Very recently, a friend of mine moved to a beautiful apartment, with a wonderful view and lots of space. She always does a great job decorating her homes, and this one was no exception. Her bedroom looked like a magazine. She's got elegant lamps, oriental nightstands, expensive Persian rugs, and her bed is covered with a sheer and romantic canopy.

However, since she finished decorating after her move, and was finally settled, she fell into a very deep depression. She couldn't get to sleep till the very late hours of the night, and the next morning, she would wake up with a terrible headache that would last all day.
This is how she described her feelings to me: "It's like there's a dark cloud hanging over my head, and I can't get out from under it".

The first thing I thought to do, was to check the feng shui of the new home, but everything seemed to be in place. No clutter, everything clean, plenty of light, clear spaces for the Chi to flow. Her bedroom was calm, she had a good headboard, nothing under the bed. We just couldn't figure out what was wrong. I decided to search for an answer and took out all my feng shui books. Could her bed be causing her depression? It was in a good position, in the right direction,I searched the Internet, and the first term that came to my mind to start the search was "canopy". I figured that was the only thing really "hanging over her head".

After going over at least 15 different books from all schools of feng shui, and looking at page after page of feng shui

My friend's actual bed

websites, I found that canopies are actually recommended by feng shui practitioners to have the person feel protected, to avoid the harm of having a beam above the bed, or to cure slanted ceilings. This is what I always thought and it's still very true. But this goes to show you that one never stops learning. Buried in a blog written by a Chinese practitioner, I found it. On a list of "problem beds", I found beds with mirrors, waterbeds, round beds, heart shaped beds… canopy beds… There it was. It said: "A canopy over the bed will cause insomnia, depression and illness."

I had not finished telling her about this, when she had already pulled that canopy from the ceiling. Needless to say, and this is what really inspires me about feng shui, the results were immediate. She woke up in a better mood and with no headache. The depression hasn't come back and she's finally enjoying her new place.

What I took away from this, is that not all feng shui cures and practices work for everyone. You have to test different things, read about different ideas, different schools of thought. Not all people with canopy beds are depressed, but I bet many are. So hopefully this story will at least help them to get from under that "dark cloud".

Nowadays, one of the biggest health concerns for people is stress. Stress can be the cause or mimic many other illnesses or disorders and should be avoided as much as possible.  Of course, it's easier said than done. You can't just magically say, "No more stress in my life! I'm going to relax!"

You can help yourself in many ways: meditating, doing yoga, eating better, exercising... but if you are anything like me, you don't always find the time or the energy to do all that. But, there is one thing that you can do that will help you enormously. You can actually get rid of stress using Feng Shui.

Your surroundings have a lot to do with the way you feel, therefore, if your home or office is cluttered and basically a mess, you will be stressed.  Just thinking, "Gee, I need to clean up this place, I can't find anything", drains you of vital energy. Why have that on top of the everyday stress over which we have no control? In other words, no clutter around you means no clutter in your mind. Organizing your surroundings will help you organize your thoughts. That's part of the philosophy of Feng Shui.

Start little by little and room by room. Don't think you have to dedicate a whole weekend to do this. You can start working on the area where you spend most of your time, or the Feng Shui area that interests you the most. Let's say, your home office.

That mountain of papers or books or bills has to be driving you crazy! Let's start with the papers. Go to your favorite store and get a couple of baskets, or decorative boxes. You can buy cheap gift boxes at the drugstore. Use your Feng Shui Principles and get them in the colors that correspond to an important area in your office. Maybe purple. Later, you will put it in the Wealth Area of either your desk or your office or cubicle. Now, sit down on the floor with all the papers in front of you.  Have a trash can handy. Now, sort! Throw away what you don't need. Really force yourself to get rid of everything you have no use for. Then keep what you need in the box or boxes you bought and label them.

That's how you start. You will feel some stress melting away immediately. I would be very surprised if by then, you are not inspired to go a little further and tackle the books, the bills and the rest of the mess. If you need a bookcase or drawers or something to help you, don't think you have to wait until you can buy "the perfect piece". Run to the thrift shop and get something cheap. I will tell you later about another great stress reliever. Just make sure you clean it well.

Think that if you put everything in its place once, it will be so much easier to maintain from then on.

Remember, that once you decide to introduce Feng Shui into your life, you can implement it slowly and at your own pace so you won't get overwhelmed. There is so much to learn and so much to do. But it's worth it, so just start doing it.

That is the way to start getting rid of stress by using Feng Shui.