A traditional Feng Shui practice thrives in Central Ohio
By By Douglas Wu, freelance writer, 614-985-5007

Diana Garber, founder and president of Intuitive Concepts, Inc., is committed to her clients and to raising the standards and practices of her fellow feng shui practitioners.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice based on the belief that all living things are under the control of the environment. The Chinese word feng shui stands for wind and water, elements of nature. In ancient Chinese beliefs, one of the most important concepts is ch’i. Ch’i is the life force, the energy, the air that flows everywhere. Feng shui practitioners, using complex calculations and metaphysical principals, try to direct the air of the places people live and work to promote the achievement of goals such as harmony, prosperity, good health and long life. The Chinese dynasties of long ago tried to keep traditional feng shui techniques a secret to insure their good fortune would continue and only the males of a bloodline could learn it.

Garber is not the typical feng shui practitioner. She worked in the corporate world for many years before health problems made her reconsider her life’s work. It was while overcoming her health problems she discovered the practice of feng shui. Garber started learning about feng shui by reading books and taking classes. “Twenty years ago there weren’t a lot of writing, especially the authentic form that comes from China,” she said. Then Garber applied feng shui practices to her life. Later, she started arranging her family’s and friends’ houses according to feng shui practices and later opened her practice, Intuitive Concepts, Inc. “Everything in my life has led me to now,” Garber said. And, many of her clients have become her friends. “I know in my heart there’s a reason we come together.”

Her approach to feng shui is based on a detailed, step-by-step technique that incorporates goal setting and results evaluation and scientific methods. “I love the science of it,” Garber said. “I love the tradition of it.”

Garber’s first step in working with clients is finding out what they hope to achieve by doing feng shui, obtaining their birth information to see if they are compatible with their living spaces and workspaces, and walking through the areas and surrounding landscapes. Garber next does what is known as a space clearing.

The space clearing disperses negative energy, Garber said. Garber asks for divine guidance to start the space clearing. Next, she lights a candle and then blows it out. Garber then watches the smoke as air currents takes it through the areas. Garber also rings a bell. The bell’s sound resonance breaks up the areas’ negative, stagnant energy. She uses incense and a dowsing rod to identify negative, stagnant energy in the areas. Also, Garber analyzes furniture layouts and recommends changes to improve the energy flow.

In the third and most important phase of the analysis, Garber maps out the living spaces and workspaces’ energy patterns. She uses instruments to find the magnetic pole and determine the buildings’ orientations relative to the pole. Garber also looks at floor plans and building construction dates and then complies all the information to identify inherent energy patterns in the buildings. Next, Garber determines the best way to recreate harmony using elemental objects and colors. “If we’re not honoring Mother Earth, we’re not honoring feng shui principals,” she said. The analysis is done on every room of the living spaces or workspaces to ensure total balance.

In the following phase Garber evaluates the compatibility of the living spaces and workspaces with their inhabitants. She determines furniture arrangements and color schemes that will help her clients the most.

Garber places her findings and recommendations in detailed client reports. The reports are normally 70 pages in length. The clients read over the reports and then Garber conducts a walk-through with clients to insure the clients have interpreted the reports’ findings correctly. “That’s another opportunity for making suggestions,” she said.

Garber then follows up with her clients every three months for one year. “I have an official schedule that I call them at three months, six months, nine months and twelve months.” The clients are welcome to do feng shui updates as their lives changes. “I have people that come back year after year,” Garber said. “Other people just do it once.”

She said typically clients see improvements in their lives three months after implementing feng shui. Garber cautioned clients cannot simply do feng shui and automatically think their lives will improve. She said feng shui is only one of many things they can do to improve their lives. “My concern is people think feng shui is a magic bullet. It’s only one tool in the tool box.”

Aside from helping her clients, Garber is trying to educate the public about traditional feng shui. “I really want people to embrace my knowledge. My knowledge is power only if it’s heard,” she said. Garber conducts workshops through Central Ohio on various feng shui topics and is working nationally to improve the education of feng shui practitioners.

Garber has been the director of education for the International Feng Shui Guild since March 2004. “I’m really trying to raise the bar of the profession to protect the public.” Garber is concerned many feng shui practitioners only know the western version of feng shui and do not know the traditional methods. “I would have to say 85 percent of the practitioners in the US are western,” she said.

Also, Garber is joining the staff of The Ohio State University Center for Integrated Medicine. As an independent contractor for the center, Garber will meet with patients and discuss feng shui and what it can mean for their lives. If the patients are interested feng shui practices, she will guide them through the process. Also Garber is going to examine the center’s building, 2000 Kenny Road. “We’re feng shuing the building and it’s really great.”

During Garber’s interview process with the university, Dan Evans of Bob Evans Farms wrote a letter of recommendation in support of her feng shui practice.

Evans spent 45 years with Bob Evans and 30 years as CEO. In 1992 Evans had a stroke and had seen five neurologists for the treatment of seizures but the neurologists were unable to offer any solutions that worked. After eight years of living with the disorder, Evans visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The doctors at the world famous hospital recommended surgery that could cure the seizures or reduce the seizures by half. It was at this time when Garber visited the home and did a feng shui consult. This was back in 2001. Evans followed Garber’s advice and did not have a Gand Mal seizure for three years, only slight ones. Evans decided against the surgery. He did have a major seizure this year and realized it was time to have a feng shui update. “He said he did nothing medically different and the Grand Mal seizures went away,” Garber said.

Garber said the story Evans told to OSU is typical of her clients. “I’ve got tons of letters from clients saying it’s fabulous.”