Product Description

A feng shui book specifically for teens. *Shows how to create balanced teen environments that promote personal development and positive self expression. *Tailors solutions to teen spaces: bedrooms, dormitories, desks, drawers, and lockers. *Shows how, when, and where to use music, incense, and posters. *Addresses real teen issues such as body image, tattoos and piercings, and cigarettes and other drugs.

Teen Feng Shui demonstrates how the universal principles behind the design practice of feng shui can be applied to the contemporary environments of teenagers-from school lockers to dorm rooms-in order to maximize personal power, develop harmonious relationships, and define personal space. Noting that all books on feng shui are created for adults, Susan Levitt has provided a resource geared specifically toward the needs and realities of the teenage experience, addressing how young adults can design their living spaces to transform their lives. She describes how music, posters, and incense can influence space and includes before-and-after illustrations of feng shui "fixes." Teen Feng Shui also incorporates Chinese astrology, financial management and shopping tips for teens, insights on love and sex, personal stories, and case studies to provide a fun and comprehensive guide to this ancient art of placement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290131 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-30
• Released on: 2003-02-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Review
"A good introduction to a wide array of topics. . . . Part workbook, part text, and part exploratory journal, Levitt manages to avoid the many pitfalls of the teen genre with this contribution. No condescension is to be found here."
(Lori Collner, The Blessed Bee, Winter 2006 )

About the Author
Susan Levitt is a professional feng shui consultant, tarot reader, and astrologer with over 28 years of studies in Asian literature, medicine, and herbalism. She is the author of Taoist Feng Shui: The Ancient Roots of the Chinese Art of Placement and Taoist Astrology. She lives in San Francisco.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Small pieces in need of homes: A simple meditation technique: sit on the floor with your legs crossed "indian style" and your back straight. Rest your palms face up on your knees. Close your eyes three quarters of the way, keeping your visual focus on the floor about one foot in front of you. Once you are in a comfortable position and your body is still, bring your attention to your breath. Feel your breath going in and out. Begin to count one full count for one full breath, so that when you exhale you count one, then inhale, then exhale and count two, etc. Any time a thought other than your breath comes up, notice it, imagine yourself placing it into a balloon and watch it fly away. Now start counting your breath again at one. When you reach ten counts (if you reach ten counts-and chances are you won't for quite some time!) go back and start at one again. Try doing this for ten minutes straight the first time. The first time I tried this I never made it past one count! Each time I started to count my breath I thought everything from "am I doing this right?" to "what do I want for dinner?" After a while though, at twenty minutes a day, I found myself getting to ten, and discovering a lot about my thoughts along the way. Within a week I noticed that I was able to focus more clearly in all of my daily activities. Within a few weeks I realized that I was more relaxed, more efficient, and more energetic. Place in Health? Tattoos and Piercings Tattoos are an ancient form of body art and beautification. In Asia, tattoos have a stable cultural significance that is unlikely to shift throughout one's life. In the West, however, tattoos have emerged as more of a fad and ebb and flow in their popularity. If you are thinking of getting a tattoo, it is worth considering that you may feel differently about having a tattoo as you grow and change. Practically speaking, your physical body will change to, so any designs should take into account potential sagging, stretch marks, and general shifts in body shape. Just like any other part of Feng Shui, whenever you modify your body (be it your literal body or your room or the "body" of your life decisions) you attract or deflect certain energies-so it is best to do so consciously and with clear intentions. Before choosing your design, ask yourself "what image do I wish to carry with me my entire life and what energies do I wish it to attract? How will those energies move through life with me?" Piercing, on the other hand, has very specific physical repercussions. When you pierce an area of your body, you are stimulating a specific acupuncture point, whether you know it or not. For example, it is common for both ears to be pierced. Piercing that body area stimulates eyesight, and was popularized by sailors who benefited from seeing land at far distances. Piercing your eyebrows? Depending on where you pierce it, that's a point on the bladder, stomach, or small intestines meridian. Piercing your chin under your lip? That's a point on your conception vessel that could effect you hormones. Piercing your tongue? Different locations on the tongue stimulate different points. The center of your tongue stimulates a digestion point. Nipples are traditionally an area that is not pierced. A ring in the navel for too long can deplete your immune system. If you wish to know what points will be activated by a piercing, consider going to an acupuncturist and have a diagnosis. One incredibly powerful exercise is to locate all of the negative thoughts in a journal entry and rewrite them into affirmative statements. So, for example, I may find myself writing, "I'm so sick of everyone telling me what to do." In the affirmative I might write, "I have a good sense of what needs to get done at any given moment." If I'm feeling generous I might add, "I'm grateful that people care enough about me to attempt to help direct my life, but am learning to discern between what someone else wants and what I want for myself." Where are your shoes? He was a Zen Master. And it was not easy being a Zen Master, for many would-be disciples came from all parts of Japan to seek his guidance. But he lived in a modest cottage in the mountains and let the aspiring disciples come as they would.

One day a young man arrived at the Master's cottage. This was a young man who was quite serious about his spiritual path. This acolyte had studied much, meditated much, and felt that he was quite ready to become the right-hand disciple of any Master.

It had been raining when the young man arrived at the Master's house. The Master was seated on a pillow in a small room. The young man carefully removed his shoes and placed his umbrella outside the door.

The young man entered the room and bowed to the Master. "I would like to become your disciple. I would like to become enlightened as you are, Master," the young man said.

"I have studied much and feel that I am on the path to realization," said the young man, growing a bit uncomfortable at the Master's silence.

The Master smiled with his eyes half-closed and nodded.

"Don't you feel that I could become an awakened one?" asked the youth, becoming exasperated at the Master's reticence.

The Master opened his eyes. The young man now felt hopeful. The Master would accept him.

Customer Reviews

A Breath of Fresh Air!
I've read dozens of books on feng shui, but this was the clearest, easiest to follow, and most heartfelt of them all. You don't have to be a teen to appreciate the wisdom and guidance contained within these pages. The depth of the author's knowledge of her subject is evident throughout. I was especially intrigued by the chapter that integrates Chinese astrology with feng shui applications. Everyone should read this new approach, regardless of age. Highly recommended!

wow
Great book! Unlike a ton of feng shui books, this one you can actually read and understand. Very good, for teens and adults. Very thorough explanations.

A Good Introduction to the "Black Hat" Style of Feng Shui
Feng shui (which means "wind-water" in Chinese) is the art of placement. It concerns not only the placement of furniture, but also the arrangement of the environment as a whole (where land forms are, houses, towns, and so forth). The purpose of feng shui is to maximize the potential of the space within your environment, through lighting, color, types of objects, and a variety of other factors. The two major types of feng shui are the Black Hat style and Compass style. You're probably more familiar with the Compass style, which generally requires a feng shui consultation and someone using a traditional Chinese compass to determine factors in feng shui. However, the Black Hat style (which is what this book focuses on) is much more accessible for people who are not feng shui practitioners!

Feng shui is about how "chi" moves throughout the environment. The philosophy is that chi is everywhere and that feng shui helps chi become as balanced as possible; problems result when chi becomes too positive or too negative. Chi is the energy or "life force" moving through all things and it is Yin (dark/feminine) and yang (light/masculine) are the two types of chi. Together, yin and yang form Tao. From yin and yang, eight "trigrams" are derived; these are the stacked lines, which are the same as are used in the I Ching for divination. In the Black Hat style of feng shui, they correspond to different sections of a room. Yang's trigrams are Heaven (Helpful People/Travel), Lake (Creativity/Children), Fire (Fame/Reputation), and Thunder (Family/Health). Yin's trigrams are Wind (Wealth), Water (Career), Mountain (Knowledge), and Earth (Relationships/Romance). These eight are referred to as the Ba Gua. The grid used in the book shows the locations of these sections, which could be applied to any room in your house.

The book goes on to explain the steps of using feng shui for your room, beginning with removing clutter and then focusing on the specific sections of the room. Important objects (such as beds, computers, TVs, and stereos) are given special consideration for placement. Not only does each section that follow focus on the particular section of the Ba Gua and what to put in it, but also discusses the topic involved. For example, not only is the Mountain/Knowledge section described a favorable place for reading, meditation, placing bookcases, religious/divinatory materials, and objects related to hobbies, but the book goes on to explain the importance of mediation, keeping a journal, and understanding more about yourself.

After the Ba Gua is covered, the relationship of the five elements (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood) is discussed. Each element corresponds to a different color, shape, and material in feng shui. In Chinese astrology, your birth year determines your zodiac animal as well as your element (lists of years for both are given in this book). The only problem that I have with this section is that it incorrectly lists the yin/yang polarity of the elements; Teen Feng Shui states: Fire/Yang, Earth/Yin, Metal/Yin, Water/Yin, and Wood/Yang. From what I have learned in the past about Chinese astrology is that Fire is Yang, Earth is both Yin and Yang, Metal is Yang, Water is Yin, and Wood is Yin. This latter arrangement makes a lot more sense to me, being that it leaves you with two entirely Yang elements, two entirely Yin elements, and one balanced element. It is rather important to consider that Earth is the element that is supposed to represent the duality of the Tao; Yin and Yang. Aside from this discrepancy, I haven't noticed any other problems. A section on Chinese zodiac animals follows, with personality descriptions for each of the 12 signs.

Though this book is geared towards teenagers, it is a fine introduction for someone of any age interested in feng shui. It explains everything clearly and has plenty of exercises for determining what you think about your room, house, and areas of your life in general.