‘Surroundings should be relaxed and calming where one can eat slowly for good digestion’

Do you and your family avoid the dining room? Does your dining room have such a formal ambience that you feel uncomfortable sitting inside this space or does its overbearing décor suggest exclusion and not inclusion?

Feng shui aims for an entirely different ambience in your dining area.

It eliminates that air of formality and concentrates on creating an ambience, which is inviting and a place where you find pleasure in sharing a delicious and delightful meal with family and friends.

Surroundings should be relaxed and calming where one can eat slowly for good digestion.

The best location for your dining room is in the east. Here it soaks up the inspiration, motivation and clarity that come from the abode of the sun.

Since the room in the east has ample sunlight flowing in, you can cluster plants together in an enchanting display.

You can put healing plants in the eastern window and pray to God to bless your family with good health.

Hanging crystals from the eastern windows is again a powerful way of inviting solar energy in abundance.

When the sunrays pass through well cut crystals they break into seven rainbows colours and fill the house with divine bliss.

The colour of the drapes and walls should be soft, with hues that suggest the sunrise.

Avoid meaningless acquisition and clutter, as this will turn your special room into nurturing disharmony and resentment.

A dining room in the west is the next best option where it basks in the tranquillity associated with the setting sun, which brings with it serenity and calmness.

For the Chinese, dining table is a centre of wealth, where a full table, often mirrored to seemingly double the quantity is suggestive of the financial status of the family.

Round tables tend to make guests leave early because the chi spins round them while square tables allow more stability.

A square-shaped table is the best choice as the shape represents static energy, which helps everyone to be comfortable and enjoy a good sumptuous meal that nourishes the body, mind and soul.

Playing quiet music in the background will further help everyone sitting at the table unwind and relax.

Rectangular tables are difficult as those at either end tend to feel left out and the host is always under stress to pass on the dishes to them.

And if extra guests ever join in they are made to sit in the diagonal corners where they are continuously hit by the angular edges of the table.

If space permits, place your table towards the south or west of your dining room.

Avoid placing it in room’s sacred centre, which is the Tai chi area or the realm of Lord Brahma.

But if the space is less and the table covers the room’s pious centre, still you can honour and worship the centre of the room by placing an earthen bowl filled with water and fresh flowers floating in it with a white candle lit in the centre signifying purity. The serving or the buffet table should also be preferably placed against the southern or the western wall.

The best place for the wine rack is towards the northwest quadrant where it can be used for entertaining friends.

To increase the serenity in your dining room, activate the northeast quadrant, which is associated with tranquillity.

Now this can be done by placing an image of God or by having a special display of pictures of family and friends who often shared meals in your dining room.

To remove any sense of time pressure from meals, and create a timeless and unhurried environment in which to eat, the wall clock and televisions should be totally avoided. Wherever possible, try introducing smooth lines and curves into your space rather than sharp angles.

This will help the energy to flow around smoothly.

Avoid displaying abstract art in a dining area or your unconscious mind will be trying to work out what is going on in the image while you are eating. Pictures of ancestors should also be avoided in the dining area as they are considered to be containing yin energy, whereas we need to eat in a yang environment to give us vibrant energy.

So the best images to be displayed here are ones of fruit, fresh clean outdoors, or of friends and family dining together.