Sleeping & other stuff - more questions!

[suda]

Dear Cecil,
Thanks so much for your detailed reply. But I must bother you for some more clarifications. I have a lot of questions, but if it is not too much trouble, will you please answer all of them?
You mentioned that it is good to have the head rest against a wall. Since I sleep on a mattress on the floor, would it help to pull it up against the SE wall - there is a big window on this wall which I keep open, but would this be fine?
On the south side, there is space between two cupboards. I would have to change their placement around a bit such that the smaller one faces me and the taller one has its side to me. Is this okay??
My mom sleeps on a cot to the right of my bed. When she sleeps, her feet point towards the open window. The bed has no headrest, so we have pulled up a table on the head side for support. Any suggestions?
Cecil, you had mentioned in one of your replies that one should not try to do too much feng shui. But then what about all the things about too much yin, yang, elements, etc.? For example, I might place something somewhere solely going by aesthetics, what I intuitively feel, but if that is causing an unconscious irritation, how do I know? Could you help or will Glyn help me make out a correct report for the elements and how to apply it?
Also, there is an Indian science of placement called Vastushastra. You've heard about it? A lot of it seems very different from feng shui. In vastu, all the north directions are considered positive and all the south directions negative. So it advises that the storeroom, cupboards should be kept towards the south and the north should be kept free. If both feng shui and vastu are applied, won?t it clash?
In my initial enthusiasm, I went and bought a book on feng shui by Sarah Shurety of the Lucky Feng Shui Co, London. She confidently and freely advocates using chimes, crystals, plants, colours, use a steel sink, etc. But you discourage most of it. Does this book have any merit or is none of it proper feng shui? Please advise.
With thanks and regards,
Sudha

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
Please see below:-

Quote

On 11/1/99 8:16:29 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Cecil,
Thanks so much for your
detailed reply. But I must
bother you for some more
clarifications. I have a lot
of questions, but if it is not
too much trouble, will you
please answer all of them?
You mentioned that it is good
to have the head rest against
a wall. Since I sleep on a
mattress on the floor, would
it help to pull it up against
the SE wall - there is a big
window on this wall which I
keep open, but would this be
fine?

Since you sleep on the floor, it is acceptable to sleep close to the window. This is because, the lower part of the wall can be considered the near equivalent of a head rest.
However, do note that it also depends on the wind conditions outside the house. If it is too windy, one may catch a cold.

Quote

On the south side, there is
space between two cupboards. I
would have to change their
placement around a bit such
that the smaller one faces me
and the taller one has its
side to me. Is this okay??

Sorry, can u explain further on this as I am not clear what u mean.

Quote

My mom sleeps on a cot to the
right of my bed. When she
sleeps, her feet point towards
the open window. The bed has
no headrest, so we have pulled
up a table on the head side
for support. Any suggestions?

A table would not be a good subsitute as a headrest. It would be better not to have a headrest under the conditions you mentioned.

Quote

Cecil, you had mentioned in
one of your replies that one
should not try to do too much
feng shui. But then what about
all the things about too much
yin, yang, elements, etc.? For
example, I might place
something somewhere solely
going by aesthetics, what I
intuitively feel, but if that
is causing an unconscious
irritation, how do I know?
Could you help or will Glyn
help me make out a correct
report for the elements and
how to apply it?

Nowadays, many people, with little knowledge or commonly, we say ` a little knowledge is a dangerous thing '.
Here, one has to differentiate between advise given by a competent FS consultant and one that reads up books, literally do it yourself without knowing more.
One has to understand that a competent FS consultant can usually able to provide multiple advise after considering all the available factors. He/She can track and even anticipate what will happen using a specific cure or enhancement.
But for a `novice', my advise is that if one is doing trial and error FS, do not do it all at once.

Quote

Also, there is an Indian
science of placement called
Vastushastra. You've heard
about it? A lot of it seems
very different from feng shui.
In vastu, all the north
directions are considered
positive and all the south
directions negative. So it
advises that the storeroom,
cupboards should be kept
towards the south and the
north should be kept free. If
both feng shui and vastu are
applied, won?t it clash?

As both of us have not truly read or more importantly read the `Vastu' it is difficult for me to comment on something which I do not know about.
Let's put it another way, you can say that I am `biased' and pro Feng Shui because, I have at least 20 years indept study into almost all the more popular Schools of Feng Shui etc...
Why is Feng Shui so popular today?
Non believers of Feng Shui will attribute it to the Marketing Skills.
Believers or would be believers of Feng Shui will get to see more and more people setting up Feng Shui websites. For example the Wind and Water Ring already has not less than 100 ring members and nearly every week, I receive request to join the ring.
On a neutral level, one has not only to study but truely understand Vastu in order to make a qualified comment. But reading between the lines is not a fair way to say whether it is better or worse than Feng Shui.
Take for example, I recently mentioned that 9-Star Ki is also another variant of Feng Shui. The recommendation here is that if one is keen to learn 9-Star Ki, my advise is to stick with it.
The reason is because it has its own `ruleset' and one should practise it in total. Currently, mixing it with `Traditional Feng Shui' (origin from China) is both difficult as it is difficult to cross reference certain aspects to the other.

Quote

In my initial enthusiasm, I
went and bought a book on feng
shui by Sarah Shurety of the
Lucky Feng Shui Co, London.
She confidently and freely
advocates using chimes,
crystals, plants, colours, use
a steel sink, etc. But you
discourage most of it. Does
this book have any merit or is
none of it proper feng shui?
Please advise.

Perhaps, you may be mistaken. I do not discourage the use of chimes, plants etc... But rather, use them after evaluating the situation closely.
What ever cures is to solve a problem and not merely for the sake of commercialisation of such items.
Before, one uses such items, one has to really do their homework and after this, place it especially to neutralise a problem.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil