Episode 033: Feng Shui and Intentions for the New Year

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 033

FENG SHUI AND INTENTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! We're so grateful to each of you for taking the time to listen to the podcast this year, and we're very excited about next year! In honor of 2017, I'd like to share some ways to use feng shui to welcome a positive, inspiring new year. I'm planning to take each of these steps myself and would love to hear what your intentions are as well!

Whether you choose to do one or all of these feng shui adjustments, please feel free to share how your space feels afterward and how you feel heading into a brand new year! Again, thank you all for listening to the Holistic Spaces podcast and making 2016 such a great year for us.

To start the new year (and every month in it) with feng shui, green design and holistic living tips, be sure to subscribe to our Holistic Spaces newsletter!

You can also submit any questions or feedback to us here and possibly have your question answered as part of our Q&A Sundays! We also have a new service, 15-minute consultation calls, to have your questions answered privately and right away!

We'll see you next year!

Episode 032: The Way of Flowers with Marcia Shibata

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 032

THE WAY OF FLOWERS WITH MARCIA SHIBATA

Welcome back to the Holistic Spaces podcast! This is our next-to-last podcast this year, and we have such an amazing guest. Marcia Shibata is a Master Shambhala KADO instructor, classically trained in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, and has studied with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in the Shambhala Buddhist community. She's also the co-founder of the Shambhala Kado School and is my spiritual mentor in addition to my KADO and Ikebana teacher. I'm so happy to welcome her insight around the path of flowers and bringing them into your holistic spaces.

  • What is KADO?

  • The meaning of "holistic"

  • Thich Nhat Hahn's "interconnectedness"

  • Our connection to nature

  • Flowers, "the jewels of the planet"

  • Flowers and your environment

  • Disposing of flowers

  • Bringing flowers into your space holistically and mindfully

Thank you so much, Marcia, for sharing your knowledge and advice for including flowers in our holistic spaces. I hope each of you will consider these ideas when choosing aspects of nature to add to your homes.

For more insights and tips into feng shu, green design and holistic living, be sure to sign up for our Holistic Spaces newsletter!

If you have specific questions, please feel free to reach out and have them answered via Q&A Sunday or through our new service, 15-minute consultation calls!

Tune in after Christmas for our final 2016 podcast and tips for setting intentions for the new year!

Marcia Wang Shibata is a Master Shambhala Kado/Ikebana Instructor within the Shambhala Buddhist community and co-founder the Shambhala Kado Ridgen School of Ikebana. She is a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Having studied and practiced in both a major classical and modern Ikebana school, she teaches from the view of nature’s innate wisdom and Buddhist/Shambhalian compassionate warriorship.

Ms Shibata was further bestowed the title of “Artist to the Kalapa Court” in autumn 2013 by Sakong Mipham Rinpoche. 

for more information about the KADO RIGDEN SCHOOL OF IKEBANA, please visit

Episode 031: Nine Star Holiday Dynamics with Rosalie Prinzivalli

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 031

NINE STAR HOLIDAY DYNAMICS WITH ROSALIE PRINZIVALLI

You may notice that this episode is a bit off schedule. That's because it's our first holiday podcast this year, so we wanted to get it to you before Thanksgiving! This is a very special episode, because we'll be talking with one of my closest friends and one of my first and most amazing mentors, Rosalie Prinzivalli. The holidays are meant to be loving time spent with friends and family, but they can actually be very stressful, since we're all different people with different needs! Understanding the nine star ki dynamics can help us to handle this stress and actually enjoy peaceful, grounded holidays during this season, and Rosalie is an expert. Let's see what she has to say. :)

Hopefully each of you are feeling less stressed about going into the holiday season, thanks to Rosalie's advice! We're very grateful to Rosalie for sharing her insight. :)

Be sure to sign up for the Holistic Spaces newsletter for more tips and advice on feng shui, green design and holistic living, around the holidays and all year! You'll receive a 10% off coupon for signing up, just in time to save on holistic gifts!

As always, we love to hear from you with comments or questions. You can send them in here and may even be featured in our Q&A Sunday series!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We're incredibly grateful for you every day. :)

Rosalie is a Certified Feng Shui Practitioner, 2002 Graduate and the first graduate to become a full-time faculty member and mentor of the BTB Feng Shui™ Masters Training Program. She has 30+ years of studies in Taoism, energy healing, meditation, astrology; an MBA from NYU Stern; and many years of corporate management experience. Rosalie takes a practical approach to Feng Shui and makes complex concepts easily understandable. Rosalie is a Red Ribbon Professional Member of the International Feng Shui Guild® where she served as Board Chair from 2006 to September 2014 and where the BTB Feng Shui Masters Training Program is a Gold Level Member.

For more information or to study with Rosalie, visit btbmastersfengshui.com.

Episode 030: Attracting a Successful Career - A Mini Consultation

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 030

ATTRACTING A SUCCESSFUL CAREER - A MINI CONSULTATION

This week's podcast is very exciting, as we'll be listening in on my mini consultation with Anna, the winner of our podcast giveaway! She left a wonderful review and chose to receive the free mini consultation. Interestingly, one of Anna's wishes is to improve her career, so this week we'll build on last week's podcast and talk about how Anna can welcome a happy, stable career to her life. Let's get started!

Thanks so much, again, to Anna for her great review! We have high hopes for her career in real estate (or whatever she decides)! :) Anna, please let us know how things go and how these feng shui tips work out for you!

If you'd like more tips and tricks on holistic living, feng shui and green design, be sure to join our Holistic Spaces newsletter! You'll even receive a 10% off coupon to the store for signing up!

We'd also love to hear from you with any questions about feng shui and creating your holistic space. Send them along and you could be featured in our Q&A Sunday series!

Thanks again for listening, and we look forward to our next podcast with you! 

Episode 029: Finding a New Job - How Feng Shui Can Help

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 029

FINDING A NEW JOB - HOW FENG SHUI CAN HELP

Losing or leaving a job can be a stressful experience, even if the choice was yours. It can make us feel rejected, insecure and even afraid, but feng shui can help! This week we'll dig into how we can use feng shui philosophy and adjustments to attract work and career opportunities following a job loss.

Hopefully you're all very happy and content with your careers, but if that isn't the case, there is still hope! Give one, or all, of these feng shui tips a try, and be sure to keep your intentions positive and hopeful. If anyone is experiencing job loss now and finds work after using these adjustments, we would LOVE to hear from you!

We love to hear from each of you, so please don't hesitate to send questions or comments through! Your questions could even be featured on our Q&A Sunday series!

If you're interested in more holistic living, feng shui and green design tips, be sure to sign up for our monthly Holistic Spaces newsletter, and receive a 10% coupon to the Holistic Spaces store.

As always, thank you for listening. :)

Episode 028: Vision Boards and Their Feng Shui Placement

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 028

VISION BOARDS AND THEIR FENG SHUI PLACEMENT

I'm excited for this week's podcast, since we'll be announcing our giveaway winner and talking about vision boards! Vision boards can be such an amazing way to get in touch with and manifest your goals; I'm living proof! So this week we'll talk vision boards, and I'll share my personal story as well as tips on using vision boards and feng shui! 

Hopefully you're looking forward to creating your own vision board and manifesting your dreams and goals! I would love to hear from you on whether a vision board has helped you or what goal you'll be working toward with your new board. 

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions on green design, feng shui or holistic living. You may be featured in our Q&A Sunday series!

For monthly tips on how to live holistically and create nourishing spaces, sign up for our Holistic Spaces newsletter, and receive a 10% off coupon for the Holistic Spaces store!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast!

Episode 027: Indoor Air Quality

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 027

INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Welcome back to the Holistic Spaces podcast! Last week, when we learned how to create a peaceful, zen bedroom, we briefly discussed indoor air quality. This week we'll get more in depth into the importance of indoor air quality and how to make improvements to ensure our holistic spaces are healthy. 

As you can see, ensuring that our indoor air is as clean as possible is a huge step in working towards creating our own holistic spaces. We spend up to 90% of our time indoors, so this is a great place to start changing the energy in your life! 

I want to say "thank you" to each of you for tuning in to our Holistic Spaces podcast. It means the world!

For even more insight into green design and holistic living, sign up for the Holistic Spaces newsletter, and receive a 10% off coupon to the Holistic Spaces store!

If you have specific questions regarding feng shui, green design or holistic living, please feel free to ask! You could even be featured in our Q&A Sunday series! 

Episode 026: Feng Shui for a Peaceful, Stress-Free Bedroom

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 026

FENG SHUI FOR A PEACEFUL, STRESS-FREE BEDROOM

We spend about a third of our lives in our beds or bedrooms, and with the cooler weather coming, many of us will be much more likely to spend even more! If you lead a busy, hectic life, and chances are you do, having a calming, nurturing space of your own to come home to is important. This week I'll share a few easy feng shui and holistic tips for creating a peaceful, stress-free bedroom that nourishes you, and where you want to spend time!

- Commanding position

- Your bed in relationship to the rest of your home 

- Soothing colors

- Adding plants

- Using essential oil

- Reducing EMFs

Even if you can only make a few of these changes, taking the smallest steps can make a big difference in creating a zen atmosphere that welcomes and soothes you. Can you pick up a Peace Lily at the farmer's market? Add a few light blue and green throw pillows? Even just bringing in a touch of lavender oil can turn your bedroom into a sacred oasis of calm. What changes are you excited to try?

As always, I encourage you to reach out with any questions. You may even be featured on our Q&A Sunday series!

And don't forget to sign up for the Holistic Spaces newsletter! Get tips each month on feng shui, green design and holistic living, and receive a 10% coupon to the Holistic Spaces store just for signing up!

Episode 025: Carmen Mensink Talks Tibetan Buddhist Art

HOLISTIC SPACES PODCAST, EPISODE 025

CARMEN MENSINK TALKS TIBETAN BUDDHIST ART

image credit: Tibetan Buddhist Art

image credit: Tibetan Buddhist Art

I'm very excited to have my Tibetan sacred art teacher, Carmen Mensink, on the podcast today! Carmen is an amazing artist from Holland and has been studying Tibetan Buddhist art and practicing Buddhism for almost 20 years. She now teaches at many wonderful places across New York City, including the Rubin Museum of Art, Tibet House - NY and many more, and I'm so fortunate to work with her on my own sacred art! She has graciously agreed to share her insight on sacred art with us today! 

Thanks so much to Carmen for chatting with us today! Check back on the Holistic Spaces blog for a post on Tibetan symbols coming soon! If you're in the New York area and interested in learning more about Tibetan art, I highly recommend reaching out to Carmen. She's an incredible teacher and artist!

Also don't forget to sign up for green design and feng shui tips in our Holistic Spaces newsletter. You'll receive a 10% off coupon to the shop for signing up!

I'd love to hear your questions about feng shui, green design and holistic living as well. Send them our way, and you may be featured on the Q&A Sunday series! 

Carmen Mensink is a painter and teacher of Tibetan Buddhist Art based in Amsterdam. Interested in Buddhism from an early age, Carmen studied with thangka painter teacher Andy Weber for thirteen years before being chosen as his successor in teaching. Since 2008, Carmen has traveled the world painting and teaching the art of thangka full-time. Her classes and lectures are available in Europe, the United States and Asia, and she also offers private lessons and thangka restoration. To view Carmen's work or learn from her, visit tibetan-buddhist-art.com.