The common myths about Feng Shui

Feng Shui is not

• A get-rich-quick method of Asian interior design that guarantees impossible results by simply rearranging your furniture
• A superstitious or magical belief system, or a New Age fad that disconnects you from reality or from your daily life
• A simple home and garden makeover
• A quick fix to be tackled in one afternoon
• A luxury only the rich and famous can afford
• A religious practice only followed by the Chinese

Meaning of Feng Shui

Feng Shui (pronounced "fung shway") examines how the placement of things and objects within it affect the energy flow in your living environment, and how these objects interact with and influence your personal energy flow. Your personal energy flow affects how you think and act, which in turn affects how well you perform and succeed in your personal and professional life. Feng Shui affects you every moment of the day — whether you're aware of it or not.

Celebrities and major corporations that use Feng Shui

It is a well known fact that celebrities and major corporations have been using Feng Shui for decades now. Many of them have openly admitted to having used this ancient Chinese science to boost their business and tap into the new opportunities.

Celebrities such as Donald Trump, Madonna, Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Donna Karen and Sting are avid believers of Feng Shui.

Companies and corporations such as Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, Body Shop, Cathay Pacific Airways, Bank of America, Intel, Citibank, DreamWorks Studio and British Airways are some of the companies that have successfully implemented Feng Shui in their organisation and reaped the benefits.

Different types of Feng Shui Schools

Feng Shui is mainly divided into two schools – Modern and Classical. Modern school of feng shui is very popular in the Western world and started getting a foothold in early 1960s. However there is no strong scientific basis to this school and it is mainly based on general rules. Modern feng shui methods are based on the layout of a space such as house or office and the arrangement of the furnishings and decorative objects to maximize the flow of energy within that space. Modern school is further subdivided into various branches; Black hat feng shui based on Tibetan Buddhism, Intuitive feng shui based on intuition and Ba Gua school based on eight directions.  However none of these branches can produce effective results, as they do not take into consideration the element of changing time and are loosely based on some of the original principles of feng shui.

On the other hand Classical school of feng shui has two main branches; Form school and Compass school. Form school feng shui focuses on the landscape forms, along with the shapes of hills and watercourses. It focuses on locating auspicious sites for buildings and burials. It can be called the ancient Chinese version of surveying a site. 
The aim of form school feng shui is to find favourable landforms, and benefit from the energy generated by these landforms. This school is effective for external structure only and does not really help much with the interior layout. On the other hand the second branch, which is known as Compass school of feng shui, is the most powerful and effective branch. The compass school uses tools including the lou pan or Chinese feng shui compass, the lo shu square and the ba-gua all combined. This type of feng shui further divides into several schools. Eight Mansions is a type of school that focuses mainly on directions of a person based on the date of birth. While Flying Stars feng shui, is considered to be the highest form of feng shui and the most effective as it is based on detailed formulas and takes into consideration element of time. It is therefore highly recommended to follow this school due to its accuracy and reliability.