Year of the Tiger: Time to Heal
Feng shui practitioner Priya Subberwal sees a time of growth, healing and – glory be! – more travel in the year ahead. She gives Morgan M Davis a primer on how to activate our best energy in work and life.
FCC member Priya Subberwal trained as an interior designer but later studied Chinese metaphysics across Asia, tying her penchant for design to her knowledge of feng shui (the art of arranging spaces to achieve harmony in daily life).
Today she runs Hong Kong-based Disha Consulting, offering clients guidance on how to improve feng shui in their homes and offices. Through “destiny readings” (an analysis of personal factors, such as time and date of birth), Subberwal also helps clients tap into their unique personal strengths and choose dates for important events, such as corporate launches, moving offices or buying a new home.
With the Year of the Tiger starting on 1 February, The Correspondent spoke with Subberwal to catch a glimpse of what 2022 has in store and how feng shui could bring out the best of the year. Take heart, it looks like more travel could, maybe, possibly be on the horizon!
What led you to pursue feng shui as a career?
Priya Subberwal: I’m a qualified interior designer. When I was in Mumbai, I came across a coffee table book about feng shui. At that point, I thought it would add to my interior design skillset and support my clients with more insights.
When I moved to Southeast Asia in 2007, I had more resources and studied quite extensively in Singapore, Taiwan, China and Malaysia.
I started including feng shui practices in my own house and saw a change. From there, friends and family asked me to help them. I also worked a lot with expatriates in Hong Kong – a constantly moving population. Every time someone comes and chooses a new home, feng shui becomes relevant. Eventually, after being in Hong Kong for some time, I began consulting with more businesses and started my company.
What’s the overarching purpose of feng shui?
PS: Feng shui helps people tap into the best energies from the environment and align them with their goals. The whole purpose is to enhance your life; it’s like Wi-Fi. You want to have a strong connection, so you choose the best location and direction to boost positive energy for that. Whatever objective you have in life, you can enhance it with feng shui.
What are your clients generally looking for?
PS: When it’s for an office, they look for career- and wealth-related advice. Since feng shui is goal-oriented, we want to activate the best areas to enhance business opportunities and ease any hurdles with their staff, bosses or relationships. For the home, there are so many other things we keep in mind – health, relationships, education, and more.
How do consultations work?
PS: Initially, I ask for two things – date and time of birth – because I need to establish a destiny chart, a personal dynamic energy (or Qi) map. Many people think it’s just about their year of birth, but it’s not that simple.
Actually, there’s a cosmic trinity: the first item in the trinity is your destiny chart, which is written in stone. That’s your parents, your upbringing. The second is the feng shui, tapping into the environment to boost energies and help you achieve goals. The last one is “man luck”, essentially, what you do with the optimised energies.
Everybody has four animal signs in their natal chart. The four animal signs represent one of the five elements – water, fire, metal, earth and wood – in their yin or yang form. The elements form combinations, clashes, harmonies or punishments, which play out in different aspects of our life: relationships, career, wealth and health.
FCC member Priya SubberwalWhat do most people get wrong about feng shui?
PS: Many people have a misguided notion that if they put a fish tank in one corner and a red vase in another, they’ve done feng shui. It is not that easy. You have to put in the work along with the feng shui to achieve your goal. The most basic yet effective ‘work’ would be to use the locations in a home or office with the highest vibrational energy of the year and avoid negative areas.
What do we need to know about 2022?
PS: Every year brings a new energy form. For example, 2022 is a Water-Tiger Year and will affect each person differently based on their destiny chart. Tiger is a wood element, which relates to growth, healing and medicine. The tiger is also a travelling star. It’s a more optimistic time coming up – a time of moving forward.
What does this mean for FCC members?
PS: The southernmost space in your home or office is one of the most auspicious areas for the Year of the Tiger. Set up your desk there, if possible, and maybe light a candle daily. Another option would be to simply sit with your back to the south, even if it’s just for 10 minutes, strategise your thoughts and make a few work-related calls and emails.
Rest and relaxation are crucial for good health, so avoid sleeping in the southwest room or area of your home; the ‘Sickness Star No. 2’ resides there for 2022. If you don’t have this option, ensure that your bed’s headrest is not facing southwest.
If you’re in marketing, make your pitches from the west of the house or building. For 2022, that’s the area where you will have the most confidence and oratory skills.
Learn more about Priya Subberwal’s work: dishasconsulting.com
Priya’s Toolkit
Tap into your best energy with these sources.
Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics
Plot your destiny chart online for free with this handy resource.
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