SolveYourProblem Article Series: Feng Shui
Ok, What On Earth Is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui Explained & Demystified

Most people who hear the name “Feng Shui” for the first time think that it is a special Chinese food dish! Well, they are actually half right. It’s not food, but it has roots in China. Feng Shui is a combination of art and science that originated several thousand years ago in ancient China. It is an intricate combination of knowledge from art and science that works together to equalize the energy in your surroundings so that you are assured prosperity, good health and fortune in all things in life.

When you take apart the word Feng Shui, “Feng” means “wind” and “Shui” translates to “water.” Wind and water are two elements of nature out of the five that are often part of the Feng Shui equation. The Chinese have always viewed water and calming winds with a bountiful harvest and health.

There is a Taoist view of the environment that every living thing is filled with a special energy. Feng Shui is based on this particular visionary concept. You will discover as you delve deeper into this ancient Chinese concept that yin and yang (passive and active energy forces) are derived from this Taoist view as well as the five elements found in nature, all philosophies that are used in Feng Shui principles.

The five elements in nature that Feng Shui refers to are wood, fire, water, earth and metal. These elements interact with each other in nature and even in your home and work areas. In addition, these elements are each related to particular colors which embody the essence of each element. For example, the element fire has red, orange, deep yellow and purple associated with it. Water has blue and black while the wood element has green and brown. For earth, a light yellow or brown corresponds to that element while white and gray refer to the metal element.

Practitioners of Feng Shui have a number of tools that they use in order to better assess information pertaining to a particular living or work space. The first tool is called the Ba-Gua and is a map with an octagonal grid with various symbols from an ancient prophesies. This map is the most tried and true way to determine Feng Shui in the home.

The Lo-Pan is a compass for Feng Shui that provides direction to dig deeper into a home or other building. Like compasses that Boy Scouts use, this one does have a magnetic needle. However, the similarities stop there. This Feng Shui compass has concentric rings in bands arranged around the needle. There are a few different variations of this compass with some having as many as thirty to forty rings around it. Each ring provides information that you would then use in tandem with the Ba-Gua and in interpretation of the five elements.

Feng Shui is used to change the balance of energy (or chi) in your living and work environments to ensure a more pleasing and beneficial environment that in turn, leads to positive changes in your health, family life, marriage, wealth and even recognition. Feng Shui may seem like metaphysical mumbo jumbo but it is a practice that has proven its validity time and again, starting with the ancient Chinese.

While it lost favor for a while, Feng Shui is becoming a force to be reckoned with in architecture and interior design. In fact, there are different schools of Feng Shui that sometimes take years of stuffy before you are truly knowledgeable in the ways of this ancient Chinese method. However, you do not have to be an expert in order to make a few positive changes in your life using Feng Shui. Even a few followed principles can make a huge impact on your life.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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