Feng Shui and Light: Use Light Energy for Good Feng Shui in Your Home or Office

**kentvogel** · 12-12-2011, 01:41 AM

Feng Shui is all about energy, and light is the strongest manifestation of energy. In fact, the light in your home - both natural and artificial lighting - greatly influences the quality of your home energy (the feng shui of your home.) Smart lighting and good quality air are the very basics of good feng shui, and should always be on top of your feng shui priorities for any space, be it home or business.

Your body reacts to everything around you, and you either get nourished or drained by the energy that surrounds you. I strongly encourage you to become aware of the quality of light in your home or office and its influence on your health and well-being.

Light is our # 1 nutrient and has been called the medicine of the future. Make a habit of paying attention to how much good quality light you actually enjoy throughout the day, as well as the quality and number of the indoor light sources in your home or office.

Malillumination is the term coined by Dr. John Ott, a pioneer light researcher. He used this term to describe sunlight deficiency and the harmful effects of fluorescent lighting on human's behavior, learning abilities and overall health.

It is interesting to note that the use of cool white fluorescent lights has been legally banned in Germany at a Federal level. There are numerous studies on the negative effects of fluorescent lighting, as well as the benefits of full-spectrum lighting; all you have to do is devote some time to exploring this topic.

Knowing that color is light, how many colors are you actually enjoying in your space? Yes, you might not want to create an absolute rainbow of colors in your home, but the truth is that many homes are starving for beautiful, pure colors, starving for more light energy.

Think of the happiest humans out there, the little kids; their energy is constantly nourished by an abundance of colors! Most young children are vibrant, creative, happy because they allow themselves to absorb different frequencies of light. Can you imagine a little child clinging to a beige decor scheme? It just can't happen, as children are intuitively drawn to good energy.

Allow yourself to tap into a source of better energy, bring beauty into your home, bring more color, have good lighting. Educate yourself on how to light a home (check the IKEA site, easy and educational, and go for at least three sources of light in any room.)

Open up the windows and let the sunlight in. Welcome beauty and good energy, it is all around you, you just have to be receptive to it.

Have you heard of full-spectrum lights - the "super nutrient", as some scientist would call it? If you have not, I highly recommend you research the topic of full spectrum lighting, and then plan on introducing some in your home, as well as work environment.

Go for beauty and good energy, you will have nothing to lose (except bad memories); and everything to gain.

**johnfrwhipple** · 12-12-2011, 07:16 AM

I have been reading a book called "Light - Medicine of the Future" by Jacob Liberman, O.D., PH.D.

I find the study of this subject very interesting. We have been installing many types of light kits into our showers and steam showers.

Do you recommend any one colour for general day by day?

Do you recommend any specific placements of lights.

There is also some great new grab bars that have a built in LED that makes for an even safer project.

Thanks for any information.

JW

**mtcummins** · 12-12-2011, 06:18 PM

I'm not sure how much of the feng shui philosophy I buy in to, but I definitely agree that good lighting is key to health. I'm meticulous about getting natural light into every part of my house (even my walk in closet in my master bedroom has natural lighting). Natural light is the best lighting you can get, and it is well worth the hassle/cost to cut new windows and skylights into a house to bring more of it in.

As far as florescents... is it just the cool white that you're saying is bad, or fluorescent light in general? I don't like cool white light at all, but warm white florescent "feels" almost equivalent to me to warm incandescent light. Is there a specific difference you're referring to?

What are your thoughts on LED lighting?

I'm also interested in some of the questions JW posted above... about positioning, temperature, etc.

**Runs with bison** · 12-13-2011, 01:12 AM

Not sure what the original poster is going on about, other than being a full decade or more out of date (Austin Powers?) Yaaaah, baby!!!!

Standard CFL's now aren't "cool white" and instead tend to have a warmer than normal glow ("soft white"). That is why you can also get "day light" or "bright white" types that are increasingly cooler (bluer).

hj · 12-13-2011, 04:55 AM

Maaybe they can figure out how to "feng shui" water to soften it naturally, without machinery or magnets.

**Agu** · 12-17-2011, 06:08 PM

As far as florescents... is it just the cool white that you're saying is bad, or fluorescent light in general? I don't like cool white light at all, but warm white florescent "feels" almost equivalent to me to warm incandescent light. Is there a specific difference you're referring to?

What are your thoughts on LED lighting?

Color designation of light is measured in Kelvin. Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red). Most people tend to prefer artificial lighting in the 3000K range, which is actually a very yellow light and nothing like natural daylight which which varies from 5000K to 6500K . Since a cool white or even higher K bulbs more realistically reproduce the color spectrum of natural light I don't see how it could be bad ?

LED lighting is going to be even better as the technology matures. There are already specialty light where the color temp can be manipulated depending on the situation. Add that to substantially lower energy consumption, less waste heat and longer life.

In my home higher color temp/natural daylight bulbs have been put into service where ever possible.

**mtcummins** · 12-17-2011, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by Agu

Color designation of light is measured in Kelvin. Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red). Most people tend to prefer artificial lighting in the 3000K range, which is actually a very yellow light and nothing like natural daylight which which varies from 5000K to 6500K . Since a cool white or even higher K bulbs more realistically reproduce the color spectrum of natural light I don't see how it could be bad ?

LED lighting is going to be even better as the technology matures. There are already specialty light where the color temp can be manipulated depending on the situation. Add that to substantially lower energy consumption, less waste heat and longer life.

In my home higher color temp/natural daylight bulbs have been put into service where ever possible.

I dunno about the feng shui of it, but i can't stand high temperature bulbs. they make a home feel so clinical, which depresses me. 3500k is about the max i can stand. full spectrum bulbs i think deal with more than just temperature though, there's color rendering index implications, etc. maybe with all of it together the light would be more pleasing, i dunno...

I love natural daylight, but no "cool" light bulb I've used (which admittedly hasn't been many) has been anything remotely like natural light so far.

**ballvalve** · 12-18-2011, 01:15 AM

Step outside more often and don't wear sunglasses - EVER.

hj · 12-18-2011, 07:22 AM

quote; I love natural daylight

Install more windows and a bigger heating system.

**griffinhill** · 05-02-2012, 01:46 AM

As you say,"Open up the windows and let the sunlight in. Welcome beauty and good energy, it is all around you, you just have to be receptive to it. " I love this method. Some ways of FENG SHUI can really help us in our life. At least, it works for the spirit!

**johnfrwhipple** · 05-02-2012, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by griffinhill

As you say,"Open up the windows and let the sunlight in. Welcome beauty and good energy, it is all around you, you just have to be receptive to it. " I love this method. Some ways of FENG SHUI can really help us in our life. At least, it works for the spirit!

Is there any colours that someone can select that offers better Feng Shui? This steam shower is very relaxing and the user can select multiple colours for Chromotheraphy - which colours offer up the best Feng Shui?

Here is another

**jimbo** · 05-02-2012, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Agu

Color designation of light is measured in Kelvin. Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red). Most people tend to prefer artificial lighting in the 3000K range, which is actually a very yellow light and nothing like natural daylight which which varies from 5000K to 6500K . Since a cool white or even higher K bulbs more realistically reproduce the color spectrum of natural light I don't see how it could be bad ?

LED lighting is going to be even better as the technology matures. There are already specialty light where the color temp can be manipulated depending on the situation. Add that to substantially lower energy consumption, less waste heat and longer life.

In my home higher color temp/natural daylight bulbs have been put into service where ever possible.

The issue with fluorescent lighting is not just the Kelvin number, which is a single point measurement of the predominant color. The other measurement is the CRI ( color rendition index) , scale of 1 to 10, sometimes expressed 1 to 100. Most compacts now have a cri of 8, or 83 , or 85. That is pretty good light. The four foot tubes can have lower CRI...in the 70's or even 60's. That light is not very "natural" even it the Kelvin is say 4100 cool white, or even 5000.
That is why the fluorescent phase out taking place on July 1 for T12's and some T8's, has not only a lumens per watt component, but also a CRI component in the spec.

LED is a whole new world. It is a much different light than incandescent or fluorescent. It will take some getting used to what works best.

**Dana** · 05-02-2012, 11:02 AM

LED technology isn't as different from fluorescent as you might think. The bulk of the light from LED bulb-replacements is from blue LEDs, which are a slightly higher Kelvin temperature than the argon-mercury spectrum blue that drives fluorescents. Like fluorescent technology, phosphors are used to "pump" other light frequencies to fill in spectrum- the very same phosphors used in fluorescent technology(!), but much smaller quantities (it only needs to cover the LED die, not the walls of a glass tube.)

Unlike fluorescent technology, LED bulb-replacements can have multiple LED types of differing center frequency/wavelengths, and can fill in spectrum using them (and other phosphors targeted for the other wavelengths). This enables a somewhat better balanced, broader spectrum resulting in an even higher CRI. Cheaper high-efficiency LED bulb-replacements use only blue LEDs and at most 2 types of phosphor. They tend to have quite high Kelvin numbers, but so-so (or sometimes even downright LOUSY) color rendering in the 60s & 70s. Blue-LED based bulbs set up with "warm white" phosphors take a huge hit in luminous efficiency without much improvement in CRI. Better versions with multiple LED types hit the 80s (very CFL- like) for CRI, but at this point a premium is still paid to hit above 50 lumens/watt with a CRI north of 85. The Phillips L-Prize winner 60W A-bulb replacement is an impressive 97lm/w, with a CRI of 90+. Street price is $50/ea, list price is $60. But many of the current offerings out there struggle to match $2 twisty CFLs on CRI & efficiency, at 5-10x the price.

Four foot T8 linear tupes with CRIs in the mid-80s are common and relatively cheap across quite a range of color temps, with lumen-efficiencies well above 80lm/w. For more money they can be had with CRI 90+, still retaining efficiency above 70lm/W. It'll be awhile before LED technology can compete with high CRI T8 on price, efficiency and total luminous output.

**jimbo** · 05-02-2012, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Dana

Four foot T8 linear tupes with CRIs in the mid-80s are common and relatively cheap across quite a range of color temps, with lumen-efficiencies well above 80lm/w. For more money they can be had with CRI 90+, still retaining efficiency above 70lm/W. It'll be awhile before LED technology can compete with high CRI T8 on price, efficiency and total luminous output.

As of July 1, 2012 the MINIMUM lumen per watt for a 4' T8 bulb is 89 lumen per watt

**Dana** · 05-03-2012, 08:53 AM

I hadn't read or heard of that, but I'm not surprised- it's not a very tough hurdle to clear with the current state of the art of electronic ballasts.

It's the system, not just the tube that ultimately determines the lumen-efficiency of linear fluorescents, and the bigger factor is the ballast. The best-designed tubes probably wouldn't break 70lm/w in an old-skool magnetic-ballasted fixture.