Pets Energize Your Health and Your Home

by Pete Bissonette

Having a four-legged friend in your household might just be the prescription for what ails you. Pets can decrease your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, stress, and feelings of loneliness, says the Centers for Disease Control. At the same time, pets encourage physical activity and boost socialization and happiness. But did you know pets actually play an important role in your Feng Shui?

“Having pets in your home creates a flow of energy—a constant energy field—that makes your home yang, or more positive,” says Marie Diamond, creator of our Diamond Feng Shui course. “It’s not good to live in a yin (excessively inactive) home. Even a lively home with a lot of normal activity starts to become yin after everyone has left it for even a few hours. Pets help keep the life force active,” she said. Dogs and cats that move freely through the home create more yang energy than caged pets, although those will still create some yang energy because they are living creatures. That yang energy is especially good in your living room, family room, and home office, Marie said. “However, you want the opposite for your bedroom, a place of rest. When you sleep, you need yin energy. If pets must be in your bedroom, try to keep them off your bed while you’re sleeping.” Children are naturally very yang, Marie says, “So there should be no animals in their bedrooms, including fish, hamsters, and lizards. If your children do have such a pet, cover its cage at night so its energy is not visible.”

Choose a pet you connect with, one that makes you smile the moment you see it, Marie says. “Pets have their own way of connecting with you silently. When they react to you, it’s a joyful energy.”

• Place fish and caged animals in directions based on good Space Feng Shui.
• Fish aquariums are best in the North, East, and Southeast. “The water is beneficial in these areas for us, and it’s good for the fish,” Marie says. But do not put water in the bedroom.
• Hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes, scorpions, and other small animals that live or crawl on the earth are considered earth elements. Their cages are best located in the Northeast or Southwest.
• “Birds are connected with the South and the sun, because they reach the highest height toward the sun. They are also creatures of the air, which is the metal element,” she said. “Put birds in the South, West, or Northwest.”
• Make sure your pet’s cage, pen, basket, or any areas where they sleep are always fresh and clean, and keep their food dishes washed and clean as well.

“It’s bad Feng Shui for you and your pets when things are left dirty and unkempt. Before you bring a pet into your home, be sure you have the time and ability to care for it,” Marie says. “If not, consider other ways to bring more yang energy into your home, such as with plants and music.