Sarah McAllister from The Feng Shui Agency tells at home readers how balancing male and female energy with Feng Shui can help you in your relationship...

Design Your Life!
End power struggles by understanding the impact space has upon your psyche. Interior design is not just a question of aesthetics, but also of balancing the natural forces of our environment. Feng Shui is the Chinese art of energy management that helps you identify the strong areas of your house or apartment, and utilise them for your direct gain. An imbalanced house often translates as an imbalance in the male/female energy of the occupants and their relationship. Feng Shui techniques seek to restore balance by manipulating the chi flow rather like an acupuncturist.

Male/Female Balance
Look for properties that are balanced right/left - avoid semi-detached houses that have a dramatic slope to one side, as this will affect the confidence and power of the man (Dragon - left side) or woman (Tiger - right side). View your apartment or home with your back to your front door - what is the left (Male) side like at the front and back - what is the right (Female) side like?

Harmony
The Chinese metaphysical sciences reveal certain energetic conditions that are likely to cause conflict. These 'stars' or 'portents' manifest in different areas of a house, office or apartment. I have seen clients who have argument stars in their kitchen which disturbs the chi that goes into the food (and where the food is stored). Each time they sit down to eat together they start to bicker instead of enjoying quality family or relationship time together! Eating together should sustain relationships not stress them!

Love
Attracting and maintaining a relationship can be helped or hindered by your home. Feng Shui accounts for 33% influence. Earthly influences (environmental Feng Shui) = 33%, Heavenly influences (astrology, luck) =33% and Human influence (attitude, working patterns) = 33%. Single women in basement flats with no tiger arm (female side) often find it hard to attract a relationship.  Homes with 9-7 argument stars at the centre make it less easy to sustain a relationship and a water/fire clash in a kitchen in the form of a stove directly opposite a sink causes subconscious tension between men and women, as the two forces naturally clash. This can be somewhat alleviated by placing a few hardy indoor plants around the sink, because wood element is fed by water, and wood in turn feeds fire, so it acts as a sort of mediator between the clashing energies!  

Inner Wisdom creates better relationships
The NE direction has the quality of stillness and quietude - perfect for nurturing inner knowledge - this is its association in the more popular commonly read Feng Shui books. Interestingly, NE is opposite SW - relationships - and the two directions influence one another - the more you know yourself (NE) the more success you have in a relationship as you bring more of yourself into the dynamic (SW). Many marriages in early life fail later on because neither party knew themselves well enough.

Limitations of the “SW Relationship Corner”
The relationship area of a house or office is the SW, but this is only extremely general, and it is best to invest in the services of a professional to help you locate the areas specifically related to YOUR OWN relationships – this will be different for every person and every occupant. Using the Bagua can be compared to physiotherapy, applying techniques to general areas of the body but using the Chue Style Feng Shui techniques can be compared to brain surgery – very precise. In general, keeping the Southwest area free of clutter or garden waste can help to support the relationship chi in and surrounding a property, but it is only one part of the puzzle.

Horoscopes - find out your elements for career, love, power and health...
Feng Shui is not just about space, it also studies and utilises the cycles of time. When we operate in tune with the seasons and the planets we are working with the natural flow and become more productive. Having your four pillars horoscope charted by us will provide you with very useful information about your nature, and your strengths and weaknesses. You will be one of the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth or metal) and we'll show you your career, health, money, power and love element. Knowing this allows you to make better informed decisions and take better control of your destiny. Feng Shui Horoscopes are not mystical ways of predicting the future, but are rather to be used as ways of forecasting a set of likely outcomes and choosing the most appropriate approach.

Compatibility of Horoscopes
Before plunging headlong into a new relationship it is wise to have a look at the unseen forces that are not always that obvious when we are under the influence of attraction!

For more information on Chinese Horoscopes and to buy online please click here.

About the author
Master Sarah McAllister BA FSSA is an established Feng Shui practitioner of 12 years standing and a teacher of Chue style Feng Shui. She is also founder director of the London based Feng Shui Agency, and is an active member of the International Research Committee of the Chue Foundation, an international non-profit Feng Shui research organisation. Her business clients range from sole traders to FTSE listed multinationals and property developers, and she takes on a wide variety of residential work from studio flats to penthouse suites and new builds.

For details of Sarah’s UK and international consultancy work or courses visit www.fengshuiagency.com, or contact her on tel: +44 (0)844 848 4099 or via e-mail on sarah@fengshuiagency.com.

You can follow Sarah’s free tips and news on Twitter, Facebook or view her blog at www.fengshuiagency.com/blog.