Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Shway) is the study of arranging environmental and living spaces to enhance our quality of life and, ultimately, achieve perfect harmony and balance. Feng Shui, translated as Wind and Water, has been practiced in China for over 4000 years. Feng Shui practitioners consider a site lucky where the vital energy called chi (pronounced Chee) flows in a manner that is harmonious and supportive of human life. The goal of Feng Shui is to arrange rooms, furniture, and buildings in the most beneficial way to achieve maximum harmony with nature. Once this is achieved, good health, prosperity, and tremendous joy will follow.

Our physical environment is a mirror image of our current lives. If your home is filled with clutter and chaos, your life will lack clarity and you will have trouble concentrating, thinking clearly, and functioning properly. If the walls of your home are empty and you choose not to decorate your home, then most likely your life will be empty. Some people have the misconception that their home is temporary and, therefore, there is no need to decorate. No matter how temporary your living arrangements may be, it is vital that you make your space comfortable and appealing. If unappealing furniture and accessories surround you, you may be depressed and unhappy since you look at these objects every day.

There are many different Feng Shui schools of thought. I will discuss the Black Hat Sect of Feng Shui, which was established by The Grand Master and world-renowned expert Professor Lin Yun. This school uses a Bagua, a kind of map showing nine different areas in your home or office that correspond to different aspects of your life and/or business. The nine areas are:

Where these areas are located is determined by the entranceway of your space in accordance with the Bagua map. Just think of dividing your space into nine segments like a tic-tac-toe board. If you desire to enhance any of these areas in your life, you may make adjustments in the appropriate space in your home or office.

The 9 Areas

Wealth and Prosperity oversees your finances, prosperity and power. Fame is your public recognition, how others know and perceive you. Relationships can represent your relationship with a partner or yourself. Children, Creativity, Future includes your relationships with your children, your creativity for new ideas, thoughts and inspiration for the future. Helpful People, Travel draws helpful people into your life and business. These are the people who aid you in everyday life such as your postal carrier, the check out person at the supermarket, your doctor, etc. This is also the area that promotes travel. Career represents what you do or aspire to do and oversees all aspects of your career. Knowledge, Spirituality, Wisdom represents your education and future learning and spirituality. Family provides the positive energy for a better relationship with your family and/or relatives. Health represents your health and the health of all residing in your space. In a business environment, this represents the health of the business.

In Feng Shui, color on the walls is very important. It's okay to have beige or white on a few walls of your space. However, if possible, it is wise to include a variety of colors on different walls to enhance your moods and emotions. Our world is colorful: we have beautiful blue skies, green grass, a yellow sun, colorful flowers and blue-green oceans. Lack of color brings our moods down. Living in Alaska, this is especially true, due to the lack of sunlight through the long winters and predisposition to SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). It is extremely beneficial to our health to have colorful walls. If you are not used to having colored walls, it may take time to get used to, so start slowly.

A Feng Shui consultant analyzes your space according to the Bagua and might suggest a specific color that corresponds to a certain area. Or, a specific color might be suggested for healing emotions. The bottom line is that you want to choose colors that you love. You also need to choose colors for the intent of the room. For that reason, you would not want to pick a very bright color for a child's bedroom since the intent is to have the child sleep well in the room and not be too stimulated.

Most home consultation adjustments and remedies are generally very simple and inexpensive. An adjustment might be repositioning a bed for better health or adding a plant in the appropriate spot to watch a relationship grow and blossom. By rearranging your furniture, working with color, and locating energy blocks in your home, you will restore the natural flow of good health, prosperity, and good fortune.

A Feng Shui business consultation may enhance your company's goals, growth, wealth, and prosperity while creating a pleasant working environment that supports staff members. Again, adjustments are usually easy and cost effective. Perhaps a plant or a fountain would be added in the proper locale to increase wealth and prosperity. The location of the CEO's office, positioning of desks and/or cash registers, and the shape of the overall office or building are some factors to evaluate.

Feng Shui consultants can assist in a wide variety of ways. The focus of a consultation may be to increase wealth and prosperity, enhance relationships, heighten a career, boost health, eliminate a streak of bad luck, design and build a new home or office building, choose an existing home or office location, remodel or build an addition, sell a home, bless the home you live in, or upgrade your life in any way.

Feng Shui consultants read your floor plan much as a doctor reads an x-ray. Studying the shape of the property, home or office, as well as the position of the furniture and major appliances, and directional swings of the doors are all very important. Examining a person's space is similar to reading a palm. By inspecting the layout of furniture and structural formations in a room, an adept Feng Shui Consultant can determine the patterns of a person's life. All of these things are clues leading you to a happier, healthier lifestyle. Using Feng Shui to balance and enhance your environment is a very powerful tool to help manifest your goals, hopes, desires, and dreams for the future!

Sheri Ruston is a Certified Feng Shui Consultant. She attended The Accelerated Path Program in New York instructed by Nancy SantoPietro, Feng Shui Expert and author. Contact Sheri at (907) 929-0909 or gofengshui@gci.net