Feng Shui fallacies

With all those shops sprouting like mushrooms and selling feng shui products, it's easy to get tempted.

And so they pile up at home — the laughing Buddhas, the money frogs, the foo dogs …

Are we doing the right thing to welcome the right energy into our lives?

According to Neesha Rajwanie, a classical feng shui consultant, one of the most common mistakes people make is to bring home objects and products in the name of feng shui cures.

And then they feel disappointed when they don't work.

“What they don't understand is that feng shui is a science based on logic and calculations and products alone have no role to play,'' she says.

And that's not the only mistake they make. Here are the others, according to Neesha:

No overnight results

People expect results overnight. This is not possible as energy shifts take time.

When you apply feng shui, you are trying to remove negativity and align inhabitants in such a way that they receive positive energy and there are no shortcuts.

The minimum period for the effects to take place is 6 to 12 weeks.

Don't wait for problems

Another common misconception is that the principles of feng shui should be applied when you are having problems.

But that's not true. In fact, if you consult a good feng shui master when things have not yet spiralled out of control, there will be improvements.

In feng shui, as in life, prevention is better than a cure.

Ownership unnecessary

Some say feng shui can be applied only to properties owned by an individual. This, again, is not true.

Once you live in a property for more than 45 days, you start interacting with the energies there.

Knowledge such as this comes with having been in the field for over nine years.

Once a garment and jewellery designer, Neesha resorted to feng shui after a trying period of personal turbulence.

However, she soon realised that feng shui alone was not enough to solve a problem.

In fact, no metaphysical science was. That's how she also started specialising in tarot reading, the four pillars of destiny, Indian astrology, rune reading, numerology and talismans.

“It is necessary to find the right combination to solve a problem. Two people may have the same problems but the same solution may not apply to both. This is where the other sciences come in handy,'' she says.

But that doesn't mean Neesha's focus on feng shui has shifted. She started the Institute of Divine Feng Shui about seven years ago and holds workshops in India every year around the month of October.

People from all over the world attend, especially since the fee is lesser than the Chinese masters and the medium of instruction is English.

Neesha also offers free services through her website (www.divinefengshui.net) for those people who cannot afford to hire a consultant.

What ails us?

According to Neesha Rajwanie, emotional issues and relationship problems seem to be the main problems in Dubai. And finances, too — though that hardly comes as a surprise, considering the rise in the cost of living.

Neesha will be in Dubai from February 22 to March 3. Her email address is rupanis@hotmail.com