The subject Feng Shui is often covered with a mystic veil which unfortunately moves the understandable and down-to-earth parts of this 5000 year-old philosophy, in the background. The numerous publications at the market also contribute not exactly to a clearer understanding and thus often rules big confusion if it comes to Feng Shui.

What does Feng Shui really mean? This traditional Chinese philosophy is so comprehensive that this question is not to be answered in a sentence. Both Chinese words Feng and Shui mean literally translated wind and water. A synonym for the creation of a harmonious balance and a natural energy flow in all areas of life. Today the main focus of Feng Shui lies above all in the consideration of houses, flats, offices, workrooms and gardens.

How Feng Shui works, is easy to explain: Imagine, you are on a hill with only the natural environment around you and you like to build a wall. With this wall you change the energy of this place. Now you can protect yourself from the wind (change of wind energy) behind the wall or use the  wall for getting some shade (change of the light energy and heat energy). Depending on how a building is set up in a scenery, it can work supporting on a person and the environment or not. Therefore, it just does make a difference where one puts his house or in which flat one moves. Examples like the landslides in Switzerland which have buried whole districts some time ago show clearly that the disregarding of easy Feng Shui rules pay its tribute.

Of course so dramatically as in Switzerland the disregard of Feng Shui rules does not always occur. The natural energy effect of a house or a flat to the inhabitants works often in a more subtle manner. The Chinese talk about Qi. With Qi every form of energy is meant. For example wind, water or light energy. If one of these energies flows too fast through a house, it works destructive. If you lead the energy in gentle waves through your living space or workroom, it would have a vitalizing effect. 

Why is this? Imagine being by the sea, with nice sunshine and a light breeze. You can lie down in the sand and relax. If the wind increases, this harmony would fall out of balance. Suddenly your eyes and nose are full of sand and the wind feels unpleasantly cool. You don't have to be a Feng Shui expert to imagine that a house in which such an energy passage rules is not comfortable... But in a lot of cases we find such situations which originate, e.g., from opposite windows and doors in a house.

In Feng Shui it is important to give a harmonious atmosphere to the living space. This starts at the front door and ends with the right placing of beds or the creation of a garden based on Feng Shui principles. In between we have to address a lot of details and the inclusion of the five elements wood, fire, earth, metal and waters which matter in China not only to Feng Shui but also to medicine, astrology / astronomy and food. Therefore, an analysis of the 5 elements for each habitant should always be the base of a good Feng Shui consultation. Every person is different and beside the general rules there are Feng Shui technics considering the individuality of people in the choice of colours, forms or material. During consultations and seminars we could observe very often that many people choose intuitively the supporting colours for them, without knowing anything about their personal 5 elements combination.

Feng Shui is getting more and more popular in the west. Unfortunately, there is no institution which accompanies the occupational picture of a Feng Shui adviser and guarantees a profund education. Thus everybody can call himself Feng Shui specialist even though one has just read a book about the topic. This also explains many contradictions in the different Feng Shui publications. However, who is really interested in Feng Shui, will probably select intuitively the right adviser for his purpose or wants to study Feng Shui in greater detail than a book can provide.