The kitchen is part of the home that nourishes and sustains life. This is the part of the home that puts the members of the family in good or bad health depending on how it is designed, constructed, and positioned in feng shui. Here are some pointers in feng shui that will bring auspicious fortune in the home, office, business, work place, study, and recreation.

Here are some tips for an auspicious kitchen:

• Do not hang family pictures, mirrors or pictures of animals.
• Don’t use a strong dominant color of red in the kitchen.
• Avoid placing the kitchen in the northwest of the house.
• Do not place the stove in the northwest of the kitchen.
• The cook’s back should not be turned at the kitchen door.
• The rice bin must always be covered. Clay, ceramic, or porcelain rice containers are ideal.
• The sink and refrigerator (or freezer) must not be opposite the stove.
• Open fire cooking must be done outside the house.
• Do not place the kitchen in the center of the house. The same goes for the stove.
• The kitchen must not face the door of the main entrance.
• The sink must not be too close to the stove although they can be aligned on one side.
• The toilet and bath should not be above the kitchen.
• The ‘mouth’ of the oven or stove should face the ‘kwa’ direction of the family bread winner.
• Kitchen location is ideally at the back. There must be a big window for good ventilation and lighting. The back portion where the kitchen is located must have the backing of a fence, sloping, ground, or big trees (about 5 or more).
• Shelves and cabinets must have doors to cover the ill effect of the shelves that signify “cutting blades”.
• There must be no bedroom above the kitchen. If ever one exists in your home, keep the bed away from the direct position above the stove. There must be no heavy furniture above the kitchen.
• If a bedroom is above the kitchen, place a blue rug or carpet on the center of the bedroom floor and/or paint the kitchen ceiling light blue or grey.
• The south is the fire sector and the north is the water sector in the home. A kitchen should not be placed in either sector.
• Ideal colors for a kitchen: Beige, white, pastel colors and yellow.
• The kitchen must be placed in either one of the bad direction of the patriarch according to his ‘kwa’ chart, the kitchen will suppress bad luck.
• But even if the kitchen is placed in one of the bad directions, the stove must face in any one of the patriarch’s best direction.
• If the kitchen is placed in your wealth, love, or health growth area according to your ‘kwa’ number then bad luck may occur in the corresponding aspect.
• If your kitchen is located in any of your bad luck directions, your bad luck will be suppressed.
• If your kitchen is in the northwest, put still water in a clay urn about and a half feet deep and at least one foot wide.
• A kitchen should be spacious, bright, and airy. Avoid clutter in the kitchen and use cement tiles, not wood for flooring.
• Feng shui helps homeowners, builders, professionals in architecture. Knowing the basic tips in furniture and appliance positions and placements of rooms and other parts of the house will help people live harmoniously with the yin and yang energies that surround them.

We have just encountered the summer months, and we’ve bathed in the heat of the sun. Though many of us would prefer the cooler months, and would rather stay indoors in an air conditioned room, studies show that a little sun can really do the body some good.

According to experts, the right amount of sunshine can have healing and cleansing effects on the body. Having too much or too little sunlight exposure can have its negative health effects, too.

In the late 1800’s, it was discovered that sunlight can destroy harmful bacteria. Today, sunlight is still used to treat bacterial infections. It disinfects and destroys bacterial viruses and molds, and helps increase the body’s immune system. It has been observed that sunlight therapy can help cure most of the fungal infections of the skin, because moderate exposure to ultraviolet light or sunlight can increase antibody levels, while neutrophils are stimulated to engulf bacteria more rapidly.

Mothers know all too well the benefit of sunlight for their newly born babies. With the help of the early morning sun, jaundice (yellow skin) is often reduced in children and in adults as well. It is believed that repeated short exposure to the sun could also help lower cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. Many skin diseases, including acne and psoriasis, are also said to improve with mild exposure to the sun.

Some researchers even attest that moderate exposure to sunlight can help lower the risk of breast cancer by 30 to 40%. It has also been found that because of light’s influence on the body’s various physiological and psychological functions, moderate sunlight may significantly influence the mood and fertility and women. Even PMS (premenstrual syndrome) is believed to respond positively to light treatment. It appears that sunlight affects the serotonin levels in the brain, a hormone that can elevate or improve a person’s mood. Women who are exposed to ample amounts of sunlight are said to experience less depression, fewer mood swings, better sleep, more energy, increased concentration and greater mental alertness. Sunlight is also said to benefit those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, insomnia and bulimia as well.

Moreover, it has been found that fifteen minutes of sunlight every day could prevent most osteoporosis cases. Because sunlight stimulates the skin to promote Vitamin D which is crucial for calcium absorption and utilization, it is obvious that sunlight is necessary for good bone heath. However, as people age, their ability to produce vitamins sufficiently through the skin also diminishes. That is why most of the elderly and bedridden are likely to develop osteoporosis more than the others.

However, skin experts also agree that people should sunbathe with caution. Although darker skinned people (like most Filipinos) can tolerate more sun than lighter-skinned people, it is nonetheless wiser to get your dose of sunlight during the earlier or later hours of the day (before 11am or after 3pm).