Red Deer College is promoting health and harmony one room at a time with a new feng shui class.
RDC Continuing Education is offering a three-module feng shui certificate program, with the first module running from May 7 to June 30, featuring instructors from The Sacred Lotus School of Feng Shui Inc. in Calgary.
RDC program co-ordinator Jennifer Hartigh said the program is “a little experimental” for the college. But interest exists in the community, judging from feedback.
“Although we haven’t filled the class right away, we’ve got a lot of interest. When we were at the Red Deer Home Show we had people asking about it,” Hartigh said.
Students will do most of their class work online, with one face-to-face class on June 4.
Instructor Mia A. Staysko said Sacred Lotus chose to run its first certificate program at Red Deer College.
“We wanted to spread out into the province a little bit and Red Deer is nice place to be because it’s central. It has the ability to catch clients both from Calgary and from Edmonton,” Staysko said.
She said feng shui is the art of understanding, analyzing and subtly manipulating the movement of chi, or energy, in an environment to support health, vitality and intentions of occupants.
There are different schools of feng shui and Sacred Lotus teaches Black Sect Tantric Feng Shui.
Staysko said feng shui is like spring cleaning.
“Everybody knows when you can finally open the windows, and you move things around, and pick stuff up, and dust stuff off, and you maybe place it somewhere different, it makes a difference in your energy. If you don’t believe it, move your sofa. Move your furniture around. Good or bad, you’ll know (the energy) changed.”
Often people instinctively change their environment for the better and have “the exact right things in the exact right place,” said Staysko who has practised feng shui for three years.
Black Sect Tantric uses less traditional cures like the placement of mirrors, round Swarovski crystals, and the use of light, movement and sound, rather than Chinese symbols, so it appeals more to the Western aesthetic and sensibility.
“Feng Shui is one of those things that can be confusing because there are different schools and schools can vary vastly in their advice.”
It’s a matter of people finding what form of feng shui speaks to them, Staysko said.
“Some people notice things right away. It depends how sensitive you are to energy. For other people, depending on what they’re trying to do or trying to adjust, it might take months.”
For more information about the RDC course, visit http://bit.ly/gDFk5E or call 403-356-4900.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com