Remember that song from the Brady Bunch when Peter’s voice was changing?  When I was a kid, I used to love to watch the Brady Bunch.  I also loved to re-arrange my bedroom.  I’d either get a new toy, a new piece of furniture or simply out of boredom I would feel the need to make a change.  And just like that, excitement fills my chest and I get a rush of adrenaline.  I ask myself, “oh, boy, where can I put this?” or “where can I move that?” But then, stress takes over.  There’s no room for this new item.  What was I going to do?  I couldn’t take anything out, I loved all my possessions.  The entire task becomes an exhausting emotional rollercoaster, up and down, stress and excitement.

 

You wouldn’t think the reshuffling of personal belongings to make everything fit in an area would be such a challenge mentally.  Sure, moving furniture could be considered physical activity, but mentally taxing?

 

Well, there actually are two forms of rearranging that most certainly involve all aspects of the physical being.  Feng Shui and neuroarchitecture.

 

Feng Shui, is an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is a complex body of knowledge that reveals how to balance the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it.

 

Feng means wind and shui means water. In Chinese culture wind and water are associated with good health, thus good feng shui came to mean good fortune, while bad feng shui means bad luck, or misfortune. It is concerned with the flow of energy in your space to make it environmentally healthy.  This includes its physical health as well.  If a space isn’t healthy, you probably won’t be either.

 

Neuroarchitecture looks at how factors like light and room layout affect well-being.  “The premise is to consider how each feature of the architectural environment influences certain brain processes such as those involved in stress, emotion, and memory,” says Eve Edelstein, PhD, adjunct professor at the New School of Architecture & Design in San Diego and a research consultant to the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture.

 

Neuroarchitecture is a discipline that seeks to explore the relationship between neuroscience and the design of buildings and other man made structures that make up the artificially created environment that most human beings live within. More specifically, neuroarchitecture addresses the level of human response to the components that make up this sort of built environment. The underlying purpose is to assess the impact that various structures have on the human nervous system and brain.

 

Whatever you call it, Feng Shui or Neuroarchitecture, determine what relaxes you, what causes stress.  Then, get your beloved possessions in the desired room, make a couple tweaks here and there, plop down in your favorite chair, take a quick glance around the room and voila!  You’ll find you can create an environment in tune with your needs and desires.

 

Ohm……

 

 

Sources:

 http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/homestyle/07/02/o.bed.bath.bliss/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui

http://fengshui.about.com/od/thebasics/qt/fengshui.htm

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Feng_Shui/id/5612512

http://www.ecosalon.com/neuroarchitecture/

http://www.carolehyder.com/FSStories/physical.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neuroarchitecture.htm