by Alfred E. Newman

Created on: July 05, 2009

Designing and creating a feng shui garden or patio area will increase the sheng chi of any landscape and is the most important part of your domain, the landscaping which encircles the structure of your home. By placing plants and shrubs, the buildings of your garden or simply adding a water feature to your patio garden area should reflect a oneness with nature and reflect your attitudes regarding life.

The garden should be a cozy getaway for you and therefore should be calming and stress relieving so you feel relaxed and comfortable in your outdoor room. An esthetically pleasing landscape surrounding your home should reflect modesty, be reserved and understated. Western gardeners, unlike feng shui masters of the Orient who believe that modesty, plus a friendly fitting into the landscape of your home is better that dominating the landscape with boldness .

A feng shui garden is much like a low maintenance garden as seen in England or a rock garden in a Japanese home. Simplicity of design rather than the over designed gardens of western Europe constructed with many corners, straight lines and angels. It does not matter if you live in a one bedroom home or an ornate mansion, the positioning of foliage, buildings and the five feng shui elements of wood, fire, metal, earth and water according to the feng shui principles helps in creating sheng chi in a harmonious, relaxing and stress free outdoor area.

Treating your garden patio area as if it was another room of your home, you would design the layout the same way you would feng shui and arrange any other room of your house. Feng shui gardens take the five element theory and the harmony of yin and yang to create a retreat for yourself and your partner. Creating a ba-gua map for a feng shui garden exactly the same as making one for a room. You will need to take readings in the eight compass directions so remedies may be employed to aid sheng chi or hinder the creation of si chi and guard against unwanted influences of each directions. All of these facets should be considered when placing garden elements.

Paths which take curved lazy course through the garden, wood, fire, water, metal and earth elements create and aid the free flow of sheng chi in the garden. Corners should be avoid at all cost but if that is not feasible then employing room remedies which freshen a corner and pushes sheng chi along while avoiding creating si chi. Gardens patio areas created on the principles of feng shui use foliage and soft calming colors to create a contrast of yin and yang aiding the calming and stress relieving affects of your garden retreat. Be sure that the flowers and feng shui elements employed are ones you will enjoy viewing in your garden. Perception of the implementation of the different schools of feng shui to construct a garden patio area adds another room to your home with which to generate sheng chi through careful landscaping of your environment.

http://www.herbalhealing.co.uk/feng_shui_gardens.htm

http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/feng-shui-garden .html

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