Living Places: How The Energy of Environments & Locations Shape Our Lives
- Erin
- Oct 15
- 7 min read
"Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”
Joseph Campbell
If you’ve ever traveled, moved, or even daydreamed about living somewhere new, you’ve probably felt it—the way certain places feel right, as if your spirit is drawn there without logic or reason. That’s energy at work.
Every place on Earth carries its own vibration, shaped by geography, culture, design, and memory. When we align ourselves with the right environment, life begins to flow with more ease, inspiration, and purpose. This connection between people and place is as old as time—bridging modern ideas of environmental psychology with ancient wisdom like feng shui and geomancy.
Want to feel stuck in life and never truly grow? Then simply stay in your comfort zone: Going to the same places, doing the same things, and keeping the same mindset.
The Energy of Environments
Sometimes the fastest way to change your life is to change your scenery. This is why leaving your hometown is so important for your evolution. New environments force you to adapt, and that’s where real growth happens. You're not just seeing new things, youre you’re seeing new versions of yourself
Our surroundings profoundly influence our mood, health, and growth—often more than we realize. From the hum of a city to the stillness of a mountain town, each environment shapes how we think, feel, and act.
Cultural geography calls this environmental determinism—the idea that landscapes and built environments influence human behavior and culture. Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement, mirrors this idea, teaching that the energy (or chi) of a space affects our lives and outcomes.
Both perspectives remind us: environments aren’t just backdrops. They’re active participants in our evolution.
Place: A location imbued with meaning, shaped by human experience.
"Place isnt just the backdrop. It's the main character, the hero, in an epic story that's now unfolding."
awakening lands
Topophilia
“Sense of place” is a cultural geography term that refers to the emotional and spiritual bond we form with specific locations—your childhood home, a favorite park, a café where you always feel inspired. These spaces become part of who we are.
Coined by geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, topophilia term refers to the love of place and the emotional bonds people develop with locations.
Think about the places where you feel most alive, or where you feel most at home—whether it’s near the ocean, in a bustling city, or surrounded by mountains, or simply wherever your loved ones are. Your intuition often knows where your spirit is meant to rest and root, or learn and grow.
To know yourself deeply, learn to read the environments that make you feel most alive. Knowing which spaces energize or deplete you is the first step toward living in harmony with your natural design.
Listening to the Wisdom of the Earth
The land isn’t inert; it has pulse, rhythm, living and breathing energy. Ancient practices like geomancy and feng shui are about tuning in, perceiving and responding.
Across cultures, people have long read the Earth for guidance. In the West, geomancy involved drawing patterns in soil to divine meaning—a symbolic language of the land. In the East, practices like feng shui and Vastu Shastra use the Earth’s energy to harmonize human dwellings.
These practices remind us that the planet is alive, responsive, and communicative. Working with the Earth’s energy is about listening, not manipulating or controlling. When we do, we enter a sacred dialogue between human intuition and natural intelligence.
Reminder: Your environment is not separate from you. It’s both a mirror, and a compass- showing who you are, and where you're going.
Feng Shui: Aligning with the Energy of Space
Feng shui, meaning wind and water, is the art of harmonizing human life with the natural flow of energy. It teaches us that when chi moves smoothly through a space, it nourishes every aspect of life—just like a healthy river system sustains the land around it.
Feng shui teaches us to embrace a balance of earth-elements to create the most harmony and vitality in a space, allowing movement. A home’s chi affects your vitality, relationships, and success. When energy flows freely, we feel balanced and supported; when it’s blocked, we feel stagnant or disconnected.
Traditional schools of feng shui also teach us how different landforms and landscapes hold distinct energetic qualities:
Mountains – Stability, grounding, strength
Water – Creativity, emotional flow, calm
Open Plains – Freedom, expansion, possibility
Vibrant Cities – Innovation, ambition, momentum
Historic Towns – Continuity, rootedness, tradition
Villages and Countryside – Rest, reflection, simplicity
The Archetypal Forces of Nature
The trigrams of the Iching are eight energetic archetypes, each representing a fundamental pattern of life and nature.Each one embodies a specific energetic mood — like the emotional weather patterns of existence.
Similarly, in Human Design, the right environment plays a key role in well-being. Some thrive on stimulation and variety; others need calm, consistent spaces. The goal isn’t to fit in—it’s to find resonance.
Right-facing arrow: you thrive on passive pursuits and entertainment - taking it all in.
Left-facing arrow: you thrive on constant exertion, activity and action -making things happen.
"If you're in the right environment, it nurtures you the same way your diet does, supporting your natural energy and activity level."
Ra Uru Hu
Power Places
Just as the human body has energy centers, so does the planet. Some places on Earth are known for their extraordinary energy. These sacred sites, or "vortexes" act like the Earth’s chakras, drawing nomads and seekers throughout history who crave healing, transformation, or connection to the land and something larger than themselves. Visiting or even meditating on these places can activate deeper layers of intuition and awareness.
North & South America
Sedona, Arizona
Mount Shasta, California
The Black Hills, South Dakota
Machu Picchu, Peru
Mayan Ruins in Guatemala / Honduras / Mexico
Europe
Stonehenge, England
Glastonbury, England
The Isle of Skye, Scotland
Asia, Africa & Pacific
Mount Kailash, Tibet
Bali, Indonesia
The Himalayas
Uluru, Australia
The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
And when we connect with these places, either by traveling, moving or even visualizing them - we can unlock powerful messages.
Places are alive with energy, buzzing with generations of interconnected human stories and memories that can unlock powerful insights about our past, present and future purpose.
For some, freedom comes not from settling but from movement—from following the inner pull toward places that feel alive. For these souls with wanderlust, your nervous system thrives when you are sovereign. Move when that is threatened, when you feel trapped.
Why is travel so good for the soul? Because it's where true feedom is felt, and when expectations finally loosen and authenticity breathes.
"Travel is a portal, and one of the fastest ways to change timelines. Travel physically removes you from your current energetic field, identity, and environment. Because your external reality reflects your internal energy, placing yourself in a new location can help you shift into a new frequency, making it easier to step into a new version of yourself."
Maddie Moothart
Creating Supportive Spaces
As plants thrive only in compatible soil, humans flourish in specific places that align with their essence. The right environment amplifies your potential; the wrong one dims it.
Travel, relocation, or even small shifts in your surroundings can awaken new versions of yourself.
You don’t have to relocate to align with supportive energy. Transformation often begins right where you are. When you honor the energy of your environment, life begins to reflect that harmony back to you.
These simple shifts can harmonize your environment.
"Change your space, change your energy, change your life."
Declutter: Clear stagnant energy to make room for new opportunities.
Introduce Nature: Plants, stones, or water features bring life and calm.
Optimize Layout: Arrange furniture to promote flow and comfort; position your bed or desk so you can see the door.
Use Color Intentionally: Choose tones that match your goals—green for growth, blue for peace, red for vitality.
Set Clear Intentions: Regularly reflect on how your space supports or hinders your wellbeing, and adjust accordingly.
And if you’ve tried all of this but your environment still drains you—it might not be you. Sometimes, it’s the space. Move to reset your energy completely.
If these steps don't work, it's not you, and it's not the space. It's simply your energy together, your innate dynamic. Just like a relationship that simply doesn't fit or runs its course, spaces can be the same. Instead of working to recover from your environment, change the environment. Sometimes moving locations is the best way to relax, reset and regulate your nervous system.
When you’re in the right environment, you don’t have to perform or defend. You simply exist and belong.
Final Reflection
Our environments don’t just reflect who we are—they actively shape us. Whether it’s through the natural energy of geography or the intentional design of feng shui, the spaces we inhabit can inspire balance, creativity, and growth.
When we honor the energy of our surroundings, we invite well-being and alignment into our lives. By nurturing a deeper connection to place, we can create environments that support who we are and who we’re becoming.
By tuning into the energy of our spaces and making intentional changes, we can create lives that are not just lived, but truly flourishing.
Every place holds a story, and every story holds a frequency. By tuning into the landscapes—both internal and external—that shape you, you can begin to live in rhythm with your true nature.
"When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”
Alexander Den Heijer
Erin is a certified feng shui consultant, energy healer, wellness coach and holistic growth strategist.
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