The importance of this year

The Year of the Sheep (Wei) starts on February 19, 2015, and ends on February 7, 2016.

The sheep is a symbol of peace, creativity and the arts. It relates to peaceful and nurturing times.

This year people will unite in the belief that good will prevail. It is the year when faith will win over the negative forces that refuse to comply with a harmonious way of life. For those who trust in righteousness, joy and success will definitely follow.

Create a yang water feature like a waterfall, koi fish pond or rolling ball fountain in the east of your garden for unity, success, prosperity and good health.

East is also a primary wealth area from 2004 to 2024. help a child enormously,” she says. And there’s one colour she warns against using in bedrooms – red.

“It’s considered a volatile shade,” she says. “It can ignite tempers in relationships and lead to ill health, arguments and unpleasantness. In fact, you need to be careful even when using this shade in other rooms. You can use it on one wall in your dining, or living room but never in your bedroom.” hile on the topic of bedrooms, she says an important feature to bear in mind is decor.

“First, do not use furniture that has sharp edges because it can affect your aura and thereby your relationship with your spouse. If there’s a sharp-edged piece you just love, ensure you do not sit with the edges pointing towards you.”

Many of the feng shui principles are common sense, she says.

“If every time you enter the bedroom you end up banging against the furniture and hurting yourself, you will be angry and upset and the night is surely not going to be a happy one,” she says.

Similarly, she warns of having the bedside table with its corner pointing to your head. “Believe me, you are sure to have headaches if you don’t change its position.”

Samita has another tip for bedrooms, “Never have a mirror facing the bed.” The feng shui principle is a mirror doubles everything – so if your mirror faces the bed, you are, ahem, doubling the people in your relationship.

Also, because bedrooms are areas where you relax and rejuvenate, mirrors facing beds can double your energy, therefore making you hyper.

Ideally, she says, when you are in bed, you should be seeing either a nice plain wall, or a calming picture, or a comfy sitting area.

“However, remember, a mirror reflecting the dining table with a bowl of fruit is a good thing, because it doubles abundance.”

Samita suggests avoiding having the bed’s headboard against the bathroom wall. “It will end up draining you of your mental and physical health,” she says.

“The kitchen is one of the most important areas of the house and considered the prosperity position. It is important because there are two primary elements – water and fire – in the same area. As these are conflicting elements, care should be taken when designing the kitchen so that the water area – the sink – and the fire area – the cooker – are a little away from each other. Ideally the sink and stove should be at an L shape.”

But what if that’s not possible, particularly in studio apartments where sink and stove are in the same line? Samita suggests a solution: “Place a small potted plant between the two, which means creating a wood element energy that ends up being beneficial,” she says. itchens, she says, should not be painted red, black or blue. “Use earthy tones, white, a sunny yellow or even soft green.” An important point: never leave washroom doors open and keep the lids of the toilet down when not in use. Also, never ever hang pictures of people, particularly of children – yours or of children in general – in the washrooms, she says.

“I recently visited a young couple’s well done-up house in Dubai. The woman, my client, told me they were having relationship issues. Everything in the house seemed fine until I opened their washroom and saw the reason for their problem there: a beautiful statue of a romantic couple. The statue there was causing their relationship to quite literally go down the drain.”

Samita says that barely a fortnight after they removed the statue from the washroom, the couple’s relationship came back on track.

So, what according to her is the most important problem in homes? “Clutter,” says Samita. “Keep your home clutter-free.

“I’ve done workshops only on clutter therapy – how to get rid of clutter in different areas of your life, such as personal as well as professional.

“Clear clutter and there will be an improvement in your life.”

‘A mirror reflecting the dining table with a bowl of fruit is a good thing as it doubles abundance’

For a feng shui consultation contact Samita Khanna, master consultant, Feng Shui Arabia, on samitakhanna@hotmail.com or 050 656 0628.