How are film production and Taoism connected?

Iskra Petrova

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7d • Communities

You will learn in a couple of minutes I invite you to take for some story reading.

First, let me start by telling you how I often get instantly people's attention.

“Feng… fang... what?”

That is usually the first reaction when I tell people I have a community called “Flow with Feng Shui.”

It sounds like:

a) a tongue-twister,

b) something that Eastern robe-wearing monks do,

c) definitely "woo-woo" for many...

About 20 years ago I studied Feng Shui at an American interior design college. But to be honest, I’ve learned even more from my taoist teachers (I was an internationally competing martial artist) and from my years as a film producer.

Because if there is one thing film producers know how to do, it’s this: to make the space tell a story, on purpose.

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Let me sit in my producer's chair for a moment.

When we prepare a film set, the production designer, the set decorators and the director of photography get together and obsess about things most people never consciously notice: the lighting, the colours, the textures, the placement of objects (props) in the frame.

The director signs off on the "feeling" we want for the scene, after all of us do our work together.

And then?

We change it all… in minutes, when the camera is ready to roll.

We angle a lamp so the light is softer. We rotate a piece of furniture five centimeters to balance the view. We add flowers or textured baskets so the frame feels more alive. We clear a surface so the eye is drawn to the actor and their play, not distracted by the busy surroundings.

We make tiny moves that create a completely different feeling.

Nobody in the audience says: “Ah yes, they clearly rotated that chair 17 degrees to improve the energy flow.” But they "feel" it.

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The spaces we live or work in follow the same logic.

A better light helps your nervous system feel safer, so you calm down.

A surface that is clear means there is less decision fatigue.

A texture you really like sends signals of comfort to your brain through what you see and touch.

A better view means your eyes are pleased, and not tense.

Through some small changes, you create unmeasurable but sensible ease - we are not taught to do that in our normal life.

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Here is the not‑so‑funny part:

for years, I used this “space magic” for our audio-visual projects… BUT I ignored my own home office.

I had the “producer corner” of doom (excuse my over dramatic language - the producer speaking today): - the chair with 3 half‑finished projects on it, the shelf of “I’ll deal with this when I have time” (spoiler: I never had time, since we were working sometimes 48 shoot hours in a row).

One of my desks faced a wall that during our busiest days when my office was full of people made me feel like I was literally working into a dead end.

Guess how my business felt?

Yep - pressured, cluttered, a bit like I was producing everyone else’s movie but not my own.

One day, after walking past a corner for the 47th time while doom‑scrolling and wondering why I was so tired, my taoist brain finally lit up: “If this was a film set, would you approve it?”

I immediate felt a full‑bodied "NO".

So I treated myself like the client who was paying for an expensive advertising campaign, demanding the highest quality work.

And here is what I did:

I turned the desk so I could see the day light and have open space instead of facing the wall.

I cleared the surface of the lower table - I took time to break the piles of old folders, some went to the bin, other on a shelf, and a couple were given to my assistants.

I added one beautiful, textured object that felt like “next‑chapter me” - a ceramic pot, made by one of my friends, a famous ceramic artist.

I did not add anything fancy - there was no golden fish, or water fountains from Amazon (you might have heard these mentioned in relation to Feng Shui).

And within a week, actually less, I felt calmer, less resentful of my work (I had some other reasons for that - but why I resented such a prestigious work in my own film production company is a story for another time). I actually had mental space to finish something important - in a clearer physical space where I could move easily, breathe easily, felt the light.

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This is what I mean when I say “Flow with Feng Shui.”

You don't have to pursue perfection or turn your house into a magazine spread.

I used the same "tricks" we use in film: tiny shifts that change the look and the whole emotional tone of the space…

One important note:

when you remove old objects, however significant for you in the past, your space stops dragging you back into the old story and starts supporting the new one.

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If you read this and instantly thought of your own “producer corner of doom” (or the room you usually keep the door closed on), you are exactly who I had in mind when I created "Flow with Feng Shui".

It’s one of my Skool communities where you can look at your real spaces, make small, doable changes (in 5-min time blocks), and treat your home or office like the set for the next chapter of your life and business.

There is a seven day free trial, so you can come in, try a few tiny shifts, and see how it feels. You can actually complete a whole 7-day challenge during the trial (I open two days at once in the beginning, to help you get the bonuses - a meditation and a room-by-room flow guide on Day 6).

No need to put on a silk Asian robe, hang crystals, buy a bowl of golden fish (unless these are your thing).

If you want your space to stop working against you and start co‑producing your next chapter with you, here is the door: 👉 Flow with Feng Shui.

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