The Art of Creating a Lovely Ming Tang

The “Ming Tang” translates to Bright Hall. This important interchange is the transformation zone between the outside and inside.  It’s the area of first impressions.  The most common way to think about a Ming Tang is at the front door of a home. The front porch and foyer would be considered the Ming Tang.  The lobby of an apartment building or office is also a Ming Tang. There are big Ming Tangs and little Ming Tangs.  Little Ming Tangs would be in homes, or even individual rooms (like a big bedroom) can also have a Ming Tang.  Big Ming Tangs are like airports and railway stations.  These are Ming Tangs for cities.  Large city parks, like Central Park in NYC, can also be considered a Ming Tang.  The space between work and home would also be a Ming Tang.

Why is the Ming Tang important to consider?

Creating a healthy Ming Tang will open a pathway for good things to come into your life. How open to new experiences are you?  The Ming Tang is a reflection of how open you are, how you treat yourself, how you interact with life, and how you interact with others.  It’s an art to fortify your Ming Tang with just the right amount of protection, yet make it inviting and welcoming.  Much like driving a stick shift car, or the ebb and flow of conversation, getting your groove with the Ming Tang takes a little practice.

The Ming Tang is how we attract in the right type of energy into our homes.  It’s also a way to help people adjust to the energy of the house.  Many people come home stressed because they didn’t get enough things finished while they were out.  Let that go, and be home.  Or they might come home so tired from their day that they can’t muster up enough energy to be present with themselves or their loved ones at home.  The Ming Tang is a way to slow energy down from outside, or to regulate the energy between the outside and the inside.  When you come home, it’s place to take shoes off, or a place to put them on before you leave.

The Ming Tang is the place for first impressions.  If your Ming Tang is run down, the lights don’t work, your doorbell is broken, and you have trash piling up outside, this attracts negative energy. Your home is more likely to get broken into.  The Ming Tang is also about protection.  Studies have been done with prisoners to survey which homes they would break into or who they would mug.  They studied how the homes were kept up, how people walked (centered? with a limp?), and their body language.  They all agreed on which homes or people were easy targets.

Tips for creating a lovely Ming Tang

• A good Ming Tang is bright, spacious, attractive, clean, cheerful, and welcoming.  Don’t use your Ming Tang to store trash to take outside, or let a lot of clutter accumulate there. Think of your Ming Tang like a business owner who needs to get good chi in the door. The façade of the building is very important. Signs and awnings are like mini Ming Tangs. Good shop keepers will sweep and hose the sidewalk every day before their store opens to clear out any stagnant chi, and to attract the right kind of customers to their store.  By treating your Ming Tang at home in a similar way, you will attract the right kind of people and experiences into your life.  Keep your Ming Tang tidy and up to date.
• Use a fish tank, or other natural elements, like plants, to energize the Ming Tang. Not only will you be creating a beautiful visual element to look at every time you come home, these natural features will be cultivating a lot of good Sheng Chi. Rose quartz in the Ming Tang helps soften the space and creates a really loving energy.
• [Flat] Mirrors expand energy.  They can really help open a Ming Tang. Too many mirrors would create too much chaos or confusion. Use the mirror to channel more Sheng Chi into the space, and ideally don’t have it facing the door.
• If you have a really big bedroom, design a Ming Tang to create a transformational zone.  Slow down the energy, similar to a reception area. This can be done with rugs, colors, patterns, or a myriad of other solutions to subtly divide the space. Smaller bedrooms are good because they contain chi.
• Curved pathways to your home are good, as are stairs that get wider at the bottom. They funnel the nice Sheng Chi into the home.
• Because protection is one of the functions of the Ming Tang, a strong wooden front door is great. Semi-circle windows above the door are excellent for letting light in. Frosted windows next to the door are also excellent for light in.  Glass doors (on homes) don’t offer enough privacy or protection.
• It’s not ideal to have a staircase facing the door inside. Break up this straight, fast line of energy through the use of visual elements or even wind chimes.
• A talisman on (or near) the front door can be great for protection, but make sure it fits with your own aesthetic. Some people like to use statues of gargoyles, dogs, lions, or other symbolism. A large brass door knocker can be considered a talisman.
• If you have a Ming Tang during your commute between work and home, during your car or bus rides home, let your mind rest and wander.  Relax, do some meditation (if you’re not driving), empty out, let go.

If you’d like me to do another blog post about creating a Ming Tang for when you work from home, please send me a message.

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Image Credit: Stephen Leonardi