Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (3 page)

building their home, which came to be my childhood home. I can’t

imagine having a stronger foundation than what they provided. I am so

grateful to have their love and support.

The next step is building the framework and wal s. And for this I thank Allison. She gave me the structure, support, and strength to bring this book into manifestation, along with so many other aspects of myself.

Just like the walls of a home, she gave me a container for my emotions

xv

xvi Acknowlegdments

at each step of the way. She said, “Send it,” and for that has made all the difference. She has been a pillar of strength for which I am eternally grateful.

The mechanical systems of a home are what make it functional, op-

erational, and able to run effectively. It is all of those who have helped me along the way to keep me, in effect, operational. I want to thank my earth angels Maryann and Ataana for stretching my heart and keeping

me sane, along with an unending list of therapists, teachers, and healers. I also want to give a special thanks to all my clients for the honor of being part of your journey. You continually teach me new things.

I want to thank my team at Llewellyn for providing the door for this

book. Doors are opportunities and that is what they have given me.

It is the windows of a home that give it light, vision, perspective,

and to see beyond our limitations. Only second to the people and expe-

riences of a space, windows bring life to a space. As eyes are the windows to the soul, the windows of a home are the eyes into the world.

Lindsley gave me the eyes to see bigger than I could see for myself.

The roof is our connection to the heavens. It is our closest connec-

tion with Source combined with a sense of protection from the physi-

cal world. I have been so led and blessed by my angels, guides, and the eternal Om God. I am continually amazed at our conversations. When

I was a child, my prayers started with
Thank You
and ended with
Thank
You
. And so it is. Thank you.

—Tisha

December 31, 2012

Places have power—not only the physical power of sheer presence,

but the emotional clout to alter our moods.

Of course, the converse is also true.

We have power over places.

If we don’t take advantage of that fact,

we’re squandering a major opportunity

to bring positive energy into our lives.

—martha beck, o at home



Throughout our lives, we live in many different spaces—our childhood

home, dorm rooms, our first apartment, our first home, and many

more spaces in between and along the way. Think back to the times

when you moved into a new home. It most likely coincided with a

major life change—marriage, divorce, new baby, new job, school, grad-

uation, downsizing, upsizing, or simply starting over. We never forget

the homes we’ve lived in, and energetically they never forget us. Our

homes are a part of us and we are a part of them.

Soon after you move into your home, your energy and the energy

of your home begin to merge. Just like settling into a long-term re-

lationship, you each begin to feed off the other’s energy. Your home

1

2 Introduction

becomes a projection of you—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

These projections start to show up around the house in a variety of

ways. The most obvious example is that a messy home symbolizes a

messy or scattered mind. But what about a clogged toilet, leaky roof,

or a fallen tree? Each aspect of your home correlates with an aspect of your physical, mental, or emotional wellbeing.

Consider the current state of your home. Is it a mess? Have you

blown a fuse lately? Are there recurring problems with your home that

you can never seem to get resolved? Is it in need of a renovation or just minor cosmetic touches? Do you have a water leak? Do you have problems with a certain type of insect invading your house? Any of these

problems and many more are actually projections of what is going on

in your life. By simply looking around your home, you can see the cur-

rent state of your life. And by making changes to your home, you make

correlating changes to yourself.

Our home consists of an array of swirling energies that affect us

on subtle and profound levels of which most of us are not even aware.

Imagine for a moment an unseen world of energy in your home. This

unseen, nonphysical world is made up of energy emitted from the

earth, from the objects in your home, from previous occupants, and

most importantly from your energy field. Understanding how the ener-

gies in your home affect you and, likewise, how you affect your home

can profoundly change the way you view it. Furthermore, changing the

way you live in your home can dramatically change your life.

Our home is more than a physical shell. It is the space with which

we are most intimately connected. We cry, laugh, dream, make love,

expose and express ourselves more in our home than anywhere else. It

is the space in which we are the most vulnerable. Second only to our

physical body, it is our shell from the rest of the world. It is a container for our thoughts and emotions. Our home is an energetic expression

and physical extension of who we are. While other spaces we occupy,

such as our car or office, along with public spaces, have a host of influ-ential energies, none are we as connected with as our home.1

My Life as a House

This interrelationship between our personal energy and that of our

home became clear to me a few years ago and eventually led me to be-

come a feng shui consultant. It was Summer 2006 when I veered off my

usual dog-walking route and noticed a
For Sale
sign in the yard of the 1930s Hollywood-style, adobe bungalow that I had always loved. Sitting

among craftsmen bungalows and Victorians in the historic east Nash-

ville neighborhood where I lived, the house had a peculiar and unique

charm. The next day I called my real estate agent. Upon walking in, I

knew I was home.

However, I was quickly overwhelmed when I got the inspection re-

port back. It needed a complete overhaul. It had never had central air

and therefore needed all new duct work. The electrical system was still on a fuse box. And the house was inundated by plumbing problems due

to the outdated and brittle PVC pipes. This was not to mention the aes-

thetic alterations that would be required throughout—from the canary

yellow kitchen (including the ceiling)—to every light switch installed

upside down. After already making extensive cosmetic repairs over the

last five years to my 1920s bungalow, I had been looking forward to

a low maintenance house, maybe even a brand new house—but not a

renovation. That’s when a dear friend of mine said, “You either do it all now or gradually over time.” She wasn’t just talking about the house.

She was talking about me—a renovation of myself.

During this time I was looking to downsize in order to transition

out of practicing law into something more fulfilling. I had just received a fine arts degree in Interior Design, but still could not find anything that would satisfy me. I felt more lost than ever, but kept up my search 1. Throughout the book, I use the terms “home” and “house” with intention each time.
House
refers to the building structure itself.
Home
is more personal and refers to not only the house but also the aliveness it contains as a result of our human energy.

4 Introduction

for a soul-fulfilling career. In moments of clarity, I knew I had a calling, so to speak, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. I read every self-help and career-transitioning book available.

At the same time, my personal life was about as consistent as my

professional life—in and out of relationships with seemingly poor de-

cision-making. After a significant break-up, I knew I needed to make

changes. As a typical Cancer sign, I had become completely codepen-

dent with my home during this tumultuous time. It was my safe haven

and a storehouse for all the emotions I had experienced over the previ-

ous five years. It was the same reason I knew what I needed to do: sell my home and start over. That’s when this charming bungalow showed

up in my life also in need of an overhaul and fresh start.

With the reassurance of incredibly smooth real estate transactions,

I knew it was time to start my next renovation project, except this one would go deeper than anything I had previously undertaken. For the

next year this house and I underwent dramatic simultaneous transfor-

mations. As I peeled away the old layers and made some upgrades, I dis-

covered that this house, along with myself, was a diamond in the rough

that just needed some love.

As I made improvements, I could see the correlating changes occur-

ring within myself. From upgrading the electrical system to putting in a new HVAC system to simply painting the walls, I noticed how each of

these changes affected me—physically, mentally, and emotionally. For

example, as the central air was installed, my own breathing was eased

through yoga and meditation. As the electrical panel was upgraded

from a fuse box to a 200-volt panel, my own nervous system calmed

and I learned not to be so reactive. I painted each room a different color and, in doing so, a new aspect of myself came to life with each room.

As I expanded the renovation to the guesthouse, I tapped into new as-

pects of myself as a healer.

There was a particularly memorable moment during the time when

I owned both homes for a two-week period. I was running on fumes

getting the new house in order while moving out of the former house.

I was completely exhausted. Within a 30-minute window, the HVAC

systems on both homes went down. The message was that I needed to

take a break and take care of myself. I was literally and figuratively out of breath. It was moments such as this that I knew my subconscious

mind was speaking to me through my home. During this time I was

also having vivid dreams of homes, which brought forth even more in-

formation that I luckily did not have to experience through my home.

By the end of that year, I had fallen in love with this house, myself,

and with my partner. The last touches I made on the home were paint-

ing the trim around the exterior windows. I had finished making the

necessary repairs and upgrades and could now focus on the improve-

ments to allow this home to express its unique charm and beauty for

the world to see. In my own life during that year, I had been through

the wringer with my own issues that needed repairing and I came out

the other side no longer needing to repair anything, but simply improv-

ing. As I painted the windows with a turquoise trim characteristic of

traditional adobe-style homes, I was expressing my own voice out into

the world in a new way.

Just as angels and guides communicate to some people and dreams

and visions come to others, homes speak to me. Specifically, this house taught me the subconscious language in which all our homes speak

to us. Years later, I came across Carl Jung’s autobiography,
Memories,
Dreams, Reflections
, where he recounts the powerful symbolism his house held for him as he was building it. This correlation was further

explored in
The House of C. G. Jung
, a project spearheaded by Carl Jung’s grandson, Andreas Jung, who now lives in the home.

During my year renovating the house, I tapped into my soul’s work

and met my soul mate. In purging so much of my past in my previous

home, I opened up a vacuum of space for allowing new opportunities

to come in. And did they ever. Within a month of moving in, I started

teaching yoga and soon realized that I had a gift for working with subtle energies. After studying and training in various modalities, I started an energy healing and feng shui practice. Almost exactly one year later, I sold the house. That home will forever be a part of me, just as all of our homes are forever a part of us.

In hindsight I could see that I was never lost or had never made a

“wrong” career or relationship decision. It was all part of the essential
6 Introduction

path that led me to where I needed to be. I experienced first-hand just how interrelated our energy is with our home. I also experienced how

important our home is in living consciously. When you make changes

to your home, you make changes to yourself. When you make
conscious
changes to your home, you can
transform
your life and uncover your
soul
.

The Mind Body Home Connection

As alternative medicine and holistic living have become mainstream, so

many wonderful modalities are offered in almost any community and

city. Our home is an essential part of holistic living and right at our fin-gertips. Holistic is about bringing the whole into balance. If our home is out of order or balance, then it will be difficult, if not impossible, for our life to be in order. Our living spaces are integral to this balancing equation. Our body is a manifestation of our mind and our home