Читать книгу EcoChi: Designing the Human Experience - Debra Duneier - Страница 8

Feng shui is a design method that involves purposefully arranging a space so that it has an uplifting and life-enhancing effect on the people who occupy that environment. When designing beautiful buildings, rooms and outdoor spaces, it takes into consideration the surrounding aspects of nature and the specific landscape and topography of a site.

The ancient Chinese, undistracted by television, cell phones and the Internet, devoted their time to studying the mysteries of life. They masterfully created fundamental disciplines and life-enhancing applications, all based on their strong appreciation and understanding of the natural world. Lying on their backs at night and looking up at the stars, these Chinese sages studied the universe, nature’s cycles and the relationships these cycles created. They then translated these relationships into numbers and symbols (Trigrams). This is how feng shui was born.

Feng shui literally means “wind and water” in Cantonese. Wind represents the shifting energies (Chi). Water represents contained Chi at rest. Chi (qi) is the dynamic movement of non-tangible energy or vibrations. In India it is known as prana, in Japan ki, in Arab nations Baraka, and for Polynesians mana. In the western world we have no word to express this concept. The closest description in our language is “life force.” With feng shui, one can enhance and amplify the Sheng Chi (auspicious energy) and eliminate or minimize the Sha Chi (inauspicious energy) in order to bring about a desirable balance.

Many people with little or no knowledge of feng shui think of it as merely moving furniture around to reposition it in some more advantageous location. That is so not the case! Having studied feng shui for years, I can tell you that there are no shortcuts to understanding all aspects of this intuitive art. Feng shui, like an onion, has many layers. The most well known School of Classical Feng Shui is called Form School. Form School consultants work with Earth Chi—the forms of energy we can see. They change the flow of energy in a space by intentional selection and assignment of furniture, or by specific placement of a decorative item. Another school, the Compass School, teaches the practitioner to go into a space with what is called a “Lao Pan” Compass (English spellings of all these Chinese terms vary). This compass is used to determine the directional influences on a property in relation to the universe in order to engage the Heaven Chi— the energy we cannot see.

Classical Feng Shui teaches that Heaven, Earth and Humanity energies need to be balanced to attain health and prosperity. These energies are called the “three gifts of energy” or the “San Cai.” Since I am a visual person, I actually like to think of these feng shui energies as a sandwich. The top slice of bread is Heaven, the invisible Chi. The bottom slice is Earth Chi, the Chi we can see. In the middle is the human experience. The relationship between these three layers is the arena in which the feng shui practitioner orchestrates this artful science. The energies of heaven, humanity and earth must be manipulated so that all three interact with each other like a beautiful song. I believe that in order to balance the Chi energies of a property, the most thorough feng shui consultations use both Form School and Compass School strategies. To put it simply, without both the top and bottom slices of bread there is no sandwich!