Whether you’re in our spa or luxuriating in an at-home milk + honey bath soak, creating spaces that reflect and cultivate clean goodness and positivity is our goal. To this end, every milk + honey location is planned and maintained with the help of Stacy Davenport, an incredibly knowledgeable Feng Shui expert and energy catalyst. We sat down with her to discuss how she maintains clear energy in our locations, as well as tips to maintain a clear and positive space at home.
What are some of the most important factors in creating a positive flow of energy in your space?
Definitely dusting — under your bed and furniture. It’s important this time of year because thought forms and gunk can get stuck in your space. Declutter from the right place. When you look at something, does it make your heart light up? Or is it an obligation? Create a system using three categories: yes, no, and maybe. This will help you to sort through your things and immediately trust your result. We spend so much time thinking things like, “my Aunt Mary gave that to me so I should hold onto it.” If there are things in your environment you don’t really love, it’s creating an energetic block and taking up space where something new can come in.
So it’s also about being open to transition?
It’s especially important to re-evaluate the energy of your environment in times of change. When relationships have ended or you’re changing into a new job, walk through and identify what’s in your space that represents the old relationship or the old job that wasn’t fulfilling.
What are a few first fixes you think most people could make?
The first focus should be the bedroom or master bedroom. Sometimes I’ll ask people how long they’ve had their pillows and they’ll say, “Oh, I’ve had that pillow for 18 years.” All those thought forms are there — all the things you’ve gone through in the last 18 years. It’s important to initiate a new space or transition with new towels, new bedding, new pillows. Let your master bedroom be luscious. Make it so you just get in bed and exhale. It doesn’t have to be expensive… just something that represents you today. For example: if you have an orange bedspread, does it really fit anymore? This is a chance for brand new beginnings.
For the office or work area of the home, there’s often not enough storage. Go through your spaces and ask yourself: “where does this live?” People often say they can’t get their clutter handled — they feel it’s continuous. Usually it’s because there’s not a system in place. There has to be a system so when you’re done with something it’s easy to put it away. If it’s difficult, your mind will say, “I’ll deal with that later.” The key is to create systems.
Tell me about some of the tools you use in cleansing the milk + honey spaces.
There’s a grid on the planet called the Hartmann Curry grid. Two scientists in the 1920s created it once they identified how energy flows. There’s the horizontal — like when you meet somebody. You know how they say, “you can know a person in 30 seconds,” that’s because we’re literally exchanging energy. That’s the horizontal. Then, when we pray and meditate we connect to the vertical.
Alissa, milk + honey’s founder, has me go through every location once a month and I go to the 2nd Street location twice a month. Every one of those clients has dumped their energy — emotionally, physically, mentally. In the salon, people are in their thought forms. Massage, they’re in their emotional body. Hair and nails, it’s all in the physical body. I clear the slate for the environment of milk + honey. It’s important to address the vertical so the higher vibration can come in and wash out the gunk. That’s the beauty of the milk + honey locations. They’re energetically cleansed so clients can trust they’re entering a clear space.
I work with a tool called a dowsing rod. It helps me identify, through my training, where energy is stuck. I also use powerful Chinese elements. One is to lift the old energy — energetic clearing. It lifts any detrimental energy. Then, I use nine capfuls of rum (representing fire) to lift the energy. A red powder is the blessing powder — it lures in blessings. I set the mixtures in the space according to this map (below). The packets stay for about three months to absorb energy. After three months, they’re thrown away.
What are some of your favorite plants to bring into indoor spaces?
It’s best to have fresh plants, but if you don’t have a green thumb, use silk. You don’t want to bring a fresh plant and then it starts to die — that’s energy that’s starting to die, go down the drain, and get weak. That will affect the individuals in the house. When the plant is dead, throw it away. So many people cling onto that one last leaf, but it’s dead. Plants absorb the gunk in the space, so plants may only live for a year. Its job is to clean the space.
Aloe is a great plant to have in a bedroom if you struggle with insomnia. It helps to oxygenate and absorb negativity. Instead of having a cell phone next to your bed, placing an aloe plant next to your bed is very beneficial. If you don’t do well with watering plants, I recommend Pathos Ivy — they will tell you when they’re thirsty. Bamboo is beneficial to bring into your space and can provide good luck.
What strategies do you recommend to digitally detox at night?
Keeping screens out can fire the brain so you’re processing that all night. I try to shut it off 30 minutes before going to bed. You should meditate or do something to move your focus down to your heart versus the brain. The brain is always processing: “Did I send that in the right way?” or “How is that coming across?” etc. Try this screen-free strategy for 30 days and see if you wake up feeling more refreshed.
Set boundaries for balance. This year is about setting boundaries with yourself. People sometimes think it’s selfish and to that, I say, you must be. You need to take care of you, I need to take care of me. It’s appropriate self-orientation.
Talk about the role of crystals in indoor spaces. Do you have different suggestions for home/office, etc?
With feng shui there are specific crystals to use within the nine sections. Those same crystals are in the walls of every milk + honey location.
I like to provide the first layer of crystals to set the location. Then, there are many other crystals you can add in. In regards to love and partnership, rose quartz is the crystal. You can then say, for example, “I can see I’m having a problem being in my power with my husband.” So then I’m going to support bringing in an amethyst, which is about power.
You should start by identifying the crystals that bring in the quality of energy. For example, if you want good communication, that’s pyrite. Everybody is different, so it’s about what’s needed for that individual. It’s always in flux and in movement. You just can’t go backwards when choosing crystals for your space.
They’re in every wall at milk + honey locations. For the 2nd Street, Arboretum, and Galleria locations, intentions have been written on the walls. After that, we started #beegrateful notes, so South Lamar and Houston actually have gratitude notes in the walls — they’re connected to the crystals. The gratitude of clients and employees are actually embedded in the walls at milk + honey locations.
What do you do to cleanse crystals before bringing them into your space?
I recommend cleansing them in salt water overnight. Then, take them out of the water and place them in the sun for 24 hours. When you set them in their place, do so with an intention. For example, with amethyst: maybe it’s there to have more abundance, happiness, or joy in your life. Or perhaps it’s to bring in a raise, bring in more money, and fully stand in the power of who you are in a graceful way.
I recommend cleansing crystals about every six months to once a year. We can get negative, so we all have emotional gunk that gets dumped in our spaces.
Salt lamps have a big presence at milk + honey offices, as well as our spa and salon locations. Talk about the role that salt lamps can play in creating positive energy.
They create negative ions, so they create positive energy in a space. They’ve been strategically placed — especially in each treatment room. As a client releases all of their chi, the space will be cleansed.
For an apartment, I’d recommend placing salt lamps out in the main living area. It’s also helpful in a bedroom, but don’t sleep with it on. We need darkness at night. However, you can leave them on at all other times — they’re just 4-watt bulbs.
Let’s talk clutter. How often do you/do you recommend a spring cleaning of sorts?
I definitely like this for spring. We’re coming out of the darkness, out of hibernation, into new beginnings. Sometimes because someone’s life is so big, they can only do one a year. I highly recommend spring. After that, fall. That’s right before we go into the winter. Look around and think “what did I not touch?” because retreating inward is a sacred time.
It can be helpful to tie to the spring equinox and the fall equinox. Think of it as coming out and going in. It’s a time to totally refresh the seeds — the trees will be bringing new life. The bulbs that we planted in the fall have been down in the ground until sun comes out. It’s a cycle. Spring is expansion and fall equinox is contraction.
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