Building with the Breath of Life: Working with Chi Energy in Our Homes and Communities

Building with the Breath of Life is the definitive introduction to the emerging field of energetic design. This new work, companion volume to Bender's acclaimed Silence, Song and Shadows, provides the detailed historical, conceptual, and how-to information for working with chi energy in our surroundings:

* Exciting new findings concerning the widespread historical use of chi energy in building and community design in Egyptian, Mayan, Asian, Native American and European cultures.

* The necessary theoretical concepts from Chinese feng shui, the energetic practices of other cultures, and contemporary research.

* What is needed for the reader to successfully apply energetics in their personal surroundings and their work:

-energetic design tools
-exercises for learning to work with chi and intention
-how to analyze our homes and communities from an energetic perspective
-examples of successful use of energetic design in our culture
-access to a wealth of resources for more in-depth exploration of all aspects of chi design.

Vital new perspectives on the role of chi and the sacred in personal, community, and planetary health; interaction of work with chi energy in our bodies and in our surroundings; and significance of the acknowledgment of chi occuring today in our society.

Tom Bender is one of the original founders of the "green architecture" and "sustainability" movements. His path-breaking and award-winning research, writing, and architectural design over the last 30 years has spanned the gamut from technical tools such as solar design to the spiritual roots of our cultural problems. As a consultant to governmental, private, and public organizations, he has been in the forefront of developing and implementing the technical, institutional, values and spiritual dimensions of sustainable communities. His Ouroboros Project in Minnesota in the early '70s was one of the very first demonstrations of resource-self-reliant houses. A former co-editor of the national magazine, RAIN: Journal of Appropriate Technology, he is the author of over a hundred published articles, half a dozen books, and the winner of national and international awards for his work in economics, design, and sustainable communities.

Bender's work has shown that creative retargeting of our existing institutional systems, energy, technology, and economics can help attain our deepest goals far more directly and effectively. With routine energy and economic savings of 90% or more, application of these principles frees vast misapplied resources to meet other needs. The "Factor 10" principles he has developed for institutional rethinking have repeatedly been proven to achieve order-of-magnitude improvements in effectiveness and sustainability. The governments of Austria, the Netherlands, and Norway have publicly committed to the principles. The same approach has been endorsed by the European Union as the new paradigm for sustainable development. Austria, Sweden, and the OECD environmental ministers have urged the adoption of Factor Ten goals, as have the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and United Nations Environmental Program. Leading corporations such as Dow Europe and Mitsubishi Electric are actively using these principles as powerful strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

In the early 1970s he introduced the Chinese practice of feng shui to the American public through a series of articles in New Age, Yoga Journal and Utne Reader Ð revealing a geophysical basis to an art once considered a mere collection of ancient superstitions. An international expert in this field, his depth of experience in both the theoretical and practical application of working with subtle energies in our surroundings has created a whole new dimension vital to the acknowledgment of chi energy in our culture which is occurring today.

In his architectural work, Bender is known as the architect who is restoring soul to our surroundings and sustainability to our communities. His demonstration of how our surroundings can heal the diseases of the spirit that plague our culture and restore our connection with the rest of nature is receiving acclaim through the recent publication of his Silence, Song and Shadows and Building with the Breath of Life. These publications reveal what he has shown in his own architectural work Ð ways to create places that move our hearts, change our lives, and bring fullness to our spirits.

Over and over again, as a practicing architect, feng-shui practitioner, and strategic planner, Tom Bender has been on the cutting edge of the work which has produced the greatest glimmers of hope for a struggling world. His current work pushes yet further on the boundaries of the possible, and opens new opportunities for a better world.