Dragon around? Try some feng shui

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 7, 2004 by Lee Benson Deseret Morning News

SUGAR HOUSE -- Susan Duffield and Angie Fortier are hard at work at the Feng Shui Shop. Not that you'd know it. By its very nature, feng shui -- pronounced by Westerners as "fong shway" -- is harmony, serenity, peace and positive energy. When it's working right -- like a good basketball referee -- you don't even know it's there.

Feng shui is the ancient Eastern art, or philosophy, of creating and maintaining an environment that is healthy, supportive and liberating.

In the old days, it was how the dragon got to the ocean.

"The dragon lived on top of the hill," says Susan, the Feng Shui Shop's owner, "and there was a natural path the dragon took through the valley to get to the water. This was long before big, tall skyscrapers were built."

In places such as modern-day Hong Kong, Susan notes, that means big, tall skyscrapers that reach to the heavens -- but with built-in open spaces that still allow the dragon to get to the ocean.

Feng shui isn't as huge here as it is in Hong Kong and China. There, not only do buildings have built-in dragon walkways, but feng shui businesses are everywhere and feng shui consultants are as common as cabinet-makers, sheetrockers and landscapers. The Chinese typically use feng shui to build and furnish their homes, their offices, even their cars. Feng shui experts advise clients about everything from colors, shapes and sizes to which way their doors should face.

Here, there is exactly one Feng Shui Shop in the Salt Lake Valley. It is located at 2030 S. 900 East in Sugar House. Susan Duffield started it after feng shui saved her marriage.

She and her husband moved into a brand new home, Susan relates, and "we were ready for a divorce within six months."

This was about 10 years ago, and neither Susan nor her husband knew feng shui from chop suey. They just knew their marriage was steering toward the rocks.

A friend of Susan's was studying feng shui at the time and said maybe their problem was how the energy flowed in the new house.

With an any-port-in-a-storm attitude, Susan invited her friend to her house, where they used a Bagua Map -- a kind of feng shui Geiger counter -- to check out the energy flow.

"It turned out that the intimate relationship corner happened to fall in the garage," says Susan, "not the best place to have long or meaningful talks and connections."

With the help of her friend, Susan turned the house around. Not literally, but in a feng shui kind of way -- transferring the intimate relationship corner to where it belonged, in the master bedroom.

Ten years later, Susan and her husband are still in that house, and they're still married.

For $75 an hour, Susan and Angie are available for local feng shui consultations about your office, your car, your home, your work cubicle, whatever. They do not promise to save your marriage, make you a millionaire or keep your plants from dying.

What they do promise is a glimpse into an Eastern way of doing things that may open whole new vistas and release untapped energy.

As one of the books for sale in the Feng Shui Shop puts it, "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life."

Or, at the very least, avoid colliding with that dragon.

Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.