Jan Cisek (MSc, FSSA) is a leading international feng shui consultant and expert, trainer, mentor, feng shui researcher and writer with 35+ years experience in feng shui and a background in interior design, design and branding, electromagnetics and geopathics as well as environmental psychology.

1. How do you describe feng shui to someone with no previous knowledge? Please finish this sentence: 
“Proponents of feng shui believe that feng shui can significantly transform and improve any aspect of your personal, transpersonal and professional life.”

2. In your opinion, what relevance does feng shui have in the modern western world?
Feng shui adds an extra dimension to the elements of interior design, architecture, the working environments, office design and organisational change aspects with its concepts of chi/qi, yin and yang, five elements, and so on. There is valid wisdom and knowledge in feng shui. Modern feng shui, which I promote and practice, goes beyond the traditional or classical feng shui with its understanding of environmental factors and stressors such as geopathic stress and electromagnetic radiation. Modern feng shui offers psychological understandings of how environments affect us on many different levels from physical to emotional to mental to spiritual/transpersonal as well as social and organisational.

3. How did you get into feng shui? Where and how did you learn feng shui?
At the age of 10, I learned to dowse, and at 15 began reading about vastu shastra and feng shui. Since then, I’ve studied all over the world with many respected teachers from a variety of different cultures and settings. Having done over 10,000 consultations in over 35 years of active practice has been the most invaluable experience, teaching and learning of all. I’ve also done a degree in environmental psychology which taught me the science behind feng shui, how it works, what it does and the intrinsic nature of feng shui principles.

3. Why typically do people come to you for feng shui advice? 
These days, more and more people are concerned about the health aspects of their homes and workplaces – and specifically geopathic stress and electromagnetic pollution. There has been a massive increase in enquiries about the effects of electro-smog and radiation (wifi, mobile masts, 5G, etc.) on their wellness as well as productivity, creativity, job satisfaction and job retention and reducing stress in workplaces. Also, people who are selling their properties want to maximise their chances of a good return and when people are buying properties are quite anxious about different aspects and want to check if the property is healthy and safe.

4. What are your specific ethics in terms of working with feng shui clients? What are your key professional values for feng shui? 
My feng shui ethics are person-centred and solution-centred – both aspects of which are uniquely tailor-made to each client’s or company’s needs. My key professional values in my feng shui practice are evidence-based, truth, accuracy, care and compassion, connection, listening, personal-centred, modern, progressive and relevant and practical.

I see feng shui as an inventive art and open system or ongoing progressive process, and therefore I read the latest research on environmental aspects and stressors. In my professional life, I spend 50% of my time researching, then 30% writing and teaching and 20% working with clients and bringing the new insights to the real-life environments and sharing them.

5. What has been your most challenging feng shui job and why? What did you learn from it?
The most challenging aspect is dealing with people who have limited understanding of feng shui. The actual homes or workplaces are not a problem or challenge to me. When clients perceive life from a preconceived mythical and magic or imaginary perspective – it can be challenging for them to appreciate common sense explanations for their particular situation or life challenges. Some people read about feng shui online and draw false conclusions on how it works and what it can do. They sometimes have false expectations. And the most challenging is when they come to me with false problems as a result of reading some nonsense feng shui stuff online. For example, when they get some ‘astrological’ or similar reading for their home, which is doom and gloom without any actual evidence of any validity or truth. It’s challenging to undo the negative bias or nocebo effect, if you like. The learning here is that people are different, come from a variety of cultures and backgrounds and need different approaches and frameworks to convey how different aspects of their homes and workplaces shape their lives. Home is a state of mind, and so is the workplace. Not everything that you read online is true. Always look for evidence-based feng shui, so you don’t end up with false problems.

6. Describe a feng shui project that you found particularly interesting or rewarding. 
I’ve worked on the first school for kids with dyslexia in London, the Moat School which taught me to think creatively to offer solutions which were outside of the box but based on feng shui principles. 

I was also involved with Bethnal Green City Challenge, which incorporated a holistic approach to the renovation of one of London’s neglected parts which was featured on BBC2. It was helpful to work as a team of feng shui consultants and recognise that as a team, we can achieve much more – the synergy was great and very productive.

I’ve done an environmental audit and the redesign of the environment for stimulating awareness of the Palliative Care Support Team, Guy’s Hospital. Understanding spiritual/transpersonal feng shui was essential to designing valid and evidence-based solutions that would make a real difference for people who were at the end of their lives. It involved environmental interventions in helping with psychological, social and spiritual support for individuals and their families or carers.

I also worked on some significant environmental features that would affect the stability of Estonian independence and economic growth. It was a city project for Tallinn. Applying feng shui on the whole city and social structures was powerful and rewarding because thousands of people could benefit from the feng shui interventions. 

7. What aspect of feng shui are you most passionate about?
Health aspects such as geopathic stress, electromagnetic pollution, space clearing (which in physics is called space conditioning) as well as the physical science, psychology and transpersonal psychology behind feng shui. I’m also passionate about research on qi/chi as well as self-identification and self-expansion traits and how these commonalities are used for efficient and effective organisational change.

I’ve got a government–approved (Ofqual) vocation diploma in Practical Spirituality and Wellness, and my interest is in spiritual, transpersonal feng shui, which I believe is the next trend in feng shui. There are over 3300 papers on the health benefits of spirituality, and some of them are environmentally, feng shui related. Over the last ten years, the values of people have shifted from having stuff (human values) to being and health (spiritual/transpersonal values) and people are seeking environmental solutions to reflect and align their homes with these new values. 

8. In terms of your feng shui consultations and/or teaching, what is your USP (Unique Selling Point)?
I’m combining the scientific rigour of the west with the ancient eastern art of feng shui, so my advice is evidence-based so you can trust and have confidence that it will work because it’s based on the latest research. My feng shui approach is integral, holistic, transpersonal and encompassing classical feng shui and modern feng shui with a host of related disciplines such as geopathics, electromagnetics, environmental psychology, cognitive ergonomics, transpersonal psychology, wellness and so on.

I also offer distant, remote feng shui advice via skype/zoom/whatsapp/facetime, etc to reduce my travelling and carbon footprint (I do plant trees as well).

9. What direction is your feng shui work currently taking you? What lies ahead?
I’m working on my PhD in feng shui, which will be practical and relevant to modern working environments. The future of feng shui is evidence-based, and that’s where I’m putting my attention and focus, long-term.

Also, I’m working on defining what chi/qi is, how it works, and what are intrinsic qualities of qi as well as measuring it.

10. What advice would you give to a new feng shui enthusiast?
Study feng shui with top experts, who have lots of experience and variety of backgrounds, and approach it from an evidence-based perspective. Ideally, learn in face to face or virtual settings so you can ask relevant questions to accelerate your learning. Learn about different types of feng shui, both classical and modern. Study art, philosophy and science (environmental psychology and physics), so you can understand what feng shui is and how it works. Build your feng shui intelligence in many ways. Learn pattern recognition which is essential for spotting the energetic flows and patterns, elemental influences and yin and yang balance.

Love your home. Recognise that you already know some feng shui. A big part of feng shui is based on common sense and good design. Experiment, do something new everyday to your home, change something and see how it works. Your home or workplace is a living thing.

Learn about electromagnetic radiation which latest research suggests is the biggest problem for health, humanity and ecology so you can protect yourself, your family, children and the Earth. 

More info on Jan: http://www.fengshuilondon.net