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Feng Shui for Inner Wellness · Building the Best You

• 0:00
  Kerri: I think, the biggest thing for me.
• 0:01
  Kerri: It's really silly, but even into my mid to late 20s I really hadn't broken up my life and defined what I was creating, what I wanted and what I wanted to design for my life, and those feng shui books helped me really do that process and to get really clear and conscious about what I wanted for each part of my life.
• 0:21
  Kerri: Feng Shui looks at nine different life areas, from wealth to health to love and more, and encourage you to get really clear on what you want in those parts of life and then look around and see how you're supporting what you want or not, how your space might be working against you.
• 0:41
  Jeanne: Welcome to the House of Jr podcast where wellness starts within.
• 0:47
  Jeanne: The House of ermar is a lifestyle brand, empowering women to live all in interior design and personal wellness.
• 0:53
  Jeanne: We are a destination for women ready to reimagine what is possible in their homes and lives and then create it.
• 1:02
  Jeanne: We are honored to have you join us on our mission to empower 1 million women to live all in.
• 1:07
  Jeanne: I am your host, jean Collins, and I invite you to become inspired by this week's guest.
• 1:12
  Jeanne: Welcome to the House of Germar podcast where wellness starts within.
• 1:17
  Jeanne: I'm your host, jean Collins, and this week's guest is going to be really exciting.
• 1:23
  Jeanne: Have you ever heard of Feng Shui?
• 1:24
  Jeanne: So this week's guest is Kerri Miller.
• 1:26
  Jeanne: She is the author of Feels Better, flows Better Feng Shui for Inspired Living, and I am so excited to talk to her because wellness starts within.
• 1:34
  Jeanne: For me means within your interiors and within yourself, and everything that Keri does and talks about with Feng Shui incorporates wellness within in its totality.
• 1:44
  Jeanne: And she helps interior designers, she helps people, she does stuff on site, she does stuff virtually.
• 1:48
  Jeanne: So I am so excited to share Kerri with you and to learn I've been reading her book.
• 1:53
  Jeanne: I've read about three quarters of her book and I have to tell you I am so hooked.
• 1:57
  Jeanne: So, Kerri , welcome to the show.
• 2:00
  Kerri: Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:01
  Kerri: I'm really excited to talk to you today.
• 2:02
  Kerri: I love this topic, for sure.
• 2:04
  Jeanne: Oh, and I have to say, when I bought your book and I saw you on a podcast I can't remember where that's how I found you you were on someone else's podcast talking about your book and I thought, wow, I've read a lot of Feng Shui books before and I know enough to be dangerous honesty, right, I just I know enough.
• 2:21
  Jeanne: But I started reading your book and your book is so easy to understand.
• 2:27
  Jeanne: I don't know how you simplified a really relatively complex concept and made it so easy to understand.
• 2:33
  Jeanne: So I am so excited to share your book and Feng Shui and your career journey and what you do to help people.
• 2:38
  Jeanne: So, to get started, why don't you share a little bit of your background?
• 2:42
  Jeanne: You've been doing this for over 20 years.
• 2:44
  Jeanne: How did you get involved in Feng Shui?
• 2:45
  Kerri: Yeah, I mean I actually I bought a book about the topic.
• 2:49
  Kerri: I was sort of in my late 20s, a little bit unsettled with where my life was going.
• 2:55
  Kerri: So I was like in the self-help section of the bookstore I had also just bought a condo and was, you know, decorating and really fancying up my place and I found this a couple of books on feng shui and just was like this is like all of it mixed in.
• 3:09
  Kerri: I can decorate my space and change my life at the same time.
• 3:13
  Kerri: And I implemented it and literally like my life changed so dramatically over the next year or two that I was just completely hooked and like the feng shui book is the thing that traveled with me.
• 3:25
  Kerri: I quit my job, I sold my condo, I moved to go on to study something completely different and feng shui came with me and I used it and ended up studying it for use in my own life but saw how powerful it was, that I added it into my practice and into helping others with it, because I really feel like it's such an empowering tool for people to have and to use.
• 3:50
  Jeanne: I love that.
• 3:50
  Jeanne: So you mentioned that very quickly Feng Shui changed your life.
• 3:55
  Jeanne: Can you give me a few examples of how that happened?
• 3:59
  Jeanne: What did you do and how did it change your?
• 4:01
  Kerri: life yeah, I think the biggest thing for me.
• 4:04
  Kerri: It's really silly, but even into my mid to late 20s I really hadn't broken up my life and defined what I was creating, what I wanted and what I wanted to design for my life.
• 4:17
  Kerri: And those Feng Shui books helped me really do that process and to get really clear and conscious about what I wanted for each part of my life.
• 4:24
  Kerri: Feng Shui looks at nine different life areas, from wealth to health, to love and more, and it encourages you to get really clear on what you want in those parts of life and then look around and see how you're supporting what you want or not, how your space might be working against you.
• 4:44
  Kerri: And so I did that and the changes, like I said, I quit my job, I sold my condo, I moved across the country, I studied something different, I got married.
• 4:52
  Kerri: I mean, it was just like.
• 4:54
  Kerri: It's like everything.
• 4:55
  Kerri: All the puzzle pieces fell into place.
• 4:58
  Jeanne: Incredible, incredible.
• 4:59
  Jeanne: So let's talk a little bit about the map.
• 5:03
  Jeanne: Can you explain the map?
• 5:06
  Jeanne: And I don't know, maybe the map comes first or the elements come first.
• 5:09
  Jeanne: To explain to people, what does feng shui even mean.
• 5:13
  Kerri: Yeah, feng shui is actually translated as wind and water, and wind and water are two natural energies, energetic forces that are happening on earth in all times, and when they're in an easy flow around you, they can really support your life.
• 5:32
  Kerri: And when they're really harsh, they can really make life very difficult and challenging.
• 5:37
  Kerri: If you think about a farmer who's trying to farm and big storms come through and ruin the crops, that's making life harder.
• 5:44
  Kerri: But there are ways that you can select land and select your house location and even set up your space so that it's allowing energies to flow in a very supportive way, not so harshly, and it just allows you to control those elements to a degree.
• 5:59
  Kerri: And we look at feng shui in many different layers.
• 6:02
  Kerri: There's an energetic map called the Bagua map, which basically lays out those nine different life areas and helps you make a three-dimensional vision board within your surroundings of the life that you're creating.
• 6:14
  Kerri: And then we also look at the balance of elements.
• 6:17
  Kerri: So in nature there are five natural elements water, wood, earth, metal and fire and when they're all present in an equal and balanced way, they're supporting life and they're creating energy and good chi.
• 6:31
  Kerri: But they can work against each other as well, and so we want to balance that in your space and it just naturally can help make the energy flow better and make your space feel better.
• 6:40
  Kerri: That was a mouthful.
• 6:42
  Jeanne: Yeah, no, oh, but there's so much.
• 6:44
  Jeanne: It's actually really interesting and in your book you share, for each one of those elements, things that we might not think would represent those things like metal, for example we all know what a metal is.
• 6:57
  Jeanne: Or fire we all know what fire is.
• 6:59
  Jeanne: But one of the interesting things in your book is you talk about different things that can represent the fire element within a room without it having to actually be fire and a fireplace.
• 7:09
  Jeanne: Let's use water as an example.
• 7:12
  Jeanne: Water is water, but yet I think you said water can be represented by mirrors.
• 7:18
  Kerri: Right, and it even goes deeper than that, because each one of these elements has almost a personality type to it.
• 7:24
  Kerri: So when there's a lot of water elements in a space, it will make the space.
• 7:31
  Kerri: It can make the space feel more moody and emotional, kind of like tears crying, you know you're like letting water flow.
• 7:35
  Kerri: But there are lots of ways to represent water in your space.
• 7:39
  Kerri: It can be water itself, it can be glass or mirrors, it can be things that have that flowy or wavy look to it, in the shape of it, and it can even be like dark blue or really deep black colors, because that is bringing in like if you think about the deep, deep ocean, that's the color that you'll see there.
• 7:57
  Kerri: So there's lots of ways to bring in the balance of these elements into your space without necessarily having a fountain or having a fireplace.
• 8:08
  Jeanne: Right, because I started and I was like, okay, every room needs a plant, every new room needs a water feature.
• 8:14
  Kerri: Right, right and it was really cool.
• 8:16
  Jeanne: As I started to read, I was like, oh not.
• 8:18
  Jeanne: And I was like, okay, water, all right, every room needs fresh flowers.
• 8:21
  Jeanne: Then, in order to have some representation of water was how my brain was working with it.
• 8:25
  Jeanne: But I found it was so interesting how you explained in your book that it doesn't have to actually be that specific element of water.
• 8:32
  Jeanne: There are other things that can represent water, which is really interesting.
• 8:37
  Jeanne: Yeah, let's talk about yin and yang.
• 8:39
  Jeanne: Explain what yin and yang are.
• 8:41
  Kerri: So yin and yang are just the elements of energy.
• 8:44
  Kerri: It's like how energy relates to each other.
• 8:47
  Kerri: So you look at black versus white.
• 8:50
  Kerri: You cannot really define black unless there's some white.
• 8:53
  Kerri: You cannot really define white unless there's some black.
• 8:56
  Kerri: So it's this balance of the energies where there has to be a little bit of give and take.
• 9:01
  Kerri: So, with yin and yang, things that are yin are more like the black colors, the moon, feminine feeling stuff, little flowery things, things that are yang are more masculine loud, bright, big.
• 9:18
  Kerri: So you can use those two variations of energy to make your space feel a certain way.
• 9:25
  Kerri: If you're in a big, giant, open concept kitchen, living room, dining room area, you can really bring the energy of that space down, the yangness of that space down, by bringing in some elements of yin into the space to help balance it and make it feel just more comfortable.
• 9:43
  Kerri: Some rooms are designed to be more yin, some are designed to be more yang, or that's just the energy of the space that you're in.
• 9:51
  Kerri: Like a living room is a little bit more yang because people are together and they're relating, whereas a bedroom would be more yin because you're resting and it's quiet.
• 9:59
  Kerri: So you can influence the way the room feels and the energy that you have in the space.
• 10:04
  Kerri: Just by playing with those frequencies of energy and balancing it out a little bit, it's so fascinating.
• 11:00
  Jeanne: Let's go back to the map.
• 11:01
  Jeanne: Yeah, all right.
• 11:02
  Jeanne: So the map, to me as an interior designer, it's like a floor plan, it's a top-down view of your home or of an individual room, and it has the nine different elements.
• 11:12
  Jeanne: And so, basically, you plot out your house and then put over that, the nine different elements, to see, I'm guessing, how the energy is flowing within those elements of your house.
• 11:25
  Jeanne: And I don't know if I'm doing a good job explaining it, but I'm going to let you explain the map.
• 11:28
  Jeanne: And then I have a very specific question about the map and my house in particular.
• 11:32
  Kerri: Excellent.
• 11:32
  Kerri: Yeah, I love that the map is really about.
• 11:35
  Kerri: It's mapping out the nine different life areas of your home, and each one of those life areas has a direction, a color, an element associated with it.
• 11:44
  Kerri: So in those nine different life areas you can look at that bird's eye, view the floor plan of your home and figure out where the part of your home is that's related to wealth and prosperity, where the part of your home is that's related to love and partnership.
• 12:00
  Kerri: And once you have that mapped out, you can kind of see what's going on there and whether or not what's happening already in the space is supporting those life areas or making them harder.
• 12:10
  Kerri: And then we can start to make adjustments to those areas to support what it is that you're trying to create or what challenges you're trying to overcome.
• 12:19
  Jeanne: Okay, so my house in particular.
• 12:20
  Jeanne: We're going to use my house as an example, because I realized, when I was kind of just jotting down my house, when I was reading the chapter about the map, and you have a page where you can do this I was just jotting down my house and I realized, and you do all of this facing the front door, correct?
• 12:35
  Jeanne: Yeah, like facing the front door right, okay, and then we'll come back.
• 12:37
  Jeanne: I do want to talk about the front door, so don't let me forget that, okay and the importance of the entrance of your house, because I talk about that all the time in interior design.
• 12:44
  Jeanne: So, as you're facing the front door of my house, I realized that on the far right side I have a sunroom that bumps out farther than any other part of my home, and so that means, if I'm to create a rectangle of my home, the far left corner in the map is the I want to say the wealth and abundance corner.
• 13:06
  Jeanne: Right, I don't have house there, yeah.
• 13:09
  Jeanne: I don't have house there because the far right side sticks out, so I don't have house there.
• 13:11
  Jeanne: I don't have house there because the far right side sticks out, so I don't actually have house there.
• 13:17
  Jeanne: But yet in the map it's basically saying the outside is that portion of my house.
• 13:24
  Jeanne: So I was looking at it.
• 13:26
  Jeanne: I'm like I don't have house in the wealth and abundance.
• 13:29
  Jeanne: This is a problem.
• 13:30
  Jeanne: So if we use my house as an example, what does someone do when a quadrant of their house because their house isn't necessarily a perfect rectangle is outside?
• 13:42
  Kerri: Yeah.
• 13:42
  Kerri: So first of all, it's a great example of if you're struggling with wealth and prosperity or if you are seeking more wealth and prosperity into your business or your family, it can be a reason why it's a little bit harder to get there.
• 13:54
  Kerri: It's a little bit harder to create that because you don't have an energetic foundation in the structure of your home to allow that to blossom.
• 14:01
  Kerri: So there's a few different things we can do.
• 14:04
  Kerri: First of all, we can look at that outside area, the area that falls outside of your home, and almost create a beautiful, vibrant, tea-filled landscape spot in that or like an outdoor room in that area where the missing area is.
• 14:20
  Kerri: We can do that energetically Like you can.
• 14:23
  Kerri: In that intersecting corner that's missing, you could place or plant something like bury a crystal in the ground, plant a tree, create some type of anchor that symbolizes closing off the foundation of that wealth area and then building that space inside, making it a really useful and a vibrant area.
• 14:43
  Kerri: If that's not possible, luckily every single individual room in your home also has its own wealth corner, which is oriented from the entrance to the room.
• 14:54
  Kerri: So, standing in the entrance and looking at the back left corner of each individual room that's a wealth corner, and so, because you're missing it in the main part of the house, you really want to amp up the energy of wealth and prosperity in that corner and really anchor it there, just to kind of send that message out to the universe that, hey, this is important and I'm creating a foundation for something that I'm calling in.
• 15:21
  Jeanne: Yeah, because I've really been thinking about it and I've been kind of thinking about the far left corner of some of my rooms Because I was like, okay, my house doesn't have that.
• 15:28
  Jeanne: And so one of those far left corners in my family room, which is attached to my kitchen, has big bookshelves and has lots of cookbooks in it.
• 15:40
  Jeanne: And I just redid my floors last week and that forced me to have to go through those bookshelves and I think I gave away 40 cookbooks and I just kept saying to myself I don't know if this is the right way to go about this, but I am trying to create flow for the energy, because there were so many books that the energy definitely can't move in this corner.
• 16:01
  Jeanne: So I'm trying to like clean it out and create a better flow.
• 16:05
  Jeanne: I have no idea, and I have a chair there that I absolutely love.
• 16:08
  Jeanne: That is mohair that I had custom made, and so it's sort of like all elegant and beautiful, and so I just thought, okay, we're going to leave that chair there and that symbolizes lots of wealth and elegance and comfort, and clear out the bookshelf so it's not so cluttered.
• 16:21
  Jeanne: I have no idea if that was the right approach, but that's what I did.
• 16:25
  Kerri: That's great, and often, as I go through a person's home, what I'll notice is that there are patterns in place.
• 16:30
  Kerri: So if wealth and prosperity is something that you're already struggling with, often you'll be in a house that doesn't have a wealth corner, and every one of your wealth corners will be cluttered or not well cared for or not respected.
• 16:43
  Kerri: So when you talk about inner wellness, your home is an wealth corners will be cluttered or not well cared for or not respected.
• 16:46
  Kerri: So it's you know.
• 16:47
  Kerri: When you talk about inner wellness, your home is an energetic extension of that, and so if you are struggling in any areas of life, it will replicate itself in your environment because it's an energetic match to you, and so once we are able to identify that and point out the way these patterns are working against the energy flow that you want, we can make some really quick changes that make some powerful results.
• 17:07
  Kerri: So what you did there was great, especially since you're missing the main wealth corner.
• 17:12
  Kerri: So really give some love to those sub wealth corners is very helpful.
• 17:18
  Jeanne: Well, and I have a garden in the outside portion of my house, in that wealth corner, I do have a garden, so I have a vegetable garden and a flower garden, which I absolutely love, and so I also have been going out to the garden and talking to the plants Very good.
• 17:33
  Jeanne: I was like okay, I'm trying to have more of a relationship with all of you out here.
• 17:36
  Jeanne: I mean, I love the garden.
• 17:37
  Jeanne: I post it all the time on Instagram.
• 17:39
  Jeanne: I am such a huge proponent of growing things in your own yard and the health benefit of being able to just walk out and grab lettuce and fresh vegetables to make for dinner in the summer is incredible, and the flowers are just so pretty to always have fresh flowers in my house and they all come from the garden.
• 17:53
  Jeanne: So I did go out and kind of talked to the garden.
• 17:56
  Kerri: What a great sense of abundance.
• 17:58
  Kerri: Already too Like that is really a sense of wealth and prosperity and abundance right there in the wealth corner.
• 18:04
  Kerri: So intuitively you've kind of already set it up that way, which is great.
• 18:08
  Jeanne: I'm working on it Right as I watch a cucumber grow to be 14 inches long in like three days.
• 18:12
  Jeanne: I know that the cucumbers and zucchinis in Connecticut I don't even understand.
• 18:17
  Jeanne: They go from nothing to these massive baseball looking things in a couple of days.
• 18:21
  Jeanne: It's all my friends and neighbors.
• 18:23
  Jeanne: What is in your soil I have no idea, but it's all organic.
• 18:26
  Jeanne: I don't know.
• 18:27
  Jeanne: It's incredible, All right.
• 18:30
  Jeanne: So I have another question that comes up a lot in your book the entrance of your home and the importance of that.
• 18:35
  Jeanne: Because I always say, from an interior design perspective, I encourage people to really think about how they enter a home and from a design perspective, I say to my clients how you enter your home is the hug that your home is giving to you, and when you enter your home, how do you feel and how do guests feel and how does that entrance reflect you and your family and your lifestyle and the things that are important to you.
• 18:59
  Jeanne: So when I talk about design, I talk about it in that sense, but if you could talk about it from a Feng Shui perspective, I think that would be interesting, because you have a lot in your book about the importance of the entrance of your house and your front door.
• 19:12
  Kerri: Yeah, the front door is the most important area really in terms of Feng Shui.
• 19:15
  Kerri: We call it the mouth of qi or it's the source of energy into your home, and so, ideally, with the home, it is allowing natural energy, natural chi, from outside to flow into the home and energize the space itself, and it does that through the main front door.
• 19:32
  Kerri: That's the source of energy, and so we want to make sure that your front door is welcoming, it's visible, it's easy to move towards, it's easy to find and it's easy to move towards, it's easy to find and it's easy to move into and flow into the house and easily from there through the house.
• 19:48
  Kerri: So, you know, making sure that you're inviting the energy in, as if you're inviting, as if you're opening the door and inviting all the things that you want in your life in.
• 19:57
  Kerri: That's literally what's happening, because on that wave of energy that's coming into the house, it's bringing all that energy, opportunity, prosperity, health, love with it.
• 20:07
  Kerri: And so we want to like wide open, welcome it in and then tell it where to flow Right.
• 20:14
  Jeanne: And clear out the clutter.
• 20:15
  Kerri: Yeah.
• 20:16
  Jeanne: Yeah yeah, clear out the clutter, cause you talk about that a lot in your book.
• 20:20
  Kerri: Yeah, and I think it just in in terms of the front door.
• 20:23
  Kerri: In today's society many people use the side door or the garage door and they don't come in through that main front door.
• 20:30
  Kerri: That architectural front door gets ignored and is is not thought of very well.
• 20:36
  Kerri: But I always encourage people to not to still consider the front door, still show off its importance and even to use it Right.
• 20:44
  Jeanne: I thought that was just really interesting and give it some importance.
• 20:47
  Kerri: You know it matters.
• 20:49
  Jeanne: It really, it definitely really matters.
• 20:51
  Jeanne: So and you have, you have chapters in your book that talk about each of the rooms and different things that you can do in each of the rooms, which I think is very practical.
• 21:00
  Jeanne: Yeah, and I was reading the chapter about the hallway and the stairs and you go down my stairs and the front door has big glass windows and in your book you're talking about how, like the chi is just flying out the windows.
• 21:12
  Kerri: And so now.
• 21:13
  Jeanne: I'm thinking oh, wow, okay, what can I put in front of those windows that's decorative and interesting, that prevents the energy from flying right out the windows?
• 21:21
  Jeanne: It definitely made me think differently about my spaces and also kind of motivated me to think maybe I should move a little furniture over here, or maybe there needs to be a piece of artwork here.
• 21:35
  Jeanne: And most people who would enter my home would say my home is stunning because I'm an interior designer.
• 21:38
  Jeanne: But it was interesting even for me to think about it a little bit differently and think of ways that I can maybe make subtle adjustments to each room to have better flow and better energy.
• 21:49
  Kerri: Yeah, definitely, and it's just really about being a little bit more intentional about your space.
• 21:53
  Kerri: It's aesthetically pleasing, but also supports energetic flow that supports the life that you're creating Right.
• 22:01
  Jeanne: Talk to me about bathrooms, because bathrooms are interesting when you get into the elements and bathrooms have so much water in them and I can't remember if they're yin or yang, but they're one very strong, predominantly.
• 22:13
  Jeanne: So how do people work in a bathroom to get it more balanced?
• 22:17
  Kerri: Yeah, I mean, bathrooms are really important because they are one area that people tend to ignore because they're just not a very pleasant area.
• 22:24
  Kerri: The energy of that area already, because you're you're cleaning and you're, you know, eliminating waste from that location.
• 22:31
  Kerri: It's just kind of a lower energy anyway with all the drains in a bathroom.
• 22:36
  Kerri: That's also a way that she or energy sneaks out of your home and takes some of your vitality and potential with it.
• 22:43
  Kerri: So we look at holding that energy in a little bit longer by making the bathroom more appealing, easier to move through, less cluttered, and also making sure that we know where in your map that bathroom is located, because it will have the biggest effect on draining the energy of that part of your life.
• 23:03
  Kerri: Because it will have the biggest effect on draining the energy of that part of your life.
• 23:07
  Kerri: So if it were in your wealth corner, it can be very draining to your finances, like money down the drain, if you are not correcting energetically and holding that energy in a little bit longer.
• 23:15
  Kerri: And in terms of the elements, there's a lot going on there.
• 23:18
  Kerri: A lot of bathrooms will have a lot of water elements, of course, because the water is flowing there.
• 23:25
  Kerri: Many bathrooms are very white.
• 23:28
  Kerri: So that's a lot of metal elements and there'll be a lot of earth element because there's the tiles and things that are made of tile, and so we want to balance that out a little bit with the elements.
• 23:39
  Kerri: A lot of times the fire element is missing and the wood element can be missing a little bit and we can use those elements to control the way the water flows.
• 23:48
  Kerri: So, for example, one way to control water draining away is to put wood in the space, which energetically drinks up the water and water almost transmutes it into something that is growing and expanding and so it takes the water that's running away from you and brings it in and lifts it up in the space.
• 24:08
  Kerri: So there's energetic ways to correct for leakages that can happen in your home that are taking some of your potential with it, and we definitely want to identify where bathrooms are and correct for that.
• 24:20
  Jeanne: So let's talk about fire in particular.
• 24:23
  Jeanne: How would I add a fire element to a bathroom?
• 24:28
  Kerri: Yeah, I mean you could bring in red or orange towels or artwork that has a sunset in it, or you could even bring in candles or little bits of flame.
• 24:39
  Kerri: In that way Lighting also works.
• 24:42
  Kerri: Anything that's electrical is considered the fire element, so it's there in a very subtle way anyway, because you have a lot of appliances in the bathroom or use a lot of appliances.
• 24:53
  Kerri: But you can definitely add the energy in by bringing in those warm touches of lighting, candles and warmer colors into the space.
• 25:03
  Jeanne: Got it.
• 25:03
  Jeanne: Okay, that's so good.
• 25:04
  Jeanne: I'm going to have to do some of that, yeah.
• 25:05
  Jeanne: So two questions.
• 25:07
  Jeanne: One how do your clients find you and what is the most common reason why someone will reach out to you for help?
• 25:13
  Kerri: Clients typically find me on social media.
• 25:16
  Kerri: I'm pretty present on Facebook and Instagram.
• 25:18
  Kerri: I do have a website as well.
• 25:20
  Kerri: You can find me at kerrymillerfengshuicom or at kerrymillerfengshui on Facebook and Instagram.
• 25:27
  Kerri: So I'm pretty present there and you can reach out to me and we can talk about what's going on in your space, what challenges you're having, what your goals are, and there are different packages and options that we can work together on, and there are different packages and options that we can work together on.
• 25:42
  Kerri: Typically, people are looking to create a sense of calm in their space.
• 25:48
  Kerri: A lot of times, they're seeing the way their space is working against them and making things harder than it needs to be, and they want just to either reclaim their space or redefine the way their space is making them feel.
• 26:02
  Jeanne: Which is perfect.
• 26:03
  Jeanne: Wellness starts within yes absolutely so how did you write a book?
• 26:07
  Jeanne: What got you to say I'm going to now write a book?
• 26:10
  Jeanne: Because writing a book is not easy.
• 26:12
  Jeanne: I've done it, so I can appreciate any author who's written a book.
• 26:15
  Jeanne: It's a lot of work, a lot of dedication and it's also a little scary because you're putting yourself out there for people to read and potentially criticize.
• 26:23
  Jeanne: Absolutely so, yes, it has the positive because you're educating, but then it also has the vulnerability that comes with it by putting your thoughts and your expertise into a book, and then people have the chance to comment, and not always kindly.
• 26:36
  Jeanne: So how did you decide you were going to write a book?
• 26:38
  Kerri: How'd you get there.
• 26:38
  Kerri: So I actually it was on my radar maybe, for you know my retirement days, you know I thought maybe I'll pull it all together and I'll write something and create something that will last forever.
• 26:48
  Kerri: But I actually had somebody reach out to me who was starting a publishing company and they wanted to have a series of books that were on energetic topics like feng shui, reiki and other topics, some of which I have experience in, and so she asked me to write a book on feng shui and I thought what a great opportunity.
• 27:05
  Kerri: I mean, it doesn't usually happen that way, where you are offered the opportunity by a publisher.
• 27:10
  Kerri: So that's what took it away, and I don't think it would have happened otherwise, at least not for many, many more years and have you found after writing a book.
• 27:18
  Jeanne: It has opened different doors for you.
• 27:29
  Kerri: For me when I was writing it.
• 27:30
  Kerri: It felt like it was giving some type of legitimacy to feng shui and to the work that I do.
• 27:32
  Kerri: So I really felt like it wasn't to become famous in any way, but it was to say this is something solid, that it's proof of what I do and that what I do works.
• 27:39
  Kerri: So that's what it was for me, and I just feel like when people read it and start to look at their surroundings from this perspective of energy and flow and how your spaces can be working with you or against you in creating the lights that you want, they kind of end up being all in also, just the same way that I was.
• 27:59
  Jeanne: So, being an interior designer, I would think, if I were going to build a house or I had think, if I were going to build a house and I had a client who was going to build a house that the most appropriate time to engage someone like yourself is when the architect is designing the house, so that the concept of the energy and the elements and flow go into the initial design of a house.
• 28:21
  Jeanne: So you're not trying to play catch up after a home is already built.
• 28:25
  Jeanne: Is that correct?
• 28:27
  Kerri: Absolutely.
• 28:28
  Kerri: That's where feng shui originates is really looking at where to place structures and how to place them so that they were receiving the best flow of energy from the area around them and making sure that you weren't blocking energy by the way you place the house or by the way you create structures within the house.
• 28:48
  Kerri: So definitely looking at it in that architecture phase is beneficial.
• 28:52
  Kerri: Certainly, I work with a lot of clients who are coming after that phase.
• 28:57
  Kerri: They've either bought a house and are moving in and are trying to make the space work for them better, or they're just redecorating and redesigning and want to make it feel more like them.
• 29:06
  Kerri: But if you can get there at that beginning stage, for sure you are heading off a lot of struggles that are potential down the road.
• 29:15
  Kerri: I've seen little things like where even little tiny things like where outlets are placed or the ways that doors back up into each other.
• 29:23
  Kerri: That just create a frustrating energy within the space.
• 29:27
  Kerri: That could have been fixed right on those drawings before the house was even built.
• 29:32
  Kerri: So little things that make a big difference.
• 29:35
  Jeanne: Yeah Well, and I always find bedrooms are very interesting and I don't know if I'll get this right, but I seem to remember you don't want your feet facing the door because you don't want it to be that you can easily exit.
• 29:47
  Jeanne: But there is a right way to have your bed within your room ideally.
• 29:52
  Jeanne: And I a lot of times I look at architects drawings and the rooms are so beautiful and they have so many windows.
• 29:57
  Jeanne: But I'm like where am I going to put the king size bed?
• 29:59
  Jeanne: Because you didn't leave me a wall space for the king size bed, and then, if I have to then take into account where it should be positioned correctly within the room, which I'd have to go look up because I wouldn't be able to remember where to put it.
• 30:11
  Jeanne: But I think bedrooms, I find, are definitely a challenge to keep them the way they should ideally be built, because I don't feel like bedrooms are very often like, if I look at my bedroom, where the bed should go is a wall that just fits a king sized bed and nothing else, and so like, energetically, that's where the bed should go, but that's just not going to work, it's just not fun, it doesn't function well, so I have to put it on a different wall and then, as I'm reading your book, I'm trying to think of okay, how is the energy flowing even though it's in a different wall?
• 30:43
  Jeanne: And one of the things that I thought was interesting about the bedroom chapter, and then I'm going to let you give a little insight into bedrooms.
• 30:49
  Jeanne: Was you talked about not having pictures of your children in your bedroom?
• 30:54
  Jeanne: Talk about that.
• 30:56
  Kerri: So the bedroom should be a sanctuary and a place where you can escape from all of the distractions of the outside world, including your kids, and it should be a romantic connection, a place where you can connect romantically with your partner.
• 31:10
  Kerri: Your kids get tons of real estate everywhere else in the house.
• 31:13
  Kerri: They get your attention all day long.
• 31:15
  Kerri: There should be one place where you can just step away and just be able to completely disconnect even from that role of parenting so that you can reconnect with your partner, reconnect with yourself and your own knowing and get rested and get rejuvenated so that you can be plugged back in when you go back out to be a mom again.
• 31:35
  Kerri: So I really do think I actually told a client the other day.
• 31:39
  Kerri: I walked through their bedroom and they had many pictures of parents and grandparents and sort of an altar created for their ancestors, and we talked about that too.
• 31:50
  Kerri: I mean, it's a private space where you can be intimate and true to who you truly are without having critical eyes on you.
• 31:58
  Kerri: So let's take all that stuff out of the bedroom.
• 32:00
  Kerri: We'll find a nice place for it where it can be honored by everyone in the family, but it doesn't have to have that energetic impact of everybody's.
• 32:08
  Kerri: The kids are watching over you, the grandparents are watching over you, yeah.
• 32:12
  Jeanne: Yeah, everybody doesn't need to be watching.
• 32:14
  Jeanne: It's very interesting.
• 32:16
  Jeanne: And I thought about my bedroom now, and my bedroom now does not have any pictures of my daughter or any any family member at all you know nobody and.
• 32:24
  Jeanne: But I thought about my bedroom before I redesigned my bedroom and that was very different and the room is now very different.
• 32:30
  Jeanne: It has very different energy and it's black and white and it's very clean.
• 32:34
  Jeanne: And I say to my clients all the time think about what you foresee when you wake up in the morning and the importance of what that is.
• 32:41
  Jeanne: And are you looking at laundry or are you looking at artwork that inspires?
• 32:45
  Jeanne: And it was very reaffirming for me because you talk about those things in your book and I was like, okay, I'm on the right track, even though I just do this because that's what feels right to me, but I'm on the right track with how my room should feel and I'm not having a TV and I don't have pictures of my daughter and I have a very Zen chair that I can sit in and meditate in and it really feels like a sanctuary when you enter because I have a white plush carpet and dogs are not allowed and shoes are not allowed.
• 33:14
  Jeanne: And so I have definitely succeeded in creating this transition from the craziness of what happens downstairs to a calm that happens upstairs.
• 33:25
  Jeanne: And I don't know that I intentionally did it, but I did it.
• 33:29
  Kerri: Yeah, yeah, it's like such an important thing, like it allows you to have that moment where you can sneak upstairs and sit in the chair and really relax.
• 33:37
  Kerri: But it also truly allows you, when you lay down to rest, to disconnect completely and get into that deep place of REM sleep and wake up truly rested and ready to go the next day, whereas those other things.
• 33:53
  Kerri: I've had clients who have tons of bookshelves in their bedroom full of books, or a stack of books on the nightstand to be read, and I don't think what people recognize is that on a very subtle, unconscious level, those books are whispering at you all night long, either saying hey, don't you want to know what happened in the story?
• 34:12
  Kerri: Or hey, you haven't read me yet.
• 34:15
  Kerri: So it's really drawing some of your energy away when you have some of that active energy mixed into the bedroom.
• 34:22
  Kerri: So sacred space, quiet space, for sure, that's yin.
• 34:26
  Kerri: We really want the bedroom to be yin.
• 34:28
  Jeanne: Yeah, that's so interesting because I do.
• 34:30
  Jeanne: I'm going to now deal with my stack of books because I do, I have a huge stack of books next to my nightstand and most of those books are like read three quarters of the way or I never finished any of them.
• 34:40
  Jeanne: And now that you say that, in some ways I love that.
• 34:43
  Jeanne: I love books.
• 34:43
  Jeanne: But I also look at the books as unfinished work that was not finished because I never finished the books.
• 34:50
  Jeanne: And if I finished them, then they're not there anymore, and so it's sort of now that you make me think about it.
• 34:55
  Jeanne: I'm really thinking those books, what do those books represent?
• 34:59
  Jeanne: Those books represent almost failure, because I didn't complete.
• 35:03
  Jeanne: I didn't complete, I didn't complete the task, I didn't finish reading the book, and so that is probably bad.
• 35:10
  Jeanne: So I'm going upstairs and I'm rearranging my books and putting them in a different place.
• 35:14
  Jeanne: But I never thought of it that way ever.
• 35:15
  Jeanne: I thought, oh, books are good as opposed to having a television and electronics.
• 35:19
  Jeanne: Books are good, but I wasn't thinking about the way you just said, and now I have a totally different perspective.
• 35:24
  Kerri: Even in kids' bedrooms.
• 35:25
  Kerri: When my kids were little I thought, oh, I'll just keep some quiet toys, some stuffed animals, maybe they'll be able to do some coloring in their room, some books that's all quiet stuff.
• 35:35
  Kerri: But for little kids, who are very connected to the energies, all of those books are talking to them.
• 35:40
  Kerri: All of those stuffed animals have stories behind them.
• 35:43
  Kerri: All of that coloring needs to get finished so it really does activate the room and keep them awake and not sleeping and not getting the rest that they need.
• 35:52
  Kerri: So fascinating.
• 35:54
  Jeanne: I'm having a whole revamp on my books and I'm putting candles in my bathroom to get some fire into my bathroom.
• 36:02
  Jeanne: I have the wood, but I'm absolutely putting some candles in there.
• 36:04
  Kerri: That is so interesting.
• 36:06
  Jeanne: So is there anything that I didn't ask you or touch on that you think is really important that listeners would want to know either about you or your practices or what they should do if they have an interest in this subject?
• 36:19
  Kerri: Yeah, I just feel like, in a very simple way, if you just take a moment of pause and walk through your space from the perspective of energy and what things are working with you or what things might be working against you, you will get some really clear insights on your own about how your space is supporting you or not.
• 36:39
  Kerri: If you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling tired, if you're feeling depleted, if you're struggling with different parts of your life, it may not be you or anything that you're doing.
• 36:49
  Kerri: It could be your surroundings and how they're working against you and just making everything harder.
• 36:53
  Kerri: And overall, I think that there are some fairly simple changes that you can make in your space to help it, help you.
• 36:59
  Kerri: So, yeah, feng shui is an amazing tool.
• 37:02
  Kerri: It's a very empowering tool.
• 37:03
  Kerri: People look at it like, oh, I don't want to change my whole house, but usually it's simple shifts to make that will make a big difference.
• 37:10
  Jeanne: And you do have lots of stories in your book as well of how those shifts have happened for people, or little things that you can do, and the way that you explain it to me feels like you break it down into small things, not things that are just a massive upheaval of your home and every room of your home.
• 37:27
  Jeanne: So it's not so daunting and I can say getting to speak with you, I can feel your energy and I can feel your calm and I can feel how you have created that for yourself and how you can help your clients.
• 37:40
  Jeanne: Have that just by talking to you and you have amazing energy which I'm sure connects clients.
• 37:42
  Jeanne: Have that just by talking to you and you have amazing energy which I'm sure connects the people who reach out to you.
• 37:46
  Jeanne: Thank you so much.
• 37:47
  Jeanne: Thank you, you're welcome.
• 37:49
  Jeanne: So before we go, I ask all of my guests if there is a book, not just yours.
• 37:52
  Jeanne: So here I'm going to hold up your book for everybody.
• 37:54
  Jeanne: Everyone, get a copy, great read.
• 37:56
  Jeanne: I'm going to link it in the show notes as well with a link to buy it.
• 38:00
  Jeanne: Is there a book that you would recommend to our listeners that impacted either your personal wellness or your career or your life that you think is worth recommending.
• 38:11
  Kerri: Yeah, I definitely read a ton of feng shui books and I could refer you to 20 of those, but I always tended to look at my outer environment and never look within.
• 38:20
  Kerri: Until more recently, and I just you know, within the last couple of years read the Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, which is really all about your inner environment and your inner voice, and to me that was life-changing to really think about.
• 38:34
  Kerri: You know, I was always adjusting things on the outside to fix things on the inside, and that really showed me, oh, there's a lot to be said with paying attention to what's going on within.
• 38:45
  Jeanne: So my recommendation for sure, and that is a great book.
• 38:49
  Jeanne: Yeah, great book.
• 38:50
  Jeanne: Yeah, definitely one of my favorites.
• 38:52
  Jeanne: That's a great book and you have to focus within, which I think is important.
• 38:55
  Jeanne: I have one other quick question for you and then we're going to let you go.
• 38:58
  Jeanne: Do you do things in your spaces like meditating?
• 39:02
  Jeanne: Do you stage rooms, do you?
• 39:04
  Jeanne: You know, what do you do in a space for yourself, personally, energetically, other than you know, moving things around and the chi and the energy.
• 39:11
  Jeanne: Do you do things like that as well?
• 39:14
  Kerri: I do.
• 39:14
  Kerri: I meditate regularly in my space.
• 39:16
  Kerri: I did that this morning.
• 39:17
  Kerri: I definitely do energy clearings, smudging, opening up the windows, letting the energy flow through that's a very regular thing.
• 39:27
  Kerri: I've been doing even more so this week because things are a little anxious around our house with school starting and everybody being on edge about that simple acts that you can do to get the energy moving and the energy flowing so that it helps just create the energy that you want or dissipate negative energies or create energies that feel more supportive.
• 39:51
  Kerri: I also have lots of feng shui cures or anchors in place that remind me of how to show up calmly and strategically in my business.
• 40:02
  Kerri: So all of that, your space can really support you.
• 40:05
  Jeanne: It's so fascinating.
• 40:06
  Jeanne: Thank you, I love that and I think one of the things my biggest takeaway from your book and from getting to talk to you for the readers before we go is so much of what you talk about is becoming aware and connecting with yourself, connecting with your space and being aware of what is going on and how it is giving to you or taking from you.
• 40:27
  Jeanne: And so I think awareness and just stopping and pausing and not being so busy as you're running through these spaces and giving moments to pause and think and look, I think is a great place to just start in terms of inner wellness for yourself and also inner wellness for your environment.
• 40:45
  Jeanne: Is like look around you know things that have been on.
• 40:47
  Jeanne: I think you talked about this in the book.
• 40:49
  Jeanne: But if not, is like look around things that have been on the shelf, like, why are they there?
• 40:52
  Jeanne: You know, do you actually like them?
• 40:54
  Jeanne: Are they actually contributing something positive to you or is it?
• 40:57
  Jeanne: Is it there Because it's grandma's and you've had it on that shelf for 20 years?
• 41:02
  Jeanne: Right, it's a really interesting.
• 41:04
  Jeanne: It's an interesting exercise because it makes you really stop and think about your environment, and does that make?
• 41:09
  Jeanne: Is that making me happy?
• 41:10
  Jeanne: Or is it just clutter?
• 41:12
  Jeanne: What is it why?
• 41:13
  Kerri: is it there so important?
• 41:14
  Kerri: Yeah, and it's easy, easy easy it is.
• 41:17
  Jeanne: It is so.
• 41:18
  Jeanne: Thank you so much for being a guest on the show.
• 41:20
  Jeanne: I will put in the show notes links to you, your website, your book, and thank you for teaching us and teaching me.
• 41:26
  Jeanne: It's been really exciting, so thank you.
• 41:28
  Jeanne: Thank you so much.
• 41:29
  Jeanne: I love talking about this and I appreciate the platform for sure.
• 41:32
  Jeanne: Thank you, and I know my listeners will love it.
• 41:35
  Jeanne: So I hope you have a great day.
• 41:36
  Jeanne: Thank you you too.
• 41:37
  Jeanne: Okay, bye, bye.
• 41:39
  Jeanne: Thank you for joining us for another episode of the House of Germar podcast, where wellness starts with it.
• 41:45
  Jeanne: We appreciate you being a part of our community and hope you felt inspired and motivated by our guest.
• 41:51
  Jeanne: If you enjoyed this episode, please write us a review and share it with friends.
• 41:56
  Jeanne: Building our reach on YouTube and Apple podcasts will help us get closer to our mission to empower one million women to live all in.
• 42:04
  Jeanne: You can also follow us on Instagram at House of Jermar and sign up to be a part of our monthly inspiration newsletter through our website, houseofjermarcom.
• 42:14
  Jeanne: If you or someone you know would be a good guest on the show, please reach out to us at podcast at houseofgermarcom.
• 42:23
  Jeanne: This has been a House of Germar production with your host, jean Collins.
• 42:27
  Jeanne: Thank you for joining our house.