Sheri Ruston - Feng Shui Health and Wellness Specialist Feng Shui Health and Wellness Specialist, Sheri Ruston, can teach you how to create a supportive environment within your home and within your body to dramatically improve your health, well-being and mindset. As you know, your health is your wealth. When you don’t have great health your relationships, your family life, your finances, and your career suffers. Sheri’s innovative healing approach combines her wisdom of simple Feng Shui principles along with her health expertise which she discovered on her journey of healing her body from a 35 year autoimmune disease. Having experienced the power of Feng Shui in her own life, Sheri's mission is to empower women from around the world to consciously create their best lives now by having optimum health. website: www.theflowdoctor.com

Q. How did you get involved with Feng Shui and did it come naturally to you?
A. Well, I remember back as a child I would rearrange the furniture in my bedroom all by myself. I was determined to make the changes and somehow found the strength to move very heavy pieces of furniture around my room. Then, at one point, I decided I wasn’t happy in my current bedroom and asked my parents if I can take the smaller bedroom down the hall. They agreed. So I moved all my stuff to the other room. At the time, I had no idea about Feng Shui. But now that I think back, I’m sure that I picked up on negative energy and intuitively knew that I needed to move down the hall.

I learned of Feng Shui about 9 years ago when I sat in on a lecture given by two Feng Shui Consultants at a local Barnes & Noble (bookshop). I was intrigued. At first it started to make sense to me. Then I started thinking it was hokey. I thought to myself “how can moving a couch change someone’s life?” But when I really started researching and doing lots of reading it all made sense to me. I discovered that Feng Shui is based on quantum physics. I definitely believe that everything is composed of energy and we can be affected positively or negatively. So I decided to study Feng Shui in depth and got certified as a consultant.

Q. Why did you choose to focus on Feng Shui for Health and Wellness?
A. Health and wellness are close to my heart because of my personal healing journey from Crohn’s disease. Because of this, I’m really passionate about educating others about how they can create optimum health by redesigning their home to create a supportive environment for healing and also redesigning their diet by giving their body the proper nutrition for healing. Many people aren’t aware that the energy in their home and the way it’s arranged significantly impacts their health.

Q. What do the words Feng Shui mean and where does it originate from?
A. The literal translation of Feng Shui is “wind” and “water”. Wind represents the unseen energies in our environment and water represents the energies we do see.

Feng Shui came about because of the Chinese agrarian tradition thousands of years ago. The first school of thought was called Form School. Like its name, Feng Shui practitioners decided to look at the form or shapes of the land and mountains to determine the positive or negative influences on man and his environment. Practitioners also looked at the weather conditions to determine the best locations for farming, working and living. In ancient China it was considered lucky to have the mountain at your back on the north side of a river with your house facing south. The mountain was viewed as protection from invaders and harsh weather conditions, the sun to the South provided warmth and light for growing crops and the river provided water for crops.

Q. Can you describe the purpose of Feng Shui?
A. I like to refer to Feng Shui as acupuncture for the home. The acupuncturist looks for meridian points in the body and strategically places the needles so that the chi (energy) will flow easily and effortlessly. Making Feng Shui adjustments to the home restores imbalances and corrects the flow of chi. To adjust the flow of energy in an environment, in Feng Shui we use color, lighting, symbolic imagery, sound, plants, water features, and the proper placement of furniture. The goal is to create a supportive and harmonious environment for those who live there.

Q. Why do you think this ancient method has been such a success all over the world?
A. I think Feng Shui is being used all over the world because people have discovered that it’s a science based on quantum physics and it works. This ancient Chinese practice of placement offers a system for arranging your home or workspace. Intuitively the system makes sense to most people.

Q. Has the Feng Shui method developed into different forms? A. Yes. There are many schools of thought. It can be confusing if you go to the bookstore because some books will talk about direction: north, south, east and west. This is called Compass School Feng Shui. The school of thought that I studied is Black Hat Feng Shui based on Buddhism. It’s a spiritual Feng Shui and the backbone is based on intuition. The books will mention a Bagua or energy map rather than direction.

Q. How are the 5 Elements integrated in Feng Shui?
A. In Feng Shui the 5 elements are used when decorating each room of a home. By bringing in the 5 elements of nature and adds balance to your environment. That’s what Feng Shui is all about. Below are the elements and some characteristics describing them.

Here's an exercise for you to do. Choose one room in your home or office where one element dominates. Then take some of those objects out of this room and add some objects that represent the other four elements into your space. Notice how you feel in the room. By mixing the five elements just right, you'll have an environment that feels great.

	WOOD - The color green - Wood furniture and accessories - Wood paneling or floors - Art depicting flowers, gardens, trees - The columnar shape; i.e. pedestals, stripes, columns - All plants and flowers including silk and plastic
	FIRE - The color red - All lighting including candles - Pets - Art depicting animals, people, sunrises and sunsets - Triangular shaped objects
	EARTH - The color yellow and earth tones - Ceramic objects - Brick or tile - Square and rectangular shaped objects - Art depicting earthy landscapes such as the desert
	METAL - The colors of silver, grey or gold - All metal objects - All rocks and stones such as marble and granite - Natural crystals, rock, gemstones - Metal or stone sculptures
	WATER - Colors of dark blues and black - Anything reflective such as mirrors, glass, cut crystal - Free flowing objects and asymmetrical shapes - Water features - fountains, fish tanks, lakes, streams, rivers, canals

Q. Can you explain about the importance of including colours in our homes? How can colours improve the chi in our homes?
A. Colour is important aspect of Feng Shui. It's okay if a few walls are painted white or beige, but try to include a variety of colours throughout the rooms in your home or workspace. After all, we live in a colourful world. Feng Shui is about bringing nature indoors. Mother Nature created beautiful blue skies, gorgeous green grass, a vibrant yellow sun, multi-coloured flowers and blue-green oceans. Lack of colour creates a feeling of depression because colour affects our emotions. We’re not meant to live or work in a dull, drab environment. Besides, it’s boring!

In a neutral environment, the chi doesn’t know where to stop and go. Therefore, the chi bounces around the home creating a chaotic environment. This can affect the people living there. They might feel depressed or anxious.

If you’re not used to having coloured walls it might take time for you to adjust, so start slowly. Why not paint an accent wall? And, by the way, the colours that surround you definitely need to be colours that you love. You should also choose colours for the intent of the room. For that reason you wouldn’t want to paint fire engine red walls in your child's bedroom. The intention is to have your child sleep soundly and not have her sneaking into your bed in the middle of the night.

Q. For people living in rental accommodation where the walls are bare and white, how can the Feng Shui be simply improved whilst keeping a landlord onside!
A. If you live in a rental then you can ask your landlord if you can paint your home and then offer to paint the walls back to white before you leave. And who knows you may be pleasantly surprised. Your landlord might end up loving your colourful place and let you leave it that way when you move out!

Q. How can Feng Shui work with our feelings? Can you give some examples how it benefits our emotional state?
A. Our physical environment mirrors our current lives and what’s going on emotionally inside us. If your home is filled with clutter and chaos, your life will lack clarity. If the walls of your home are bare and you choose not to decorate, then most likely your life feels empty.

Many people think because their housing is temporary there’s no need to “make it a home.” I used to think this way before I studied Feng Shui. I learned no matter how brief your living arrangements may be you must personalize your space, surround yourself with things you love, and make it represent who you are. The more you nurture and care for your home, the happier you’ll feel.

Q. What is space clearing and why is it important?
A. Whether you're aware of it or not, you are being affected by invisible energies twenty four hours a day. These energies may come from the earth, memory of trauma held in your home, business or land, from electrical appliances, or the people around you.

Thoughts and feelings (good and bad) from the previous occupants, and from you, remain in your home as ‘emotional residue.’ Just like rooms collect dust and dirt which are visible to the naked eye, there is invisible energy that accumulates all around you. As we all know, we must vacuum and dust our homes on a regular basis. It’s also necessary to clear the energy of your space.

The energy in your surroundings affects you on many levels. Negative energies in your space can influence your health, well-being, finances, and even the ability to sleep soundly in your home. Also, electromagnetic radiation (EMF) from electronics in your home such as microwaves, cell phones, clock radios, televisions, and computers can also impact your health. Some people are living and working in toxic environments and they’re not even aware of it. Their health is suffering and they go to the doctor or healer to try to get well. And they’re not getting well. It just might be that the energy in their home is stagnant and needs clearing. Most of the time, these negative energies can be cleared and released creating a space that nourishes and supports you. I’ve tested many different types of space clearing methods. The method I use now was taught to me by Eric Dowsett, a world-renowned expert in the energy clearing field. This specific dowsing technique actually tells me where the toxic energy is located in the home and what’s causing it. I was trained on how to clear the negative energy. This method should only be used by a trained professional. Otherwise, the health of the person who is dowsing can be compromised.

Q. When entering someone’s home can you feel the energy of a room and if so how and what is this energy?
A. When I consciously tune in I can feel the energy of a space. But I prefer to use my dowsing rod to lead me to the negative energy. I like to compare using the rod to putting on a pair of glasses to help improve vision.

There are different energies that I tune in to. Metaphysical energies are negative thoughts and emotions that remain in a space. I also dowse for geophysical issues such as fault line activity, gamma radiation, and electromagnetic radiation. Most of the time when the rod leads me to this energy, I can feel the negativity.

Q. What is a personal clearing and why is it important?
A. A personal clearing is a gentle, non-intrusive method which allows me to tune into my client’s personal energy fields and sense areas of imbalance on an emotional, physical, and spiritual level. Our subconscious mind memorises all of our feelings about every event (good and bad) we’ve ever experienced and encodes these memories in the cellular structure of our body. This affects the way we live our life and prevents us from healing.

This subtle but powerful clearing creates a compassionate space to release these old patterns and negative beliefs. After the personal clearing people feel empowered, gain clarity, release stress, and move beyond limitations they never knew existed.

A personal clearing is important because we are connected to our homes and we mirror each other. If we’re sick or stressed, the energy in our home will become stressed. Or, on the other hand, if there’s negative energy remaining in our home, our health and well-being will be impacted.

If the space is cleared and the occupant of the home is not, the negative energy the person is holding will adversely affect the space.
The space will return back to the state it was before the clearing rather rapidly.

My services are unique because I combine and provide personal clearings along with space clearings. I am one of the few Feng Shui Consultants who does this. By providing the personal clearing along with the clearing of the space, my clients have a complete foundation for optimal healing.

Q. How are your services different from other Feng Shui Consultants?
A. My Feng Shui business focuses solely on health and wellness. My services combine my Feng Shui knowledge with the art of dowsing for clearing a space and clearing a person, and then I also do diet and nutritional counselling. After all, our homes and our bodies are our temples. It’s important to nurture both to create optimum health.

Q. Why would someone need to hire a Feng Shui Consultant rather that reading some books and making their own changes?
A. When you’re living in your home you can’t be objective and it’s impossible to really see what’s going on. Just like you can’t be your own proof-reader when writing. It’s hard to notice your mistakes and misspellings. If you’re serious about moving forward at a rapid pace, there’s no “do-it-yourself” method. It’s really important to hire a Certified Feng Shui Consultant who is professionally trained in this field.

Q. You offer your services from a distance. How does this work?
A. For a Feng Shui consultation, I use a floor plan and photos of the person’s home inside and out. I can do a complete analysis from a distance. I read the floor plan like a doctor reads an x-ray. I’ll have a formal consultation with my clients over the telephone giving them a complete plan of action to move forward with their health and wellness goals.

I can also do a space clearing from a distance by dowsing on their floor plan. I’ll feel the energy just like I’d feel it from being there in person.

Personal clearings can be done from a distance as well. I do them over the telephone. We’re energetic beings and are all connected so distance is not an issue. I have many clients from all over. The clearings are just as effective from a distance.

Q. How can you convince the sceptic that Feng Shui is actually a method that works?
A. Have them speak to Donald Trump!

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Many Thanks Sheri for taking part in this interview!

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