Living Feng Shui Cures: Houseplants

Houseplants are very popular and encouraged in Feng Shui homes as they bring in fresh new energy and are good for your health. Some houseplants also serve as Feng Shui cures for other aspects of life (see examples below).

Feng Shui Energy Cleansing

Stagnant air is the bane of a Feng Shui home. It represents negative energy that can zap your personal energy and prevent success in all facets of your life. Negative energy is insidious. It affects your mind and health without you even noticing it is happening. Corners in a room and the areas above the kitchen cabinets are common areas where the energy can become stagnant in a home.

Placing houseplants in these stagnant areas are the perfect Feng Shui cure to get the energy flowing again. This will replace the old negative energy with fresh new positive energy. After adding houseplants to your Feng Shui home, you’ll not only find you’re breathing better within a day or two, you’ll also find you have more clarity in your thoughts.

Feng Shui Air Cleansing With Houseplants

Houseplants purify the air so they serve as an excellent living tool for a Feng Shui home. Beyond dust particles and airborne pathogens, the air in your home can be filled with toxins like benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, trichloroethylene, xylene, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These toxins enter your home through the degassing of building materials, i.e. your home itself, plus the things you bring into your home like furniture, clothing, and household items. For example, have you ever smelled a new shower curtain and been repelled? That’s because you’re smelling volatile organic compounds, although some of these toxins are odorless.

Houseplants have the amazing ability to remove toxins from the air through their leaves, stems, flowers, and root structures. Further, the symbiotic microbes that live among the roots of the house are particularly good at removing toxic volatile organic compounds. Using plants to remove the toxins from the air is sometimes called “phytoremediation” by NASA scientists and university researchers who study this sort of thing. In this case, a plant cure is a Feng Shui cure.
Here are some houseplants that are particularly useful as Feng Shui cures.

• Using Feng Shui to Entrance

Snake Plant, otherwise known as Mother-in-law’s Tongue

This plant is the perfect Feng Shui plant cure for corners where the air is stagnant or other areas where space is limited, as the plant grows tall and straight. NASA also determined it to be one of the very best plants for removing toxic volatile organic compounds from the air. It also adds a great deal of oxygen to the air so it can be a good plant to include in your bedroom as a Feng Shui cure to sleeping issues. Finally, it is one of the easiest houseplants to care for. In fact, the snake plant does best if you don’t water it often and just occasionally wipe it’s tall leaves down.

Golden Pothos Ivy

This is another super hardy houseplant that is extremely easy to care for. This is the perfect Feng Shui cure to clear the stagnant energy above your kitchen cabinets. This ivy grows like gangbusters too even under low light conditions, so you’ll soon have enough ivy to run along the entire top of your cabinets and start to run down the sides if you like. This can be quite lovely to see while you are preparing your food. Like the snake plant, golden pothos ivy is also a super detoxifier according to NASA. If you end up with too much golden pothos, simply snip it just past a leaf. You can compost this or give it to a friend for potting (stick it in water first until you see tiny hairy roots and then plant it).

• Feng Shui Tips for a Patio, Deck, or Balcony

English Ivy

English ivy is the perfect Feng Shui cure for bathroom air quality. Research has shown that this plant is particularly good are removing mold spores and airborne fecal particles! The English Ivy can be a little more finicky than the golden pothos ivy so make sure this ivy gets good indirect light and make sure to water it regularly. If you take care of it, you’ll come to appreciate it as it takes care of you.

Lucky Bamboo

This classic Feng Shui plant is native to Asia where Feng Shui was first developed in ancient times. It is a Feng Shui cure that can bring you good fortune. Easily grown in a small container, or even just a glass of water, one of its alternative names is the Chinese water bamboo. It is also sometimes called the friendship bamboo because it is often given as a Feng Shui gift. Interestingly, it is not a member of the bamboo family but it does look very similar to bamboo and carries with it many of the same Feng Shui traits as bamboo is known for.

Feng Shui Lilies

Lilies are a popular flowering plant in the Feng Shui home. They are symbolic of wealth and abundance. They can not only liven up your heart just by their beautiful appearance, but they can also bring the energy needed for you and your family to attract more wealth and abundance into your lives. Please note that peace lilies are HIGHLY TOXIC TO CATS and poisonous to dogs as well. If you have pets, especially cats, this is not a good option.

• Feng Shui Wisdom for Your Garden and Yard

Spider Plants

Spider plants are easy to care for and easy to propagate. When they form “babies,” you can simply plant in another pot. Another big advantage to spider plants is they are non-toxic to cats and dogs so they are the perfect Feng Shui cure for air quality and stagnant energy in homes with pets.

Final Thoughts

Air purification and reducing air stagnation using houseplants as a Feng Shui cure can often make otherwise inexplicable health issues go away. For example, if you have a mysterious skin rash or redness, you may find that just by adding houseplants to your home, your mysterious skin condition will disappear. The same can happen with pets that incessantly scratch due to some problems with their skin. Headaches, chronic pain, sinus issues, asthma, and coughing are other common health issues that sometimes simply go away when you add houseplants to your home as a Feng Shui cure.