I attended the 8th Annual Conscious Life Expo over the weekend, from February 12-14th.  Comprised of people from all walks of life, it was a motley mix of new thought/ancient wisdom folks, green business people, and more.  The Conscious Life Expo was a place where, as “the feng shui fairy“, I felt distinctly comfortable.  I didn’t have to hide who I was.  In fact, the more I flaunted it, the better reception I received.  These were “my people”.  And there were a LOT of people.  I don’t have the numbers, but it was hoppin, for sure! 

Green Things

Of course, I took the Metrolink train up from Irvine, CA, where I live at the moment.  Then a bus…then a walk…so I did my best to walk my talk. 

One of the first booths that I visited (while waiting for my press pass) was called “H2Om“…Sandy Fox, the owner, explained to me that the water is pure mountain spring water…the best tasting in the world…bottled in recycled plastic containers (minus the pthalates and other key pollutants).  She makes a point of educating the public about recycling and other green living topics.  Each bottle had a specific word on the label to energize the water, ala Dr. Emoto.  Green stuff and intention?  Very cool, if you’re into that.  I happen to be, so I got a kick out of it.  The water was quite tasty, too.  And, Sandy was very friendly and engaging.  A nice way to start the day.

After that, I (somehow) found my way to the Green Business Discussion Panel:  “Creating a Thriving Green Economy in Greater Los Angeles“, hosted by my friend, Gregory Wendt, a Financial Advisor and “Director of Sustainable and Responsible Investing for EP Wealth Advisors.  It was a two-hour event and I enjoyed every minute of it!  It was great to see my L.A. green business buddies after having been otherwise occupied for a good 8 months and to hear their thoughts on the economy and green business.  I got to hear about other happenings in terms of networking for green business folks and sustainability programs.  I snapped tons of pictures & took copious notes, of course.  And, I made some new friends from the audience, including Kelly Peterson and Denise Wolfe of Syzergy Global Consultants.  I also reconnected with Jennifer Gooding, whom I had met at at one of her Eco Tuesday events in Santa Monica a while back. 

On my way to check out the vegetarian Indian food, I was asked if I’d like a spritz of essential oil mist to lift my spirits.  I said yes and was drawn into Ravenscroft Essentials.  I really liked the vibe of the couple running the booth and we had a grand time chatting and laughing it up.  Later on, I realized that their candles were made in reused containers, such a glass heart dishes and golden chalices.  I thought, well, that’s noteworthy and something I’d like to use for my Eco Chic Feng Shui blog.

I got a samosa from Samosa House and stopped to eat at the standing tables.  There was a tall fellow who pulled up to the table with a plastic container of salad.  Always on the lookout for different food options (am total foodie and former cook), I asked where he had purchased it and he said he brought lunch from home.   Now, that definitely interested me as a “green” thing.  It looked delicious and I heard all about the wonders of broccoli sprouts from him.  He had a booth selling a product called Resvantage. 

While getting my education on broccoli sprouts and resveratrol, I was approached by Deric Schmidt, Interior/Exterior Designer (InEx Design is the name of his biz).  He recognized me from the audience of the green business panel and we spent a good while getting acquainted, talking about the green business scene, los angeles, design, feng shui, numerology, my book (From Burned Out to Fired Up: Feng Shui for Your Body, Mind and Surroundings-in progress) etc.  Definitely my new BFF.  Ok, one of them, anyway!  He told me about Green Leaders, which is a sustainability certification program for interior designers.  It is run by Sustainable Furnishings.  Hmm…something I’d like to look into for MY business ventures as “the feng shui fairy”.  I’ve since had another great chat with Deric and plan to stay in close contact with him.

Esoterica

Of course, there were all manner of things having to do with the “esoteric arts”, as I like to call it.  I saw my favorite palm reader there.  He and I go way back, having shared a booth at the New Living Expo 2006 in San Francisco, CA.  Lali is his name and palm reading is his game!  He’s quite good at it and was a good sport, accepting my offering of a handmade bracelet and earrings in exchange for a reading.  When not reading palms and fortunes at events (I see him everywhere!) Lali also runs Success Catalysts and is a “motivational speaker & master success coach”.   He does have quite a presence and a twinkle in his eye.  He seems to be doing quite well and having fun at it, too. 

I was also able to trade some earrings from my Sweetheart Collection for a reiki healing.  Apparently I had some gunk in my heart chakra.  Not a big surprise as I was going through a really painful breakup with a certain religious group…and, the fact that Valentine’s Day was coming on fast (the next day) and I didn’t have a Valentine this year (that I knew of, anyway!).  Yeah, definitely needed a good heart chakra clearing.  I could FEEL it, too, which is the cool thing.  Nancy Gonzalez sure knows her stuff!  There was a tarot reader whom I thought I wanted a reading with until she insinuated that I should NOT change my last name.  Not up for discussion, lady.  It makes sense to me and that’s what matters… to me.  Plus, I’m a numerologist and there’s a decisive method to my madness.  Or madness to my method, if you prefer the more twisted version.  I know I do!  BTW, interested in changing your name?  Hit me up for a numerology reading.

Anyhoo, there were tons of crystals, things having to do with metaphysics, including a lecture about whether fairies and gnomes are real or not.  Am so BUMMED that I
missed it.  I KNOW they exist.  Then again, I’m known as “the feng shui FAIRY”.  LOL!  Speaking of laughter, mine got quite a lot of attention and everyone seem to want to make me laugh.  A little embarrassing, but at least it was mostly welcome with this crowd.  Yes, I have a tinkly fairy laugh…part of the package!

While refreshing my make-up in the bathroom, I saw a girl lacing up her own corset.  I asked if she needed help and we got to chatting.  Turns out she works for “High Priestess“, a gorgeous woman who had a set-up in the main hallway with her band of gypsy-goth-punk-renaissance-like folks.  A harpist, composer and producer, High Priestess is involved with the Society for the Preservation of Faerie Arts.  Wow.  Didn’t know there was such a thing!  After seeing my jewelry, she said that she was honor bound to assist me, since I AM a fairy!  Sweet!

One name I kept hearing over and over again was “Eric Pearl“.  Always keeping my ears open for news of a good chiropractor, that name stuck with me, especially since I use pearls a lot in my jewelry.  Dr.  Pearl uses energy work in addition to traditional chiropractic care for astounding results!  This method is called “The Reconnection”.  Intriguing stuff…check it out! 

Just for The Feng Shui of it

I have to say that I had a particularly perplexing time of it trying to find the green business discussion panel.  That, and the folks at will call were unable to find my press pass.  I was a bit huffy about it since I’d just spent 3 hours travelling and I NEEDED to be in time for the 3 p.m. green business panel.  That was my whole reason for coming up on Friday, rather than taking an extra day to prep and making the trek on Saturday.  Anyway, I did my best to keep the steam under control and be gracious about it all.  Fortunately, after an hour of alternately hanging out at will call and coming back from wherever, I came accross Dawna Shuman, got my pass and went on my merry way in search of the green business panel. 

I had to enlist the help of a hotel staff member to actually find the darned thing!  Why are these feng shui concerns?  Well, anything that has to do with confusion, chaos (disorganization), and clutter goes into the category of poor feng shui.  Despite the many, many signs available, the fact that I had to ask help in finding the room (and I KNOW I’m not alone because I was looking with another interested attendee) was an indicator of lack of clarity.  I never would have guessed that the ballroom was past (within) the latin section of the expo.   Better signage for sure would have helped with the flow and with getting people to the discussion.  This is one of the rare times that I was glad for a delayed start time…probably due to the fact that the audience was non-existant at 3 p.m. 

Another thing of interest was a particularly zealous water faucet in the ladies’ restroom.  It went on for AGES!  Ok, at least a couple minutes, which is FAR too long.  In feng shui, water is money, so if your money is going down the drain for a longer-than-necessary amount of time, that’s noteworthy.  Plus, this is California, where we have MAJOR water shortage problems, despite the recent torrential downpours.  So, it’s an environmental thing and a feng shui thing.  Some of the sinks didn’t even eek out a drop of water, which is also poor feng shui.  Almost as bad as a leaky or over zealous faucet.  Yo, LAX Hilton?  I suggest you check out your sinks and adjust them accordingly. 

I did really like the grand entrance.  The reception desk was tucked quite far back, but I never questioned where it was, really.  The hotel, overall, seemed clean and the employees that I encountered were quite friendly.  One of the couches nearly swallowed me whole, but it was comfortable once I got settled in.  I met a few people sitting there…the most memorable being Tasha Cirlincione.

One exhibitor said that business was not going well for her and asked my opinion.  I said that maybe it was due to her location near a wall of closed exit doors.  It was definitely a dull spot in the midst of this super lively expo.  Location, location, location!  She did her best, and really had to reach out to people.  In another area of the expo, there were a couple women who tried to physically grab me into their display.  Ick!  Desperation is NOT good feng shui.  TOO much yang, aggressive energy goin on there! 

As for my fave booths, Ravenscroft Escentials definitely had it going on.  So did H2OM…and Resvantage.  There was also a lovely display backed by purple velvet that drew me in with its alluring and relaxed vibe.  It was called Vibes Up.

Love in the Air

There was a lot of love going around…of the romantic type and otherwise.  Being the total romantic that I am, I had brought my heart mug with me, soas to spare trees in the name of getting a cup-o-coffee.  I saw many heart-shaped gemstone pendants, too.  While in the audience at Greg Wendt’s lecture, “The Power of Conscious Investing”, a pair of heart patterned socks paired with men’s shoes caught my eye and led me to striking up a convo with the guy wearing them.  We ended up hanging out after the show, actually.  Now, whether that goes anywhere romantically or not remains to be seen.  We’ve become friends.  But, love (in general) was a big part of our chat.  So was metaphysics, life experience and healing.  Definitely a good time!  He happens to be a Reconnection practitioner, so I might get some treatments with him.

While in line for Indian food (again), I saw a woman sauntering by, wearing a stiking black and white dress that said “life is love, love is life”.  I called out a “hey I like your dress”, but she had already passed by.  Then, she came back!  Of course she knew the guy standing in line in front of me!  Ah, serendipity.  I chatted them both up and found out that Barbara had just started wearing dresses a couple days before after feeling the need to shake things up a bit.  She wore that dress quite well.  We hit it off, chatting about feng shui.  She had heard of me, incidentally, which gave me warm fuzzies : )

Coming in the third day (Valentine’s Day), I was embraced by a woman who said, “hey!  You look like you’re glowing!”…after which I asked “where do I know you from?”.  I LOVE that!  Hugging first, introductions later!  She said that she was one of the facialists that I had met the day before and she felt like she knew me from another lifetime.  ANOTHER new BFF.  Wait…is it okay to have more than one BFF?  Should it be a mutually exclusive thing?  Do I have to tell them that I’m seeing other BFF’s, too?  This feels a LOT like dating.  Huh.  I guess I’m still learning…

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Claire Amber, author of the forthcoming book “From Burned Out to Fired Up: Feng Shui for Your Body, Mind and Surroundings“, is known whimsically as “the feng shui fairy”.  For more info about her services and to order copies of the book, visit www.thefengshuifairy.com.  You can e-mail Claire directly at [email protected].