The Building Whisperer

A lot can be done in large properties to bring maximum prosperity to all parties.

Yap (left) and with her father, Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai

Most people associate feng shui with homes. However, feng shui originally began as a method to locate burial sites according to the environment, Yin and Yang forces, and the flow of rivers and springs. These “king-maker” tombs were believed to be responsible for the propitious advance of the clan and later on, the continuation of a dynasty. This knowledge was known as Yin feng shui.

Subsequently, feng shui was applied to the living to locate settlements for an agrarian society, property for aristocrats, palaces for emperors and sites of government. Together, Yin-domain and Yang-domain feng shui ensured the well-being of many noble families of the day and became responsible for creating powerful ruling classes from these families and the perpetuation of their dynastic rule.

It was only in the Tang dynasty that one of the most revered masters took the secrets to the lay people and so began the adoption of feng shui for homes.

In ancient times, the benefits of feng shui were seen in a different light. Then, feng shui came to be appreciated as the tool that could empower a nation through the selection, location and alignment of the seat of administration and power, and holy centres that govern spiritual well-being. Today, the priorities have changed — people use feng shui mostly to determine the best positions of their homes and office space.

Business people, too, consult feng shui before setting up their factory or manufacturing facility or constructing a commercial block. Only a few appreciate the benefits of incorporating feng shui into their property development projects. But rare is its use in the location of city councils/local government buildings, towns, cities, and national seats of government.

Seeing that feng shui is able to help bring prosperity and well-being to residents in a home, it follows that feng shui benefits are not bound by the type of property or its function. As we move up the scale from individual homes to a nationwide context, good feng shui can influence the individual, family, bosses and employees in businesses and corporations, and finally, citizens of a nation.

So, how can we make use of the natural environment to benefit more people and, in doing so, benefit ourselves?

Feng shui for large properties

Many are familiar with feng shui for homes and office spaces, but the application of feng shui in large property developments may escape our notice. It is this aspect that has the most potential to harness powerful benefits. Unless you are blessed with the opportunity to select an empty piece of land and build your property entirely on feng shui principles, no matter how good the feng shui master, most of us are left with limited options in optimising the feng shui of our homes or office space.

Playing benefactor

But if property developers were to take on the role of benefactor by incorporating good feng shui principles at the inception of the project, buyers will feel considerably at ease. Besides, they need not insist on bringing along their own feng shui masters who are perceived to be the manifestation of chaos — the disruptor of all things logical and aesthetic. Moreover, the property is more likely to sell well, thereby benefiting the developer.

Today, many buyers have some knowledge of feng shui or they would consult a master when buying a house. However, a good many people possess some intuition as to whether a property “feels” good or not. A property that incorporates good feng shui principles invariably possess an auspicious qi that can be transmuted into a sense of well-being for potential buyers.

1-Utama Shopping Centre is a good example of feng shui done right

Consider the See Hoy Chan Sdn Bhd Group. Since 1963, from the day it first incorporated feng shui into the Paramount Garden project, the company has grown and expanded through thick and thin in an ever-changing economy. For instance, Bandar Utama continues to attract premium prices compared with similar types of developments and some consider it the benchmark for township development. Even during the economic crisis, houses there managed to hold their price. Another project is the 1-Utama shopping centre. Dubbed as one of the more “happening” shopping complexes in Selangor, it is always packed with shoppers. It is the flagship commercial development for the company. The group’s projects typically began with feng shui advice from my father, Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai. Other signature developments are Taman Bahagia and Damansara Utama in Petaling Jaya. With quality management and support from good feng shui, the company has become one of the leaders in residential and commercial township development.

Another development that uses authentic classical feng shui for the betterment of all is Mutiara Goodyear Development Bhd. Its Mutiara Upper East Ampang development was designed and completed based on a combination of the different schools of San He, San Yuan, Xuan Kong and Ba Zhai. The apartment blocks have been located in an auspicious area, and are well-served with good roads and facilities such as tennis court, indoor sauna, multi-purpose hall, gymnasium, barbecue area, surau, and garden, thus harnessing the good qi and avoiding the bad. For example, the swimming pool is located in an auspicious area based on Zheng Shen and Ling Shen theory of Luo Shu which activates the good wealth qi there. Each block has been oriented to harness good qi for anyone staying there.

Each apartment has been designed with all the main doors and rooms in the correct orientation. Even the internal rooms have been oriented appropriately to benefit from the universal benevolent energies, and also to correspond to the personal auspicious directions of the East West Life Gua. This means everyone can find not only an apartment with conducive energies, but they also have the option of choosing an apartment to match their Life Gua according to the Ba Zhai system. This has the added benefit of maximising their benevolent qi.

Another project worthy of note is the residential development at Putrajaya. During the conceptual phase of Putrajaya, my father was invited by Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) to evaluate 600 acres of oil palm land. The developer asked him to see the place as it wanted to develop one of the most magnificently laid-out real estate ever. Grandmaster Yap did the layout for the roads in and out of Putrajaya. He also designed about 350 houses, all according to auspicioius feng shui principles. He made sure that all the homes were orientated to match several schools of feng shui that would invariably please any feng shui master that the potential buyers might engage.

Together with the architects, landscape designers and builders, many months were spent to optimise the benefits of feng shui for the whole development — harnessing the good energies of the natural landscape. Where natural forms exist, they would tap the qi by orienting appropriately. Where none were present, they would construct man-made formations such as the lake.

Like the Mutiara Upper East development, each house was laid out to suit the auspicious landscape and designed with appropriate orientation of the internal space. The locations and directions of the main doors, internal doorways, beds, cooking areas, and well thought-out orientation of the living space were all crucial in ensuring auspicious feng shui for the prospective occupants. It was an immense project and all parties did their best to create one of the most well-thought-out real estate developments in accordance with feng shui. However, it is not clear to what extent, if any, the design was ultimately adopted.

Impact on developers

Another interesting angle to consider in large property development is the impact of good feng shui on the developers themselves. An example of a project my father remembers quite well was the one that started sometime ago in Kuala Tilam. During a property market uptrend, the developer first built 12 shophouses plus attractive infrastructure such as a cinema, market, and waiting areas for public transport. The intention was to sell the first phase in order to finance the next one. But these 12 shophouses could not be sold. Buyers preferred to sit out for two years before they bought the subsequent 88 shop-houses. Even when everything was sold and all the facilities were fully operational, these 12 shophouses made meagre pickings. The feng shui was reasonable. Although the developers could not bear the added cost of landscaping the environment, they had taken steps to harness energies of the natural environment and avoid malevolent qi. However, they had not considered one of the most powerful schools, the Ba Zhai system, for one of the owners to ensure success for all.

The beauty of a large property development is the satisfaction that a lot can be done to the feng shui of the place to bring maximum prosperity to all parties, whether they be the developers or the buyers. Good feng shui means smooth progress during construction, the property sells, and the occupants benefit from residing in it. Bad feng shui causes delays or problems with construction and sales.

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Boon Yap is conducting the Yap Cheng Hai Academy’s feng shui practitioners’ courses. For details, contact enquiry-at-MasterBoon.com or call 012-3031991/016-680 6068. Website: www.Masterboon.com

Case Study Part 2 by Master Boon Yap
Feng Shui is a fascinating and priceless wisdom and I truly believe that everyone one of us should embrace it, to allow it to enrich our lives. Don’t wait till misfortune to befall us and suffer unnecessarily.

In the first part of my story, I spoke about how Feng Shui can manifest itself. In this final part, I wish to tell you how it can benefit us.

The brief from my client was to sell their award-winning home. They were living in a penthouse apartment. They had just bought an old mansion by a river which they intended to renovate and live there while they sold their penthouse. After completing the river-house they intended to sell it and renovate another property that was to be their ‘dream home’.

Because of this complexity, I had to review the situation as a whole.

As they were not going to be in the penthouse for much longer, and anticipated living in the river-house, my next priority was to see if the river-house was suitable for them. My idea was that if it was not, they would have to consider either staying in the award-winning home or the penthouse.

It turned out that the river-house was totally inappropriate. For a start, it had a similar orientation as their award winning home. The access to the house and front door was on high ground and the back sloped towards the river. The flying star formation for this house would take on the SW2 chart. This would mean the low ground activating the sickness energy and the high ground enhancing the calamity energy. My suggestion was that they do not stay there while renovating. The only way they could stay there was if they carried out the specific renovation I recommended to change the energy chart of the house to one that is much more favourable. They can then live in there while completing the rest of their renovations.

This finding required me to check out the award-winning home and the penthouse to see which would serve as the better home. It was for this reason that I checked out the Feng Shui of their award-winning home and the interesting findings thereof presented in the first instalment of this article on Friday 28 October in The Sun.

I then checked out the Feng Shui of the penthouse and found another interesting point. The Feng Shui of this place was worse for my clients than that of the award-winning home. It seems that the malevolent energies resulting from the violations committed during the 2002 renovations of their award-winning home were being carried over to their next home.

The West facing front door of their penthouse did not suit my ‘East life Gua’ clients. The east side overlooked a river activated the quarrel energies in the back palace causing major disputes with a member of their body corporate association. Their bedroom was in the sickness and calamity location of 2 and 5 stars respectively, and also in their inauspicious Ba Zhai location. Their kitchen was in the 5 and 2 star location, also suppressing the husband’s prosperity and the wife’s health. They were sleeping in 2 5 location and faced calamity energy. It was fortunate that their main door was in the front palace activating the prominent star 8. Also, their bedroom door facing, and bed location and direction matched their Ba Zhai directions. These factors protected them somewhat from the worst effects.

It was obvious that the problems they encountered in the previous home that persisted over the subsequent 2 years were being carried over to and made worse by the Feng Shui of this home which they had just moved into only a couple of months before.

Their decision was to sell the award home and make good the penthouse till they resolved their plans and timing for their other two properties. Regardless of this decision, the Feng Shui of both properties should be improved, otherwise the properties would be slow to sell and the problems will persist and possibly worsen.

We set about correcting the Feng Shui of the award home that was being used as a home office at the time of my consultation. Recommendations included covering up the pool with a specific coloured shade cloth, painting the internal walls a particular shade, working on the main door and foyer, keeping alight the beautiful crystal chandelier in the entrance hall over a period of time, use of the correct door and activating the appropriate bedroom, plus the placing of a particular chart on the floor. These changes served 3 functions, to evade the inauspicious energies, to harness the good and to force the new energy chart of period 8 into its space. The property sold within a month.

The penthouse suite required renovation to the front door to change the qi to suit the owner’s Ba Zhai auspicious directions. The front door is in the Tai Sui area and renovation here has the potential of violating Tai Sui. Due to the severity of their circumstance, I made a conscious decision to risk violating Tai Sui because to wait the year out before renovating would mean a worsening of their situation.

To add to their problems, Body Corporate required them to paint their freshly painted balustrades on the balcony a different shade, which they have been resisting. Sometimes, it is possible to turn an apparent downside to an advantage. I asked that they do comply using this painting activity to counter the inauspicious energies. By starting in the wife’s total prosperity area, we can counter dissent and quarrel qi entering the front door. Painting in the southeast helps the husband to overcome the dissent and quarrel qi afflicting him in the bedroom.

The date and time for these renovations were also very critical in particular when there is the potential of violating one of the Annual Timing influence. Special dates were suggested following a combination of the more powerful date selection systems including Ba Zhai. Date, time and area to begin and finish all add to improving the Feng Shui of the situation. Their bed was relocated to another sector and facing direction to suit several systems of Feng Shui. In the kitchen, I repositioned the appliance and work area.

Often when a person’s Feng Shui (Earth) luck is not so favourable, it is a reflection that their Destiny (Heaven) luck is at its ebb. When this happens, the only way to break away from this cycle is, ironically, to make use of Feng Shui to pull us out of this rut. Following Feng Shui advice is no easy feat. But if the will is there, the benefits eventually follow. To do this, we must use our Human luck (own attitude and endeavours). For it is Human luck that leads us to seek Feng Shui guidance and our own commitment and conviction to follow it through in order to reap the benefits.

As you can imagine, all this was a major change to their life and plans. It was all quite overwhelming, but I was very proud of their commitment to follow advice when they have never consulted Feng Shui before. Partly I suspect was because they were going through immense upheaval with a risk of things spiralling out of control. The other perhaps because my style appealed to the logical mind that gave them confidence Feng Shui was not just money frogs and space.

It is now half a year since I was first called in. They have sold their award-winning home within the month after my consultation, and their life has turn around. They have asked me to work with them on the riverfront home, which at this early stage would be quite a spectacular property to vie for if ‘money is no objection’.

This Case Study validated some interesting key points:

1. Feng Shui of a place is only a potential.
   If the chart belies good Feng Shui, but if the rooms were inappropriately allocated, the energies wrongly activated or the Annual Timings violated, misfortune can befall the occupants.
2. When the Annual Timing energies are violated, misfortune can follow the occupants.
   In this case, manifesting in an ever-worsening downward spiral.
3. Feng Shui is able to benefit any situation, even heave us out of a downward spiral.
   In this Case, the clients had potentially good Feng Shui, but as their luck would have it, they kept inadvertently tripping up on every aspect of Feng Shui.

If people have knowledge of Feng Shui, in particular those in the building design industry, they could perhaps have avoided most if not all of the violations. For, once you acquire this knowledge, it is yours forever.

Master Boon is daughter of Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai and the Director of Feng Shui for Enriching Lives. She is in Malaysia to conduct the Yap Cheng Hai Academy Practitioners’ Courses Study Retreats in Avillion Resort, Port Dickson. Contact enquiry-at-MasterBoon.com or phone +6012 303 1991

The Star Lifestyle
By Majorie Chew

Halfway through a feng shui course, a woman started weeping. The alarmed feng shui grandmaster later found out the cause of her sadness. The woman was convinced that if she had taken the course earlier, she could have saved the lives of her husband, an in-law and a maid.

“The woman’s home was orientated with negative feng shui. The house was on a slope with the front higher than the back, lacking protection from the four celestial animals land formation. The land form enhanced the inauspicious stars of the Flying Stars system,” recounts Melbourne-based feng shui consultant, master Boon Yap, in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

“Furthermore, the use of the rooms and directions where energy enters were particularly wrong for these three East Life Gua people. The worst was the main door which spelt ‘life asunder’ for her husband.”

Boon Yap soaking in the power of the mountains at Machu Picchu, the royal retreat and spiritual site of the Incas.

The husband had knocked a hole in the compound’s retention wall to clear a waterlogged area. The direction in which water flowed out violated one of the water systems of feng shui which spelt disaster for the household. The wife did not perish because the feng shui of the house was not so bad for her.”

Boon was told the tragic story which took place six years ago by her father, feng shui grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai.

In another incident, a woman consulted Yap who told her to renovate the front door of her house to protect the household from sha qi or negative forces that enter their property.

According to San He feng shui, this sha qi was consistent with the Eight Killing Forces formation known to cause blood-related disasters, accidents or murders.

Three months later, the woman and her husband died after being shot by their son. Upon investigation, the woman had not renovated her house as advised.

Feng shui classics say that when malevolent energies lie unchecked coupled with a sudden onslaught from more malevolent forces, fatalities may result. Boon believes the two tragedies could have been averted if the principles of feng shui were observed.

Boon runs a business consultancy in strategic marketing and international business development for the biomedical industry throughout Asia Pacific.

She is back in Malaysia briefly to run two study retreats – Feng Shui Practitioner’s Courses: Elementary (Nov 18 to 20) and Intermediate (Nov 25 to 27) at Avillion Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan.

The feng shui principles that are cited here will be taught by Boon in her forthcoming courses so that participants can have a better understanding of how they work.

Feng shui can take on auspicious and inauspicious aspects of different qualities. For example, if we tap relationship qi, the auspicious aspect is harmony, affection or devotion. Inadvertently tapping its inauspicious aspect can lead to adultery.

Boon says: “Let’s say a house is sitting on the West and facing the East and there is a road or ‘water’ (river or drain) coming in from the North. If the feng shui of the house is unfavourable to you, you may experience a Peach Blossom Killing (either spouse will commit adultery).

“There are other feng shui principles that need to be checked to ensure they are not violated,” she says with a laugh. “That’s when one has to be feng shui savvy.”

In Six Harms situation, if the door is facing the North, the killing direction is from the South West.

“You must not have a road or water source coming in from this direction or there will be no peace in the household. You may make plenty of money but your family won’t get along and there will be fighting among the siblings,” warns Boon.

The most amusing feng shui story Boon told was about a catering manager who was made redundant at the age of 55.

“Back home without a job, the man ended up being nagged by his wife. A good samaritan friend who could not bear to see the husband moping around at home, sought my advice,” says Boon.

“The couple’s bedroom was good for the wife but not the husband. The bed was also in an argumentative position. Both agreed a reprieve from each other was not a bad thing so I placed him in a spare study room where the feng shui was better for him.”

The man’s bed was placed in a slanting position and orientated to almost the exact one degree to tap good energy according to several schools of feng shui. Boon further advised him to enter by the side door.

“Two weeks later, the man got a job as a catering manager of a high society club,” says Boon. Three months later, the man resigned because of personality clashes.

When Boon was consulted again, she asked: “Did you move anything?”

That’s when the cat was let out of the bag. A friend came visiting and stayed in his room. Too self-conscious of the slanting position of his bed, he decided to move the bed against the wall. When the friend left, he did not move the bed back to the orientated direction and hence, he could not tap the good energy.

After two weeks, the man called Boon, saying that he was going to run a kopitiam business. “Business is so good that I was told he doesn’t allow anyone to touch his bed,” quips Boon.

Boon then recounted the story of the good samaritan friend (the one who helped the catering manager). Knowing a bit of feng shui, he drove his wife crazy by changing things around the house.

After he changed his bed position, he argued with a neighbour. When he did it a second time, he was involved in a car accident. When he tried to move things in his son’s room, he and his son almost got hit by a car if not for his quick reflexes. Out of despair, he finally called Boon.

Boon found the cause of all his woes and reprimanded him: “Why did you go looking for trouble? You’re chasing the monthly Five Yellow”. Five Yellow is the name of the Star No.5 responsible for calamities.

“Flying stars are time-dependant energies that migrate to different sectors of the house on an annual, monthly and daily basis.

“If a property is not grounded on good feng shui, these energies can trigger negative events. Conversely, when the good stars ‘fly’ into a sector, they can bring good luck.”

Boon was asked to help the man’s young wife build a career. The wife was advised to use another entrance to their bungalow, the rice cooker was positioned for prosperity and her bed relocated for harmony. After the consultation, she got a promotion.

Work and feng shui aside, Boon recharges herself by travelling the world and experiencing the many wonders of nature.

“I don’t go to the gym or exercise for the sake of it as I find that too boring. I need to be outside. I feel alive hiking through the mountains,’’ says Boon, who has trekked through the Rockies in Canada, climbed the Dolomites in northern Italy, backpacked on the Great Walks in South Island New Zealand, explored the Mulu Caves in Malaysia and hiked through most of the alpine areas in South-Eastern Australia.

She has also dived in favourite spots along the Victorian coast, Great Barrier Reef, the Philippines, Thailand and South Pacific islands.

Most recently, she camped in the wilds of South Africa and soaked in the power of the mountains at Machu Picchu, the spiritual site of the Incas that is located high in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

For enquiries about the study retreats, call Boon Yap at 012-3031991/016-6806068 (e-mail: enquiry-at-MasterBoon.com)

Business Today, Lifestyle Leisure

Tapping and harnessing the positive energies or Qi in your surroundings through feng shui
The art and science of Feng Shui has often been misunderstood by many and what better way to demystify this ancient science than by having it explained by an academically trained scientist, Boon Yap.

With credentials running into pages, having Boon, or Master Boon to many, unravel ancient feng shui sounds relatively easy. There are no technical mambo-jumbos and the explanation is, well, simple.

Having been trained by grandmaster of feng shui Yap Cheng Hai, who also happens to be her father, Master Boon was naturally drawn to this art since young and has been practising it throughout her life. With her mainstream career well and truly underway, she began to pursue her feng shui passion with more vigour in the late 1990s and haven’t turned back ever since.

Her life imitates the duality of yin and yang. Currently Director of an Australian firm, C.M. Whittington & Associates Pty. Ltd., Master Boon is not only involved in both local and international technology trade and business consulting, she also offers her feng shui expertise to all those interested.

ACHIEVING BALANCE
As people live frantic lives, attaining an equilibrium of sorts is hard to do – whether it’s at home or in the office. For that very reason, people seek out experts or practitioners like Master Boon to help them attain that harmonious balance.

Master Boon says: “As people spend more and more time away from the home and toil away in their offices, there seems to be a need to create a more conducive work environment by tapping the positive energies or Qi, or even to eliminate unnecessary stress.

“On the other hand, even the home space is quickly being turned into working areas as the workforce becomes more mobile or people simply opting to work or carry out businesses from home. Here, the home has to be conducive to both living and also to running a business – tapping the potential Qi in the home for these very reasons could bring numerous benefits.”

Her emphasis in living with harmony with one’s environment is best realised by utilising the art and science of feng shui - assessing the effects of the environment on people’s lives and harmonising these effects to the benefit of the individual.

“If you are a manager in an office, you may want to tap the Qi that will give you power. If you’re a human resource manager, you do not want to tap that same energy, you may want the Qi that will help you promote harmony and balance in the office.”

“While at home, you may want positive energies like peace and harmony in the living room, romance and definitely not power (one hopes!) in the bedroom,” she laughingly adds.

So how can you engage Master Boon’s expertise or unlock the secrets of feng shui yourself? If you have decided to live in harmony with your surroundings and want to tap and harness the positive Qi around you, then you are in luck.

Master Boon is the principle of Feng Shui for Enriching Lives. She will be conducting Yap Cheng Hai Academy Feng Shui Practitioners’ series based on the true principles of I Ching Ba Gua, ancient Feng Shui wisdom that is not available elsewhere.

Entitled Feng Shui for Enriching Lives Study Retreats: Elementary Feng Shui Practitioners’ Course will be held on November 18 to 20 and Intermediate Level on November 25 to 27 at Avillion Port Dickson. Study Retreats details and registration form, visit www.masterboon.com or call Master Boon at (012) 303 1991.

Says Master Boon, “My vision is to promote a deeper understanding of this ancient wisdom worldwide, so people can use Feng Shui as a way of life to attain fulfillment and for the betterment of all. Passionate Feng Shui amateurs and professionals who like to refine their skills will acquire in-depth knowledge of Classical Feng Shui and of each School and System of Feng Shui.”

“Students will gain first-hand, the vital secrets and skills of effective application that truly differentiates this lineage from the rest. On completion, students will be well-placed to be a respected Practitioner with the knowledge and critical proficiency to benefit themselves and others,” advocates Master Boon.

Master Boon also holds an MSc in medical research, plus an MBA.