Hello friends,

First, I hope you are safe and that your family and friends are well as well.

It it a strange period to be alive…

I have vowed to keep my community uplifted throughout these unique times.

As many of view follow me on instagram, you have seen my daily tips on how to be well while confined.

I have taken this period as a personal challenge to myself not to be a victim of it, but to use it as some kind of home retreat; an opportunity to come out better on the other end. And basically, I’m sharing with you my confinement journal, my Feng Shui and mindfulness goals for every day in confinement.

These tips are not meant to put more pressure on you. If you can only get to one or two, it’s already great. It is enough.

So here they are. I hope you find some useful for this period.

You can scroll down to the first one and find the latest one up top.

I hope you stay safe and wish you wellness, peace and happiness.

Marianne

Peonies peonies peonies. The queens of flowers according to Feng Shui. I received them for Mother’s Day (which was yesterday in France). I placed them in my office so I can see them when I work. They help relax and not fall prey to stress and mental chatter. It’s game changing. Metal (white) is good for mental clarity. My office has white walls and decor. I complement my office decor with wood (for ideas and stress relief), touches of fire (for heart and passion), water (art representing water and black accents for free flowing thoughts) and some earth (for stability and rationality). . . . . . . . #peonies #peonyseason #whiteflower #whiteinterior #officedecor #stressrelief #mentalhealth #spiritualjourney #fengshui #fengshuiwithme

For my last tip of this 40-day series, I just want to remind that no trend or decor magazine will help you feel good in your home. The feeling of "home" is a vibration. The right Chi between you and your house. It's an intuition that is validated. Just like in life. When you're comfortable with your choices from a standpoint of honouring your values, you will lead a vibrant and happy life. Material things will buy contentment, but nothing else than honouring your true path will buy you happiness. Same goes with your house 🏡 . . . ☯️ Feng Shui is an internal mindset, a spiritual discipline. Working on your home, making it peaceful and vibrant, will automatically trigger internal things in you, which will bring you more joy and more happiness✨ . . ☯️ Following trends leads to overspending and owning too much “stuff”. Try to shop for quality or vintage pieces that you will love owning for a long time. Furnishing a temporary rental or a sublet? You can buy used pieces online or go to flea markets (once they reopen)! Just remember to smudge a vintage piece that comes into your home 💟 . . ☯️ Even though I am done with the 40-day confinement tip series, you can continue studying Feng Shui by going back to the tips you missed, or diving even deeper by taking my course. I extend a special 40% off confinement discount with the code CONFIN40 💜 . . I will also keep posting photos of spaces where I consulted. The photos are my own and my clients', and we don't try to cover up the flaws in the rooms with staging or filters so you can really see how it feels to be in the space 💫 . . I am sending you many many blessings and prayers of health and happiness for you and your families. Much love, Marianne #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #confinement #confinementchallenge #selfcare #mindfulness #awakening #spiritualawakening #spirituality #heal #lifestylechange

Breaking bread is one of the easiest way to bond and incur positive Chi in a home 💫 . . ☯️ When not used, your dining table also represents abundance and health. You could place a big bowl of fresh fruits on the dinner table: pears and oranges are thought to invite Wealth 🍐 🍊 . . ☯️ You can even put a mirror next to the dinner table reflecting the bowl in order to increase the feeling of abundance. However, pay attention to any clutter that this mirror could also be reflecting 💫 . . ☯️ As a general rule, mirrors magnify what they reflect. So make sure that a mirror never reflects clutter, but only reflects beautiful and positive objects ✨ . . . . . . #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #mindfulness #homeschooling #confinement #confinementchallenge #fruits #wealth #mirrors #diningroom #diningroomdecor #diningtable

Even in tough times, we can find so many things to be grateful for. I’m very happy for wildlife and the earth right now, as a lot of polluting activities have stopped ✨ . . ☯️ I’m grateful that there is overall less junk consumption , no noise pollution, no superficial conversations. Grateful for my health at the moment ✨ . . ☯️ It’s amazing how our role models have become our health and food workers... and how fashion brands and celebrities which were absurdly potent have receded to the background. There is less ego and heightened consciousness overall, as everyone is going through this at the same time ✨ . . ☯️ And more importantly, the truth of things is coming out! Even when it’s unpleasant truth, there we have it. Time has stopped and we can look at ourselves and our relationships 💫☯️ . . . Many blessings, Marianne ☯️ #grateful #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #mindfulness #mindfulliving #earthdayeveryday #nopollution #timetorelax #appreciationpost #gratefulheart

Just like acupuncture recommends elemental balance in order to reach optimal health, Feng Shui suggests balancing elements in order to reach optimal harmony in one's home. I personally tend to be a more Wood person, so my tendency is to decorate with the Wood element: wood floors, dozens of plants, wood objects, etc. While this element is soothing to me, I also realize that I'm prone to overdosing on it, neglecting some other key elements in my decor or wardrobe - namely Metal, Fire or Earth. 💫 . . Wood people are ideas people, creative, easy to talk to, but they don't tend to be detail-oriented and they sometimes take too much risk. So a balance is needed. ☯️ . . Wood in acupuncture rules the liver and the gallbladder. Balance is needed in your body as well as in your home so you can thrive and have great health and lots of energy. . . ✨ Try to calculate your Kua number with an online tool. And look around your home to see if you have too much Earth, Fire, Wood Water or Metal in your decor. 💜 . . If you are interested in going deeper, I cover elemental balance at great length in my "Feng Shui your Home in One Week" Course, which gives all the techniques to reach optimal balance in your home. You can check it out at www.fengshuiwithme.com/online-courses . . . 💜 Many blessings, Marianne #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #acupuncture #element #balance #harmony #easternphilosophy #taoism

In Feng Shui, we think of our homes as supporting our goals of love, abundance, health... So we look at the objects around our homes through the prism of how they make us feel 💫 . . . ☯️ Now imagine that when you open your drawers, you are reminded that you are “too big” for your small pants. Imagine if your exercise bike is in the middle of your living room (I’ve seen this a few times in consultations) and thinking that you’re “too lazy” to use your exercise bike, when you should really be thinking about resting after your work day.... Finally, imagine that your home is filled with items to be used “just in case”: this would be reinforcing a lack mentality which would mean “I don’t have enough” or “I have to prepare for the worst”. 💜 . . ☯️ As yoga also teaches us, the cells in our body react to our emotions, and negative emotions create disease and stress, but certainly not ease. And negative emotions cannot create the canvas for favorable outcomes... . . ☯️ So today, look around with your Feng Shui eyes and make sure you are well supported by the objects around you. 🙏💫✨ . . . Much love, Marianne . #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #yoga #kundalini #mindfulness #chi #superattractor

One of the teachings of the Dao is that the elders have capacity for true wisdom. As we engage with them in these times, we generate some Chi between generations. This is why the Ancestors and Health Gua is an important component of the Bagua map (supported by Wood). . ☯️ We can send elders the Chi of youth, while they send back the Chi of wisdom. While Asian cultures typically do this naturally, in the West, we do not necessarily engage with elders that way. Sure, we check on our own parents and older relatives, but I personally don’t often check on elderly neighbors. . . ☯️ I saw that some schools had created a bridge between young kids and nursing homes, by having the kids send drawings to isolated elderly people. I found it to be a great idea as most elder folks don’t have the tools we have at our fingertips for connecting with the rest of the world through technology. . . . ☯️ Sending you all love and light. Marianne . . . #fengshui #dao #daoism #wisdom #isolation #confinement #confinementchallenge #mindfulness #gratitude

Today, we explore the Career area. Maybe this slow time is a good opportunity to plan a career change? If you’re in this situation, here’s what you can do to strengthen this area of your life. ☯️ . . If you live in a house, the Northern part of your house will be your career area. If you live in an apartment, your career will generally fall in the bottom middle part of the map (unless of course your apartment has a missing career area, that is if your apartment has an irregular shape. Take my course in bio if you have any doubts). . . 💦 The career LOVES the water element. Water can be represented by the colors black and dark blue, water features, water representations (prints, paintings, photos), glass objects, crystals, mirrors, free-flowing shapes, a map, tortoises🐢. . . Just make sure that if you get a water fountain, it flows towards the inside of your home, bringing prosperity into the home or that it flows 360 degrees. If the water is represented on a photo by a stream or a wave, make sure that the stream, the waterfall or the wave runs towards the house and not out. Otherwise, it will generate the opposite effect: that is to have your money flow out of the house. If you use a mirror, use a solid mirror, and not a tiled mirror. 💦 You can also decorate with Metal, which supports the water element: whites, greys, round metallic objects. Happy Feng Shui Sunday! . . . Many blessings, Marianne #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #socialdistancing #confinement #zen #mindfulness #home #wfh

Since we just finished sprucing up the Mentors and travel Gua (see tip 30) and as we prepare to enhance our Career Gua tomorrow, now is the perfect time to do a digital declutter and organize our administrative paperwork. . . ☯️ Just like decluttering physical items leaves room for new opportunities, decluttering our written and admin life can add room for new opportunities and visions. . . ☯️ I look at the social media accounts I follow and I realize some of them reduce my chi, make me feel “less than”. A lot of fashion accounts featuring women with perfect clothes and bodies (dictated by society’s warped standards and by brands) actually nag more than they inspire. So I let them go. . . ☯️ Tackling the admin folders is also a huge boost for me (even though I dread it). So that’s my goal of the day. . . ☯️ Wishing you a lovely Saturday. Blessings, Marianne . . #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #socialmedia #igaddict #declutter #digitaldetox #organization #paperwork #adminday #confinement

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to go outside, but... I have the feeling that we are actually going to miss this time during which we could take our time and heal ourselves. And even regret not being more proactive about our healing. . . I’m sure many of us are rethinking our whole life as a result of this pandemic. Should I move to the countryside? Will I be able to afford my apartment if I get laid off? These are all external factors. But what about our inner quest for healing? . . In every crisis, there is an opportunity. This heath crisis brings us an opportunity to look at our soul and for the problems and wounds deep within us. Be true and look deeply: what am I not addressing that’s jeopardizing my relationships, my career, my life? . . During this quarantine, I took a good look at our family dynamics and was able to pinpoint the therapies and healing work we were going to need. . . 💜 Look at the truth! It’s not so scary. And perhaps before the quarantine is over, reach out for a therapist or a healer that you intuit will change your life. . . Much love, Marianne . . . . #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #mindfulness #healing #healingwork #energy #energyhealing #therapy #arttherapy #meditation #reiki #yoga #ayahuasca

Whatever you have at your fingertips today: whether it’s a garden or an avocado to sprout, use this day to tend to plants, repot, plant. 🌱 . . . ☯️ If confinement has reinforced a couple of things: it’s the value of caring for nature and enjoying one’s idle time alone or with your family. There’s nothing less productive than tending to your own garden in a strict short-term financial sense, but wasn’t it the lesson of Candide (Voltaire) after he traveled the world in search of adventure ? . . . ☯️ “but let us cultivate our garden." He says. The lesson is that tending to your garden teaches lessons that busy life never can: patience, peace, enlightenment. Nature is our temple. We must use this time to learn to care for nature in a way we never did: not using nature for its bounties, but understanding how we have a symbiotic relationship with it. We care for it- she cares for us. . . . ☯️ I’ll be sprouting an avocado (we will see how it goes), making a wild bouquet and repotting my jade plant today. What about you? 🌱 . . . . #fengshui #nature #environment #taoism #tao #daoism #philosophy #heal #naturelover #plantsofinstagram #fengshuiwithme #avocado

Day 30 - phewww. hard to find any energy to do anything. And I'm not advocating that you follow each and every one of my tips at the moment. But I hope to give you tips you can use now or in the future when our energy is back on track. . . It seems funny to talk about this gua during confinement, as opportunities and travel are basically stopped at the moment. But... here are a few tips for preparing the Mentors gua to support you post-confinement. . . When you activate the northwest corner of your house, or the bottom right quadrant of your apartment, (see my link to calculate your bagua map), you activate your mentors luck as well as blessings, business contacts, and the potential for business and traveling the world. . . The helpful people corner is represented by the metal element. That makes it a great place to add business cards, a piece of artwork displaying a city landscape, any object that is shiny and metallic, and anything that moves, like a clock. A map is also a great place for this area. . . Many blessings, Marianne . . . #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #healing #healingwork #lightworker #energyhealing #spiritualawakening #spiritualjourney #feelinggood #travelgram #worldtraveler

Take a vacation in your own home. If you have kids, could you set up a tent somewhere in the house or let them sleep on the couch? You’ve probably spent countless hours creating routines and rules for your kids, and making sure your own bedroom is cozy but extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures: maybe it’s time to switch things up! ⛱ . . Can you try to find a new work set up ? If you always eat at the kitchen table, could you picnic on your balcony or in your bathtub? . . An old Chinese proverb says: “If you want to change your life, change 27 things in your home”. This proverb means that by changing your external environment, you’ll be able to change your perception of life. And that’s so true! . . If you’ve done the repair exercise on day 23, you’ve noticed that tricking your brain into releasing the right chemicals is so easy. Novelty in your home works the same way: you’ll be able to take a vacation in your home this way, by releasing the same chemicals as you would planning a real vacation! 🏝 . . Plan it “in advance” (in the morning) for best results ! . . #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #mindfulness #change #confinement #confinementchallenge #confinementcreatif #sleepover #kidsactivities #vacationmode

The Creativity and Children area is located in the west corner if you live in a house or the middle right section if you live in an apartment. ☯️ This corner is about birthing something: whether it is children, ideas, creative projects, a business idea. It is about following your intuition and shaping a burst of creativity into reality. . . You want to pay particular attention to this gua when you want to conceive, be more creative or have a better relationships with your children. . Children & Creativity Tips: Recommended colors are white, metals and pastels (pastels contain a lot of white, which is a metallic color). A great area to do hobbies, crafts, music, hang artwork, or just to get creative. Place photos of children in this corner. 💜 Do you take photos? Can you frame one? Do you have a patent for your business? Can you frame some of your kids' art projects? . (Read my blog or sign up for my bagua course in bio if you have any doubts) ☯️💫 . . . #bagua #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #baguamap #creativity #creative #art #fertility #muse #intuition #spiritualawakening #spirituality

Finding energy at this stage can be difficult, especially when the fear of disease or the fear of losing someone can seem paralyzing. Today, let’s just congratulate ourselves for making it this far, for being able to rejoice and finding meaning in little things. . . ☯️ In this Holy Week for a lot of people, and even if you’re an atheist, spirituality and philosophy offer many answers for people who look for meaning. Is there a spiritual podcast you can listen to that can make you feel more peaceful ? . . ☯️ I continue to find the news not helpful except to check it once or twice a day for basic information. The rest is noise. Can we tune into a higher frequency and reach for a good book instead? Is it time to reach for that classic novel we have been meaning to read for a decade? Reading ancient philosophy can be soothing. Is it time to read or reread Plato? And find more meaning in life? . . I hope you take it slow and congratulate yourself often. Much love 💕💫 Marianne . . . . #fengshui #fengshuiwithme #meditation #spiritualawakening #spirituality #religion #meaning #books #mindfulness #confinement #confinementchallenge #stayhome

Today, we are going to look at our Love Gua. (Please refer to my bagua course in bio or my blog post on How to calculate your bagua map). . 🤎 Love symbolism can mean photos of two lovers or two animals (the Chinese use the mandarin ducks as love symbolism). . . 💟 Find items in pairs (as in the second photo): two armchairs, two plants, two matching lamps, two small tables. . 🤍 Tones should be fiery and earthy: all shades of pink, orange, and reds. . . ❤️ Your love corner won’t necessarily be your bedroom. So pay attention to what room it is located in and how you decorated it. . 💜 Where is your love Gua? How does it reflect your own life? . . . . #fengshui #fengshuitips #fengshuiwithme #confinement #confinementtips #confinementcreatif #spirituality #chi #love #romance

The exercise I propose today is a little different than usual, but I believe it can help you greatly reduce your stress through confinement. . 💛 Straight from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR), this exercise is one of extreme attention and concentration to the information provided by our 5 senses. . . . 🧘🏻‍♀️ You should practice it for a whole meal, and it should take you around 45 minutes - 1 hour 15 to eat in complete silence, alone (or with others confined with you who want to do it too). Take every single bite of food with your hand or fork, touch it, smell it, taste it, listen to it, look at it as if you were an alien and had never tasted food before. Everything on your plate is a discovery of the 5 senses. 🧘🏽‍♀️ Or you can imagine you’re like a baby who has never tried this new food. Explore with your hands and all senses. Rediscover all these sensations. And really take your time. 💛 The MBSR program was initially designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn for the recovery of patients with severe depression. After successful trials with the general population was it expanded and applied for a number of benefits: stress reduction, depression reduction, certain chronic diseases, reducing physical pain, general anxiety, the list goes on. There wouldn’t be a better program than MBSR if you wanted to do a home retreat stress reduction program during confinement. 💛 When I teach it, certain people get angry in advance by this exercice. But soon as they do it, they become playful and start loving it. I will be fasting for most of the day today (no breakfast or dinner), but I will take my lunch in silence and very slowly. I hope you enjoy this exercise as much as I do! Much love, Marianne . . . . #mindfulness #mbsr #fengshuiwithme #stressrelief #stressreduction #anxiety #anxiousmind #mindful #mindfuleating #anxietyproblems

Today, we will look at our Fame and Reputation Gua. This corner is very important, and it’s not just a corner where we brag and self-aggrandize. 💫 Your reputation is how people perceive you and your true intentions and how you present to the world. Some people with great intentions and heart might not be truly understood because the message doesn’t get across well. The product or service they sell might not be seen. Here’s what Feng Shui recommends in that area. ☯️ The color red can activate the fame and reputation gua. Ordinary objects with red as main color can also be displayed. These include bedsheets, lampshades, curtains, rugs, utensils, books... You can also use objects of the fire element to energise the fame corner of your home. A fireplace is great to have in that area. Other objects can include candles, triangular shapes, bright lights. Hang diplomas, awards, trophies in that gua. If you’re shy about doing this and/or the reputation Gua is your bedroom (like me) you can save those in a neat red folder. You can always use the South corner of your office to display those. Your vision board is also a good place to keep in that Gua. This way you affirm to the world what you would like to achieve and be known for. A good reason to spruce up your Reputation Gua today is that our external selves have nearly vanished in confinement and the lack of yang energy can make us feel depressed. ☯️ Please let me know how is goes! Much love, Marianne ☯️ as a reminder: use the code FSWM20 to get 20% off my Feng Shui course.

What day is it today? It’s kind of a blur. We now have some signs that the epidemic might have reached a peak in some highly affected areas, but we still don’t know how or when we are going to be able to get outside. Psychologically, this can be really tough. It’s like we have a foot in and a foot out. ☯️ So I came up with this confinement hack: let’s trick our brains into releasing healthy levels of dopamine. (And get our house in order little by little). Dopamine acts as a little energy engine, producing a sensation of pleasure when the brain records an achievement, albeit little. ☯️ So today, my goal is to pick three mini projects around the home: it could be changing a light bulb, fixing a button on a shirt, removing a stain with chlorine, ordering a new bath mat, painting a little. ☯️ I hope these 3 actions will get you the right amount of Chi for today. ☯️ Don’t forget to meditate every day (twice a day if you can) especially if you notice your mental health or energy declining. If you don’t know how to meditate, go to my website and click on www.fengshuiwithme.com/audio for a short meditation (7 minutes). Stay strong! 💫 Marianne #fengshui #diy #confinementchallenge #confinementcreatif #mindfulness #fengshuiwithme #tipoftheday #confinementtip #fengshuitips #bagua #dopamine