What is Feng Shui?

Sarah Rossbach, author of Feng Shui: The Chinese Art of Placement and Interior Design with Feng Shui, says "feng shui is a cross between an art and a science.  Its goal is to arrange buildings, rooms, and furniture in the most beneficial way to achieve maximum harmony with nature." Feng Shui provides many ways to change negative energy to positive energy.  Using interior design methods that incorporate Feng Shui principles is one very popular and effective way.

Feng Shui is a very ancient art that has been with us for thousands of years.  It's become popular in the United States over the past quarter century, and a popular school, now practiced in this country, is one that has evolved to suit western culture and lifestyles.  The method we practice goes by several names:  Black Hat Sect, Western School, and Front Door are three common names for it.  This method is based on the teachings of Grand Master Professor Thomas Lin Yun, founder of the Yun Lin Temple in Berkeley, California.  Professor Lin Yun travels all over the world, and people from all over the world come to him, wherever he is, to listen to him speak and to learn from him.

Yin and Yang represent balance.

Feng Shui helps achieve a balance

of yin and yang through furniture

placement, colors, textures, and symbolism.

The Bagua is used to diagnose and cure problems.

The Bagua map can be applied to a property, a building, a home, an office, a room, even a desk.  Using the Western School of Feng Shui "front door" or Black Hat Sect method, you simply determine the "main entrance" and orient the Bagua based on its location.  From there, problems can be diagnosed and remedies prescribed.

The Five Elements

These are the basic

building blocks of the

objects around you:

Fire:  pyramid, red-orange-purple, passion-emotion

Earth:  square, brown-yellow, grounded-stable

Metal:  circle, white-silver-gray, mental focus 

Water:  flowing-wavy, black-blue, calm-relaxing

Wood:  rectangle, green-teal, growth-uplifting