Dr. Barry Sultanoff.

An ancient Chinese practice called Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) has recently re-emerged in the West as an intriguing strategy for achieving optimal health. At a time when economic imperatives, time pressures, and administrative hassles have intruded into the very core of medicine, this ancient art can be a powerful tool for restoring the sanctity and humanity of the healing process. You can apply its principles to improve the quality of your work environment while at the same time neutralizing the stress in your life, and in the lives of your patients.

Feng Shui, which literally means “wind and water”, is the art of arranging and orienting objects, plants, colors, sounds, and light-sources in a living or working space to create a healthful, life-enhancing environment. It is based upon the same principles as acupuncture and other familiar applications of Chinese philosophy such as Qigong and Tai Chi. Feng Shui’s fundamental premise is that there exists everywhere a life energy called “chi” that animates all beings … and flows throughout the universe.

In the Feng Shui view, this vital energy brings all things to life. It permeates the walls of our offices. It can give warmth and character to our examination rooms. It expresses itself through the sounds, colors, light, art work, and plants that fill our waiting rooms.

In Feng Shui, the concept of “bodymind” applies not only to individuals, but also to the surrounding space, the energetic context in which we live and work. From this viewpoint, a doctor’s office is perceived as a living being that has a “bodymind” all its own.

Fertile Environments

In medicine, we’ve focused intensively on the need for sterile environments in order to minimize the spread of infectious disease. But the time has come, I believe, to focus not only upon what we seek to prevent but also (and perhaps more importantly!) upon what we hope to create.

I’ve invented the term “fertile environment” to refer to the kind of healthy work space in which chi is flowing well; that is, the kind of work environment we might hope to achieve by applying Feng Shui principles. As educated whole-person physicians, we can then become “pollinators of possibility,” practicing our clinical skills in environments that foster and facilitate healing.

Since the harmonious circulation of chi (energy) throughout the work space is ultimately what creates a healthy working environment, you’ll want to do all you can to optimize it.

In the midst of our busy professional lives, how do we make it important enough to regard the environments in which we work with the same attentiveness that we offer our individual patients? Only, perhaps, as we come to recognize the profound relationship that exists between what goes on outside us and our health within. It is this relationship between the inner and the outer, between the condition of the walls we live and work within, and the vitality of the living structures (bones, organs, tissues, etc.) that live inside of us that Feng Shui elucidates so clearly.

Balancing Chi

An acupuncturist creates balance by inserting needles at particular strategic points along energy pathways, or meridians, of the body. The more harmonious the energy flow becomes as a result of that intervention, the healthier and more symptom-free the patient will be.

Similarly, in Feng Shui, balance, harmony, and optimal health are achieved by the placement of particular objects in specific, strategic locations in the environment.

In other words, the judicious selection and placement of “chi enhancing” objects in specific locations within your office is analogous to the acupuncturist’s educated placement of needles in particular spots along chosen meridians. By learning to make “informed choices” about what your office should—and should not—contain, you can transform your work space into a fertile environment where chi can circulate freely. Examples of chi-enhancing “living objects” are flowers and plants, mirrors, paintings and sculpture, crystals and gemstones, fountains, chimes, and lighting fixtures. Important, too, is the choice and placement of the furniture itself.

At its best, your office can become a sanctuary that delights the heart and awakens the spirit of whomever comes there. And do not underestimate the role delight can play in the healing process.

Taking Inventory

	Photo courtesy of Dr. Barry Sultanoff.

Here are a few easy things you can do to bring the principles of Feng Shui into your office. First of all, plan a time to do a “physical exam” of your work space. Take inventory. Look around. What do you already have in your work space that you love? Acknowledge what’s there that already “resonates” for you. Take a few minutes just to recognize, celebrate and enjoy what’s already in place.

Part of Feng Shui’s “magic” will be your discovery that a few seemingly small changes will remarkably improve the way your office feels.

So consider now what you’d love to have, or have more of. … What needs to be changed? What parts of your office feel most in need of revitalization? As you ponder this, pause … and breathe. Go slow. There are many “right” ways, and ideas will suggest themselves if you give it a little time. Trust your own wisdom about what’s right for you. Though Feng Shui may be new to you, you’re still the expert on your own tastes and preferences. So, “listen inside” to what “feels right” and then make choices based upon your own sensibilities.

In Feng Shui, the entry way is a place of special significance. It is the “mouth” of your work place, an important channel where chi flows in. Is yours a “mouth” that bears a warm smile—or does it wear a more neutral, or even hostile expression? One clue to this is how you feel when you first come to work. Are you happy to arrive? When you walk in the door, do you feel energized … or enervated? Welcomed in or put off? Whatever it is, chances are your patients feel it too.

How about your waiting room? Does it reflect the healing atmosphere you wish to offer your patients? Is it a sanctuary that conveys welcome and nurturing? If not, you might want to bring in some robust, flourishing plants (especially those with full, rounded leaves) or a small table-top fountain whose delicate sounds can delight and soothe whoever’s waiting to see you. Consider hanging a small wind chime near the entry way as a playful musical welcome—it works for me.

Do whatever you can to invite nature in and allow her vibrancy to circulate throughout your office. I often play recorded sounds from nature quietly in the background—streams flowing over rocks, bird songs, “conversations” of whales and dolphins, or the sounds of ocean surf. Or I choose music that mimics the feeling of gentle wind, such as Japanese shakuhachi flute. Or you might choose classical music instead; for example, symphonic music by Haydn or Mozart, Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, or a Bach Brandenburg Concerto.

How about your desk? Do you feel good when you sit down? If not, consider placing a vase of cut flowers, especially in the far right-hand corner to enhance harmonious relationships among you and your staff. Or hang a painting or a photograph that you love on the wall opposite where you sit. (To learn more about the meanings and specific applications of these locations—that is, to learn about the Ba-Gua that Feng Shui espouses—see the books recommended below.)

Creating Balance

As with acupuncture and other applications of Eastern medicine, the balancing of opposites, yin and yang, is intrinsic to Feng Shui. The chart describes a few examples of yin and yang qualities and of what you can do to balance them. (To explore this subject in more detail, see The Western Guide to Feng Shui, by Terah Collins or Feng Shui Made Easy by William Spear.)

Health can be seen as the natural expression of a thriving planetary community. The more we all celebrate our interconnectedness, the healthier our entire world becomes.

So, as you explore ways of revitalizing your office environment, remember that your work place is not an “island”. It is a microcosm of the entire universe. By bringing beauty and balance into your world, you will be bringing beauty and balance into the lives of your patients, and by extension to the world beyond your practice. The effects may be a lot more powerful and far-reaching than you think.

The Japanese haiku poet Dogen perhaps said it best …

When the old plum tree blooms
the entire world
blooms

Barry Sultanoff is a psychiatrist specializing in treatment of addiction. He incorporates Feng Shui and a number of mind-body modalities in his Kensington, MD, private practice.