One of the guiding principles of feng shui is that you need to not only create a positive energy flow from the elements located within your living space (both inside and outside your home), but also to create a layer of protection for the occupants of your home from the negative energy that comes from nearby sources - power lines, busy highways, dead-end streets, difficult neighbors, etc.
Thus, it is important to create an "embrace" for your home. In the principles of feng shui, your house needs to have an embrace in order to properly be protected from negative energy. This will allow you to retain the positive, inspiring energy that you have created for your home, rather than lose it to external forces that may be beyond your direct control.
So how do you create an embrace for your home? Well, simply put, you need to place energy-producing and energy-retaining objects around the sides and back of your home, to help shield it from negative energy. It helps to envision your yard as a large armchair, and your home as the seat of that armchair. By looking at it this way, you can see the sides and back of the chair wrapping around your home in a big protective embrace.
There are a number of ways to build this sort of energy-deflecting embrace for your home. The first is through using various trees to flank the sides and rear of your house. Trees are great items to use in an embrace formation, because not only do they help repel negative energy, they also provide a great amount of living energy for your home on their own. Think about it - trees bring a strong, stabilizing wood element into your home space, they provide shade (yin) against the harsh sunlight (yang) that shines down on your home, and they also provide living flowers and fruit for your olfactory and culinary enjoyment, respectively.
A second way to create a protective embrace for you home is to use objects such as fences or trellises to create a barrier against negative influences outside of your living space. You can not only use fences to block negative energy, but you can also use the material (wood, metal) and the color (white, red, blue, yellow) to bring in symbols of the five elements - fire, water, wood, metal, earth - to help create an energy balance around your home.
A third way to construct an embrace is to use flowers around the perimeter of your home. Flowers that have a soothing fragrance (lavender, honeysuckle) or that evoke the fire element (red, burgundy, or pink-colored flowers) are good for protecting your home from negative energy.
Protecting your home with feng shui is easier than you may have thought, especially if you have not studied the energy-producing powers of trees and plants. With a little practice, you will be able to create an embrace around your home that dispels all negativity and bad energy, making your house a healing sanctuary for you and your housemates.
