Feng Shui means much more than the color we should use or the position of our bed, it is as complex as Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and equally effective if practiced properly. It has a part that is visual, which requires a lot of observation and from different angles. Fortunately today there are tools that facilitate this analysis from different perspectives. We are interested in knowing what surrounds our house immediately but also the geography of its surroundings, such as mountains and rivers or roads.
For the analysis of these characteristics or situation, it is necessary to practice but, above all, common sense, to understand how the energy that travels through the air moves when it encounters barriers or channels where it can go quickly, or finally- what is ideally sought- how the energy reaches places where it is retained without stagnation, generating a natural feeling of stability, which is perceptible by animals and people, we feel comfortable and protected.
On the other hand, the abstract part is the finest that requires precise data such as the date of construction of the building and the exact orientation.
We owe the study of this part to the ancient Chinese, who through observation and dedication found the relationship that existed between the passage of time and human beings, identified the effects that caused the position of the stars on the earth , since cyclically repeated certain events among the population both good and bad: plagues, wars, conquests, etc. The Chinese found the relationship between what was going on in the sky and how this was reflected on the earth.
The characteristics of energy are not the same in spring as in autumn or in summer and in winter, and how they affect human beings is also different, because we are an interconnected whole, what happens around us affects us because we are part of the environment and this of us.
Their observations were passed from generation to generation and defined a numerical system in which the main identified effects were contained. Thanks to this method, today Feng Shui practitioners can determine based on the time the house was built; the characteristics of the energy existing at that time and therefore the type of effects-consequences that will be reflected in the earth, that is; the events and types of energy are contained in a site, affecting the mood, health and success of the people there.
Well, each place has some characteristics which in a matter of time and the unique and individual connection with each person, will give rise to a certain effect.
Hence the importance of really knowing our property is essential for us to manage our expectations in a realistic way. Using Feng Shui as a knowledge tool gives us an extra insight into the quality of life that a place offers us.
Feng Shui is generally misunderstood as an activity related to the order of cleanliness and decoration, although one of the basic principles of Feng Shui is beauty, it is not the final goal or the basis of its study, in the end it always is tastes. Tastes are varied and why we understand it through the interpretation of the four pillars of each person's destiny. This is another tool that Feng Shui practitioners use to meet people and know what their tastes and needs are, since not for everyone and for any house having an orange room or any specific color is positive.
When we refer to the four pillars - Ba Zi - we look once more back, at the moment when a person was born and analyze what the energy situation was at that time which impregnates the person and gives them their basic characteristics, so such as its structure, difficulties, strengths, propensity to certain diseases, faculties, abilities, etc.
In this sense before starting a study of Feng Shui we already have an important idea about the moment that the person is going through and what are the elements that he needs to feel balanced or with which he must work, since certainly the purpose of Feng Shui is to benefit to people and not to the houses themselves.
It is very risky and unsuccessful to generalize objects and colors without first studying the type of energy that exists in a certain sector, because so that in a house there is equilibrium, the yang energies are those that favor activities, coexistence, leisure and supposed prosperity; and the yin energies that are responsible for the human, physical and emotional part of people, are more or less in balance, although they can certainly never be at 50-50% it is important to have a good balance between them, otherwise if it is very yin people will tend to withdraw, isolate themselves etc., and if it is very yang people get upset and get nervous and do not find serenity. Both in excess, lead us to the loss of health.
Now, where or how are these energies in our house? Does our house comply with the principles of distribution, furniture position, colors suitable for us? Making a study of these factors in which we spend day by day, can be the beginning of a healthier and more conscious life. Making certain changes makes it possible for us to manipulate the energy in our favor, but above all we understand the reason for certain events that seem inexplicable to us.
There are certain things that are very simple to correct, others that are not so much, but you can mitigate its effect, or choose the most suitable householder for each room for example; and certainly there are others that are not within our reach especially when it comes to traffic or geography, but finding out how it affects us is better than not knowing it, don't you think? This is what classic Feng Shui is really about, did you know?
As almost every issue we find a world of information on the internet that can sometimes confuse us, especially this happens with the practice of Ba Gua, which was created by Taiwanese Lin Yun in the early 80s, was popularized mainly in America for its simplicity and its easy application.
At the moment when Yun decides to simplify the classic Feng Shui by removing the use of directions, the connection with the energy of the earth is lost, and it becomes a combination of general theories of Feng Shui with positive thinking, which was very much in vogue then along with the meditation and the transcendental religion, and therefore it becomes an industry based on psychology and the power of the mind, with what the result - if there was one - vanished as soon as this called "positive thinking" lost its strength. At the end of his life Lin Yun acknowledges that this was wrong.
Classic Feng Shui uses astrology to determine the 4 pillars of destiny, structure of the individual, the energy plan of a construction, formulas, calculations, etc. Special care and attention is taken with the reading of the compass –Luo Pan– as these cardinal directions are vital for the true application of classical Feng Shui.
Today, thanks to the work of some great teachers, the faultless practice of this technique is positioning the classic Feng Shui in the West, where we have already understood that nothing is so simple and there are no universal recipes for anything.
Leonor Estrada