It’s January 2019, folks, and this month, I could not be more excited to highlight my spiritual sister and incredible friend Dorena Kohrs, creator and owner of Space Doula. Dorena is what I refer to as a magical unicorn who came into my life at just the right time in the past year and taught me so much about the energy of my home.
As a professional organizer and a deeply spiritual person, I’ve always been attuned to my environment. However, when I met Dorena, my little home world turned upside down. Dorena helped me identify energy centers in my home that were keeping me stuck and, through her incredible process of coaching and clearing (all virtually, she lives in North Carolina), I was able to work through several areas of my home. I cleared not only the physical clutter, but the energetic clutter as well.
Dorena provides strategies for home organization based on emotional and spiritual energy. She aims to “create momentum in your life and business” through her one-on-one sessions with clients to boost their awareness of their possessions and their placement within the home. Based on her studies in spirituality, energy, Feng Shui, and Space Clearing, she works with clients to align their homes with their intentions. We talked with Dorena about her path to this unique business and how she approaches the organization of personal space.
What is your specialty service?
Simply put, I help clients identify patterns in their homes where they may be experiencing stuck or stifled energy. I help them clear that space so they can step into their true purpose.
I call the process house whispering.
What kinds of clients do you work with?
I work with people from all areas of life, but I’ve found my services particularly benefit those who are cohabitating, dual income families and female entrepreneurs who work from home.
What was the catalyst for your journey to learning about home energy?
A series of pivotal moments in my adult life led to the conception of my business. However, it was growing up in an alcoholic family that first showed me how we’re affected by the energy of our homes.
As a child, I couldn’t control the chaos or negativity outside of my bedroom, but I could control the belongings inside my bedroom. So, in an effort to exert control over something and create stability, I moved my furniture around…A LOT! What I discovered in the process is that I could improve how my room felt (and how I felt!) based on how my belongings were placed. I was practicing feng shui before I even knew it was a thing!
What was the career path that brought you to the creation of Space Doula?
My career path to what I currently do has been a journey! I took a leap out of Corporate America twelve years ago to pursue my true passion – making changes in people’s homes. That leap led me to partnering with an interior decorating company, then to owning a professional organizing company and to working as a Certified Clutter Clearing Coach.
Each time I shifted my business, I was looking for a better way to understand the relationship between our lives and our homes. Eventually, I became plagued by the question – “How come my own home is perfectly decorated, organized and decluttered, yet I’m still stuck?” I knew there had to be more.
That’s when I discovered the School of Interior Alignment and became a Certified Practitioner of Interior Alignment. This was the missing puzzle piece!
How would you describe Interior Alignment?
Interior Alignment is a system that was designed to support the uniqueness of each individual by supporting their dreams and desires within their environment. It embraces a holistic and intuitive approach that encompasses the principles of feng shui, space clearing, and sacred ceremony. One of the tools we use is the bagua.
Interior Alignment is what enabled me to see the energetic patterns in my home that were keeping me stuck and gave me the tools to shift those patterns to create momentum in my life.
Can you give us an example?
Several months ago I blocked out an hour to write a blog post. After typing and deleting copy for an entire afternoon, I was filled with frustration. I yelled out loud, “I’m just not creative!” Then I said to myself, “Dorena, where is this belief showing up in your house?” I got up and walked into my very nicely decorated, organized, and decluttered dining room. My dining room is in the area of our home-related to Creativity. My eyes immediately went to the floral arrangement in the middle of the table. I remembered asking my interior decorating partner a decade ago to make it for me, because “I wasn’t creative enough.” In that moment of realization, I walked the floral arrangement out to my car to donate to Goodwill…and then sat down and found that my blog wrote itself quite easily!
What is the goal of your House Whispering sessions?
To get to the underlying reason why someone is stuck in certain areas of their life. I use the bagua map, which is an energy map that shows which area of our homes are associated with which areas of our life. When we make specific changes within our home, it shifts the energy. That is the catalyst for shifting the energy in our lives.
This work has shown me that we don’t stop and look at our surroundings nearly as much as we should. We’ve shut off that part of ourselves that examines our living space with thought and intention. In truth, our home is symbiotic – a mutually beneficial (or not!) area where we live and interact with our belongings.
The amazing thing is that small changes in our home can have a big impact in our life!
Based on what you see frequently among clients, what are the top spaces in the home that need the most energy clearing?
Many of my clients work really hard and feel like they give more than they receive. The areas of the home related to getting support and receiving abundance are on opposite corners. We work on balancing these areas. Often, this unbalance of giving and receiving is rooted in other areas of their life, so we may look at the area of the home related to ancestral family or the area connected to the inner child. It really does depend on the person and where they’re feeling held back.
What are a few changes people can make TODAY to get started?
There are several good places to start. First, set intentions, which you can do via list-making, vision boards, or other options that allow you to then align your home to your intentions. I encourage people to examine the deeper significance of their belongings, where they came from, how they were sourced, who may have been associated with them. All those things have an energetic resonance whether we are conscious of it or not.
We are beings who change and evolve. What we must remember is that our homes need to evolve as we evolve.
There were a lot of things that really struck me when we worked together, but I think the plant story really illustrates your point. Can we share how that went down?
Absolutely! One of your intentions when we started working together was more ease in your life. You were working so hard and craved a more balanced lifestyle. One of the things we talked about was receiving support from others. This intention meant that we wanted the things in the area of your home related to Helpful People to be supportive.
A lot of times I’ll receive an intuitive hit to ask questions about a particular object. This was the case with a plant in the Helpful People area of your home. You told me it was from the home of your mentor from your film production days. When I asked you to tell me about her, the first thing you said was that she lived and died for the job. In that moment, you instantly realized that was no longer the energy you wanted in your life. So we removed the plant.
What is your process for working with clients?
I work virtually in 90-minute sessions. I talk to my clients to see where they are in their lives and where they are feeling stuck. We then tour their home virtually via Facebook or video conference and I look for how their home is mirroring their lives. I use tools such as the bagua map to help me see the patterns. I then offer specific suggestions of what changes in the home will shift the energy. It is very tailored to individual needs and spaces.
How do our readers contact you?
They can visit my website, Space Doula, contact me via email – dorena@spacedoula.com, or find me on Instagram @space_doula or on Facebook.
Simply Spaced followers will receive a 90 minute House Whisperer session for $175. CLICK HERE to schedule your session. Use the code SIMPLYSPACED to receive your $50 discount. 
Thanks so much Dorena for sharing your unique methods with us – a fascinating way to approach home decluttering. I look forward to collaborating with you in 2019!
