Today, we understand that good gut health is essential to our overall health. In feng shui, this area is represented by the southwest and when the gut sector of your home is challenged or your home is constipated with clutter, the flow of your body and life can make you feel stopped up.
One of the most wildly popular feng shui books is Karen Kingston’s Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. And one of the topics she covers in the book – that few others have dared to touch – is the subject of the elimination system and its tie to your personal feng shui.
While it’s not a pretty subject to talk about, Karen deftly connects clutter in the house with the symbol of the internal clutter we all deal with daily: our colon.
She writes that your home is connected to every part of your body, and your colon is too.
The idea is that by looking at both your home’s clutter and removal of what’s unnecessary, used up, and needs to be purged, as well as the health of your colon, you’ll create greater health and well-being in all parts of your life.
What’s interesting is that she contends by clearing up your colon, you can help rid yourself of emotional issues that may have been buried for years. Heal Your Body health guru, Louise Hay, says that stomach problems are based on dread and fear of new situations and circumstances.
Even bad breath can be a symptom of stomach issues, and one that Hay says is a fixation on thoughts of revenge or personal experiences “backing up” on you and the inability to let go.
Either way, both are about the past. And that’s true of clutter. It’s about holding on to what’s no longer useful.
Being able to clear out old, unused items in your home is as essential as being able to eliminate waste. Both processes clear our homes and body for new energy that revitalizes our lives.
When we, or our homes, get backed up, life is more uncomfortable, our life flow is stopped up. We feel it both physically and symbolically.
I’ve seen clients finally be able to move past emotional blockages in their lives, marriages, and careers after a thorough decluttering and cleaning.
I’ve also seen resistant clients who love their thrift store and eBay buys and who can never seem to move forward in their lives, staying forever stuck in problems from their past as they live through other people’s castoffs.
If you’ve had stomach or elimination system complaints, take a look at these feng shui tips for helping you clear clutter – both at home and in your colon – and see if your life and elimination system improve.
Back door constipation.
In the house, hemorrhoids and fissures can often show up as clutter and mess at the back door. Yes, the backdoor of your home symbolizes your body’s back door too!
Clear out clutter and mess by the door, keep it swept and clear to help if you’ve got hemorrhoid problems.
Constipation equals clutter. Clutter equals constipation.
Whether it’s inside you or surrounding you, clutter and excess represent matter (or matters?) that you haven’t been gotten rid of or handled. Work on clearing out excess clutter, particularly at the back of the house (the less public side), and at the back door.
Work on emotional matters too.
Lay problems to rest – or handle them once and for all. Many stomach complaints can be symbols of denial and refusal to address matters and problems and resolve them.
Quite literally, stomach problems can symbolically show up as problems in relationships. That’s because relationships are represented by the stomach in feng shui.
If you’ve let someone run over you or you fail to stand up for yourself, that emotion may turn inward, creating stomach problems that could indicate you can no longer stomach a situation.
Hidden clutter symbolizes stomach issues.
Because constipation represents what’s hidden, look for hidden clutter such as the kind found in drawers (like those infamous junk drawers), desks, and closets as a source of constipation.
Constipation is a perfect metaphor for hoarding and the inability to let go of items and wanting more and releasing too little. It can also represent stinginess.
Work on ways to streamline drawers or closets and add organizers to make these areas more orderly.
Another common indicator of constipation? A messy desk. Little sticky notes, random papers, and ancient or non-working pens and pencils are a good sign that there’s a stoppage in your colon or stomach problems.
Emotions in the stomach.
When there are difficulties with the stomach, there are often problems with the area representing the abdominal area in our home, the southwest.
When the stomach is out of balance, so are the emotions because this is where we process many negative emotions (spleen, pancreas, liver, colon, kidney, stomach – fear, anger, worry, depression). Stomach problems can range from stomach rumbling, gas, diarrhea, or constipation.
When emotions are out of balance, we often feel it in our gut.
Work on the southwest corner of your home, living room, the bedroom, your home office, the kitchen, and the dining room. Keeping these corners clear and clean will help your stomach and your emotional health, and help relieve you of negative emotions.
And while you’re at it, consider working on your mental and emotional clutter and the ways your emotions may keep you trapped in life and cut off your flow.
Kick digestive problems.
Foot problems give lots of clues about problems in the body. Problems with the big toes, such as callouses and toenail issues can point to problems with the neck. Soreness on the inside ankles or arches can indicate kidney or bladder issues.
And the heel? The bottom of the foot shows the health of your bottom. When the heels are cracked it can indicate anal fissures or hemorrhoids. Get a pedicure and keep your feet in good condition for better overall health.
Get regular pedicures to keep feet and stomach health in good condition.
If you have severe foot problems such as fungus, be sure to see a podiatrist or your physician as severe foot problems can create a myriad of digestive and bodily complaints. Regular reflexology treatments are also a good idea for keeping the whole body in tip-top shape.
