it is that they are wishing to rebuild or to alter in some way, you know, to … They might be blocked in a particular area or they might want to reintroduce something into their lives or they may feel like they’ve been missing something. As you and I know, that’s just the first layer, isn’t it? One of the things you had mentioned to me was the importance of fitting intentions to work with the bagua which is the energy map, and how you do that and how you go about getting clarity around the importance of fitting the intention or the clarity of the intention itself. Would you like to tell us a little bit about how you would go about doing that?
Rosemary Nelson: I have found that people have approached the Bagua and go directly to the abundance and the relationship sector to sort their life out, and when you’re going with intention, it’s different. You need to strip it back so that you’re actually clear on what is it that you’re asking or wanting to learn. What I’ve found is that when people look at intention in a bit more depth, like strip it really down it’s simplified to something that’s more immediate – something that they want to achieve or change in the present time. Often people have a big picture view of how they’re going to make changes and that can still be very much so as the overall direction of what you want for your life, but the first immediate one has to be much clearer and simpler than that. For instance, if you’re using it seasonally or weekly, then you know that has to be so much more current.
Sharon Breslin: Yes, I suppose the short term goals and, do you suggest that you do one at a time or you can put a selection in place? If so, how do you go about doing that?
Rosemary Nelson: I think, obviously, everybody has noble intentions, but what I’m learning to show people is that if they’re working with something that they’re looking at in their life at the present time that they want some movement in, it could be an emotional response, it could be a health issue, it could be the fact that relationships are in tatters. It’s looking at something that right now they need some help with so they can get change. Using the Bagua, they can start to actually implement it as it’s meant to be which is like a medicine wheel which has a lot of sections. One reacts to the other and only then can you create the dynamics of what’s happening with using the Bagua.
Sharon Breslin: Yeah, I think that’s a very valid point. Breaking it down so that it is actually achievable because you and I have also discussed that often if the intentional of the big picture is too big with a huge selection of areas that they wish to work in, it becomes too hard. What do they do first? You become scared and you don’t actually have as good of a result as you could have if you take it in the steps that you’re suggesting which is start with the short-term goal, work with that. We both know that if done in the right way, you can get results, very much within twenty-four hours, which is amazing. Maybe that’s actually a very relevant point, to focus on one thing closer to what’s needed for that initial move and once that result comes in within those, say twenty four hours, you can then reassess again and move forward with the movement, the flow of your intentions as well as aligning it with the energy map itself.
Also, you said to me that often people start with what is lacking in their lives, and, as you say, it’s often related to the abundance area. This can be a little bit unrealistic, and they need to look where within their life is out of balance. It’s not necessarily the part that’s missing. Would you like to explain that a little bit more, Rosie?
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, yes, that’s very true, Sharon, often they looking at what’s lacking and comes up as something that you want to change, then that’s where the bit of brainstorming around the issue does help. Because really you’re seeking some balance in some area of your life so that you don’t feel that lacking is the problem at hand. It’s really a matter of looking at the intention you’re seeking which could be anything relating to any quarter of the Bagua, and it could be a matter of going to the center, the health and well-being center and starting with feeling whole in yourself as you’re seeking an intention or seeking something that you want to change. That’s a good path where things can spiral out from like a bicycle wheel out to the other areas. Yeah, that’s what I have found that if you’re looking for more positive outcomes and looking for balance, then things can come to you, ideas can come to you, things present themselves or you come across something that you think “Oh, I hadn’t thought about that before.” That’s what I feel helps to get the energy going and the Bagua activated.
Sharon Breslin: Yes, I think, you know, without your health, you don’t have anything, do you? That’s not just your physical health. It’s the health of your bank account, it’s the health of your relationships, the health of your home itself. That central point where it pivots from is essential. You’re absolutely right, and to start there is a fabulous idea. Let me see now. We’ve also discussed how the elements associated with each area of the bagua are very very important and how this can be directly related to your own personality and then how to use it and to know where to start with the bagua map. Would you like to explain that a little bit more?
Rosemary Nelson: Yes. I have discovered that using your personal element, and what I mean about that is the element and the astrology of when you were born. For instance, I was born in the year of the pig and I’m a fire sign, fire element. That is an element that is personal to me, and I look at it in the Bagua and realize how and what fire does, it creates change. It also feeds and has a controlling and nourishing cycle around it. What I’ve discovered is when people use their elements, they have a better understanding of their strengths and their weaknesses or things that they actually need support with. Each zone does have its own elements, and when you can relate to that, you can start to see how that particular area might need some attention and that might not be an area that you would naturally go to.
Sharon Breslin: I just think that’s a fabulous analogy of how to work with the elements and also how to connect it to yourself very powerfully. I mean, with fire, the fire element, it’s very much about creativity and you are an extremely creative person, and without having that creativity and freedom to be creative, I can see that that would block you in many areas of your life. It makes great sense to focus and maybe start in those areas that are very personal to yourself and your characteristics and, you know, how you operate. Then look in ways in which you can then take that element out into the other areas that maybe you thought you should be focusing on. Fascinating, isn’t it?
Rosemary Nelson: When you start looking at the nourishing cycles and the controlling cycles within the Bagua, like I said before, that it’s making it a three-dimensional matrix, rather than just a big piece of paper you’re looking at trying to work out where you make changes. To me, that’s what makes it come alive. Go two directions, go back to your intention and figure out which area of your life to look more closely at
Sharon Breslin: Yes, that’s very true. First of all, I wanted to ask you, did you have any, maybe you could go back to the workshops that you were working at, that you’ve just run recently and give us an example of maybe one of the students or one of your participants and how they had one of those ah-ha moments and actually just discovered something about themselves as you taught them this? Maybe some live examples.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, well, I can’t put my finger on something immediate, but what I can say is the results I’ve get from the students are amazing – it’s like their lights suddenly come on. I help them to make changes that they need, that they perhaps wouldn’t accept was something that they needed to look at personally in their life. That’s where the group dynamic come into play, people are all in the same situation where to make changes sometimes having support is important – when you’re actually needing a wider inspiration or understand an element. I found that they all really responded to the fact their personal element -even at first a lot of them questioned that this was their element – but looking deeper, they can see that it did actually have some correlation to perhaps things in their life that they needed to address.
So, yes, the elements are amazing. The more you play with them, the more you see the elements of each area in the Bagua, like for instance the abundance and prosperity zone which people love – is the wood element. Now, you wouldn’t think wood would be in that particular quarter, how would you use wood to make prosperity grow, to enhance it. Obviously wood and water go together because wood is nourished by water so you can also looking at the water elements within you (we are 80% water) and see how you can add flow to the element of wood to make prosperity appear in your life.
Sharon Breslin: Yes, exactly
Rosemary Nelson: It’s like moulding something, it’s like playing with it to actually make some action happen, to look at it as something that is lacking. You’re looking at creating something using elements and how they interact with each other and making it come alive. Being that it’s so much easier to make personal changes in your images and personal changes and seeing results. Everybody loves results. That’s sort of what I’ve found in the workshops is that people arrive and the next time I meet them they’re a different person because suddenly they feel more empowered because they have got some way of making small changes that are really relevant to where changes are needed
Sharon Breslin: Because, of course, they would go home or to their office and start looking at everything with fresh eyes, and I’m quite sure that they would be going around and seeing specific elements and far too much of it in certain areas and then learning to relate it back to the emotions attached to that, the part within our lives that it affects and seeing how they can use the nourishing cycle rather then the controlling cycle and vice versa.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, and also what’s relevant to, when they put this on the layout of your home, they can start to see where that area falls. That also empowers them to start to say, oh, my element falls in an area that, it might be in self knowledge, they suddenly look at what’s there, and often they might say oh, that particular room, I haven’t done any clutter cleaning or do anything in that room. You know, obviously that’s the very place they need to look at. It’s just a matter of seeing where they feel in their home they want to make changes as well as in their personal lives. It could be in a relationship with a child and, so they’re looking where that child is sleeping and feel that the issue can be resolved by making changes for example where they actually put their head when they go to sleep. It could be in the family, in the foundation area. Family and foundation so important for making anything solid in your life. If you don’t put your foundations down, nothing is going to actually feel secure for you.
It’s just so powerful when you start to use the clarity of intention and where it relates to the layout of your home and you put all that together, that’s when I’m really seeing massive shifts
Sharon Breslin: Yes, and, as you say, they’re coming back to you and letting you know when they’ve had results. That’s just wonderful, isn’t it?Of course, you know, even seeking an intention can be very challenging in itself. Because what’s it doing, when you’re working with the likes of the Bagua, is really it’s making you look at yourself and go within to address, you know, maybe even things that sit on the subconscious that we’re no so necessarily aware of on the conscious mind. That’s why it’s so powerful and it’s known as an energy map because it’s an energy not just externally but also internally. We also know with Chinese medicine, they too work with the elements and that is related to the organs within the body. Therefore, you could take it another step again and as you work out your own personality type and what element is attached to you and your characteristics, you can also be aware of how that flows within the body and the different organs and start to look at maybe your own health and how maybe one particular element or organ has been under duress or strain. Then you can start to look at how to maybe work with the Bagua and your health and which elements to bring in to nourish you as an individual as well as the home, the physical environment itself.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes.
Sharon Breslin: There’s an awful lot we can do with this.
Rosemary Nelson: This is amazing, and that’s why the course, I called it “Feng Shui Made Easy” because you’ve got to start at the beginning to start to see that, you know, we’re talking with powerful energies here that can make changes, but until you start to get the feeling of how vital elements and how we live in our homes, then, you know all too hard, we give up basically. Because a home is a direct reflection of you and also direct reflection of your body, where you put your body to sleep, where you sit and entertain, where you look after your health and cook your food. It’s incredible when you start to see how that translates all through our lives.
Sharon Breslin: Exactly, and then of course, we could also you know talk about how the direction correlates with this as well and how you work with the bagua, the east, north, west and south directions and how they interact along with the elements is layer upon layer upon layer, isn’t there? I think you know you said it right at the beginning, Rosie, and that was to simplify things. Take one step at a time, let go and researching and go down a layer or two or three or four or five. Work with that. Then, once you fit that short term intention, that short-term goal, work with the physical space, put into that space the different colors, the different pieces of maybe plants, you know, bringing nature in, shift the furniture, put different items in place, look at the directions and see how that correlates as well, so very powerful indeed. Another topic with feng Shui.
Rosemary Nelson: It is amazing, and going back to that intention that’s why that clarity, if you feel empowered … It could be a daily intention, if you wanted to start so you felt like you were getting some results, then that’s a good way to get to the point. What you’re saying to your home actually can happen. That clarity of just the fact of I want my house to feel more spacious or whatever, it can be a simple, simple intention.
Sharon Breslin: Yes, and you know, I myself, I love working with the health area, starting in there. I fix my altar up in that area and every day when I get the chance, and it’s not every day, but I do try my best, I do spend a few moments and I light the candles on my altar. I have a little Tibetan prayer wheel, and just love standing there and asking and putting what I wish out into the universe with my prayer wheel, which is quite hypnotic. I imagine it spinning out from the heart of the home and actually you know out to the whole physical environment and then out to the land et cetera as well. It’s a great way to, I feel, to set your intentions and work with them.
Rosemary Nelson: Yes, most definitely. Daily prayer is, even a simple statement itself, is a great way to start every day, putting it out what you want. That’s intention in itself.
Sharon Breslin: Exactly, exactly.
Rosemary Nelson: You know, I’ve actually going to do good or do something to make me happy. A simple request like that is an intention as well. That’s what I said. Start with something simple and be very clear, and see how you get on.
Sharon Breslin: Exactly.
Rosemary Nelson: See the results. That’s what we want.
Sharon Breslin: Well, Rosie, we’ve only got a few minutes left here, so I just wanted to let everyone know how they can get hold of you especially to our New Zealand listeners. Rosie’s website is www.equate.net.nz. She has some wonderful services that she can provide, and as I said, she’s a landscape designer and a very, very good one at that. Of course, with her knowledge and skills in the Feng Shui area, she’s able to work with you on both the outdoor and indoor environments. Go and check out her workshops as well. They’re also loaded on the website. I also wanted to just have a chat. Rosie and I are very excited because we are headed up to San Luis Obispo to attend the Interior Alignment Conference, so for anyone that’s listening out there who wants to have an amazing weekend away and to immerse themselves into all things Feng Shui, make sure you come along. It’s going to be magic, isn’t it, Rosie?
Rosemary Nelson: Oh, yes, it’s going to be fantastic. Good chats, just talks with like-minded people
Sharon Breslin: That’s a very good way of describing, and we’re very excited because we’ve got people coming from all around the world and the different master teachers, and also, we have a keynote speaker, Denise Linn’s wonderful daughter, Meadow Linn. She’s going to share all of her knowledge on … She’s an amazing mystical chef, so she brings a lot of the Feng Shui aspects into food. I’m really looking forward to hearing her speak as well.
Rosemary Nelson: I think its going to be great, really great. You know, that heart, again, getting back to that center, the health and well-being. Just your attitude to what you eat will be just amazing. Sharon Breslin: Yeah, it’s going to be fantastic. To find out-
Rosemary Nelson: Sharon also is going to be talking at the conference.
Sharon Breslin: Oh, I am. That’s right, I’m going to be sharing my knowledge about the unique Feng Shui and space-clearing ways from around the world because I’m going to weave all in with my tours and how amazing the experiences you can have working with the indigenous people and learning about the unique, very special Feng Shui and space-clearing skills. I am very excited about that, Rosie, it’s going to be great. We’ve got two seconds left, so good-bye.
Rosemary Nelson: Good-bye then.