Feng Shui (pronounced "Fung Schway") is a term kicked around about as much as "PCS network" and "VCR Plus" and, like its fellow jargonistic catch phrases, nobody seems to know what it is or how it works.

Simply put, Feng Shui is the art and science of living in harmony with your environment by attracting positive energy and blocking negative energy. While this might sound like a piece of the plotline of the latest anime flick, Feng Shui has been around for about 6,000 years. Originally developed in China, Feng Shui is the art of object placement in one's living space to best harmonize the occupant with his or her environment.

But don't expect that moving your futon to the other side of your dorm room will suddenly make you win the lottery. Feng Shui is based on rules and guidelines of positioning of objects.

Feng Shui is primarily concerned with harnessing qi (pronounced "chee" and also spelled "chi"), a complicated energy force in constant motion and flux. While different schools of Feng Shui define qi as different things like electro-magnetic, gravitational or quantum fields, it is easiest to think of qi as the universal energy that connects all things. Qi comes in both positive and negative forms.

Sheng qi is a positive energy and is beneficial to your senses. Things that taste, smell or look good are full of sheng qi. Besides the five types of sheng qi related to the five senses, there is a sixth type of sheng qi that is unnamed: it is metaphysical in nature and is identified with the feeling of being in love or being in tune with nature or another person.

Along the same lines there is a negative energy known as sha qi. Sha qi is the exact opposite of sheng qi. Like sheng qi, there is also an extrasensory version of sha qi which is identified with an ominous sense of impending doom or depression.

Qi not the same for everyone; for example, one person may like the smell of garlic and another may not. For the former, the aroma of Italian food would most likely be full of sheng qi, but the latter would find it full of sha qi. It is in this way that no object has either sheng or sha qi, but rather it is the qi's interaction with the individual that causes it to be positive or negative. In fact, Feng Shui translates literally as "wind and water;" symbolically the two elements are the primary forces that cause qi to be sheng or sha.

And it is because qi can be changed in this manner that the arrangement of objects in one's environment directly affects whether one experiences sheng or sha qi. For example, to harness the most qi, a practitioner of Feng Shui would want to make his or her front door (a place where qi flows into the home) as inviting as possible to encourage sheng qi to enter the home.

Because Feng Shui is an individual endeavor, it is often hard to give good advice. The art uses a moderately complex web of numerology to determine the best ways for individuals to arrange their possessions. However, there are a number of basic rules that one can take as fairly sound advice. These rules, however, are not set in stone. It is important to realize that no building can be perfectly arranged with Feng Shui. It's best to approach Feng Shui with an open mind

Feng Shui is not a religion. In fact, one of the fundamental concepts of Feng Shui is the belief in a higher power, but whether it is Buddha, Jesus or the Big Bang is irrelevant. Feng Shui walks the thin line between faith and science.

Vera Marie Kostelnik, a local Feng Shui practitioner, explains the relationship between Feng Shui and religion as one of symbiosis.

"You want to be one with your source, be one with God, with the Earth. And when you are one with your source you are in Feng Shui: things go smoothly … I don't know if you need to believe in anything … but it helps," Kostelnik said.

Although belief in Feng Shui is critical, it is not faith that actualizes Feng Shui's beneficial effect, but rather the physical nature of objects interacting with their environments and the practitioners positive energy causing beneficial things to happen as well.

"It's physics. Physics works for everybody," Kostelnik said.

Kostelnik feels that the proof is in the pudding with regard to Feng Shui. She became interested in the art in 1983 when, after a divorce and a series of dead-end jobs, a friend suggested she read a book on Feng Shui. Kostelnik started organizing her house by adding a fish tank, a Feng Shui maneuver meant to increase one's good fortune, to her home. After she installed the fish tank her luck, indeed, began to change. As she continued to organize her home with Feng Shui she found that her life had almost completely turned around.

Kostelnik enrolled in Feng Shui and Eastern Philosophy classes at the University of California at Berkeley under the tutelage of Lin Yun, a practitioner of Black Hat Feng Shui.

Eventually, Kostelnik managed to open a metaphysical bookshop with the money she save from the increasingly large tips she was receiving while she worked as a waitress; tips, she believes, that were a direct result of her use of Feng Shui. Kostelnik eventually returned to Indiana where she has been a practitioner of Feng Shui and occasional university lecturer for the past seven years.

"I think that Feng Shui [helped me to manage my] problems in a better manner, a more adult manner, with intelligence," Kostelnik said.

Dealing with life's chaos is Feng Shui's purpose. Because the qi of one's environment is directly linked with one's personal qi, ordering the space in which one lives will cause the chaos in one's personal life to be resolved.

Feng Shui cannot always control all the factors in an environment. Apartments and dorm rooms can present particular Feng Shui challenges because of the conservative amount of space, limited options in location and (of course) smaller financial budgets. Remember, Feng Shui is not a to do list; one does not have to have obsessive-compulsive disorder to improve one's qi.

Kostelnik feels that the biggest piece of advice she can offer college students is to clean up their living areas.

"Your home is a metaphor for what is happening in your life, it's like a mirror. If your home is cluttered it probably means your mind is cluttered too," Kostelnik said.

For example, doorways and windows with straight pathways leading to them may invite shars, intense bursts of sha qi known as "poison arrows." Often times in Feng Shui-conscious buildings, architects will build zig-zag paths to prevent shars from crossing. A dorm room may not have enough space to add an object to block shars, but a simple pa-kua mirror, an octagonal mirror bordered with the eight I Ching trigrams, can reflect a shar away from one's room. Interestingly enough, the Taj Mahal – one of the most Feng Shui-conscious buildings ever built – neglected to protect against this anomaly and built long straight paths with power lines running along them to the entrance which reputedly brought about the downfall of its builder.

Meditative music such as Gregorian chants can help promote relaxation which breeds sheng qi. Mirrors can also be placed to symbolically increase the room's size. Proper lighting can ward of sha qi lurking in gloomy corners as well.

A room should also reflect its occupant. Personal chachkies that represent the interests of the occupant should be prominently displayed. Also, portraits and statues of deities should always be placed high up on a walls or shelves in places of reverence.

While professional Feng Shui consultations are available, it is probably best to check out the interior decorating section of the local bookstore and pick up a basic book on Feng Shui. Kostelnik warns that there is a lot of misinformation in many books and recommends The Western Guide to Feng Shui by Terah Katherine Collins, Move your Stuff, Change your Life by Karen Rauch Cater and The Dancing Wuli Masters by Gary Zukov.

Finally, Feng Shui is not for everyone; most Feng Shui practitioners are quick to point out that Feng Shui is meant to be enjoyable, relaxing and productive and for the individual, but by no means mandatory. Even those skeptical of qi or Feng Shui's power will find that the art at least offers a lot of practical decorating tips and is much more enjoyable than trying to get digital cell phone service on campus or program a VCR.

Contact C. Spencer Beggs at beggs.3@nd.edu.

• Good vibrations
  
• Nine Feng Shui Tips for College Students: