Michelle Cromer | Michelle Cromer

The Coronavirus, Feng Shui, Fear, and the Year of the Rat

Michelle Cromer March 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

In January 2020, as the Lunar New Year ushered in the Year of the Metal Rat in China, the coronavirus had already begun to spread, plunging China into chaos.

Feng Shui originated in China and as did the Chinese philosophy of the five-element theory. Each of the years in the Chinese calendar are not only named for one of the twelve animals, but they also refer to one of the five elements- water, earth, fire, metal, and wood. As I have mentioned in my January 20th blog, the year of the metal rat will reflect the characteristics of the rat – quick and fast-paced. And, in traditional Chinese medicine (TSM), the metal element is associated with the lungs, respiratory problems and immunity function. So here we are, the coronavirus that originated in the Year of the Metal Rat is moving quickly throughout the world, affecting our lungs, causing respiratory problems and compromising our immunity systems.

Balancing our immune systems is critical to staying well. And while so many of us are experiencing the debilitating emotion of fear, justifiably so, this emotion can be detrimental to our health. Fear is simply an energetic vibration, the same as worry, joy stress and anxiety.

Picture a see-saw. You are sitting in the middle of both sides completely balanced. Then someone jumps on one side and suddenly it tilts to one side, completely off balance. Now imagine that “someone” is the coronavirus. We all have this inner system of checks and balances. Approaching our emotions as symptoms allow us to understand our body from a different perspective – an energetic one.

In order to manage your fear and bring your immune system back to balance here are four things you can do:

Use lavender and frankincense essential oils: Layer a few drops in your hands and apply them to your chest. Lavender works as an anxiety release and increases calm. It works with your nervous system to quiet the fear reaction in your brain. It also helps to reduce the emotion of aggression and fear.
Diet: Help balance your immune system by eating fresh foods that possess the healing properties of chi. If the food you are eating has a label, then the food is void of any chi.
Manage your thoughts: when a fearful thought arises, stop, acknowledge that thought and perhaps you adopt my practice. I simply say to myself, “Cancel delete.” That seems to bring me back to my center.
Have a physical protocol: We have to do our part in washing our hands for at least 20 seconds, and after I wash my hands I spray them with rubbing alcohol to be extra safe.

Once we all move past fear, our bodies move in smoother motions, our thoughts flow freely, we are calmer, and we achieve the balance we need to stay healthy.

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Using Feng Shui to Keep Your Home and Family Healthy

Michelle Cromer March 23, 2020 Leave a Comment

This global virus that is keeping us all contained in our homes – maybe for months – is already reorienting our relationship to the outside world, to each other, and to our home. I think crisis moments present us with the opportunity to appreciate where we live and the simple pleasures of occupying that space. No one knows exactly what will happen next or how long this will last, but one thing is for sure, we all need to stay healthy. Feng Shui and common sense can help all of us accomplish that.

If you go out and you are around others, even with social distancing, consider taking your clothes off immediately when you return. Don’t even sit down, just strip and wash those clothes. Then wash your hands with soap and water and spray them with alcohol and let that dry.

In Feng Shui philosophy the center of your home represents your health so make sure it is free of clutter. If possible put some healthy growing plants in this area. I like the symbolism of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of health, and I have a small statue I bought in Tibet in the center area of my home.

No matter where your kitchen is that represents your health and yellow is the color that represents your health so I like to have yellow flowers in my kitchen. Everyone has heard, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” so I have a bowl of apples in my kitchen, and I actually do eat one every day.

I love to use essential oils so I have four that I like to layer for my health: eucalyptus which acts as a decongestant; peppermint for headaches, a cold, and the flu; lavender to promote calmness; and tea tree oil for its anti-inflammatory, antiviral properties.

Wherever you are, don’t lose hope, this too shall pass. Let’s all find a way to help each other through these uncertain times. With kindness as our compass, we will find the path out of this crisis.

Be safe and be well,
Michelle

Six Ways to Balance Your Yin and Yang Energy for Better Health

Michelle Cromer March 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

Life is about balance. The atom, which is the fundamental building block of all matter, always strives towards a balance of positive (proton) and negative (electron) charges. If it cannot maintain balance within its own structure, it forms clusters that maintain balance with other atoms and molecules are formed. The point being, that even at the most fundamental level, the universe seeks to maintain balance.

Nature’s endless dance is all about maintaining balance in the natural ecosystem and in the species present on the planet.

Why should humans be exempt from this grand cosmic interplay?

Of course, we are not, but we do let ourselves get further out of balance than is healthy at times. In these instances, we would be wise to bring ourselves back into harmony by identifying those areas, which are becoming polarized.

According to Taoist philosophy, the universe was created as a result of the combination of creative yang energy and receptive yin energy, the two building blocks of energy. Yin and yang are two sides of the same coin; one can’t exist without the other. We, humans, have a right hand and a left hand; a right leg and a left leg, both sides are needed for balance.

The yin yang energy is always striving for balance. Too much yang results in rushing active energy, too much yin results in passive stagnation. Each of us is made up of both yin and yang energy, also known as masculine and feminine energy. The left and right hemispheres of the brain are another way yin and yang energy is expressed in each of us. The right hemisphere is the feminine yin side, which gives us intuitive and abstract insights. The left hemisphere is the masculine yang energy, which controls analytical and logical reasoning. It’s easy to think yin and yang energy as female and male, respectively.

However, yin and yang energy show up in many other ways. While men usually do have more yang energy and women have more yin energy this is not always the case. Gender and sexuality are only one facet through which yin and yang are expressed through people. Other ways are: intuitive – rational; soft- strong; introvert-extrovert; soft- strong; calm-excited. If striking a balance of yin and yang energy is not achieved, then we have disharmony, which can lead to anxiety, lack of focus, worries about the future, depression, stress, and over or underweight, etc.

Stress and illness are nature’s way of telling you that you’re out of balance. The cure is simple. Balance can be re-established by receiving what was given in excess. Take the time to nourish yourself, to nurture yourself.

There are many ways to find your ways back to balance, below are some suggestions:

Reach out to nature – take a walk or a hike and absorb the chi of nature into yourself with every breath you take.
Nutrition – look for foods that are fresh or organic. Avoid anything with a label because the chi has been processed out.
Water –Water will rehydrate you and help flush out any toxins.
Meditation – find a time each day to quiet your mind.
Bodywork – energy modalities like acupuncture and reiki will help to release the physical manifestations of stress and move your chi energetically through all the meridians lines in your body.
Tai Chi or yoga – movements help to balance body, mind, and spirit so that you will be able to recognize disharmony before it gets out of hand.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Spiritual Balance

Michelle Cromer March 14, 2020 Leave a Comment

Most of my life has been spent divided from my spiritual self, until one day, feeling hollow and adrift, I began my spiritual search. My search began obsessively, expensively, and I treated this sacred event like I was going after a new client. Like most of us, I was used to immediate answers in our fast-paced world of eating and running and instant computer search engine information. I calculated this spiritual search would take me less than six months.

Almost three years later I had trekked Tibet, run from rabid dogs in Kathmandu, had an audience with a Curandera in Peru who spit in my hair three times, had a vision quest with a Native American Indian in Sedona, saw dead people in Lily Dale, NY, had my palms interpreted by a former nun in Chicago, had life-altering visions with a shaman in Mexico. I had a past life regression, my aura tuned, my chakras aligned, my spirit guides channeled, my Kundalini awakened. I prayed in churches, temples, cathedrals, mosques, Mayan festivals, and l always, always on rickety buses, especially in India.

I made my spiritual quest my absolute focus and in doing so, ignored my friends, family, and husband, and almost lost my marriage. I was completely obsessed and spun out of spiritual control.

In a society engaged toward overindulgence, it can be difficult to attain balance in our spiritual lives – let alone the rest of our lives. An unbalanced spiritual life has the potential to spread disharmony into the remaining areas of our lives, no matter how governed they might be.

Just as our health and well-being hinge upon balanced nutritional habits, our spiritual patterns must be in balance to boost complete harmony through every area of our lives. Harmony is about finding our sweet spot and being okay with it. Anyone who has ever achieved true harmony can attest to how incredible it feels. One feels on purpose. Time stops. Brilliance surfaces. One thrives. Maintaining harmony is the guide for helping us make choices that will bring the highest levels of fulfillment.

How do spiritual practices get unbalanced? When we spend either insufficient or immoderate time involved in spiritual quests as I did.

Today I find spiritual balance attainable when I follow some simple suggestions.

Be content to be on a journey. One of the reasons people get swept off by their spiritual practices is because they experience an imperative motive to “arrive there” – the place where they will find content and sated spiritually. An authentic spiritual seeker will not arrive anywhere. The point is to enlist in a lifelong process of development and growth. Keeping this in mind may help us feel better about decompressing because there is nothing to rush towards – we are already at that place, smack-dab in the middle of the formula, which is precisely where we want to be.

Spiritual knowledge solely is not sufficient. As beneficial as it can feel to at last be engaged in our spiritual self, we also need to fortify and systematically reinforce the other connections in our lives.

Maintain spiritual balance by spending time with the ones we love, and build friendships outside of our spiritual circle. Don’t worry if your friends and family don’t share the same spiritual beliefs, most of mine don’t and we still manage to have zany and meaningful times.

Less is more. Instead of trying to absorb heavy quantities of spiritual knowledge in a brief time period, make it a target, to begin with, bite-sized pieces.

Relish spiritual wisdom and insights like they were made up of pieces of delicious chocolate. Allow them to hang around on the tongue (in our mind and spirit). Take your time absorbing them. Just like consuming a meal, we will savor the knowledge we acquire much more whenever time is spent absorbing it instead of gobbling it down so quickly that it cannot be tasted or enjoyed.

The longer we continue on a spiritual path, the more at ease and balanced we will become. Try something different this year and keep the balance between the spiritual self and the rest of our life.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color. Visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Is Feng Shui Magic?

Michelle Cromer March 2, 2020 Leave a Comment

Fifteen years, numerous certifications, hundreds of feng shui consultations, I have discovered from the students I have taught and the clients I have been blessed to work with, that the number one question that seems to always be asked is, “Is feng shui magic?”

The short answer is no. All the feng shui success stories like attracting a healthy new relationship, or landing that client you’ve been hoping to do business with for years, don’t just happen because I visited your space and waved my magic wand.

I have also found that the most powerful feng shui isn’t addressed by moving furniture around or changing paint colors. I have learned through experience and the actual practice of feng shui, which is the energy of the environment, that it is not generated solely by how the space is decorated, but also by the inhabitants of the space. It isn’t the space that nurtures the people living and working there, the people affect the space as well.

There are so many success stories with feng shui, and each time I hear one I know one thing for sure: the people in the space shifted the energy. I help my clients identify intentions and clarify goals. Together we identify and remove energy blockages, transform stagnant chi in the environment, and activate the harmony of yin and yang and the five-element theory. But when I leave, it’s the people that have to do the work.

It’s challenging to get clarity, it’s hard to invite change into your life, and both take sweat, determination and a great deal of hard work. So when change does occur, and goals are achieved, and new relationships enter your life, it could feel like magic, but there isn’t anything magical about feng shui.

Perhaps the magic is as simple as believing in yourself, and if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

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