When clients hire feng shui consultant Mira Brower to clear
their clutter, diplomacy becomes as crucial as geomancy, Chinese
philosophy, or yin-yang polarity.
“Clutter — especially chronic, overwhelming clutter
— is a symptom of a bigger issue,” says Brower, who is
teaching a feng shui workshop at Pearl River Consignment (366
Grand Ave., Oakland) on Saturday, September 19. “It is up to me to find
out why someone feels it is not safe to let things go, even when they
want to. People who collect clutter do it for many different reasons,
but all of them are issues that need to be handled with care. I like to
approach the situation with understanding, without judging them and
letting them know that clutter is something that so many people are
struggling with in our society of consumption, and that they are not
alone.” Brower also likes to start small. “By choosing one room, one
drawer, one closet or area to focus on, the project becomes much more
manageable.” Once the client sees that neatened-up drawer or closet,
“the feeling of having a clear space can become contagious and can
spread to the rest of their home.”
Based on the Chinese words for wind and water, feng shui is an
ancient system based on the premise that the physical components of any
environment can be arranged so as to improve the flow of life-energy,
or qi.
Although she has worked in this field professionally for only four
years, Brower remembers having “always been interested in what makes a
room feel good. As a kid, I would move my bed around until I felt like
it was in the ‘best’ place, without really knowing that was what I was
doing.” It was as if she was already unwittingly sensitive to the
Taoist concept of five “elements” — wood, fire, earth,
metal, and water — interacting to produce either good or bad
effects. A teenager when she first learned of this, Brower later
studied it formally at San Diego’s Western School of Feng Shui. Now she
writes a home-decorating column for Examiner.com and does consultations —
even over the phone and via e-mail.
And she savors the transformations that sometimes happen in the wake
of her work. One client hired her because “she was having issues with
people thinking that she had a ‘cold’ personality at work. When I got
to her living room, I noticed a beautiful wood carving.” The carving
was in the region of the Bagua — an eight-sectioned
feng-shui “map” bearing trigrams from the I Ching — that pertains
to fame and personal reputation. Crucially, the carving belonged not to
the client but to a friend with whom she was on bad terms.
“We took it down right away and replaced it with a much softer,
natural scene,” at which point the client’s work relationships improved
significantly, according to Brower.
Yet another client, Brower remembers, “was a close friend that was
looking for a relationship, so we worked on her space, adding lots of
romantic imagery and soft, sensual decorations. Separately, I was
working with a male client that was looking for a relationship as well.
We activated the romance area of his home as well. Soon after, the two
met through mutual friends and started dating.” Two years later,
they’re still together. 10 a.m., free. Advance registration required.
PearlRiverConsignment.com
