Feng Shui (pronounced "Fung Schway") is a Chinese art that is over 3,000 years old. The words Feng Shui literally translates into "wind water" but the concept is difficult to explain in a brief sentence when we are talking about Feng Shui in our homes - as Feng Shui incorporates everything from simplicity to organisation, to placement, to shape, to direction. Feng Shui brings balance in nature and balance to our relationship with nature. It teaches us how to live with the energy and life that surrounds us.
Practitioners of Feng Shui believe that placement of objects and furniture in homes, as well as the direction (north, south, east and west) of rooms or the home itself, are key to establishing harmony and peace in our dwelling, and consequently our lives.
Other key aspects, such as color, and geographical location are considered vital componensts of Feng Shui. The concept of Qi is what drives Feng Shui - Qi, meaning the active energy of any living thing.
Feng Shui is not just for homes. Businesses use it's principles and people use it to establish, repair or let go of personal connections to living things. People also use Feng Shui principles when laying loved ones to rest or deciding where to build a home or office. In China, many homes and companies strictly adhere to it's rules.
Real practioners (not weekend enthusiasts!) of Feng Shui spend years studying it's many components, from the eight symbols of Bagua, to Yin and Yang theories, to the history and artistic, scientific and archeological foundations of the practice.
Critics of Fung Shui have labelled it 'new age' nonsense, or even likened it to witchcraft.
The West, however, is catching on and enjoying the theories or Fung Shui and almost every community education centers have Fung Shui classes, as well as magazines and newspapers seeing advertisments by Feng Shui 'experts' who promise to bring harmony to your life. Books about the subject abound.
A word of caution - before spending money on an expert, make sure he or she really knows what he or she is talking about. Reading a book over the summer about Feng Shui does not an expert make!
If you'd like more information on the principles and practices of Feng Shui, click here... http://www.fengshuihelp.com/
I am not an expert on Feng Shui, nor even an armchair one! But I do enjoy reading about it and agree with many of it's principles. I'm wondering if anyone else does too, or do people think it's just an Eastern concept that's getting a bit trendy?