Feng Shui Tips for Back to School

Hey guys, welcome to the learn Feng Shui podcast where ancient tradition meets modern living and twice a month we cover a different aspect of Feng Shui or Chinese metaphysics. I'm Candice Berlanga, a certified Feng Shui practitioner and today we're going to cover the topic of back to school. Actually recycling an old episode but has some pretty good tips in there. a little bit shorter episode as I transition for my child's senior year back to school. But next month, we'll have two brand new episodes.

All right, guys. Let's get into back to school, how to make that transition, little organizing tips, as well as using your best directions for studying and a little tips for home organization, even if you're not going back to school. The first area we're going to take a look at is going to be the bedroom. If we look at the statistics, we spend a majority of our lifetimes sleeping. And that good quality sleep really is going to impact the way you feel as far as Feng Shui.

It relates to your self worth and your relationships. When we look at the room, we're going to want to look at things decluttering, cleaning, things like that. So, when we look at things like transitioning back to school, we're going to want to look at getting rid of some of that clutter, especially things that don't serve us any longer. And I know kids rooms do tend to get a little bit neglected, especially during the summer. We don't realize how much stuff they kind of accumulate.

Maybe dust builds up and inevitably closets need to clean out because they're outgrowing stuff. even our college students that are transitioning into a college life and campus and stuff like that. They have outgrown stuff whether it's physically outgrown or they just have stuff they just don't want anymore. Maybe they haven't used in a really long time. Looking at that, we need to start with the closet cleanout.

Getting rid of things that don't really fit anymore, things we're not going to want, and just kind of donating those things to a charity. One alternative I found is that I have a local mom group and it's just dedicate to free items for moms and children. Maybe you're doing a closet cleanout and you have an adult-sized child. Cleaning out those closets, donating to somebody who can really use it can be very helpful. The socks and underwear drawers always need to be cleaned out.

You know, kind of take inventory of what items are needed and just honestly I throw those away. I don't really try to donate those or recycle those because I feel like those are pretty personal. Another area we can kind of look at is the coats. Perhaps you have a coat closet. You're going to want to take stock of those coat closets and sweaters.

Check them for size. And if you didn't use them last season, consider donating them to somebody who can use them. Doing the laundry is going to be another big thing. I have a teenaged child and they really do tend to forget about their laundry. they know how to do it themselves, but it's one of those things that just gets overlooked.

Laundry gets pushed to the corner and half of it doesn't get done. You know, it's just kind of as needed. We're going to want to complete our laundry and then take stock of those drawers and closets to see what is needed. And shoes, we're going to want to go through our shoes to make sure we're not holding on to things that do not fit or have not been worn in the past couple years. I'll give it 2 years because sometimes we have things like boots and stuff like that that are winter wear.

If you didn't wear that last season, consider getting rid of it and donating it. You don't have to deep clean the entire room. But a nice room refresh, consider getting some new sheets or blankets. Adding things like an oil diffuser can add to a nice ambiance of the room. Maybe a wax melt burner.

Just depending on the age of your child, you're not really going to want to burn candles and incense and stuff like that if your child is a little bit younger. Obviously, we don't want to create a fire hazard, but remember that scent and smell of course can affect our mood and of the ambiance of the room. So, consider adding something nice and smelly to the space. Smelly in a good way. When we're looking at the bedroom, too, we're also going to want to look at installing systems.

So, bins and hooks that are within reach and of course assess the needs and habits. I know I talked about this in my Feng Shui for neurode divergence episode, but you're also going to want for smaller children to pair a few outfits up, maybe five to seven outfits for the week. That way, they can kind of have their choice and they don't come out looking crazy because we know that small children cannot pair or color coordinate an outfit very well. They tend to just grab whatever shirt, whatever pant, and go. So, putting a few outfits together for them can give them the option to just grab one hanger, put the entire outfit on, and they're ready.

You're going to want to put things where your kid can reach, drop zones where they can leave their shoes and backpacks. I know my kid uses iPads, like the school pretty much does exclusively online work now. So, even a charging station for the iPad in the evenings, can be very useful. And again, it creates that predictability. So, whenever your kid is running out the door in the morning, they are able to just grab their stuff and they know where it's at and go.

When we're looking at our bedroom, of course, we want to look at bed positioning because again, the bed position really does relate to those relationships, the self-worth and some health. We look at the bed position to assess those things. If your child is having a hard time sleeping if they seem to be struggling in school a little bit, positioning their bed can be very impactful. Try to position their bed using what are called Feng Shui forms or those Feng Shui rules, which is positioning the bed with a solid wall behind it, facing the door, but not in the same line of sight with the door. So, not looking directly out of the door.

and try to avoid overhead shelving, objects that are directly over the bed and placing the bed under beams and stuff like that. Sometimes bedrooms can be very tricky. Maybe they share with a sibling. Maybe it's just a smaller space. At the very least, you do not want to place their bed on the same wall that their door opens.

If you have your wall with your door, you're not going to want to place the bed on that same wall as it can create restless sleep and even result in nightmares. And so we definitely don't want that for our children. Smaller children, sometimes you want to have a line of sight to their room and you want to make sure they're okay and that's totally fine. So just gauge their sleep and if they do have bad dreams, you might consider adjusting their bed to a better fune position. And again, that's using fune forms.

Another area you might want to consider doing a little reset in and taking stock in is the kitchen. So, we know when we go back to school that dinners are going to need to be quick, sometimes ready when the kid comes home or at least giving them a snack. Maybe you're a parent that's not there when your child gets home and they ride the bus. Having bins and organization systems where they can just grab their snacks, whether it's in the fridge or in the cabinets and pantries, that is really going to help your child eat a little bit better, especially if you're not there to necessarily supervise them every afternoon. So, really just taking stock of what's in the kitchen because the kitchen and Feng Shui does relate also to your health.

Maybe do a fridge clean out. Do a pantry clean out and donate old food items that are still useful and throw away ones that are already expired. Moving now to the office here. I have a dedicated office in my home, but not everybody does. So maybe we're just looking at a area that your child studies in.

And this can be in their bedroom, too. I know that in Feng Shui they say don't have the study area or a desk in your bedroom because studying is an active or young energy. You're actively thinking and of course you're going to want to have yin or calm energy when you're sleeping. But it's not always possible to have a dedicated work area in your home or to put a desk anywhere else. Maybe that you only have room in your home to place a desk or to have your child study in their own room.

That is totally fine. When we're looking at study areas, we really want to make sure that it's conductive to focus and paying attention. Desk position follows the same rules as the bed position. So, when we're looking at fune, again, some of those rules apply to the bed, the stove, the desk is having your back against a solid wall, making sure you can see the door, but not directly. That way it kind of feels like somebody wouldn't be sneaking up on you.

Especially when you're working, you might be really focused. If you have to face a wall, maybe you could place a little mirror on the wall so you can see behind you just so you're not startled or you can see people enter the room. That's always the Feng Shui rule. And that does apply for desk positioning. Also, put a desk in a common area or maybe you just have them study in the same spot all the time, which is totally fine.

You can also position according to the what's called the literary star for the year. This is a shifting energy. You can't always chase that around and just position your desk anywhere within that sector of your home and you can use that what is called a literary star. Alternatively, you can use the monthly one which I usually talk about on the monthly energy updates. A more popular option is to use the eight mansion systems which is based on your year of birth and it's a system of Feng Shui that gives you those four positive directions and four negative directions.

The advantage of this is really you can use it anywhere. You can use this within the child's room or you can use it anywhere within the home and you can actually just set up a chair, a study area or a desk position in what is called the shingqi or lifegenerating direction. And you can find those pretty easily. I'm not sure if the calculator on my website will actually give you those eight directions, but what you can do is go to a website called Chinese Metasoft and you can plot your birthday out, your child's birthday out, whatever. And it it is a free service.

Just go to Chinese Metasoft and you can plug it in and I think it gives you a little bit more detailed information. And so you can definitely use that. But what you're going to want to do is actually face the shingi or lifegenerating direction. You would set up a chair or a desk or something like that in an area that the child would be facing that direction. If they're lifegenerating or shingi direction is north, you're going to want to point the chair where they're facing north when they're studying.

To finish up your office space, you are going to want to tidy up. You're going to want to organize your desk. Maybe take stock. Maybe you have some school supplies left over from last year. I know I have a bin of stuff that either doesn't get used all the way.

I have extra pencils, stuff like that. I'm going to make sure I clean that out and take stock before my kid brings home their school supply list. You're also going to want to just kind of go through the office. Some of you shred unwanted mail, unwanted papers, organize tax paperworks, and just kind of do a general cleanup or tidy up on your desk or study space so it's ready for the new school year. And that kind of applies also even if you're not the one going to school.

Maybe you just feel like you need a little spruce up on your office space. It really can help get the energy flowing. If you work from home, your work desk really is the place that brings you money. You're going to want to make sure that is free from clutter and things are organized periodically. It really is a good time of year to clean up your desk or workspace because we're going into that last quarter of the year is very shortly.

So, you're going to want to have all that organized so you can end out your year smoothly and have everything ready for January. All right, guys. Well, hope you all enjoyed today's episode where we covered all things back to school. Again, a little short and sweet episode today, but still relevant information for transitioning back to school. Next month, we'll also be covering the topic of grief in the season of autumn.

How does it connect? Well, we're going to talk about it. I'll catch you guys next month for all new episodes.