By Mindy Chong | Sept 4, 2009
Classical Feng Shui: The Wisdom of Space
The study of Feng Shui can be traced back to the ancient Chinese philosophy. History has it that Feng Shui has been practised since the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) and had previously been used by the Chinese Imperial Family.
Over the last few decades, Feng Shui reached our civilization and has since remained controversial, with relentless questions surrounding its logic and philosophy. The controversies aside, there is no denying the significance of Feng Shui in the property business.
StarProperty chats with Joey Yap, the founder, CEO and master trainer of the Master Academy of Chinese Metaphysics on Classical Feng Shui and how it can bring positive changes to our environment.
Classical Feng Shui and Qi flow
Many people do not know the difference between the New Age and Classical Feng Shui. While New Age Feng Shui is centred around the placement of objects and on décor, Classical Feng Shui, as advocated by professional Feng Shui consultants, is not item-based and instead focuses more on the “Qi flow” from the natural environment and on harnessing them based on the structure of one’s property.
Classical Feng Shui is an environmental science that revolves around nature and how energies in our environment function.
On a deeper level, “Qi flow” is akin to “water flow” and the flow of Qi to your home (especially through the main door) should never be obstructed, both internally and externally. The Qi needs to flow naturally and not forced. The good news is that we can design our house as such that the Qi flows easily. One of the most common things suggested by professional Feng Shui consultants is to have your house located nearby slow moving traffic roads, as opposed to highways or straight T-junction roads.
The market appeal
According to Joey Yap, requests for Feng Shui assessments before buying a house are frequent. He believes that the influence or the ‘need’ for Feng Shui is steadily increasing.
“Most people won’t buy a property if they know it has bad Feng Shui and they would not hesitate to invest in properties that are known to have better Feng Shui,” Yap further added.
This explains the new trend within industry, whereby many developers incorporate Feng Shui philosophy into their layout and design. Such strategy has proved to be appealing to the market.
Feng Shui for houses
So what kind of Feng Shui techniques can be applied for houses? Well, it all boils down to what goals or outcomes you want to achieve and the duration desired to achieve these goals or outcomes.
In recent times, the most widely practised and common techniques are Flying Star for Feng Shui practitioners looking for short term and quick results, and Eight Mansions for long term and more gradual results. There are also many other systems such as San Yuan, Xuan Kong and San He.
Of course, one must keep in mind that these techniques aren’t necessarily more superior to the other. As was previously mentioned, it all depends on the property and the desired outcome you want to achieve.
The method of determining if a property or house has good or bad Feng Shui is unlike choosing a carrot out of the bundle in a marketplace. The reason being is that there are many factors to take into consideration. For practitioners to know if a property has good (or bad) Feng Shui, one will need to take heed of two primary criteria which are the Formula Based Calculation and the Form (Physical or Visual) Observation.
For Formula Based Calculation, the first step is to ‘calculate’ the Qi Map (energy map) of the house. This is usually done by taking into context the Direction of the Property, the year it was occupied and the residents’ date and time of birth. The Qi Map is supposed to be placed over the layout of the house. From there, one can observe if for instance, the door, the bedrooms and the kitchen are located in the ‘positive’ sectors according to this calculation.
One should also note the importance of immediate external and internal environment of the property through the Form (Physical or Visual) Observation process. Neighbouring hills, the formations of the river, water or road and how they contribute or negatively influence the house are areas taken into consideration during this process.
As Feng Shui in general is a metaphysical science where one learns to recognize and tap into the qi (cosmic energies) of the living environment to help us achieve specific goals in everyday lives, it is important to note that the study of Feng Shui did not stem from any religious teachings.
Joey Yap’s consulting firm, Yap Global Consulting, offers Feng Shui consultation services ranging from house and land selection to the move-in phase. For more information, visit www.joeyyap.com
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