Feng Shui FAQ's | Design For Energy

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by Belinda Mendoza
Feng Shui Consultant, Design For Energy

Which school do I choose?

Feng Shui literally means "wind and water" in Chinese - has become one of the hottest design trends and conversation topics today.

But while Feng Shui is suddenly popular, it is nothing new. Its history began in the fourth century B.C. when the Chinese invented the compass. During the following century, they began using the device to aid in the proper placement of grave and home sites.

Finding the optimum resting place for ancestors was to ensure health, harmony, and prosperity for their descendants, because we are all connected by cosmic, universal energy-called" chi".

Today there are many form of Feng Shui as there are practitioners.

These are the three main "Schools" of Feng Shui:

FORM SCHOOL
This school of Feng Shui began in Southern China. It is based on looking at and evaluating land forms, waterways, and geography.

COMPASS SCHOOL
The absence of geographical and geological features and the relative flat topography of China necessitated the development of the Compass school, which dominates throughout most of the world. This is the traditional, classical Feng Shui practice which uses either a Chinese (luo pan) or Western-style compass to determine the eight compass directions in a room, office, or home. Because those directions govern various aspects of your life, you place the corresponding colors, animal, symbols, numbers, and elements in the areas called "guas", that you wish to activate.

BLACK HAT SECT TIBETAN SCHOOL
In this school which has gained popularity in the United States, you disregard compass directions. Instead , you stand at and use the entrance of the building or room as your main reference point. You then place objects and other enhancements according to what you aspire and wish to accomplish.

Regardless of what school you use, there are some Feng Shui basics to know:

· Flow of energy
· Balance of Yin and Yang
· Interaction of the five elements

*Avoid sharp, straight edges to keep energy flowing
In nature, we find perfectly straight lines in only very short segments, as in the canes of sugar and bamboo. Even the tallest redwoods have irregularities. It is a natural law that energy flows in wavy lines like the breezes, mountain ranges, and streams. In the land, chi moves in dragon lines along the topography; in people, its paths are called meridians. This undulating flow is beneficial and natural.

Freeways, tunnels, bridges, buildings, corners of buildings, and lampposts have straight edges, which are considered conduits of negative energy, called "sha chi" or "killing energy".
In Feng Shui, such are to be avoided.

*Balance of the "yin and yang"
The duality of the universe and the world around us is expressed in the "Tai Chi", a circle created by a light and a dark droplet, positioned end to end.

"Yin" is the female; soft, passive, nurturing, fluid, even numbers, and the right side.

"Yang" is male; bright, hard, active, aggressive, odd numbers, and the left side.

Notice that in each half, there is the presence of its complement, in the form of a dot. This has been accepted for several thousand years in Chinese philosophy, but the acknowledgement that every male has a feminine aspect, and every female has a male side, is new to the Western mind and medicine.

Together Yin and Yang comprise a whole, and yet there is an element of each in the other.

It is up to us to find and maintain the balance between the two in our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, sexual and intellectual selves. Achieving this balance helps us become grounded or centered, much like a rock that is pounded by the elements and still remains unyielding.

*Use the Five elements in generative ways
Each of the five elements -fire, earth, metal, wood, and water, relates to the other in two different ways.

· The first relationship is generative or creative. For ex:, water nourishes wood, wood makes fire, fire creates earth (as in volcanoes), earth creates metal, metal creates water.
· The second relationship shows how each can be overcome or destroyed by the other. That is , water puts out fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood displaces earth, earth dams water.

"A place with good Feng Shui is bright, has an abundance of pleasant breezes, and sustains plants and animals naturally."

Belinda Mendoza is a professional, full-time, Feng Shui consultant in Austin,TX. Her website is: DesignForEnergy.com and call her office number is: (512) 740-1251. for appt. to have your home or business assessed. You'll love the results!