Fengshui: The movement of energy

Energy moves. That is its inherent nature. Whether the Feng Shui practitioner is observing the forces of Ying and Yang, the modulations of the I Ching, the cycles of The Five Energies, or the behaviour of energy in your home, all is in motion. Ordinarily our senses perceive the most obvious forms of motion - traffic passing by in the street or the cool rush of the wind against the skin. We are less conscious of the subtle movements of energy as it passes invisibly through the space of an open room or the vibration of the patterns of energy in the walls and furnishings.

Subtle movements of energy are unfolding all the time. We are immersed in them and experience them, whether awake or asleep. We feel uneasy, restless, or impatient when we sit in one corner of a room. We change chairs to sit in another corner; for some reason we find it more refreshing or more tranquil. We go to someone's home, perhaps for a party; instinctively we avoid standing by an open doorway and seek another part of the room. Countless moments like this in our everyday lives arise from our inherent awareness of the energies in our environment.

Invisitble designs

Our experience of the movement of energy varies. Suppose we are in a warm room and it is cold outside. We open a window on one side of the room and open the door on the other side. The cold air surges straight through. We can literally feel it and breathe it. But we cannot see it. It is an invisible design that weaves its way through the space of our room.

It could be misleading to think of all energetic patterns simply as wind rushing through. If we take the analogy with the wind too far, then, when we think we feel nothing happening in the air, we may tend to assume that there are no energy movements going on.

In most circumstances, the natural tendency of energy is to circulate in a series of curves, sometimes sweeping around a room in a single wave, sometimes more forcefully spinning through the space.

Circulating energy
As energy enters this room, it fills the entire doorway. It moves through the room, making a lazy circle around the whole area before moving on. A person sitting in the path of the entering energy will feel a subtle sense of disturbance and will probably not be at ease. On the other hand, a person sitting in the corner that is foremost in the drawing may sense that the area is somehow lifeless, since the current of energy by passes them.