Finding the Best Feng Shui Practitioner for YOU

Dear New York Business-Owner or Apartment-Dweller:

If you are considering having a feng shui consultant help you improve the feng shui of your home or office, there are some things you need to know when considering your options. Here are some questions to ask that will help you know how to get the best results: real improvements in health, finances, relationships, and ability to carry out your life purpose and serve your community as you desire. Below are things that are possible to expect from a feng shui consultant, the things you can’t expect, and many are things you probably never thought to ask.

First, what is feng shui?

It’s the practice of improving the energy in a space to support its occupants, their well-being and prosperity. Offices and homes can easily be improved through this practice to make them more supportive of wealth, health, romance, and one’s goals. A practitioner will assess the existing currents of energy, and use the natural forces of the world around us to modify the flow and quality of energy—using curative forces found in such diverse items as metal, earth, and natural substances. These balance the veins of energy in the space. This is the essence of Feng Shui and other forms of Geomancy.

What is Feng Shui not?

What Feng Shui is not is a guarantee of instant romance, thrilling financial or social success. Feng Shui is a tool to be used to balance the spaces you dwell in so that they can again very, very powerfully support your health, happiness and endeavors, while honoring and healing the earth. Feelings of serenity, confidence and mindfulness can fill the spaces around you after this work. Feng Shui is also not a permanent fix for all spaces – all energies shift over time and some adjustments need to be made periodically.

Does the person take in and respond to specific, clearly solicited information from intuition and feeling as well as whatever systematized approach he uses?

Feng shui itself is a codified system of rules which has been passed down through many generations. When an expert applies it, she does not rigidly adhere to rules for rules’ sake. She adjusts things to fit the specific context.

Feng shui is both a science and an art. The art part of Feng Shui depends on a practitioner’s being willing to be open common sense as well as to messages from the intuitive brain rather than rigidly relying on a system and thinking, “I know best.” Visualize Feng Shui as a framework of wood, strong and rigid, capable of holding the weight of many years and many cultures. Now see intuition as a solid, pure material filling the frame, filling it up.

Does the person, even if highly intuitive, really know feng shui?

Intuition alone is not enough either; intuition, and receiving direct answers from the intuitive brain, only works if you know what questions to ask. A strong body of knowledge in feng shui enables the practitioner to know exactly which questions to ask, which variables are significant to address, and what some of the ranges of possible solutions are to choose from. If you don’t have the question, the answer isn’t going to be of any use.

Is this person going to use a cookie-cutter formula or truly custom-fit the solution to my situation?

When there’s money to be made, someone is going to try cutting corners. There is a history in China of feng shui practitioners saying simplistic, codified things to clients like, “You will have a fire or a bad accident if you don’t do something about this right away.”

In a month or two you should see some significant changes. A follow-up call included in your consulting fee, to find out anything you may have noticed, indicates that the consultant is willing to look at the long-term, real, measurable effects of the work. It’s every good feng shui practitioner’s dream to be able to follow the effects in detail over a period of time—this feeds the practitioner’s passionate curiosity and scientific interest.

Does the person offer maintenance visits?

Things shift over time; if you neighbor dies and they renovate the apartment, or the office next door changes ownership, you have new factors to deal with in your feng shui. Our spirits, our bodies, and the earth under our feet shift their energy constantly. These changes are cumulative, and after one year or so will substantially alter the energy of your space. The one-year mark is a good occasion for a (less expensive) tune-up.

There are also some things a practitioner is faced with that are so monumental that alterations only last at full strength for three months and are down to nil by six months. One human activity that leaves such corrosive, indelible stains is murder - its energy must be regularly countered. A practiced feng shui wizard recognizes this and understands the need for long-term work to give optimal results. A practitioner's interest in your long-term successes ensures the best quality Feng Shui.

Time is truly the sixth element of Feng Shui.