What Is Feng Shui?

[Denver Wing Chun]

What is Feng Shui? Feng shui has its roots in ancient China. It traces its roots as far back as 4,000 years. The world of feng shui is a merger of ancient Chinese mathematics, interior design, architecture and simple rules of good housekeeping. It is a popular practice that is regularly applied to home and work places to create a balanced environment. Feng means 'wind' and shui means 'water.'
Water and air - the two principal gifts of nature - contain qi (a kind of life force or spiritual energy) that forms the basis of the art.

The Chinese believe that natural energy can be utilized to its fullest by proper arrangement of things at home and by the correct establishment of houses and buildings. Feng shui aims to balance the energy in the environment - natural and structural.

The energy or chi, which the Japanese call ki, flows through homes and offices, affecting all aspects of human lives. Those who practice feng shui believe the positive effects of these energies are obtained by placing articles systematically and at correct locations.

Practitioners of feng shui believe that energy can be activated and deactivated as desired. Feng shui is an art that makes nature more favorable and beneficial. Its application is gaining momentum and is increasingly used in houses, factories, schools, hospitals and offices.

A feng shui consultant studies and accesses the energy flow or depletion in an area before recommending solutions. The outside environment (the roads, trees or greenery, water bodies, buildings, electricity, shadow, air) are also be carefully analyzed before solutions are suggested.

Feng Shui has found new relevance in the West, as serious researchers have recently begun to study the effects of its theories and beliefs. Marked improvements in mood, energy level and attitude (in the home) and increased levels of productivity and collegiality (in the workplace) are commonly observed. Hosted by Bree Pavey, Feng Shui Living delves into these phenomena with prominent local and national Feng Shui experts and introduces viewers to new ideas through entertaining make-over demonstrations and explorations of some of America�s great buildings.


According to Chinese philosophy, all things in the Universe manifest as the five elements known as Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.
In humans these forces manifest in five different ways, five distinct emotions, five pairs of organs, five specific areas where we can detect our strengths and weaknesses. Each element creates the different organs of our body and in nature the seasons of the year. They also create the deeper levels within us, those of our soul. They are the phases through which all things pass from their beginning to their end.
Water
This is the still cold energy of winter, pausing in time to regenerate and gather strength. This energy holds our identity giving us our sense of self. Water gives us the power to adapt and the will and drive to fulfil the potential given to us at birth. Our fear of non-existence gives us the impetus to take the necessary risks in life to realise our ambition.
Wood
Wood is the energy of spring; it rises up with vision and determination to realise the plan of growth and renewal. Wood gives us the structure and flexibility to create our lives with hope and optimism, overcoming obstacles and creating our path.
Fire
This is the energy of summer, relaxed and open. It gives us warmth, the capacity to love and to be loved. It enables us to mature and blossom and its function is to help us relate. Here we find our passion, our ability to feel joy in all our endeavours. Feeling emotionally protected we communicate with openness and honesty.
Earth
This is the energy of late summer and a time of harvesting. This energy gives us the ability to nurture ourselves and others with compassion. By helping us feel connected to the earth it enables us to understand and give sympathy without losing our own centre. Our sense of satisfaction and nourishment comes from this element.
Metal
This is the energy of autumn. It gives us our sense of quality and self worth, our capacity to look at what lies beyond ourselves and the power to let go. As we make this necessary break we feel the loss and grief but value the time of reflection this element provides. By using our instinct we find our way through the dark.
Five Element Acupuncture
Five Element Foundations
Five element acupuncture is among acupuncture�s most sophisticated lineages, assessing and supporting each person�s unique balance in body, mind and spirit. This unique balance is expressed in a tendency to over-rely on one of our five elements, of (Fire), (Earth), (Metal), (Water) and (Wood). These elements are reflected in oriental medicine in many ways; in the senses, the organ networks of the heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys and liver and in the channels of (chi) energy across the body (the meridians).
For each of us one of these five elements will be our constitutional Achilles heel that underpins our health and illness and becomes manifest in that backache, tiredness, infertility or depression. The elements are reflected in nature, in the seasons, landscape and climate. Many of us instinctively know which of these elements heal us most: Fire�s sun-warmed beaches in summer, Earth�s nourishment at Harvest, Metal�s fresh mountain air of autumn, Water�s natural spas in winter or Wood�s quiet groves in spring.

Five Elements - One Medicine
Five element acupuncture has always retained the ancient wisdom that our health depends upon our relationship with the elements. Its complex understanding of how we stay well and can fall ill enables practitioners to go to the heart of what ails us and to support the momentum of our ongoing healing. It is the role of the five element acupuncturist to decode the complex and varied range of diagnostic signs and symptoms present in each of us in order to design a course of treatment that effectively restores this balance.
Five element acupuncture constantly seeks a restoration of balance rather than just chasing symptoms or illnesses. Its core medical insight is that the deepest and most extensive healing is one that reaches our body, mind and spirit in their totality. It does this by addressing the rhythm of our energies, expressed as the elements, the seasons within us. It seeks the one point in our internal rhythms that will transform all others. Our immunity, tinnitus, anxieties, joint pain or migraines are all treated directly by this attention to our whole experience. Five element acupuncture�s constant quest is for the rhythm of the seasons within us, and the transformation that will answer the deepest needs of our body, mind and spirit.

KUN
Ba-Gua or eight-Gua is the result of the ancient Chinese binary system. Each of the Gua is consists of three little Yao symbols, which is equivalent to a bit in today's binary language. Each Yao (section) represents either Yin (0), female or Yang (1), male force of nature. Yin (0), female, is two short little hyphens with a gap in between. Yang, male, is one continuous hyphen-like line. Use some graphic imagination to help you remember the female and male symbols or you can fashionably call them "zero (Yin)" and "one (Yang)". The image on the left contains all female or Yin Yao, it is the first of eight Gua. It represents the extreme female, mother. Mother is the origin of life. It represents the direction of southwest. It has the character of earth.
ZHEN
Ba-Gua contains eight Gua (from 0 to 7) total. Each Gua contains three bit positions. Read from the bottom to top. This sequence represents the Change occurs from the hidden bottom location. For example, the image on the left is Zhen Gua. It has Yang (1) on the first bit position and Yin (0) on the second and third position. Translated into binary language, it is (001). It is the second of eight Gua in Ba-Gua. It represents the direction of east. It has the character of wood.
KAN
You should to know one important fact: the Chinese character for number one is exactly the same as the Yang (male) symbol, one continuous hyphen like line. I do not know if all the historians will agree the ancient Chinese use the Yin (female) symbol to represents 'zero'. It is definitely appropriate and academically accepted to call it zero today. When the ancient symbols were first put into computer, Yin (female) was represented by zero and one represented Yang (male).The images on the left is Li (010) Gua, the third of eight Gua, shows that the Yang raising from the bottom position to middle. It represents direction of north. It has the character of fire.
DUI
If you are graphic oriented, you might be happy to know that certain historians believe the ancient human being noticed the first difference between female (Yin) and male (Yang) from the most direct and important areas of our body. This is supported in many I-ching related ancient literatures and the mating of yin (female) and Yang (male) is related to balance and harmony. The image on the left is Dui (011) Gua, the fourth of eight Gua. It represents direction of west. It has the character of metal.
GEN
The symbolic meaning of Ba-Gua is not limited to individual Yao (bit). The shape of the entire Gua also plays a strong symbolic role. The image on the left is Gen (100) Gua, the fifth of eight Gua, shows the Yang raising all the way to the top with Yin only at the hidden bottom. Like a mountain with strong Yang outside and Yin inside. It represents direction of northeast. It has the character of earth.
LI
Have you noticed that the image on the left is exact the opposite of Li (010) Gua? It is the Kan (101) Gua. It is the sixth of the eight Gua. It has the exact opposite character and representation of Li Gua. It represents direction of south. It has the character of water. Unlike the western common belief, the meeting of fire and water is not necessarily a bad thing. It some times represents the climax of mating. Of course, after the peak, it is the declination.
XUN
The seventh of Eight Gua is called Xun (110). It has strong growth of Yang yet not completed. Although non of the Gua is better than others, many people favor this Gua and believe it is related to wealth. This Gua represents the direction of southeast. It has the character of wood.
QIAN
When the change from Yin to Yang is completed, we come to the last of Eight Gua that is called Qian (111). It has strongest Yang and total opposite of Kun. It is the father, the king, the emperor, the boss, the Alfa male. Again, opposite to western common belief, the Alfa male is very vulnerable. This is because it has all Yang character. Any change will undermine the power of Yang and Change can never be avoid. This Gua represents the northwest. It has the character of metal.
The most important concept is change. Change is the only thing that is constant is the universe. The Yin will become Yang and Yang will become Yin. In the extreme of Yang, Yin is incubated. Within the extreme of Ying, Yang is born. This is the forever change of life, universe and everything.