Feng Shui, which literally means wind and water, is the ancient Chinese art of creating positive energy. It is fast becoming a popular way to create ideal work and home environments. Ashish Aggarwal, a leading practitioner, explains that Feng Shui is the "Art of Placement", for it balances the life energies, or chi, in a living space. Using simple "cures", it increases the flow of positive chi and subdues the negative flow. And according to the theory of Feng Shui, harmonizing our personal chi with the chi in the environment puts us in harmony with the natural world.

The history of Feng Shui is a very old story. Feng Shui, as a practical philosophy, existed before the Chinese learned to write (Gee, that must be a long time ago!). The ancient sages employed the most original and basic binary form of "Yin" and "Yang" to make sense of events in the world around them. The palaces and tombs of the royal families built in the Tang dynasty (618-907) and in all subsequent dynasties strictly followed the prescription of the Feng Shui masters. When Buddhism reached China, it soon absorbed the Feng Shui principles and combined them with its own practices. Historical Buddhist temples, most of which are located at famous mountains in China, were all constructed in harmony with the principles of Feng Shui.

The practice of Feng Shui has been severely undermined in mainland China since the middle of the 20th century. As a result of the invasion of Europeans, Chinese intellectuals began to question their heritage. Under the banner of 'learn from the west', Feng Shui is regarded as superstition by many. Yet Feng Shui has remained active in Chinese communities elsewhere, for example in Taiwan and Singapore. Moreover, the explosion of multiculturalism in the West has seen the advance of Feng Shui despite the efforts of skeptics.

Feng Shui is based on the principle of Yin and Yang, and the balancing of five elements: fire, earth, metal, water and wood. Based on these factors, recommendations can be made on how to improve the relationship with the environment using the elements as remedies.

Feng-Shui Tips

We all have to earn our own living, unless of course we have been left a fortune! Everyone wants a good and stable career. However things can go very wrong (and they sometimes do) when we least expect them to. Feng Shui has some remedies for enhancing career luck and to keep generating good fortune throughout the career.

• Find out your Kua number and your 4 best directions. Locate your sheng chi direction and sleep with your head pointed in this direction.
  
• If your career is going nowhere, changing the position of your main door to face your personal sheng chi direction might be of help. Stand inside your house at the door looking out to determine the directions.
  
• If you have your own office, place your desk accordingly so that it faces your sheng chi direction.
  
• Do not sit with your back to a window or a door. These features give you no 'support' for your back and you might be backstabbed or double-crossed by colleagues. Look out for any poison arrows directed at your back, caused by open shelves or sharp edges.
  
• Find a painting of mountains (without any water features, such as lakes or oceans) and place it behind your working table.
  
• If possible keep some terrapins in your office. Place potted plants to camouflage offending pillars that send out poison arrows, but be sure to take good care of the plants so that they do not wither and die. Crystals also make good remedies for such problems.
  
• According to the 8 Life Aspirations, North represents career. The element of North is water and the colour is blue. In the North section of your home or office, place a metal wind chime. But remember not to place anything that represents the Earth or Wood element in this section.
  
• Be aware of the energies in your bedroom. We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping, so it is important to note the features in our bedroom. Watch out for features that cause dangerous shar qi (killing breath) that may affect your well-being.

Click here to read the next part of this fascinating article which has tips from Ashish on using Feng Shui for Love, Fame, Health and more..