simple shui x santo / sage

after coming across this SUPER SHUI STAR’s insta page, her posts (art, colors, messaging, ENERGY) inspired me straight to her inbox, where i introduced myself. and you know what? we’ve been emailing each other (it’s the kind of convo that can’t quit!) ever since!

here’s what i LOVE about today’s conversation – you get to really lean into Flying Star Feng Shui. she’s studied with some serious shui geniuses, so she definitely walks her talk! and if you keep reading, she has a FREE exercise (that helps create an energy connection to our spaces) just for YOU! and with that, it is with my BIGGEST smile and FULLEST heart that i introduce you to Christina Galloway of Santo / Sage!

S/S: how did you get started in Feng Shui?

Santo/Sage: some of my earliest memories are organizing and reorganizing my stuffed animals on my bed until it “felt right.” i was three and can still picture it vividly. i eventually went to design school, focusing on buying, sourcing and the development of assortments and environments. so, you could say i’ve always been interested in aligning people, places and things. but what i didn’t know then that i know now was that the “feeling right” or “not feeling right” feeling was an energy – a type of message that speaks straight to your soul. and that these energies in our environments can be adjusted to better support our well-being. 

as with many people, it actually took a seemingly unfortunate accident for me to have my a-ha! moment. once my eyes were opened, i couldn’t turn back. 

western medicine was proving unsuccessful for me, and my very reputable doctor said to “see a guy in the canyon…he works with energy” – and he ended up changing my life. 

i realized if a shifting of energies could harmonize imbalances in my body, i could (in theory) initiate shifts to create or enhance harmony in people’s environments, right? and that’s what led me to the sacred teachings of Feng Shui and land healing. i dove in partially because it felt as if it had already found its way into my soul and because i actually really needed to create a home that i could heal in. 

S/S: what inspires you creatively? 

Santo/Sage: the ancient scientific principles and observations that ultimately led to what we call Feng Shui, in fact, predate most civilizations! and that’s where i find most of my inspiration… in the ancient teachings across civilizations. it all resonates really deeply within me, which is why i layer different modalities into my Feng Shui practice. ultimately, my goal is to create Residential Well-Being, which i think of as a home working with the chi of the environment to support well-being while also including complimentary messaging for all the senses. the blueprint for well-being begins at home.

Classical (also referred to as Compass or Flying Star) Feng Shui is one of the many different ways someone can read an environment and happens to be the backbone of my studies. i use Classical Feng Shui to determine the energetic blueprint of a place and its surrounding landscape. i think of it as a guide. these findings inform all final recommendations, but they are not the only consideration. i also assess the client’s current situation, intention, purpose and desired mood, vibe or feeling for the space. the client and i work to create harmony between what’s already existing and what we are looking to create. this usually looks like a balancing between land/earth energy, human energy and cosmic energy, remedied in a way that is corrective (remedying existing imbalances through space clearing, healing or introduction of corrective elements) and constructive (planting Shui seeds for the future).

i was taught to observe the energy of a space like playing cards in a game – it’s not the individual cards that matter but the combination of the cards in a hand that create the influence. 

S/S: if you could leave people with one FS action they can take today, what would it be?

Santo/Sage: here’s a little emotion-based exercise i do with newbies to create an energy connection to their space. once you start connecting emotions to places, spaces and things, it opens you up to how much is actually there. 

to do this, 

quiet your mind by taking a few deep breaths. 

visualize or actually sit in each room and see what feelings, emotions, pleasantries or unpleasantries come up. 

are there any feelings you desire that you want to bring in more of? can you visualize something that evokes those feelings?

did anything come up that you are ready to release. what does that look like?

did anything surprise you? 

is there one thing you can move right now that would create a new positive feeling?

jotting down a few notes now will be helpful throughout the whole Feng Shui journey. and if you start a Feng Shui journal, you can continue to add notes on things that show up for you. xo