Have you ever walked into a room and felt better immediately?

Your mood was lifted, you started smiling immediately, you may have even felt more energetic.

How about the opposite? Have you ever entered a home, a room, or office, and felt a bad mood seemingly overtake you? Your energy level diminishes, you may even feel depressed.

Before you call your local ghost hunters, consider the fact that you were probably experiencing the effects of feng shui (pronounced fuhng shwey).

The literal translation of this ancient Chinese art – wind and water – gives you little clue as to what it’s all about. But, feng shui decorating is gaining in popularity and you may even be able to put it to work for to improve your finances, your closest relationships, health and wellness, even your creativity.

Feng shui is also known as the Chinese Art of Placement. It’s arranging your environment in a specific fashion that affects you in a positive manner. This means every item in your house, according to feng shui decorating, should be arranged with an eye – and a feel – to elicit the natural qi that surrounds you. Qi is the Chinese word for energy. And, by the way, it’s pronounced chee.

And when we say "every item" in your house, we mean that, from the placement of that mirror Aunt Louise gave you to your bed to your couch to that fern that, uh, looks like it just might be dying.

But in a sense feng shui decorating is more than that, because it’s also purposely choosing other items for very systematic placement. For example, did you know that if you placed a green plant in the "wealth corner" of your home, you may be able to attract prosperity and more wealth into your house?

INTRODUCTION TO FENG SHUI

Feng Shui is basically an environmental science and its origins are simple.

It is based on an interpretation of the natural world which enabled the Chinese to create efficient agricultural systems, and also the study of the movement of heavenly bodies in order to determine the passage of time.

Over the centuries, the interpretation grew more complex and became removed from its original purpose. As its exponents spread out from China across the world, their beliefs altered to fit into local beliefs and customs and, inevitably, folklore and superstition grew up around them. Fortunately, the ancient Chinese preserved the information in written form.

In essence, all societies retain the knowledge contained in Feng Shui, but it has become absorbed into different disciplines. In China it underlies all aspects of life, from nutrition and medicine to exercise and the arts.

By understanding the basic concepts of feng shui decorating, we can choose designs, meaningful images and symbols from our own culture to support us in our lives.

As practised today, Feng Shui gives us advice on how to create environments in which we feel comfortable and supported. Some of these environments are common sense. Others may not make sense until we understand that by recognizing problem areas in our lives and taking positive steps to improve them we can connect to the energy of the spaces around us and bring about desired changes.

There is currently much discussion about which is the correct way to practice Feng Shui in the West. Should we stick strictly to what is now called Traditional Chines Feng Shui or should we allow for other interpretations? Is Feng Shui Chinese or have we in the West adopted a term which means something else for us?

Modern lifestyles leave us little time to stop and consider the effect our surroundings have on us. There is increasing awareness that some aspects of modern technologies, the materials we use and the substances we release into the atmosphere can create lasting damage to our health and to the planet.

Although this is not Feng Shui in its purest form concern for our environment and an awareness of the damage we inflict on it must form part of Feng Shui for the present age.

We have reached a stage where the human race has become capable of the most amazing feats on the one hand and the most amazing fol lies on the other.

We have the capacity to cure hereditary diseases but also to let genetically—engineered organisms loose into the environment in the most dangerous form of warfare humankind has ever known.

We send people into space to collect information never dreamed of half a century ago, yet at the same time we allow the planet we inhabit to become increasingly polluted and less able to sustain the life forms on which we depend for our survival.

These anomalies of modern living are becoming increasingly destructive and more and more people are turning to different approaches to living, in order to attempt to redress the balance.

Feng Shui offers us the opportunity to achieve health happiness and well-being through living in harmony with our environment.

Feng Shui decorating for modern times gives an insight into how we can interpret the principles of feng Shui to create nurturing and life—enhancing supportive spaces in our homes, gardens and offices. This knowledge will enable us to make an impact on the wider environment so that we can preserve it for future generations.

Source: The Practical Encyclopedia Of Feng Shui By Gill Hale

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