Feng Shui part 1- what is Feng Shui?

We had the rare opportunity to attend a course by Master Tan's daughter Rena an expert on Feng Shui. Rena herself is a fantastic example of how potentially effective Feng Shui can be. She is responsible for looking after their family and business Feng Shui and may well have played a key part in the huge success of her husbands business.

So what is Feng Shui? Rena explained that the term literally means "wind and water" and is an ancient Chinese art founded on knowledge about the environment and how it can effect us and our well being in terms of prosperity and harmony. 

According to Raymond Lo's book, it is estimated that the knowledge originated at least 600 years ago "as accumulated experience and observation of primitive people in finding a good dwelling location, where it is safe from severe weather, fierce animals as well as convenient in finding a source of food and water". (Raymond Lo, Feng Shui Essentials, 2009).

This developed into a deeper knowledge about the configuration of geographical elements of the landscape and later included more abstract ideas such as cosmology, the influence of the stars and various invisible natural forces that effect our well being and prosperity. (Raymond Lo, Feng Shui Essentials 2009) 

Around 250 AD a scholar Kwok Po wrote a book called " The book for burial" in which he mentions the wind and water as two key factors that determine an auspicious landscape. This then led to the knowledge being refereed to as "Feng Shu" "wind and water".

Feng Shui is still considered very important in the East, with many leading blue chip companies and banks taking careful consultation on their Feng Shui to ensure their business prospers. To someone like me it would means looking at my own house and land surrounding it to ensure the proper placement of items that activate the right energies and subdue the wrong ones. It also can be applied to my person so that I can watch out for times that are going to be unfavourable for me.

In my next post I will talk more about the fantastic 2 day course Rena put on for us at the Mountain Training Centre without going into much of the content as Rena is the expert and I do not want to mislead anyone. Rena did recommend the book, I have quoted from substantially in this blog and I would also like to highly recommend it: Feng Shui Essentials, by Raymond Lo, published 2009 by Feng Shui Lo. Raymond's website is also worth checking out http://www.raymond-lo.com.