Feel Good Feng Shui.
By David Harbour. Published in ‘The News’ Issue 14, September 2001

It is hard to feel harmonious, secure and grounded in your life if you are living high in the sky, but for some city-dwellers, balance and harmony can be restored by following the mystical traditions of feng shui.

This traditional Chinese practice, which analyses the tangible and intangible to place human kind in tune with nature, has been practised for at least 1000 years longer than Christianity.

In Sydney, feng shui is now being used by architects, property developers and builders and increasingly by individuals, eager to introduce some peace, harmony and even wealth into their homes.

This is especially true of the city’s high-rise apartment dwellers, not all of them Asian. Architect Howard Choy runs the Feng Shui College of Sydney.

“Feng shui took off as a bit of a fad in the city but it has now reached the mainstream," Mr Choy said. “People living in Sydney apartments are so high up they feel disconnected from reality and feng shui is a good way of regaining control of their life and surroundings," he said.

When he launched the college two years ago, Mr Choy thought that his students would be professional practitioners, keen to brush up on the ancient philosophies behind feng shui. But instead, major interest has come from individual home owners.

Knowing that Chinese people dislike the number four, property developers are avoiding the fourth floor and apartment four in their buildings, opting instead for 3a. My Choy said this was more than a superstition and a way to fool the gods. The Cantonese word for ‘four’ is similar to the word for ‘dead’, which is at least more easily understood than triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13.

“If you like apartment four and the corporate body won’t let you change it to 3a, then you look for a feng shui cure," Mr Choy said. “Place a brass knob on each side of the ‘four’. A knob is a circle that signifies nought, which causes the ‘badness’ of the four to disappear. This is a psychological or metaphysical cure.”

Feng shui practitioners place much significance on water. Water means movement and wealth. Villages are built near rivers and streams and in an agrarian society like China; the river brings wealth and transport.

“Apartment dwellers may be high in the sky but they still want their homes to be secure and grounded. Water features such as a fish tank or a fountain can provide the grounding they crave – it’s a psychological belief like prayer," Mr Choy said.

It was also bad karma to build a home that could be seen through from the front door to the back door because it created an ‘energy flow’ that was too strong. “Money runs out the door,” My Choy said. “My old teacher told me to place a dollar bill on a table in the hallway and open the front and back doors. If the money flutters, the energy flow is wrong.”

Feng shui inspired Harbour Garden Towers.

Mr Ken Kho, owner of the Harbour Garden Towers at Darling Harbour, employed Mr Choy to advise on the design of the building’s units to ensure there were no major problems.

“Many of the building’s buyers come from Asia and I spent a few weekends talking to potential buyers and helping them with their feng shui problems,” Mr Choy said. “Many sent their floor plans back to their home countries to see if their Sydney apartment obeyed feng shui principles.”

The Feng Shui College of Sydney can be reached on +61 2 9810 0162.