First, read this.
1. What is Feng Shui
Feng Shui is an art of analyzing the Qi ( see the section “What is Qi in Fengshui” ) of people’s living/working environment and how the Qi would affect people. In Chinese “Feng” means wind, “Shui” means water. The name “Feng Shui” probably comes from the original understanding of the interaction between Qi and wind/water. Traditional Feng Shui script says “Qi” is dispersed by wind and gathers at the boundary of water”. Through centuries of empirical research and statistical analysis, Feng Shui masters made new discoveries, redefined old theories and passed down the knowledge to the new generations.
Regardless of the different schools of theories and methodologies, the goal of Feng Shui is to improve people’s quality of life or performance of a business/city/country. It is a goal-oriented art and science. Generally speaking, Feng Shui is about creating a comfortable and harmonious living/working environment for people. Once this is achieved, we go to the next step to make use of the tools in Fengshui to support people’s goals and suit people’s specific needs.
2.What is “Qi”
“Qi” is the core concept of Feng Shui. Simply speaking, Feng Shui is just about analyzing Qi and harnessing Qi. But what is Qi?
Some people say it’s natural energy such as energy from wind, some others say it’s cosmic energy, still others say it’s electromagnetic fields. In Taoism, it is the substance that keeps people alive and vibrant. In one word there is no agreement about what Qi is yet. Why is it so hard to reach an agreement? Three reasons: first, it is a concept from ancient Chinese and the meaning of Qi has been changing as people know more and more about the world, universe and human-beings. Second, it’s not a scientific concept such as energy or force that has stringent definitions. Even in Taoism, Qi seems to mean different things in different cases. Let’s say Qi is energy, then what type of energy it is? Wind energy, Cosmic energy, or nuclear energy? It’s not clear. Third, there is a effective way to measure Qi. People can’t see it , hear it, taste it or touch it. There is not instrument that claims to be able to measure Qi. It seems to be immeasurable.
In scientific terms, the concept that has the closest meaning to Qi is field, maybe a vector field since Qi has direction. In physics, field is a mathematical construct that has value for each point in space and time. The field occupies space, contains energy and its presence eliminates a true vacuum. The field creates a “condition in space”( according to Feynman’s lectures on physics ) such that when we put a particle in it, the particle “feels” a force, be it a gravitational force or electromagnetic force, etc. It’s also hard to measure field itself directly. The concept of Qi is very much like the concept of field. People create the concept of Qi ( just like people create the concept of field ) to understand the nature and interpret the phenomena in nature.
So “Qi” is something that is created by the nature and interacts with matters. There is a specific type of Qi called “Sha Qi”. Feng Shui masters call Sha Qi a merciless, killing or simply bad Qi in Feng Shui terminology. I list some common types of Sha Qi in “List of Common Feng Shui Issues”. Using “field” analogy, Sha Qi is the type of “field” generated by the environment that will disturb or disrupt the “field” generated by the human-being. The phenomena we can observe is people might become unhealthy, feel uncomfortable, or cannot think/behave normally, etc, if affected by Sha Qi. In general, we want to avoid Sha Qi.
3.Misconceptions about Feng Shui
There are common questions about Fengshui.
Is Fengshui superstition?
? There are multiple reasons that Feng Shui is considered as superstition by some people.
First and the major reason, people don’t truly understand what Feng Shui is and hear from others saying Feng Shui is superstition. Obviously this is not the right or fair way to think of Feng Shui.
Second, “the new age Feng Shui” does contain lots of non-scientific “cultural superstitions”. There are some examples below in this section. This creates the image in people’s minds that Feng shui is superstition. But there are Feng Shui consultants that practice traditional Feng Shui, based on observable principles.
Third, the concepts in Feng Shui are very different from concepts in natural science such as physics, chemistry, biology, etc. People tend to think in terms of white or black but this is not true. Just as “force” is a concept people create to interpret interaction between macroscopic bodies, “Qi” is a concept people create to understand the interaction between objects. Essentially you can replace “force” by any other name you like but in convention people call that “force”. Feng Shui should not be treated as superstition because some concepts in it are abstract or different from other natural science.
Fourth, the theory in Feng Shui is not fully developed yet. Even Feng Shui consultants don’t understand the underlying physical mechanism of some theories in Feng Shui. However, based on the personal experiments and data collection from Feng Shui scripts, they work. It’s not right or fair to say something is superstition because some theories in it are not fully developed. You cannot say physics is superstition because Newton’s second law “F=ma” doesn’t take into account relativistic effect.
Is Fengshui about decorating the house with “good luck” or special objects including paintings, Bagua mirrors, crystals, little stones, color papers, sculpture, all kinds of art items, doohickeys and figurines, etc?
? This is a common and major misconception about Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about analyzing Qi and harnessing Qi. It is true that sometimes, aquariums, plants or light, etc are used to tap/activate beneficial Qi but the placement of “good luck” or special objects is only part of “culture”. They might work to some extent but it’s not part of Feng Shui.
Is the house number, floor number, car number, phone number, credit card number part of Feng Shui?
? Auspicious numbers are part of “culture superstition”, like fortune cookies. They are not part of Feng Shui. In Feng shui, we talk about Qi, those numbers have nothing to do with Qi profile.
Can I become rich/powerful ( or find my true love ) by living in a good Feng Shui house?
? This is another major misconception. Good Fengshui does NOT make one rich or powerful. Good Feng Shui can increase the chance or opportunity for one to become rich or powerful, or conversely, to lose the opportunity. One still has to seize those opportunities. There is no free money. Same for relationships.
I tried some Feng Shui love rituals but nothing happens to me. Does Feng Shui magic work?
? There is no ritual thing involved in Fengshui. Any spiritual practice is not part of Feng Shui. Feng Shui is not magic either. It’s not that Feng Shui doesn’t work if you attempt to use tools that are not part of Feng Shui.
My back hurts, I have headache, my stomach doesn’t feel good, I have constipation, etc. Can I use Feng Shui to solve the problem?
? One should probably see a doctor to solve health problems. True, certain bad Feng Shui can cause health issues but there is no way that Feng Shui can fix health problems. Medicine fixes health problems.
I had really bad luck recently. Could there be some Feng Shui problems?
? Not necessarily. There could be multiple reasons. If one is indeed talking about “luck” then it’s possible that he/she just enters into a “bad luck” period. That’s why the astrology and physiognomy analysis should always be taken into account during Feng Shui consultation.
4. What is our standard Business Feng Shui consulting procedure
This is a full protocol. In reality certain steps are excluded or modified.
- Communicate with the client and understand the client’s specific needs. Make a list of all the requests from the client. This is always the first step before doing any analysis because this will determine what tools in Feng Shui will be applied.
- Evaluate the landform ( mountain, water, etc ) and all other environmental features ( building, road, traffic flow, etc ) using Feng Shui rules. Pick a location for living/business based on the evaluations. Definitely avoid location with major Sha Qi (See the section “What is Qi in Feng Shui” and “List of Common Feng Shui issues” ). If the location is pre-determined and there is major Sha Qi from exterior according to the evaluation, certain remedies are necessary.
- Determine the location and direction of the main door or main entrance using “Flying Star” method ( from “San Yuan” system, See the section “Schools of Feng Shui” ) if the main door has not been constructed yet. The location/direction of the main entrance is the connection between the interior and exterior so it will affect the Qi flow to a great extent. This step is to ensure that the location/direction of the main entrance is most favored and beneficial for the target person or business.
- Construct the interior without causing any flaws in Feng Shui if not yet constructed.
- Evaluate the interior features. Remove or modify any constructions/placement that might generate Sha Qi from inside.
- Analyze the client’s Ba-Zi chart ( a type of Chinese astrology that is closely associated with Fengshui ). Do the face reading and palm reading analysis. This is a critical step because the next three steps will depend on the result of the analysis in this step.
- Measure the direction of the building/house/apt/room. Use Eight-Mansion theory (See the section “Schools of Fengshui” ) to determine the sectors that govern different aspects of the business ( revenue, employee relationship, support from customers, etc ) or target person’s life
- Use Flying Star method to analyze the Qi profile. Determine the placement of furniture ( bed, desk, table, chair, couch, etc ) or Feng Shui product ( plant, light bulb, etc ) in certain cases.
- Answer client’s questions. Solve any specific issues if not yet solved in previous steps.
So the answer is Yes. Wall Street Chinese provides a very unique, creative and professional training and consulting service – Scientific Business Feng Shui to the business communities. Feng Shui is about creating a comfortable and auspicious living and/or working environment to improve people’s overall quality of life or performance of a business. Our Feng Shui consultant has both Eastern and Western education background, as well as extensive Feng Shui consulting experience. With a modern approach to this classical theory, we aim to apply Feng Shui knowledge and wisdom to improve your career, business performance, as well as decision making in everyone’s life. We provide critical and inspirational information with written Feng Shui evaluation reports in our consulting service.
We provide standard Feng Shui trainings as well as customized Feng Shui workshop. If you are real estate professionals, architects, interior designers, small-medium business owners, corporation executives, graduate programs of business schools or tenants of big residential buildings, please contact us at info@wallstreetchinese.net