Feng Shui for Beginners and Skeptics

In the 15-years I have been a Feng Shui practitioner, I have come across many types of clients and seen powerful results from applying Feng Shui to their goals. But even more interesting to me is talking with people who have never heard of Feng Shui before or trying to convert the skeptics out there. Well, we may never convert the skeptic but it’s worth the effort. When I speak to beginners or people who have never heard of Feng Shui before, seems their candid question is usually the same, “What is Feng Shui and why should I care?”

It’s important to understand what Feng Shui is before addressing the why does it matter question. Feng Shui is the practice of adjusting a person’s living space or work space to achieve specific goals. In Feng Shui different areas of our living space relates to different aspects of our lives, such as money, health, relationships and other aspects of our everyday lives. By looking at what is going on in these sectors, and appropriate adjustments to these sectors, a person can bring positive energy or “chi” to energize their goals.

Now onto the second part of the question, “why should I care about Feng Shui?” Because it can help you with your most important goals! Another way of putting it is, if a person wants to make more money, Feng Shui can help. If they want to improve their health, Feng Shui can help. If they are looking for a partner or to improve an existing relationship, Feng Shui can help.

This is typically the point in the conversation where the beginners and non-beliers get that look in their eye….. They may not say it out loud but I know what they are thinking. “This just a bunch of esoteric stuff, it probably won’t provide tangible results. “ So I like to explain some more about how Feng Shui relates to their everyday experiences. In this case, I like to use the example of driving in the car to a familiar destination.

You can probably relate to this, the experience of driving to a destination and encountering road construction. What happened when you hit the road construction? It slowed you down and took longer to reach your destination. Maybe you were late and even missed the appointment or opportunity. The same principle applies to people’s goals with Feng Shui.

If making more money is the goal, you may get to your goal eventually, but wouldn’t you like to get there sooner, with no obstacles or delays? Just like the example of how road construction presents a delay to reaching a destination, Feng Shui allows us to see “what’s blocking you from reaching this goal faster.”

So now that you understand what Feng Shui is and why it’s important to your everyday goals and situations, the proof for many people comes in the results. Can you get tangible results? ABSOLUTELY! I usually provide a number of anecdotes about individual clients and how Feng Shui has helped them land a job, attract more customers to their business, helped improve their health or wellness and even examples of how people found their soul mate by using Feng Shui at home. But these examples seem to sit with some people as “anonymous examples” rather than tangible results. That’s when I like to provide examples of how Feng Shui has helped in businesses, because businesses and corporations are “mainstream” non-risk takers and will only promote success stories when there are great results.

When the The Body Shop began the process of creating a new look for its stores, the store design team produced a store prototype which incorporated Feng Shui principles to create the ideal atmosphere. Their mock-up store produced encouraging results, with better than 10% increase in same store sales – From there; the concept was incorporated in all stores.
Another solid example is Anita Lo, restaurant owner made popular by her success on Bravo Channel’s “Top Chief.” She is a recent convert to Feng Shui. "I was a nonbeliever on some level,” reported Ms. Lo to the Wall Street Journal. “But now I won’t open up a new restaurant without involving my Feng Shui consultant.”

So by now you should have a better understand of what Feng Shui is, why it’s important in our everyday lies and how it provides tangible results. One final point to consider is a bit of clarification. Feng Shui is not magic and it’s not a religious belief system. It is an art and science proven over 5,000 years of practice. Eastern cultures not only embrace this in their home lives but its mainstream in businesses as well. And as we see more beginners embrace Feng Shui domestically, I encourage you to look to expert sources to help you on your way!