“Your physical space is a manifestation of your mental space,” says home consultant Sarai Reed. Finding ways to release stagnant energy in your home can create room for abundance, flow, and ease in your life, she explains.
Check in with yourself and your abode regularly to cultivate an ongoing dialogue between the two, suggests Dorena Kohrs, a home-and-life alignment coach known as the Space Doula. Think of this practice as a form of external energy work: Designing a living area aligned with your highest Self means consciously and continuously subtracting, shifting, and adding to a space so that it amplifies your intentions, ambitions, and values. “As one shifts and grows, one’s home should, too,” Kohrs adds.
To begin, close your eyes and take a few moments to offer gratitude to your dwelling for all it does to protect and support you. Then, try these easy-to-apply strategies to welcome harmony and health into your home base.
See also: Vastu 101: How to Make Your Home a Healing Sanctuary
Plug Energy Leaks
Most people have a messy Tupperware cabinet, an overflowing junk drawer, or a side table full of randomly deposited items. Reed calls areas like these “energy leaks.” Tackle one of these spaces at a time, and fully repair the “leak” by organizing, storing, or eliminating the items. The next day (or week), try another. Addressing small, unruly spaces will help introduce calm to your home and prevent your peace from escaping in small bursts.
See also: How to Use the Ancient Principles of Vastu to Declutter Your Home & Improve Its Energy
Look to the Light
Light is crucial to well-being and giving you energy during the day, explains Kohrs. “When the sun rises, open the blinds or curtains wide,” she says. This practice honors the natural rhythm of your body and home. If you don’t have much natural light in your space, place mirrors across from your windows—the reflection will amplify the light already present and help to bring the outdoors into your abode. “Nature is something that soothes our ragged edges and is one of the things that our soul craves,” Kohrs says. Adding candles, hanging string lights, and taking time to clean your windows so they sparkle are other inexpensive ways to enhance illumination. “Windows are the eyes of our home,” she says, “so cleaning them helps bring clarity and vision.”
Create a Gentle Stream
“Picture water running through your house,” Kohrs says. “Where does it get blocked? Where does it rush?” Visualizing your space as a waterway can help reveal where your home’s energy is being stunted by inefficiencies or less-than-inspiring design. Is there an old chest clogging up your hallway? Is the dining room an unused pass-through on the way to the kitchen? Move the chest to storage, or add a beautiful bamboo lighting fixture to your dining room to change the area from stagnant to alive and loved.
See also: When Less Is More: How to Declutter Your Life With Intention
Let Go
Reflect on which items simply don’t add to life in your home—an uncomfortable old beige recliner, for example. Perhaps you can sell or donate it, and in its place thrift a cozy papasan chair or a green velvet chaise lounge that thrills you. Begin a regular practice of letting go of things you don’t love, you don’t use, or that don’t reflect who you are—and replace them with pieces that align with who you’d like to be, Kohrs says.
Lean on Greenery
Adding soothing and air-purifying plants ushers in the countless healing benefits of nature while enhancing your home’s positive vibes. If you’re prone to greenery neglect, try an easy-to-care-for ZZ or snake plant.
See also: How Plants Can Improve Your Health
Create a Respite
Clear out a cluttered corner area to create a sacred space—it can be as simple as setting your favorite naturally scented candles or an essential-oil diffuser on a tray in a cozy corner. Bring in soft, natural textures for comfort (pillows, blankets, a daybed), and fill the area with a few small pieces of décor that transport you. A ready-made meditation area or reading nook is a physical manifestation of the importance you’re placing on taking time for your inner world.
Highlight What’s Dear to Your Heart
Fill your rooms with items, pictures, or heirlooms that you cherish. Place your grandmother’s recipe book in a prominent spot on your end table, or eat from your family china instead of hiding it away in the attic. “When you look around your home, you shouldn’t just see chores or a to-do list,” Reed says. Your home should be filled with reminders of what provides you meaning and fills you up.
See also: The Mental Health Benefits of Minimalism