Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Linda Lenore, is a feng shui consultant who travels around the country teaching and advising clients.

Block Buster

Feng shui consultants help clients find out how to get the 'ch'i' (energy) moving harmoniously through their environments

By Sandy Sims

If your finances are going down the toilet, you might consider sticking a plant in the bathroom or maybe calling Roto-Rooter to clean out your drain. No kidding. Freddy Howell, owner of the Wild Bird Center in Los Gatos, says business perked up dramatically in January after her husband, John, reamed out the store's plugged up sink. When Howell shares such facts with franchise headquarters in the East, people there think Howell is talking about crazy, New Age, California things.

Actually, she's talking about one of those crazy ancient Chinese things--feng shui (pronounced FUNG SHWAY).

Feng shui is the practice of working with ch'i (the Chinese word for energy) in the environment in order to create harmony and balance. Advocates say feng shui can affect everything from career to health to relationships.

When Howell wanted to crank up sluggish sales 3 1/2 years ago, she didn't call a business consultant. She called feng shui consultant Linda Lenore.

"I credit Linda with the success of my business," Howell says. And successful it is. Out of 90 Wild Bird franchises in the nation, the Los Gatos store is number one. "Is it coincidence or is it feng shui?" Howell says, "I don't know."

But it seems more and more people are using feng shui to improve their lives and their businesses.

With the influx of Asian immigrants to the United States, more westerners are embracing eastern philosophies and enjoying the benefits of such eastern practices as yoga and acupuncture. It's not surprising that the practice of feng shui has also taken hold. Even financial magnate Donald Trump, after losing millions on real estate ventures, turned to feng shui for help.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Linda Lenore teaches feng shui for the Saratoga Recreation Department.




While the practice is growing nationwide, it's especially prevalent in the Bay Area. In fact, feng shui has become so popular in Silicon Valley that San Jose magazine's May-June issue listed the ancient practices as one of the upscale expenses for living in this valley.

The Internet boasts feng shui tours to different countries such as Spain and Italy to see how those cultures use the ancient practice. There are even feng shui classes at local community colleges and well-known universities like UCLA and UC-Berkeley. Stanford and San Jose State University hold brown-bag seminars in feng shui. The Silicon Valley Association of Realtors offers classes for local Realtors.

Jo Smithson-Preston is a real estate agent with Remax Group South Bay and a certified feng shui consultant through her business Designs for Living. She says that recently she was the luncheon speaker on the practice for the Silicon Valley Chapter of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Smithson-Preston says she was the feng shui consultant for one developer through an entire project. "I was in on the project from the grading through the numbering of the houses," she says. "It turned out very successful for the developer."

Lenore, a former long-time Los Gatos resident and licensed interior designer who has become a feng shui consultant, teaches and speaks about it around the country. She recently finished a two-session class for the Saratoga Recreation Department and will return in June for another round. She will also present a seminar at the Wild Bird Center on July 11.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Linda Lenore told the owner of the Wild Bird Store to put leaves on an artificial display tree to give it a feeling of life.




Lenore creates an annual feng shui garden for the South Bay Home and Garden Show. She says that in addition to private home and small business owners, she's consulted with five percent of the Fortune 500 companies. She's even "feng shuied" boats and recreational vehicles. She's consulted with politicians, sports figures, CEOs and CFOs. Business has grown so much that Lenore says she needs a clone to meet the demand

When Howell called Lenore to help boost business, Lenore suggested some conventional decorative tips but for unconventional reasons. The idea, Lenore says, is for positive energy (ch'i--pronounced chee) to flow harmoniously through the store. Feng shui teaches that the single most important consideration in any environment is how ch'i is inhibited or enhanced.

"You need to change the shelves," Lenore told Howell. According to feng shui, negative energy runs along straight lines. So Howell staggered the shelves. Lenore said energy was trapped in the far left corner of the store. So Howell put a diagonal display across the corner so the ch'i could flow better. Howell added green leaves to an artificial display tree standing in the middle of the store because Lenore said it would add life to the lifeless branches. Lenore told Howell to add color; hang some red over there, some purple there.

Howell put a bowl of popcorn kernels in the bathroom because the bathroom is in what feng shui recognizes as the wealth area of the building. According to Lenore, live plants or grains keep the money symbolically from going down the toilet because growing things reabsorb water and keep it recycling.

"We noticed a big change in business immediately," Howell says.

Howell and her husband, John, had another direct feng shui experience early this year. The first two weeks in January, few customers came into Howell's store. "It was really bad," John says. Coincidentally, the sink in the bathroom was plugged up. As soon as John unplugged the drain, customers started pouring into the store. Sales tripled the next day. John shrugs his shoulders. "Coincidence? I don't know," he says.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Patti Wilson created an arbor linking her garage to her house because Linda Lenore said connecting the two would bring Wilson and her daughter closer together.




In her book, The Gift of the Red Envelope, Lenore explains that the Chinese have practiced feng shui for over 4,000 years. Feng shui means respectively wind and water, the two elements that shape the land, and the two most crucial elements we need to live, Lenore says. The practice of feng shui assures living in harmony and balance with the elements. "When you understand energy," Lenore says, "it can change your life."

There are two schools of feng shui thought: the compass school and the black hat school. The compass school espouses the exact placement of things. For instance, the compass school says a house should face north and south to be in the best position for receiving ch'i. While the black hat school of thought says ch'i comes from everywhere and what is important is the mouth of chi--the front door or entrance to the property.

Daphne Lin, originally from Taiwan and new to Los Gatos since November when her husband transferred here from Austin, Texas, says most people in Taiwan look at a house's feng shui before buying. Lin's brother is an architect in Taiwan and when he designs or remodels a home, Lin says he always keeps feng shui in mind.

Lin, who has a Ph.D. in educational technology, says there are a lot of Chinese in the Bay Area who take feng shui into consideration when buying a house. "For many feng shui reasons, the front door is important," Lin says. For instance, when there's a straight hall that runs directly from the front to the back door, Lin says. "This means the money and the ch'i will go right out of the house."

Bill Gorman, real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Saratoga, says he often works with clients who believe in feng shui. He recalls one lovely house for sale in the Golden Triangle of Saratoga that had hundreds of people interested, but not one of them Asian. Gorman called an Asian friend to find out what the problem was. "That big tree in front of the front door means bad luck," Gorman's friend said. "It blocks the ch'i."

But for every feng shui problem, there is a remedy.

Lenore says, hanging a crystal or an interesting chandelier or setting up some kind of barrier near the front door will keep the energy from running out the back door.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Freddy Howell, owner of the Wild Bird Store in Los Gatos shows where she placed a diagonal display to help the energy in the store flow better.




Playwright Eugene O'Neill paid attention to feng shui principals when he built his Tao House in the hills above San Ramon Valley. The celebrated writer lived there from 1937 until 1944, and was involved in Eastern spirituality long before it was popular. O'Neill had the brick walkway in the gardens placed at right angles to the front door. This was to prevent the negative energy that runs along straight lines.

Another feng shui challenge is a house that sits at the head of a T intersection. Lenore says the ch'i that is coming at the house in this position is powerful, and often these houses have a history of cars crashing into them. The remedy, she says, is simple and common sense. Put up some kind of barrier to block the energy, perhaps a fence or a thick row of hedge.

"Chinese people put living things all around the house and business," Lin says, "an aquarium, plants, fountains. It's good to have water that is constantly moving to keep the ch'i circulating." Chinese restaurants often have aquariums, especially near the door or cash register to keep the money flowing.

"Most of feng shui is common sense," Lin says. For instance, feng shui says not to clutter your house. "If a house is too messy, you won't have good ch'i," Lin says.

Another basic feng shui guideline is to avoid having your desk chair or your couch with its back facing a door because you can't see what's coming. There's a tension especially if someone comes up behind you and scares you. "You feel better if you see what's coming." She says colors are important, knowing what calms you down and what gets you excited.

Advocates believe the practice of feng shui can improve all aspects of ones life, everything from relationships to financial well being. It identifies nine of these aspects: career, knowledge, family, wealth, fame, wealth, partnership, children, helpful people and health.



The Ba-Gua (eight-sides) shows where the nine different areas of life are located in a dwelling. According to Linda Lenore the Ba-Gua can be used as an overlay on the floor plan of an entire house, an individual room, even a desk. Lenore uses the front door to orient the Ba-Gua to the entire house, pointing the knowledge, career, helpful people section of the Ba-Gua toward the entrance wall. To find the sections in an individual room, take the most direct route to the door of each room and use that entrance wall to orient the Ba-Gua.




Feng shui uses an octagonal grid called the Ba-Gua to represent all nine aspects, and the Ba-Gua grid identifies the spaces in buildings and rooms where the energy for these aspects can be found.

The Ba-Gua can be superimposed over the drawing of a house, a room or a desk in order to check out the feng shui. Ideally, a house is wholly contained in a square or rectangle. Most houses, according to Lenore, are shaped irregularly, with rooms jutting out or in, creating a lack of or abundance of ch'i in different areas.

When Los Gatan Patti Wilson told Lenore she wanted to have a better relationship with her daughter, Lenore noticed that the garage and small living area were in a separate building from the house. Lenore suggested constructing an arbor to connect the two buildings. Within days of the arbor's construction, Wilson's daughter telephoned and their relationship has improved immensely. Lenore also suggested that Wilson change the book case in her office. After the book case was moved, Wilson's career took off. Lenore has helped Wilson with the feng shui in other areas of her home as well.

Lenore journeyed into feng shui through her interior design life. The ancient Chinese tradition opened up a whole new world for her. She went from a struggling interior designer to a sought after speaker-consultant who teaches all over the country. However, her introduction was unnerving.

Seventeen years ago, Lenore found herself sitting through a workshop at the end of a six-day design conference. Her blond head stood out in an auditorium full of Asians. The presenter, Master (or professor) Lin Yun, spoke in Mandarin Chinese, accompanied by a translator.

As a final exercise, Yun put a blank transparency on the over head projector and drew a floor plan. "It was exactly the same floor plan as my house," Lenore says. In his description of feng shui problems with this house, Yun made some uncanny connections with the events of Lenore's life.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

The wild bird store is always transforming, trying new things. The artist who painted the mural continued it onto the window.




With her interest skeptical but piqued, Lenore returned to the auditorium that same afternoon for an additional three hours of feng shui. This time Yun suggested that those who wanted more clients for their business should hang brass chimes outside the front door of their house or business. Lenore decided to put his suggestion to the test.

"Chimes weren't common then," Lenore says. But she did have an old ceramic one and hung it by her front door. Till then most of her interior design clients were nonpaying friends and family. Paying clients had dribbled in at about one a month. "Three days after I hung out the chimes, I got calls from three paying clients," Lenore says.

Lenore tried other tests. For instance, she hung a mirror strategically in her daughter's room to see if she could get her daughter to spend more time at home. The next day her daughter quit one of two jobs and began spending time at home.

With instances such as these building a "maybe, could be, hey this might be working" cache of feng shui experiences, Lenore began to trust the ancient practice. She studied under Professor Yun and other masters.

Feng shui is really a very individual thing says Daphne Lin. As one delves deeper into feng shui, the process becomes more personalized. Some advocates use astrology, numerology, palm reading, face reading, and other practices of the occult to tailor feng shui to the individual. Believers even pay hefty fees to bury their loved ones in carefully chosen settings, near living trees and running water, careful, too, to place the body in the correct position. The happiness of the deceased, it is believed, will flow to the living relatives.

In China's past, only the very wealthy or powerful government officials could afford a feng shui master. Feng shui was believed to be so powerful that it should only be used by those powerful enough to handle it. The harmony and prosperity would then flow from the rich and powerful to the rest of the people, a type of trickle-down theory.

If the bathroom is in the wealth area of the house, feng shui suggests putting a plant on the toilet to keep the money from going down the drain.




Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Today, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan, feng shui is popular among the masses. People pay a feng shui master to evaluate the land before any building takes place. Lenore says people will often pay more for their feng shui master than their architect.

Clients dig deeply into their pockets to pay for a feng shui consultant. Professor Lin Yun charges $1,000 to $1,500 an hour, Lenore says. Some of his protégés charge $300 an hour. Some even $75 an hour. Lenore charges $200 an hour, and she says an evaluation usually takes about 2 1/2 to three hours, or more.

Joan Green, feng shui consultant and teacher at Evergreen college says that UC- Berkeley now offers a three-year feng shui certification program under the supervision of Professor Lin Yun. The program started four years ago and is only now certifying feng shui consultants. This has become necessary says Green because many people out there read a few books and then hang up their feng shui shingle. Green will receive her certification this semester.

Green echoes Lenore's words that feng shui practice constantly transforms one's life. "It's dynamic," Green says. "The environment impacts you; you impact the environment, then the environment impacts you, and so on." "You are constantly evolving," Lenore says. She says that spirituality in addition to feng shui is powerful no matter what one's spiritual practice is: Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam or even a 12-step program.

Howell and her husband say their store is always transforming. "We are always changing things around," Howell says. "And when Linda comes in, she makes new suggestions, too. "She'll say, 'You need some red over there,'" Howell says pointing to the back left corner of the store--the wealth area where there's a fountain bubbling water over rocks.

In the meantime, customers love being in the Wild Bird Center. They tell Howell that all the time. One man said he had to get out of there because he was getting too relaxed and would have a hard time getting back to work.

People are not only relaxed; they are buying, at least as long as John keeps the back drain clear.

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For information about the next feng shui class at the Saratoga Recreation Department, call 408.868.1248. Linda Lenore may be reached at 650.368.5532. Her website is www.lindalenore.com. Joan Green may be reached at 408.629.0508. Jo Smithson-Preston may be reached at 408.865.1881.

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