New Beginnings and a New Book!

Anjie Cho April 14, 2023

Happy April!

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere like me, I hope you’re enjoying the transition to warmer weather! In feng shui, spring is connected to the Zhen area of the bagua, also called New Beginnings or Family.

On the opposite side of the bagua from Zhen is Dui, also known as Completion or Children. These two areas are deeply connected, and as feng shui practitioners, we often look at both places when someone is wanting support in starting or completing things.

One new beginning in my life that also reflects the completion of a big project is the release of my second book, Mindful Homes: Create healing living spaces with mindfulness and feng shui. I’m really excited to share it with the world — you can find it wherever books are sold! If you want to learn more about this book and how it’s different from my first book, Holistic Spaces, you can listen to this podcast episode.

Are you starting anything new in your life right now? How can you embrace new beginnings?

READ ABOUT FENG SHUI FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for Spring

Feng Shui & Color: Green and Blue

Q&A Sunday: Kickstarting a New Beginning, Energetically and Spiritually

New Beginnings with the Vernal Equinox

PODCAST EPISODES ABOUT FENG SHUI & NEW BEGINNINGS

Feng Shui for New Beginnings in Spring

Feng Shui Tips for Moving into a New Home

Spring Equinox and the Wood Element

Feng Shui 101: The Bagua Map Part 1

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for Spring

Guest User April 11, 2021

Do you have any feng shui tips for spring?

This is very timely since we’re welcoming spring in the Northern Hemisphere, where I’m located!

There is actually an area of the feng shui bagua map that’s related to springtime: the Family or New Beginnings area, called Zhen in Chinese.

Zhen is connected to new beginnings of any kind, family matters, as well as the season and energy of spring. It’s represented by the colors blue and green, the number three, and tall, columnar shapes (like the trunk of a tree). It’s also related to the element of yang wood. To get a sense of yang wood energy, imagine a new blade of grass pushing out of the soil.

In winter, our focus is more interior and we often don’t go out a lot. In spring, we start to come out of our shells a bit more. You can visualize the energy of a sprout pushing through a seed’s shell. Another way to imagine this is a butterfly coming out of its chrysalis. It has transformed inside the chrysalis, and is now ready to emerge in its new state. This is the type of energy we’re welcoming in the spring.

This is also part of the energy of Zhen position. Zhen is a great area to activate in your home if you have trouble starting new things, if you want support in starting a new project, or if you want to invite more harmony in your family.

When I teach my students, we work with something called the Nine Star Path, which starts with the number three. Three represents new beginnings. One and two are the parents, and three is the child, the number of creation and creativity.

If you’re new to feng shui, or if you want to reset your home, you can activate this area by placing something with intention in Zhen position. This can be a green plant, a water fountain, a crystal, or anything that resonates with you and represents new beginnings.

I hope you all have a beautiful beginning to the spring!

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

New Beginnings with the Vernal Equinox

Anjie Cho March 22, 2017

It may not seem like it, with our recent blizzards, snowstorms and cold temperatures, but it is finally spring! As of March 20, we have experienced the Vernal Equinox and are moving toward warmer weather and new beginnings.

In fact, though we often associate the change of seasons with temperature, the equinoxes and solstices are actually all about sunlight! On the Vernal Equinox, the sun crosses the celestial equator heading north, and all around the world, regardless of time zone, the day and night are roughly the same length. Once the equinox (which is Latin for "equal nights") passes, the Northern hemisphere can finally look forward to longer days of sunlight and yang energy. In ancient times, these changes in the sun's position were the only way of determining the new seasons and calendar days!

Practically, and in feng shui terms, the arrival of spring is symbolic of the new beginnings of life and growth throughout. Worms begin tunnel their way out of the earth, trees and plants show foliage once more, and the extra sunlight even makes birds sing more! With such positive energy, spring is a wonderful season for starting anew in any aspect of life. Renew your space with a good spring cleaning and/or space clearing, clean out your closet to make way for beautiful new pieces you love, or just move nine things around in your space to stir up new energy. Now is also a great time to add new plant life to your home, open your windows to fresh air and sunlight and consider bringing additional wood element pieces into your space. If you're starting a particular project or hoping to make changes, you may even want to add a new beginnings mandala to your space!

Whatever steps you may take to welcome the spring season, be sure to express gratitude for the chance to start anew and offer thanks to your space for providing shelter and warmth throughout the colder months!

by Anjie Cho