When I tell people that I am a professional Feng Shui practitioner, people offer a variety of responses:
"Oh, we heard the reason we eat out all the time is because our bathroom is near our kitchen. Is that true?"
"I Feng Shui'd my office. I moved my desk to the west side of the room since that's the money corner and put a bamboo 'money tree' on the corner."
"We hung a wind chime inside our doorway to refresh the energy but we keep bumping into it and it really bugs me."
"My partner and I had our house blessed before we moved in to get rid of bad energy. Is that what you do for people?"
What is interesting about all of these statements is that they are either a misunderstanding of Feng Shui or not Feng Shui at all. During the last decade Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Shway) has become very popular in the West. However, with this popularity have come many misconceptions. What exactly is this discipline and why is it so mysterious? Feng Shui began in China and has been practiced there for thousands of years. I cannot explain all aspects here, but let's call this article Feng Shui 101, a primer in what Feng Shui is and what it isn't.
Classical or traditional Feng Shui is the study of energy flow and balance in and around man-made structures. The goal of Feng Shui is to make you comfortable in your environment and to have your environment supportive to your well-being. There are many aspects to Feng Shui that a practitioner will use in conjunction with each other. I am going to touch briefly upon several aspects of traditional Feng Shui: surrounding environments, supportive directions, and the five elements.
A practitioner will assess the surrounding environment of a home, such as the roads, water flow, incline of the land, and man-made structures in order to determine how the energy flows around the house. Based upon this analysis, the practitioner will make recommendations to improve the movement of energy around the house. Some examples are planting shrubs to shield the home from oncoming traffic or trimming existing trees to let more light through to the house.
Many people have heard that Feng Shui involves arranging furniture. Everyone has different supportive directions that are suited to him or her. For example, which wall should you position your bed against to promote sleep, or which direction should you face to be most productive at work? A Feng Shui practitioner is able to determine these directions from a person's birth date. Beware of generic directional advice. For instance, not everyone sleeps best with the head of the bed to the north wall. A true Feng Shui evaluation will individualize these positions for you.
Feng Shui utilizes the five elements - which are earth, water, wood, fire and metal - to help balance the energy within the house. By using the construction date of the house and its compass direction (north, south etc.) the practitioner will develop an energy map for the structure. An energy map will show the practitioner any imbalances in elemental energy. It will also show which areas might be better suited for work, sleep, creative endeavors, and even which areas should be used as little as possible. A practioner will use this map to make recommendations on how to use the five elements to remedy, or cure, the imbalances. One should avoid remedies that are unsightly or easily identified as a cure. An elemental remedy should be part of the overall décor of the room. Protect yourself from practitioners that require you to purchase Feng Shui cures from them. The selling of things like animal statuary, Ba-gua mirrors, gold coins, crystals and convex mirrors are not remedies that come from Traditional Feng Shui and have more to do with Chinese superstition. Practitioners that utilize these do not have a solid understanding of the practice.
Confusion also occurs from Feng Shui practitioners who employ things like blessings or burning incense. They are mixing in elements from other cultural traditions. The burning of sage or smudging, for instance, is a practice that comes from the Native American culture and is not involved with Feng Shui. The burning of incense, although performed throughout Asia, is a practice that stems from spiritual beliefs and offerings not connected with the discipline of Feng Shui. Whether these practices have a positive effect on a home or not I don't know, but I do know that they should not be presented as part of Feng Shui.
The emperors of China utilized Feng Shui to support a healthy and prosperous life. Today we can benefit from this same ancient knowledge and use these same practices in our own homes and offices. Everyone can benefit from a supportive and balanced home.
Contact Me for an Appointment
Leslie Grotenhuis
Phone: (828)301-3075
Email: leslie@ashevillefengshui.com