This book shows how to use our homes to realign ourselves with the basic forces of nature: heaven and earth, the four directions, and the elemental energies that arise from them. Based on Tibetan Buddhist teachings on energy mandalas and the practice of space awareness, it includes playful quotes, provocative illustrations, and practical exercises for discovering the inspiration and delight hidden in our homes. And it explains the role of wakefulness in contemplative arts and design.Berliner proceeds from living room to bedroom to kitchen to home office, illustrating with rigorous practicality how we can join space, color, function, harmony, and our senses to create functional, welcoming rooms. She draws on traditional geomantic systems from Celtic wisdom to feng-shui to show that home design and ecology are one and the same, and that intuition and our senses are our most effective decorating tools. Working with wakefulness and natural patterns of energy, we can create enlightened environments—and in this case enlightenment begins at home!
Helen Berliner Livres
On the spiritual path we speak of enlightenment. But how do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look in the mirror—when insecurities, doubts, and self-centered tendencies arise in our minds? Dzigar Kongtrül suggests that we need not feel “doomed” when these experiences surface. In fact, such experiences are not a problem if we are able to simply let them arise without judging them or investing them with so much meaning. This approach to experience is what Kongtrül calls self-reflection. Self-reflection is a practice, a path, and an attitude. It is the spirit of taking an interest in that which we usually try to push away. When we practice self-reflection we take liberation into our own hands and accept the challenge and personal empowerment in Kongtrül’s title: it’s up to you.