What if your home could help attract money, success or even love? I'll bet that you'd want to know the secret to making that happen. Feng Shui practitioners believe that how you arrange your environment can enhance your life in all of those areas. And it's no secret that the several-thousand-year-old tradition from China is taking roots in Western culture.

Feng Shui is the practice of placement to achieve harmony with the environment. It is considered a mathematical science that is based on four aspects -- building, environment, people and time. There are different types or "Schools" of Feng Shui; one commonly known is Compass, appropriately named for the device used by a Feng Shui analyst to indicate the orientation of a home to determine its prosperity. Another method called Form does not use a compass at all, but addresses external and internal environments.

Terah Collins is the CEO of the Western School of Feng Shui and author of five bestselling books on the subject. She teaches the Form method with a goal of creating harmony in the client's environment, "How can we make this house really a magnet for health, happiness and success for the people who are going to live here?"

The Form School has a more freestyle approach than the Compass School. Collins says there is no one absolute way to do something. "People will try to lock it in. They'll say 'Well, Feng Shui says that I should always paint my front door red.' Well, red is classically a color of celebration in China, but if somebody does not personally like red then the last thing in the world we would do as Feng Shui practitioners is say 'Oh, you have to paint this door red'," said Collins.

In some respects Form Feng Shui can appear to be similar to interior design or the growing trend of home staging, where experts are hired to make your home look like a model house.

But Collins says the Form School differs from interior design or home staging by utilizing five essential elements: fire, water, wood, earth and metal in the design and placement of items. She says even something as simple as a bowl of fruit, that's frequently set out by interior designers for ambience, can have a richer response when Feng Shui is applied. "We would choose the bowl and colors of fruit and the shapes of the fruit to represent all five of those elements, not just one or two of them, and the eye and the person will respond differently to the complete invitation that all five elements gives someone," said Collins.

For some practitioners Feng Shui is spreading into organizational services as well and helping define productivity. Ramona Field owns Visible Solutions in Oceanside Ca., "The biggest thing that I am trying to do is have my clients connect with the fact that their environment has an effect on what they're doing everyday."

Field says clutter can negatively impact a client's ability to attain wealth. "It's almost like being a detective sometimes because you do find that oftentimes there are relationships between what types of things [clients] have in their home offices or homes and what's going on in [clients'] lives," said Field.

Ann Jenkins, a chiropractor in Carlsbad Ca., who used Field's company to help create a different look at her office says, not only has being conscious about her environment been an awakening for her personally but it's also helped her practice, "Ramona's been working with me for about one year and I have to say that at the point at which she started working with me, my business really took off."

Balance is what Feng Shui strives to attain and, whether it's your business or your home, having the right energy flowing through it is crucial. "[People] might not say it's good Feng Shui, but they would say 'Oh, this has got an especially inviting atmosphere'," said Collins.

Published: October 4, 2004

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Phoebe is a writer, speaker, and author. She is the Director of Business Development for Quality Service Certification and a trainer in customer service for the real estate industry. She is a Realtor with The Guiltinan Group, a division of Prudential California Realty. Her articles, feature stories, and columns appear in various publications including The Coast News, Del Mar Village Voice, and Rancho Santa Fe Review in San Diego. Phoebe worked for KGTV/10News in San Diego as a Newscaster, Reporter and Community Affairs Specialist for more than a decade. Phoebe's writing is also featured in Donald Trump's book: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received. She is the author of If the Trash Stinks, TAKE IT OUT!: 14 Worriless Principles for Your Success. Contact Phoebe at 858.259.3646 or . Visit PhoebeChongchua.com for more information.