DIY Feng Shui, Part 16: The Health and Family Area (Resilience)

This area – the middle of the left side of your house when facing the house from the front door – is popularly known as “Health and Family,” but I sometimes like to call it the resilience area. The image associated with it is a thunder storm over a lush, healthy forest of strong trees. In the I Ching, it’s associated with the term “shocking thunder,” and the idea is that when we live in healthy coexistence and alignment with our family, ancestors, friends, and the world around us even those shocks to our lives – things that might initially seem like traumas, dramas, and setbacks – end up making us stronger, wiser, and more vibrantly alive.

Even those of us who have family relationships that seem beyond repair in the external world can still find an inner alignment and acceptance that allows us to process the seeming challenges and grow from them on every level that we are.

When this area is activated and flowing, we feel continuous: like our roots go deep into the past and like our legacy will live on in the minds and lives of others after we pass out of this physical form. This area has to do with deep personal and family karma, and living bravely in the midst of seeming struggle and discord, as, in the words of the proverb, “Into every life, a little rain must fall.”

Additionally, when this area is in balance in our lives, we feel physically healthy and strong.

To summarize, this area has to do with feelings of physical and emotional health, community, heritage, and past. It gives us a feeling of rooted-ness that allows our branches to reach upward to the light, and, as a result, facilitates our ability to play, enjoy life, and take risks.

In your home, this area is aligned with the colors green and blue, as well as healthy plants, things made of wood, and images of trees and forests. Images of lush forests, especially, can be a great affirmation of the energies associated with this area.

Water features, mirrors, or images of water can secondarily support the wood element (this area’s native element), as water nourishes wood.

If this area is in your bedroom, I suggest having an image of a forest, which is rooted and relaxed, but choosing warm or earthy colored bedding – not blue or green, as these can be chilling to intimacy and coziness.

If this area lies outside of your home, I suggest energetically completing the space by planting a tree or two (or even better, if you have room, three) along the line of the missing area outside. If you don’t have access to the outdoor area, you might hang art with depth depicting a forest to create the illusion of space in this area.