What Is Feng Shui?
The literal translation of Feng Shui is "Wind" and "Water".
Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese practice of harnessing the natural forces of nature to promote prosperity, harmony, vitality and constructive changes in our lives.
Feng Shui is about achieving life-fulfilment by benefiting from the energies of our living environment.
In Oriental countries, Feng Shui practitioners have strived to manipulate the metaphysical forces of nature known as 'Qi' to enhance their career, relationships, health, and business success.
Traditionally Feng Shui has always been split into two ideologies: San He and San Yuan . These schools originated over 1500 years ago (presumably during the Tang dynasty) and since then, their fundamental theories have remained relatively unchanged.
San He deals with landforms: the appearance of the surrounding environment, physiognomy, characteristics and forms and how they could influence the lives of those living in the vicinity. Simply put, it relates to most forms or environmental features in nature, be it man-made or natural, such as roads (direction, location and design), buildings (distance, direction, shape and design), mountains (incoming or outgoing, shape, distance, size, growth of greenery, element and form), rivers or water flow (direction, distance, shape, types of water flow, inlet/outlet and form) and structures or contours of the land. San He is a system where formulae are mainly based on the environment.
The San Yuan system, on the other hand, focuses more on the aspects of time and how it affects your Feng Shui. The idea being that a property's fortune changes with time. This is a dynamic view of Feng Shui, one where a person's environment runs in 20-year cycles after which their 'luck' expires, unless the energies in their environment are renewed. Most of the formulae in this system focus predominantly on how the quality of Qi in a property changes in cycles. This system is widely used as a system of predictive Feng Shui where Masters can predict events and outcomes of the residents through logically deductible mathematical formulae
Feng Shui started off thousands of years ago as simple environmental science helping commoners locate good soil for vegetation and protecting against the natural disasters of the environment like frost and floods. As man grew more sophisticated and the standards of living and education improved, their needs for good fortune, fertility, recognition, power and other desires subsequently grew. Feng Shui theories too evolved and became more sophisticated, working alongside the principles of the Tao. (China was very much influenced by philosophy of the Tao and Confucianism, so it was natural for Feng Shui to take its roots from this ideology and to seek ‘harmony’ with the ‘natural way’ of the Earth.)
The distribution of Qi through physical landforms and buildings varies according to the factors of time and space. Different people have their own unique reception to different forms of Qi. How Qi affects us in our living environment, is communally called 'Earth Luck'.
To ascertain the quality of Qi, two main techniques of Feng Shui are usually employed. The first is the observation of Landforms and the second technique is through the more sophisticated, 'formula based' calculations.
Classical Landform Feng Shui is based on observation and the careful examination of certain special configurations of mountains ranges and water courses. Formula based Classical Feng Shui focused on sophisticated theories to calculate the different influences of Qi. Landform and Formula based Classical Feng Shui reference the location, formation, direction and residents as a criteria for their calculations. Both techniques of Feng Shui need to be applied for any assessment to be accurate.
According to the laws of Feng Shui, making small changes in your environment can result in unblocking and enhancing your chi (energy).The reason I emphasize on the word small changes is the readers seem to get an impression that there would be structural changes or major renovations required to apply the same. Good Feng Shui is not about structural and physical changes but energetic changes A good consultant can actually deliver results by paying attention to your external and internal environment thus bringing changes for better by simple realignment in your office. This is obtained by careful analysis of your surroundings, mathematical formulae and calculations based upon the directional readings of your property through scientific equipment called Lou pan.
Applying Feng Shui principles gives information on where to situate your business office or retail shop and how to best use the available space and the placement of the furniture and equipment. The thumb rule is business profitability. A common question would then be is there a similarity between Feng Shui of retail businesses and Feng Shui for large-scale companies and factories? Lets get this clear what is not good for an office is also not good for a large multinational company but there are other factors that need to be taken into consideration when applying Feng Shui on large scale. Let me give you an example. When we apply Feng Shui principles to a small office or business firm the number of people we dealing are less. When it comes to a company with hundreds of employees then the rules change. There are advanced formulae to handle such situations where in the solutions are provided by different calculations. Such is the beauty of this science where one can handle micro and macro Feng Shui with ease.
On an individual level good Feng Shui expands your career and attracts mentors and patrons in work place. Improved relationships and job satisfaction can be the result of good Feng Shui. Individually applied Feng Shui in the office begins with the location, direction and placement of your personal space. Once these basics are right you will have a steady smooth and fortunate working life. Yes getting all three rights is usually not possible due to reasons beyond our control. In an office you generally have no control over your work area. In this case we definitely can tap the other two aspects to get the Feng Shui working for you.
On the commercial level when businesses are seeking new premises, they use Feng Shui consultants to help them select the most auspicious buildings for their business, and the most auspicious suites within those buildings. This simply means consider the layout of the office within the building and evaluate the floor plan of the same. Plot the energy chart for the commercial building as well as the office and plan the best usage of space (which departments are best where and the best placement of furniture and equipment). Feng Shui Consultant works hand in hand with the interior designer to sync the visual features with good Feng Shui principles thus creating a superior space visually, functionally and energetically.
The next factor would then be how does then one apply Feng Shui when a company has already established and the internal layout is already decided in other words it is a full fledged working company with preset working areas in terms of cabins and departments. The answer in this case would be simple realignment in extreme cases reallocation without any structural changes for a more creative and productive workforce.
Feng Shui offers remedies for even the most difficult orientations and workspace. The most critical areas are the Entrance to an office, reception area (customer contact) and the CEO’s office (business planning), finance office (financial planning, billing, accounting) and the pantry that accommodates a fire mouth or vending machines for beverages. The key areas are addressed and fine tuned to ensure smooth and harmonious flow of business into any property.
A good Feng Shui Consultant with a fair degree of knowledge about four pillars of destiny can actually peep into your future and make you the master of your own destiny. He can help you understand your luck cycle and guide you accordingly. When this is combined with good Feng Shui in your business you become immune to misfortune. Does this sound very easy yes it is because your factor of earth luck (Feng Shui) is corrected and your heaven luck is looked into and your man luck is enhanced with good Feng Shui thus the trinity is completed. When all the factors are looked into a synergy is generated often creating magical benefits. Classical Feng Shui is a choice each person can make to optimize his life and overcome the parameters of heaven’s and earth luck.
In this fast moving world today business prosperity with Classical Feng Shui is very easy. Simple minor adjustments give way to major differences in your business. A decision that promises significant improvements and success in all your endeavors. I hope this article is able to stimulate new thinking and realization about the authenticity of the age-old science that promises to enhance the profitability and prosperity of your business ventures and you are now open to trying unconventional tools in your business environment to reach greater heights of success.
