Where you live and work

These are based on an understanding of the Fundamental Forces introduced in Part One. These Natural Harmonies have three main aspects. First is the harmony that should exist between each person and their immediate environment - their homes and offices, shops and other places of work. Second is the harmony that should exist between that immediate environment and its broader surroundings - the location and vicinity of where people's homes and places of work are situated.

Third, there is the larger harmony that should exist among all the energetic forces that converge on a person in any particular environment, even form far distant energy sources within the galaxies.

Certain underlying perceptions are common to the nine aspects of Feng Shui and influence all the practical day-to-day suggestions.

Understanding your world

The Feng Shui way of looking at the world, gives you a set of conceptual tools that can be applied in very practical ways. It begins with the most important aspect of your life: the place where you live. To a Feng Shui practitioner, the first thing to consider is the impact of the actural location - is your home in a safe place, somewhere that you can relax, somewhere in which the energy patterns are conducive to the life you are leading?

If then examines the essential aspects of your home, room by room. The starting point for this tour of your home is your bedroom, because you spend up to one-third of your life there. Next come the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. There is a brief look at the Feng Shui principles that apply to your garden, before moving on to examine the work environment outside your home.

The illustraitons of buildings and their interiors are deliberately generalized. For example, only the key positions of a few houses are shown, rather than all the dwellings on a street. Every effort has been made to depict a variety of living styles, since the advice is meant to be applied in a wide range of situations and by people living on different comtinents and with very different resources at their disposal. The important things to grasp are the underlying principles so that you can apply these to you own living arrangements.

Feng Shui for business

Today, in cities ranging from Canton to Singapore and from San Francisco to Paris, more and more senior executives are calling in a Feng Shui expert to advise them on major business deals.

One American businessman living in London recently surprised his associates by flying a Feng Shui master in from Hong Kong for a weekend to inspect a possible property. He decided not to buy once the site had been given the thumbs down by the Chinese expert.

The location of your business (on a busy thoroughfare, or a quiet back street) will affect who comes to your office or shop and what volume of trade you do. But that is not all. Other factors are equally important. These include the relationship to other buildings (facing sharp corners or taller buildings, and proximity to fountains are problems that a Feng Shui expert will spot), the internal arrangement (long corridors open at both ends or incorrectly placed mirrors can be detrimental to business), and the color scheme (certain colors create a subtle sense of discomfort among customer and staff).

Feng Shui experts and architects

Sometimes a Feng Shui expert will recommend a series of architectural changes to create a more harmonious configuration of energy in a major building. This is common in Hong Kong, Where property developers call in a Feng Shui master first. They want to know if the location is suitable before investing, and which direction the building should face for maximum security of return on their venture. After that, they may require the architects to work closely with the Feng Shui master and to submit their designs to him. There may be a final inspection and a yearly review, since the energy in the emvironment can shift.

Executives who consult Feng Shui experts argue that it makes good commercial sense, even if they themselves don't understand all the inner workings of the art. After all, they say, they have made a major investment and if spending a little more to receive this type of advice reduces the risk of failure, why not do it?

The commercial difference

For example, in an increasingly competitive world many commercial centers spend huge sums on redecorating their plazas, office areas, and shops. The services and products they offer may be of high quality yet they fail to attract business in sufficient volume. A competitor in another location, offering a comparable service or product, may spend far less on decor and bring in many more clients and customers. Often failure is blamed on poor marketing strategies, the overall financial climate, and inadequate management. All those reasons may be valid. But if the whole picture is examined through the eyes of a Feng Shui expert, the result may be a little startling. It could be that there are hidden faults created by the actual energetic patterns of the buildings and their interiors.

If your business is struggling it may be in a black spot of stagnant energy in the midst of a busy area. The front door may be positioned in a way that fails to protect the building against noxious energies. Customers and clients may feel uncomfortable inside the premises. The staff may have a similar subtle feeling. Feng Shui masters sometimes speak of "angry energy" and if you have it circulating in your property, everyone will react against it harming sales and creating disputes. Sometimes the arrangement of doorways can be harmful to many aspects of what goes on in a building. If there is a clear runway from the front door to the rear door (or an open arcade) money will tend to flow out from the building just as if there was a gaping hole in your pocket.

On the other hand, the application of Feng Shui principles by an experienced practitioner can pay handsome dividends, ensureing and invisible balance of energies, colors, shapes, and directions that create just the right working atmosphere -  in which both customer and staff are happy to do business.