Benko - The Holistic home: feng shui for mind, body, spirit, space

This book includes written depictions of events in peoples lives. All the events are as accurate and truthful as possible. Many names and places have been changed to protect the privacy of others. Mistakes, if any, are caused solely by the passage of time.

Copyright 2016 by Laura Benko

Photographs and images copyright 2016 by Laura Benko unless otherwise noted

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Helios Press, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Helios Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Helios and Helios Press are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover photo credit Susan Fisher Photography/Architecture, Interiors & Design

Haute Architecture DPC Diana Violy Interiors

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-234-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0183-0

Printed in China

This book is dedicated to my mom and dad:

Barbara and Gene Benko, your endless support, unconditional love, and eternal optimism enabled me to achieve things I sometimes didnt think I could.

Thank you for always believing in me. I love you more.

Courtesy of Bea Johnson, Zero Waste Home

Contents

CHAPTER ONE:
When Life Hits You On the Head, Listen

CHAPTER TWO:
Starting Clean: De-cluttering Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

CHAPTER THREE:
Get in Your Groove: Taking Cues from Nature

CHAPTER FOUR:
Go Deeper: Subconscious Symbolism in Your Home

CHAPTER FIVE:
Get In Position! Rule the World from Where You Sit, Stand, and Sleep

CHAPTER SIX:
Yin and Yang: Finding Your Balance

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Living with Intention: Creating a Home with Soul

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Sustainable You: Green Mind, Body, Spirit, and Space

CHAPTER NINE:
Holistic Excellence: When It All Comes Together (or Not) in People, Places, and Things

CHAPTER ONE

When Life Hits You on the Head, Listen

The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.

Lao Tzu

Y our blood test is abnormal. Im referring you to a hematologist/oncologist who will do some tests on you. I called him already, and hes expecting to hear from you today. My doctor looked over his bifocals as he handed me a piece of paper with scribbled letters and numbers. This was not what I was expecting from a routine follow-up visit for a bad chest cold. I am healthy. How can this be? Not me! Im only thirty-one. I feel great. I plodded through the next few weeks, alternating between fits of panic and disbelief as I made my way through dozens of tests that included midsection sonograms, radioactive isotopes, and a horrid, botched bone marrow biopsy. Thank God my husbandwho was my boyfriend of a year and a half at the timeheard my guttural screams in the waiting room and came bursting through the door to cradle my head while a cylindrical core of my marrow was extracted out of my hip sans anesthesia.

Almost immediately I was given a diagnosis of a rare bone marrow cancer, myelofibrosis, with a recommendation for an inevitable bone marrow transplant and a prognosis of four to six years to live. My body felt shell-shocked, and my mind raced with questions from the logical (What is causing my platelets to over-proliferate?) to the spiritual (What lesson is this burden trying to teach me?) to the fearful (How exactly will I be dying?). I left my job working for a company that represented film directors so I could try to get some answers and get healthier.

A few weeks later, while in a bookstore in downtown Brooklyn, I was rummaging through the health and self-help sections as part of my new life project: Mission Quest for Answers. I bent down to look at some catchy titles with vivid graphics and promises of a hale and hearty life when divine intervention stepped in, in a grand and showy way: a book hit me on my head. Literally hit me on the head. There was no one else even close by that I could have given the evil eye. The book was called Feng Shui and Health, The Anatomy of a Home: Using Feng Shui to Disarm Illness, Accelerate Recovery, and Create Optimal Health . I had read many Feng Shui books over the years, but this one seemed quite timely, and it fell on my head .

Now, the next part I have often left out when retelling this story. It seems incredibly hokey, but its true. I looked up to see where it fell from, and the neat, remaining stack was suddenly basked in gold radiance; a ray of sunlight beamed down on the book from a distant window. If this story were reenacted in animation, perhaps at this point a chorus of angels would be singing a joyful and saintly Ah AHHH from up above. I had never before received a divine sign in such a literal and blatant way. Okay. I get it, I told myself. I should read this book. Just like Oprah said in her final television episode, Your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers... [then] its like getting a brick upside the head. What are the whispers in your life? My life was not whispering anymore. It was throwing books at my head. I started listening.

My intuition spoke loudly as I began to see the good and bad connections between my immediate environment and myself. With each recommended change in my home that I made, my space felt more lively, supportive, and purposeful. I started experiencing improvements in several areas of my life. As part of my Mission Quest for Answers, I sought out expert opinions and treatment from the alternative side (kinesiology, aromatherapy, acupuncture, herbs, light therapy) and the mainstream side (three other well-known hematologist/oncologists). Soon it was confirmed that I did not have myelofibrosis, but rather its more gentle and likeable cousin, polycythemia vera! Both are relatively rare and fall under the same umbrella of myelogenous leukemia. And yes, this chronic blood cancer carries its own potential for life-threatening clots and aneurysms, but with a healthy lifestyle and regular medical caredoctor visits, blood tests, and phlebotomies usually every six weeksa prognosis of a long life can be expected.

Soon after my new diagnosis, I found out the books author was giving a lecture in New York. I attended and was very impressed with the subject matter and how the author relayed her knowledge. Signing up for her mailing list afterward kept me informed of upcoming classes and training programs, and one day I decided to contact her office to see if I could work for her a couple days a week. She happened to need someone and hired me to help run her office while I went through her training program. Eventually I left to start consulting on my own while studying with other Feng Shui masters, and everything seemed to fall into place. I began to consult, lecture, and teach classes regularly while respectfully being a continuous student myself. I lectured more around the country, wrote about Feng Shui regularly for interior design magazines and blogs, and worked as a Feng Shui and Home & Garden segment host for a popular cable television show. My favorite part, however, was doing consultations for peoples homes. My honed and heightened awareness of my surroundings enabled me to be more receptive to the energies that affected my clients.