Teaching from the Heart with Feng Shui

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” -Rumi What is Teaching from the Heart? Teaching from the heart is showing up as your best self. It is feeling inner peace, even when chaos abounds. Children will do as you do, not as you say. When adults make self-care a priority, they feel better and more vibrant. They are able to set a more positive example for children. Teachers and parents can nurture their personal energy by creating more balanced living and working environments. As a result, they will have more of themselves to give without feeling depleted. This book offers feng shui methods to preserve your individual energy, as well as ways to support children's energy, so that everyone can live in harmony and go with the flow of life, versus swimming against the current. Why Feng Shui? Feng shui is a tangible way that you can minimize your problems or frustrations. When something in your life feels uneasy, you can address it head-on in a physical way instead of stewing over it in your mind. Feng shui allows you to visually see your environment change, which in turn gives you greater peace and hope for your future. Living in the flow with feng shui is about being present. It is about knowing that you have the power to attract the life you desire. You were born to dream big and live big. All of your desires were given divinely to you because you were meant to use your gifts and make this world a better place. Feng shui is a method that can help you live a more purposeful life and mold your dreams into reality. When you embrace the present moment, you are truly alive and experiencing life as it is meant to be. Feng shui is just one way to help you become more mindful in your day-to-day life. It is an avenue that can connect you to Heaven while you are here on Earth. It links your inner and outer worlds, so that your true self is reflected in all that you do. It helps you connect your personal life to your professional life so that you feel a greater sense of well-being and fluidity throughout your days. As you go through this life journey, you have lessons to learn. There will be challenges, and unfortunately, feng shui cannot change that. What feng shui can do is become a tool to help you through all of life’s seasons. Feng shui gives you a new perspective on how to deal with situations in your home or classroom, and it empowers you to change your course and attract what you truly want. How to Use this Book In order to teach from the heart, you must first go within yourself. Part I will provide you with the basics of feng shui and ask you to think about your personal life. Which areas of your life are you feeling empowered? Where do you seek improvements? When you make improvements to your personal life, you will start to see the positive effects trickle into your professional life. Part II provides suggestions on how to implement your feng shui practice in the classroom. It gives teachers and students opportunities to play active roles in creating a more uplifting, productive classroom environment on a daily basis. If you choose, you may teach the strategies to your students or your own children. Just as teaching children yoga and meditation gives them coping skills they can use for the rest of their lives, feng shui is another pathway to the enlightenment of our youth. Part III invites you to bring the harmony home! You will learn how to apply feng shui to the four most important areas of the house, and there is a special section geared towards kids’ rooms too! The last part of this book helps you personalize your feng shui practice. In Part IV you will learn your personal birth element and your “best directions.” You will get a better understanding of the personal energy of your family members and students so that you can make feng shui adjustments that support everyone’s energy to the fullest potential. Most importantly, this section gives you daily self-care techniques that will keep you feeling more grounded and less frazzled in your day-to-day activities. There are nine activities which can be found in the appendix. These will help you apply the feng shui concepts to your home and classroom with greater ease and clarity. The activities are best matched to specific chapters of the book, but they can be practiced at any time, in any order. These nine activities are for teachers, parents, students and all learners of feng shui. Try them for yourself, and then share the feng shui strategies with children at your leisure. The activities will provide kids with a foundation to become more aware of their surroundings and take ownership of their environment. Regardless of how the activities are used, they will empower children and adults alike.