When I was house hunting I looked at over a hundred houses in my search for the right home. These houses seemed to have a life and identity of their own. I could feel the energy and would know if the house suited me. There were things about the house that I could not explain, but at times I would feel comfortable and relaxed in a house and sometimes I couldn't wait to get out. There were some houses that I didn't even want to enter.

I finally did get my home, which seemed perfect. But soon after we moved in things began to fall apart. There were minor health issues and career problems too. The harder we worked the bigger the problems seemed to get. The only thing that had really changed for us was our house and that made me re look at the Feng Shui of my house.

The more I started reading on Feng Shui the more confused I was. There were so many schools of Feng Shui. I did a basic pop Feng Shui course. It was the westerners simplified version of Feng Shui. It had to do with placing objects in the right places and de cluttering and space clearing. It worked but it wasn't enough. It worked to the extent that I did have a clean house and everybody felt the better for it.

I met Grand Master Yap Cheng Hai here in Sydney at the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival in 2001. I had never heard about classical Chinese Feng Shui. I did a short course with the Grand Master and was convinced I had to study more. And since then I have been studying with the Yap Cheng Hai School of Feng Shui Excellence. I am still studying and believe me it works.

I will not try to convert anyone but all I would like to do is try to enlighten and maybe help some of you with the knowledge I have acquired. It is up to you to feel it because as they say in Feng Shui "it is your own chi (energy) that will tell what is right and feels right."

Feng Shui like all metaphysical sciences has had many new guru's or new forms that it can get a bit confusing. Like Yoga, which now has so many different schools, there is the Asthanga yoga, the Iyengar Yoga and! even the heated room form called Bikram Yoga. People have rewritten old Chinese texts and tried simplifying it to suit a wider audience but this has just heightened the misconception of this practise.

The literal meaning of Feng Shui is wind and water. But what does this wind and water really mean? There are many definitions of Feng Shui. Many books will give you a more or less simplified definition of Feng Shui being "living in harmony with nature". But it is a lot more than that. 'Feng Shui is taping into the energy already existing in the environment, at a certain time to make life more comfortable and help us achieve our goals. This energy is called chi, and we want to harness this chi.

This energy is not visible. It is like the sun's ray, which are invisible. Stay out in the sun too long and you are sure to get burnt. We are all grounded to the earth through gravity. So obviously there are currents in the earth. Now some of this energy agrees with us whilst some may be harmful. Therefore where you live, where you sleep, where you cook y! our food will all have some impact on your life.

Had Feng Shui been developed and tested by experiment and research data it could have evolved into a branch of true science like physics or chemistry instead of remaining as a form of pseudo-science. So lets move on this journey of Feng Shui with an open mind.

Feng Shui has an impact on 1/3rd of your life. The concept of Universe dictates that a person's fate is divided into three parts. There is the Heaven Luck, which is what you are born with, it has already been decided and you cannot change it. You cannot change your parents or your place of birth. Then is the Man Luck, this we achieve through hard work or making the choices we have made. This would be the education we have or the career choices we make. And finally comes Earth Luck and that is your Feng Shui. This is the art of harnessin! g the chi in your environment. This is totally in your control. You cannot change your Heaven Luck or manipulate your Man Luck now. But by applying Feng Shui to your life you can induce the positive aspects conferred by the Superior Being and reduce the negative elements. You are born within certain parameters: your family circumstances and personality traits may have been determined but the fate that lies ahead of you has not been fixed. You continue to shape your fortune through actions you take during your lifetime, and thus the final version of your life ultimately remains in your hands.

Feng Shui is all about capitalising on what you already have. It is a complex study of the environment, the energy in the environment at a certain time and its interaction with individuals and their dwellings. So no house would be forever auspicious or forever inauspicious. And even during the auspicious times there wi! ll month's or days when things maybe a bit hard. Classical Feng Shui just helps you understand why certain things happen and prepares you better for things to come. You can just take extra precaution or you could even benefit by making some changes. You may be living in an auspicious house that would just need a small modification to activate good fortune but not knowing it would just mean you are missing out.

Feng Shui is therefore assessing the quality of a person's life through observations and analysis of a person's living environment with the help of the Chinese Luo Pan compass and calculations.

I hope this article helps you understand Feng Shui better. Have an open mind and just flow with it. Experiment with your instincts. Feel the Feng Shui with yo! ur senses. Try to feel the energy in your environment. Gather as much information as you can about your environment, your dwelling or workplace. Talk to people about what has happened in a certain place. Feng Shui is not a new age fad but extremely tangible and an ancient art. Learn to make it work to your advantage. Have an open mind and be bold enough to experiment. And have lots of fun like I am having.

If you have any questions feel free to Email Me