From Good Fengshui: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Balance and Harmony in Your Home by Eva Wong © 2023 by Eva Wong. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com

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Fengshui works because everything carries energy, or qi, and is connected to everything else. Land, human-made environments, architecture, plants, animals, humans, and even objects all carry some kind of energy. It is the interaction of these energies that makes a place beneficial, harmful, or neutral to live in.

Gentle, rolling land with greenery and vegetation is associated with beneficial energy while harsh, barren land with jagged rocks and steep slopes is associated with harmful energy. Flat land with little to no physical anomalies is associated with neutral energy that is neither beneficial nor harmful.

Human-made environments such as streets, parks, and mass transportation lines also carry energy. High-speed freeways, railway and subway lines, and runways are associated with fast, erratic, and restless energy. Low-speed meandering roads are associated with calm, smooth energy that is conducive to relaxed living. Maze-like streets are said to make people easily frustrated and irritable, and dark unlit spaces can introduce unwarranted fear and confusion. Parks, city squares, and open space allow energy to circulate freely. Narrow streets choke energy, and steep hills introduce frenetic and turbulent energies into an area.

Architecture also carries energy. Buildings with sharp-pointed features carry aggressive energy. Buildings with rounded characteristics carry beneficial energy. Buildings with nondescript features are said to have neutral energy. Architecture with strange and grotesque features is associated with fearful energy, and architecture with pleasant pleasing features is associated with harmonious and peaceful energy….

Finally, there is human energy. Neighborhoods with aggressive and uncaring people make the environment feel threatening, while neighbors who are kind and helpful make everyone feel safe and secure. While we cannot change road patterns and the location of airports and transportation terminals, we can make our neighborhood peaceful and harmonious. If we can all be a little more sensitive, tolerant, cooperative, and helpful to others, it will make the environment we live in feel more safe and harmonious.

Some environments will support us, some will not do a thing for us, and some may even harm us. Some objects carry aggressive energy, others carry peaceful energy, and these energies can affect us physically and mentally. Because we and our environments are energetically linked, the influence of space on us is not just “psychological.” No amount of psychological counseling can mitigate the harmful effects of bad fengshui. Some environments and objects do make us susceptible to illness, misfortunes, and mishaps, while others can bring us health, prosperity, harmony, and inner peace. These observations are not speculative; they are based on hundreds and even thousands of years of people’s experiences. When many agree on the same thing over a long period of time, it is something real.

Fengshui is not just interior design. Interior design is about aesthetics; fengshui is about the energy a design carries. Some designs may be popular and trendy and may sell in the real estate market, but they could introduce negative energy into a space. Fengshui is not about what is trending; it is timeless.

Fengshui can help you find a good place to live or improve the energy of the home you are currently living in. Good fengshui means good health, harmonious relationships, and good livelihood. Who doesn’t want that?

Fengshui means “wind and water.” Where there is gentle wind and flowing water there is nourishing qi, or life energy. Living in an environment with good qi in the land will enhance our health, livelihood, and relationships. However, where fengshui really shines is in the way we can use our knowledge of land energy to help ourselves and others appreciate the environment and understand the need to conserve it for future generations.

While land provides nourishment, neighborhoods build harmony and cooperation. Street patterns and the architecture of a neighborhood can influence how people relate to each other. Living in a neighborhood with architecture and road patterns that are associated with harmonious energy can facilitate cooperation and caring. Where fengshui shines here is in the way we can use the knowledge of neighborhood energy to help us appreciate the importance and the need to build harmonious communities.

Finally, our own homes are the source of health, well-being, and quality of life. Living in a home that is arranged to enhance positive energy and protect us from negative energy allows us to have an uplifted and relaxed lifestyle. Where fengshui shines in this case is in the way it can help us design a living space where we can look forward to waking up, resting well, having good meals, and enjoying the company of family and friends.

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