As all of us in Australia and the most painfully in Victoria are experiencing strict lock-down rules, a minimum movement boom has emerged.  

It came as a huge shock to all of us, disconnected us from who we really are and has put in focus the importance of the homes we have created.

I my Pre-lock-down life I was constantly on the move between the shop, the suppliers, my grandchildren and the weekly intestate trips. My husband was joking “To be in balance my wife needs to drive to airport to smell the air”. My evenings would go late into the night trying to catch up on emails and research for next day's tasks. On weekends when meeting with friends for dinner the favourite topic of conversation was about only where we have been and when and where we are going to travel next. The desire and possibility to travel, see new countries and continents was the main driver and brought happiness into our life.

Like many, my “home” was a place to rest my head at night and nothing else.

 So if having travel taken out of the picture for your foreseeable future is giving you itchy feet, try our tips for making your home a sanctuary, and know that home, whatever form it may take has the ability to centre us more than any destination or fancy retreat you might seek.

 Feng Shui experts claim that the messages we deliver to our subconscious via the images or pictures we have on our walls can have a profound effect on how we go about our days. We don’t necessarily have to physically be somewhere for our minds to feel the benefits of a place or circumstance. Pictures of running horses, moving boats on the ocean, cascading waterfalls represent flow and abundance and encourage a sense of momentum and change.

Sleep should be as elementary as breathing, but it’s become increasingly challenging for most during this pandemic, and for good reason. To create friendly environment in your bedroom remove any books you’re not currently reading, any paperwork, remove mirrors and keep them in a bathroom or hallway. Mirrors reflect light, they make the energies of your sleep space very yang and active. Calming yin colours like beige are important here and reserve your sleep space for nothing but sleep (or sex.)

Flowers symbolise hope, growth and togetherness and house plants really work to purify the air we breathe. Keeping dead plants however can cause energy to deaden and stagnate. Wood draws us towards our roots, the roots that we hanker after, whether it’s the smell of burning Palo Santo, or the feeling of wooden furniture in our hands, or the noise or creaky furniture, it quite simply draws us back to nature and back to our centre.

We are over stimulated these days thanks to light dominating almost every aspect of our waking days. From Blue light, to day light, to light bulbs, we avoid moving with the sun like every other living animal on the planet does and make our own sleep wake cycles as opposed to moving with the ebb and flow of nature. Soothing pools of light, amber glows and Himalayan salt lamps to help clear electromagnetic frequencies need to be considered when creating a sanctuary in your home.

In the world where being busy is considered an achievement, people often mistake pleasure for joy, meaning they miss out on everyday joy in all its diversities, often seeking joy-based feelings from materialism and wealth, mistaking it for pleasure and fleeting excitement. Joy is when something aligns with your inner most core values, and your internal truth.