Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy, which believes that the positioning and physical characteristics of a home affect the fortunes of the owner.

Based on the Taoist practice of harmonious and balanced juxtaposition of objects, furniture, buildings, etc., not in the Western sense of visual symmetry or aesthetics, but as a means of attaining a cosmic equilibrium with the movements and paths of natural rhythms and ancestral spirits, Feng Shui is all about whether one's physical environment is out of balance with the rhythms of the cosmic whole.

Feng Shui practitioner Vicky Moane answers some questions and tells us how she took to the philosophy and how it has changed her world.

What my job is all about:

I am a classical Feng Shui practitioner using traditional Chinese methods to analyze the energy patterns of a built structure. 

How I arrived at my present job:

I got interested in new age Feng Shui through the newspapers. Eleven years ago, I had an accident while playing polo. I couldn't walk properly for almost six months. This changed my life. I strongly believe that if you give up one passion, it opens up another door. For me it was classical Feng Shui. I started to practice it on my environment. I realised that my house had a relation to my accident. When I interpreted the trigrams of the compass, my front door actually read, 'the woman in this house will have an injury to the bones by falling from a horse.' This encouraged me to pursue my education into the intricate and complicated science of classical Feng Shui, and pursue it as a career. I surfed the net for all the top Feng Shui masters of the world.

Is classical Feng Shui a science, which can be learnt over a short period?

Master Joseph Yu of the Feng Shui Research Center in Canada is my teacher. I find him honorable and logical. He clears all your misconceptions and suggests effective ways to make Feng Shui work. Feng Shui is a broad based science with many layers, based on astronomy. You need to look at the stars as they are in heaven and establish a relation to where we are on earth. It is a total art. If you want to install some curios, you need to make sure their placement is in the right place to make sure the energies flow in the rite direction and create harmony.

The market is flooded with Feng Shui objects. How effective are these?

Energy flow within a house or office should flow and be beautiful. I feel curios, which are available in the market, are moneymaking scams. A 3-legged frog is ugly. You don't need a wind chime to enhance positive energy flow. New age Feng Shui deals and lays emphasis on man created energy. Such practitioners are not looking at the heaven or house energy. They dwell only on pure man energy. Classical Feng Shui has different layers of energy. Placing a red color object in a certain position propagates fame and fortune in new age Feng Shui. However in classical Feng Shui this could actually activate sickness energy, which could end up killing the person.

How do you organize a consultation?

I require floor plans and dates of birth of occupants, in advance. I plan a visit to the site to take compass bearings with my luopan (Chinese compass), look at the surroundings, assess the flow of energy from incoming/outgoing roads, traffic flow. I then plot the energy flow and advise the occupants how to tap into the best energy. I revisit the site after all recommendations have been carried out and to see if any further changes are required.

Does your compass read the same for every house or office you go to?

Every built structure talks a different story. I can go and interpret what happened to an office or factory. The answers for failure are with the structure. Clients are blown away by the facts that are so accurate. Most clients want me to activate the money energy in their houses. We live in a materialistic society in Dubai. Feng Shui can also help resolve relationship problems, kid problems, etc.

Does resorting to Feng Shui mean breaking your house walls?

Not really. For Feng Shui to be effective, one needs to amalgamate the right energy within the built structure. For one of my cases, the wealth energy was blocked because the path was blocked. The wealth spot was actually originating from the bathroom. All I had to do was activate it, by advising the inmates to open the windows, and keep the bathroom door open. The family was asked to move in and out of the bathroom more frequently. I also installed a water fountain in there, which gave immediate results. Obviously if the calculations trace the source where the wealth energy is based, it has to be optimised. 

What sort of a personality is required for this job?

Logical, compassionate with infinite patience with a mobile phone glued to one's ear.  One also has to be highly confidential, as clients tend to tell their life story once an element of trust has been established.

Memorable success stories that have left a mark on your career:

By tapping into the energy of a house we helped make someone well who had been ill.

Turning a bankrupt business into a thriving, successful business, stopping a child's nightmares or making them study better. What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: Seeing results, getting calls from satisfied clients, it's the biggest boost ever!