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Some lonely Americans are 1)eschewing Internet
dating and instead putting their faith in feng shui in a bid to find their romantic soul mates.
It is not yet a common sight to see feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of 2)geomancy, advertised as a romance 3)enhancer, but it may not be long before it becomes an accepted part of dating in big cities where singles frequently battle to find love, devoted 4)practitioners say.
People such as Los Angeles advertising art director, Alicia Schiefer, insist that feng shui works to improve one’s romantic life.
“It’s worth doing,” she said. Using the 5)peach blossom technique in feng shui, she entered into what she says was a very satisfying long-term relationship.
The 44-year-old Schiefer, who went through a difficult divorce, business 6)doldrums and a death in the family, was 7)on the verge of returning to her native Peru, but a judge 8)barred her from taking her sons out of the country.
The hard times came crashing down as Schiefer hired Janice Sugita, a feng shui consultant and interior designer, to 9)jump-start her business.
Sugita, noticing her client’s single status, told Schiefer that romance could be hers with a few easy feng shui techniques.
Feng shui is increasingly becoming accepted in the West as a way of increasing business 10)prosperity and maintaining health, 11)harnessing the universal energy of life, or qi, to create a 12)harmonious environment.
“Not only will you be able to improve your surroundings to attract romance, but you can increase your personal energy that will make you feel more energized and attractive,” according to Sugita’s E-book The Feng Shui Equation.
The formula for 13)stirring up romantic energy is simple enough. Fresh flowers are placed in water in a wide-necked vase. The color of the flower and the vase must be the same and can be determined by checking a person’s birth date on a feng shui chart or by having a reading done.
The chart also determines the best direction for the flower arrangement. Then, one must 14)sit back and wait.
Schiefer lived in a rental for a year and never met anyone. Her peach blossom was in place, but she planned to move. Within a few weeks, a 15)prospective 16)tenant asked to meet her because of how she had decorated the space.
Five years later, she and her partner, Brad Amster, are still together.
“This guy rang my bell. What are the chances you meet someone that comes to your house?” said Schiefer.
Benoit Hug and Ines Beyer have also become believers.
Hug, a baker, was single when he set up his flowers in the bedroom. Three days later, a woman asked him out.
“It was fun to try it out. I had a good experience,” he said of the relationship, which lasted a few months.
Within one or two days of putting her flowers in place, Beyer says she got a call from an ex-boyfriend. One week later, two men she had met earlier called her.
Feng shui practitioners point out that the technique does have its down side. The personal attraction created can bring ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands back on the scene.
“It only improves what you were meant to have,” said Betty Stone, assistant to Feng Shui Master Larry Sang of the American Feng Shui Institute.
But if you ask Pat Linse, co-founder of the 17)Skeptics Society, an organization devoted to the promotion and better understanding of science, she will not be giving up Internet dating anytime soon.
To her, feng shui romance sounds “charming and 18)poetic. It could make a person happier and more 19)receptive to a relationship.”
Linse said it would be interesting to test the technique scientifically by gathering 100 people who do not know the 20)ritual and having 50 of them practice the correct ritual while showing the wrong ritual to the other 50, and then observing whether there is a difference in the groups’ outcomes.
Meanwhile, 21)enthusiasts of the ancient art are finding that they can increase their understanding by doing a feng shui travel tour.
The 10-day tour, organized by Feng Shui Masters, takes the faithful to a series of ancient sites in China that represent feng shui’s early beginnings.
Locations are beautifully 22)landscaped in accordance with feng shui principles, and special lecturers explain their significance along the way.
“Each person has a different reaction (to the trip), depending on their cultural background,” said Johnathan Ng, executive director of Feng Shui Masters.
“A visit to the Hangzhou temple has moved people to tears,” he said. “They feel so great, so very positive.”
一些在感情路上仍然形单影只的美国
人已经不再相信网络情缘了，他们开始寄情风水，希望风水能为他们找到自己的另一半。
风水师说，这种源自中国的古老的占卜术，目前在人们感情生活中的作用还不太突出，但也许在不久的将来，风水就会在大城市里那些苦苦寻求真爱的人们约会时扮演必要的角色。
有的人坚信风水确实能给人带来桃花运，洛杉矶的广告布景师艾丽西亚·塞弗就是其中的一位。
“这是值得一试的，”她说。运用了风水学中的“桃花术”后，她收获了一段令人满意的稳定的感情。
正当44岁的塞弗遭遇婚姻失败、事业消沉、亲人离世接二连三的打击，准备返回她的祖国秘鲁时，法院裁定她不能把儿子带出美国。
在跌入人生低谷、一蹶不振的时候，塞弗聘请了风水顾问兼室内设计师珍妮斯·苏吉塔来帮助自己摆脱困境。
塞弗的婚姻状况引起了苏吉塔的注意，她告诉塞弗，只需运用少许风水技巧，浪漫的爱情就会重返她身边。
在西方，风水已得到越来越多人的认可，他们认为风水能让自己财运亨通、身体健康，还能积聚生命的泛能——“气”，从而创造一个和谐的环境。
“风水不仅能改善你的周围环境，吸引爱情的到来，它还能增加你的个人能量，让你感觉更加精神焕发，更加充满魅力，”苏吉塔在其电子书《风水方程式》中这样写道。
激发爱情能量的方法很简单——只要把鲜花插在水里，放在一个广口花瓶里就行了。花和花瓶的颜色必须一致。在风水图表上按自己的生日，或参考一些相关材料，就能查到适合自己的鲜花的颜色。
从风水表上还能查到摆放鲜花的最佳位置。做完这一切之后，你只需耐心等待就行了。
塞弗在自己租的房子里住了一年，其间从未结交过男朋友。她已计划好要搬走，但在摆了桃花阵的几个星期以后，一个打算租这个房子的人说想见见她，因为她把房子装饰得很特别。
五年过去了，她和布莱德·阿姆斯德的关系持续到了现在。
“他按了我家的门铃。与一个找上门来的人相知相识，这种机率能有多大呢？”塞弗说道。
本奈特·亨格和艾内斯·本耶同样笃信风水。
面包师亨格当时还是单身，他把花摆放在卧室里。三天后，就有一位女子约会他了。
“但试无妨，挺有趣的。那段日子我很开心，”他谈及那段历时只有几个月的恋情。
本耶把花摆放在合适位置，一两天后，她就接到了前男友的电话。一个星期后，她之前遇到的两个男人也给她打了电话。
风水师指出，风水的功能有其局限性。它让人们重拾个人魅力，前男友或前夫也重新回到她们身边。
“它只是改善你原本注定的命运，”美国风水协会风水大师拉里·桑的助手贝蒂·斯通说道。
但如果你问及无神论协会的创始人之一帕特·林塞，她的回答就是，在未来的一段时间里，她都不会放弃网络约会。
在她眼里，“风水情缘”听起来“如诗般很吸引人，它能让人们更快乐，也更容易接受一段恋情。”
林塞说，有一个有趣的实验可以科学地测试出“风水”的灵验度——找100个对风水一无所知的人，让其中50人遵从正确的风水理论，剩下的50人则相反，看看两组人的结果是否会有很大差别。
同时，风水狂热者们发现，实地的风水考察之旅能有助于增强他们对风水的理解。
于是风水大师们组织了一次为期十天的旅行，把虔诚的风水信徒带到了中国的一系列古遗址，从这些遗址可以看出中国风水理论早期的发展。
他们在所到之处都能看到在风水理论指导下别致精巧的设计，沿途还有专人仔细讲解这种种设计的独到之处。
“每个人对这次中国之旅的感觉都不一样，这取决于他们不同的文化背景，”风水大师协会的执行理事乔纳森·吴说道。
“游览杭州的灵隐寺时，许多人都流下了眼泪，”他说，“他们感觉好极了，非常受鼓舞。”
Some lonely Americans are 1)eschewing Internet
dating and instead putting their faith in feng shui in a bid to find their romantic soul mates.
It is not yet a common sight to see feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of 2)geomancy, advertised as a romance 3)enhancer, but it may not be long before it becomes an accepted part of dating in big cities where singles frequently battle to find love, devoted 4)practitioners say.
People such as Los Angeles advertising art director, Alicia Schiefer, insist that feng shui works to improve one’s romantic life.
“It’s worth doing,” she said. Using the 5)peach blossom technique in feng shui, she entered into what she says was a very satisfying long-term relationship.
The 44-year-old Schiefer, who went through a difficult divorce, business 6)doldrums and a death in the family, was 7)on the verge of returning to her native Peru, but a judge 8)barred her from taking her sons out of the country.
The hard times came crashing down as Schiefer hired Janice Sugita, a feng shui consultant and interior designer, to 9)jump-start her business.
Sugita, noticing her client’s single status, told Schiefer that romance could be hers with a few easy feng shui techniques.
Feng shui is increasingly becoming accepted in the West as a way of increasing business 10)prosperity and maintaining health, 11)harnessing the universal energy of life, or qi, to create a 12)harmonious environment.
“Not only will you be able to improve your surroundings to attract romance, but you can increase your personal energy that will make you feel more energized and attractive,” according to Sugita’s E-book The Feng Shui Equation.
The formula for 13)stirring up romantic energy is simple enough. Fresh flowers are placed in water in a wide-necked vase. The color of the flower and the vase must be the same and can be determined by checking a person’s birth date on a feng shui chart or by having a reading done.
The chart also determines the best direction for the flower arrangement. Then, one must 14)sit back and wait.
Schiefer lived in a rental for a year and never met anyone. Her peach blossom was in place, but she planned to move. Within a few weeks, a 15)prospective 16)tenant asked to meet her because of how she had decorated the space.
Five years later, she and her partner, Brad Amster, are still together.
“This guy rang my bell. What are the chances you meet someone that comes to your house?” said Schiefer.
Benoit Hug and Ines Beyer have also become believers.
Hug, a baker, was single when he set up his flowers in the bedroom. Three days later, a woman asked him out.
“It was fun to try it out. I had a good experience,” he said of the relationship, which lasted a few months.
Within one or two days of putting her flowers in place, Beyer says she got a call from an ex-boyfriend. One week later, two men she had met earlier called her.
Feng shui practitioners point out that the technique does have its down side. The personal attraction created can bring ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands back on the scene.
“It only improves what you were meant to have,” said Betty Stone, assistant to Feng Shui Master Larry Sang of the American Feng Shui Institute.
But if you ask Pat Linse, co-founder of the 17)Skeptics Society, an organization devoted to the promotion and better understanding of science, she will not be giving up Internet dating anytime soon.
To her, feng shui romance sounds “charming and 18)poetic. It could make a person happier and more 19)receptive to a relationship.”
Linse said it would be interesting to test the technique scientifically by gathering 100 people who do not know the 20)ritual and having 50 of them practice the correct ritual while showing the wrong ritual to the other 50, and then observing whether there is a difference in the groups’ outcomes.
Meanwhile, 21)enthusiasts of the ancient art are finding that they can increase their understanding by doing a feng shui travel tour.
The 10-day tour, organized by Feng Shui Masters, takes the faithful to a series of ancient sites in China that represent feng shui’s early beginnings.
Locations are beautifully 22)landscaped in accordance with feng shui principles, and special lecturers explain their significance along the way.
“Each person has a different reaction (to the trip), depending on their cultural background,” said Johnathan Ng, executive director of Feng Shui Masters.
“A visit to the Hangzhou temple has moved people to tears,” he said. “They feel so great, so very positive.”
一些在感情路上仍然形单影只的美国
人已经不再相信网络情缘了，他们开始寄情风水，希望风水能为他们找到自己的另一半。
风水师说，这种源自中国的古老的占卜术，目前在人们感情生活中的作用还不太突出，但也许在不久的将来，风水就会在大城市里那些苦苦寻求真爱的人们约会时扮演必要的角色。
有的人坚信风水确实能给人带来桃花运，洛杉矶的广告布景师艾丽西亚·塞弗就是其中的一位。
“这是值得一试的，”她说。运用了风水学中的“桃花术”后，她收获了一段令人满意的稳定的感情。
正当44岁的塞弗遭遇婚姻失败、事业消沉、亲人离世接二连三的打击，准备返回她的祖国秘鲁时，法院裁定她不能把儿子带出美国。
在跌入人生低谷、一蹶不振的时候，塞弗聘请了风水顾问兼室内设计师珍妮斯·苏吉塔来帮助自己摆脱困境。
塞弗的婚姻状况引起了苏吉塔的注意，她告诉塞弗，只需运用少许风水技巧，浪漫的爱情就会重返她身边。
在西方，风水已得到越来越多人的认可，他们认为风水能让自己财运亨通、身体健康，还能积聚生命的泛能——“气”，从而创造一个和谐的环境。
“风水不仅能改善你的周围环境，吸引爱情的到来，它还能增加你的个人能量，让你感觉更加精神焕发，更加充满魅力，”苏吉塔在其电子书《风水方程式》中这样写道。
激发爱情能量的方法很简单——只要把鲜花插在水里，放在一个广口花瓶里就行了。花和花瓶的颜色必须一致。在风水图表上按自己的生日，或参考一些相关材料，就能查到适合自己的鲜花的颜色。
从风水表上还能查到摆放鲜花的最佳位置。做完这一切之后，你只需耐心等待就行了。
塞弗在自己租的房子里住了一年，其间从未结交过男朋友。她已计划好要搬走，但在摆了桃花阵的几个星期以后，一个打算租这个房子的人说想见见她，因为她把房子装饰得很特别。
五年过去了，她和布莱德·阿姆斯德的关系持续到了现在。
“他按了我家的门铃。与一个找上门来的人相知相识，这种机率能有多大呢？”塞弗说道。
本奈特·亨格和艾内斯·本耶同样笃信风水。
面包师亨格当时还是单身，他把花摆放在卧室里。三天后，就有一位女子约会他了。
“但试无妨，挺有趣的。那段日子我很开心，”他谈及那段历时只有几个月的恋情。
本耶把花摆放在合适位置，一两天后，她就接到了前男友的电话。一个星期后，她之前遇到的两个男人也给她打了电话。
风水师指出，风水的功能有其局限性。它让人们重拾个人魅力，前男友或前夫也重新回到她们身边。
“它只是改善你原本注定的命运，”美国风水协会风水大师拉里·桑的助手贝蒂·斯通说道。
但如果你问及无神论协会的创始人之一帕特·林塞，她的回答就是，在未来的一段时间里，她都不会放弃网络约会。
在她眼里，“风水情缘”听起来“如诗般很吸引人，它能让人们更快乐，也更容易接受一段恋情。”
林塞说，有一个有趣的实验可以科学地测试出“风水”的灵验度——找100个对风水一无所知的人，让其中50人遵从正确的风水理论，剩下的50人则相反，看看两组人的结果是否会有很大差别。
同时，风水狂热者们发现，实地的风水考察之旅能有助于增强他们对风水的理解。
于是风水大师们组织了一次为期十天的旅行，把虔诚的风水信徒带到了中国的一系列古遗址，从这些遗址可以看出中国风水理论早期的发展。
他们在所到之处都能看到在风水理论指导下别致精巧的设计，沿途还有专人仔细讲解这种种设计的独到之处。
“每个人对这次中国之旅的感觉都不一样，这取决于他们不同的文化背景，”风水大师协会的执行理事乔纳森·吴说道。
“游览杭州的灵隐寺时，许多人都流下了眼泪，”他说，“他们感觉好极了，非常受鼓舞。”