First off, I wanted to say to all of you how grateful I am for your responsiveness to my requests in my newsletters. It seems that whenever I make a request, you’re out there listening and are there for me. That makes me even more excited to sit down and write these newsletters each month!

So, a big thank you goes out to all the people who offered to take part in my Naples, Florida training by submitting your local homes and life situations to feng shui. I got an overwhelming response. I do have enough for the course and I appreciate your generosity.

Also, be sure to check out my travel schedule below as I have added a bunch of consultation travel dates to it, including some Florida dates to accommodate anyone who’s home I could not use for the training but who still wants help.

I will be available to speak in these cities as well, so if you know of an opportunity that might work, please let me know. I’m hoping that these speaking opportunities will help many of you who want training-type information but can’t find the time to make the full "certification" commitment. (This is also a part of my current feng shui cure of making 9 introductions a day for 9 days in order to stir up more speaking business - so I’m getting out there and asking!) Give me a call and we can discuss rates, etc.

I’m looking for spas, independent bookstores, conferences, business organizations, private events, destination management company gigs and so on.

Here are the 5 talk topics I’ve rolled out this year:

1. Creating RE-Rooms (relax, receive, retreat, relate, recline, revive, recreate, restore, rejuvenate) That Rock! This is a fun "powerpoint" talk filled with befores and afters that really gets the point across - a picture is worth a thousand words on this talk!

4. Get Your Shift Together: 5 Simple Techniques that Shift Your Mind Towards Your Best Future. If you’ve heard me speak before, you may have heard me say “sometimes I work on the chicken (client) and sometimes I work on the egg (environment),” this is the chicken talk. This talk includes techniques that get people out of their limiting thinking and into the world of possibility. Very touchy-feely, and VERY empowering and life-shifting.

5. Bed and Breakfast - How to Improve the Most Important 1/3 of Your Day and Your Diet So It Can Improve You! This talk is for those who just want the biggest bang for the littlest effort or buck in their feng shui efforts. It gets into the bedroom and the kitchen cupboards to make the quickest and highest impact on health and well being.

And of course, custom talks as well as any of the talks that I’ve given in the past (like First Steps on the Feng Shui Path, and Removing the 7 Secret Blocks Holding You Back From Your Ultimate Personal and Professional Success Using Feng Shui and Everything about Feng Shui that the Real Estate Professional Needs to Know) are still available.

Question #1: I’m one of those unfortunate people you see on TV these days that has been put in the process of foreclosure. I also heard that feng shui can change things for the better for people. What can you suggest to help me keep my house? If you say to do it, I’ll do it!

Answer #1: Feng Shui can help with any life experience. I’ve personally seen "miracles," and have heard from many other people via my website as well, so your "it’s possible" outlook is a great start. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

1. Imagine your preferred outcome. Often times, problems manifest due to lack of imagination of how else it could be. So get your dreaming cap on and get to work on your "best-case scenario" that you would love to have replace the old issue of foreclosure. Get specific. For example, I’d like you to imagine the evidence that you would have to actually see, feel, hear, taste, smell (or any combination thereof) to convince yourself that "your dream came true."

2. Describe by writing on paper your dream scenario evidence. It should include a date as well as the evidence. The beginning of the sentence should be It is now(insert date) and I have/am (describe the evidence. For example, "It is June 1, 2008, and I am sitting in the mortgage office signing a new, totally reasonable and affordable mortgage for my home. It feels so great to have this situation resolved. My body and mind are more relaxed knowing that everything worked out either make this the helpful people box scenario or make a tape to offer as a product special."

3. Place this writing in a metal box, and place it in the front right-hand part of any room or your entire home. Just walk into a room or through the front door and go to immediately to the right and find a spot in the front right-hand one ninth part for your box. Also, place the name of your mortgage company, bank, or any other person that is involved in this foreclosure that you need help from in this box as well.

4. Get your front door as clean and in good repair as you can. Then sweep the entire way, from the sidewalk to the door with intentions of clearing the way for new opportunities to come your way with regard to keeping your home.

5. Clean out any clutter. I know everyone who has read my book has found their "prosperity corner" and pays special attention to that, but clutter clearing can be just as powerful if not more powerful in getting money to flow your way. So clutter clear everywhere please - this is a must do! Look at it this way. If you want to hang on to your house, you must relinquish the overabundance of stuff in it. And an overabundance in this case is ANYTHING that you don’t love, need this month, or use consistently. And without knowing what stuff you’ve got an overload of, I’m guessing here at what might give you a good starting point. Start with trinkets like collectibles that just sit on shelves. Do you want these more than the roof over your head? Next, I’d go for clothes in closets and anything that is sitting in a pile anywhere on any floor. If there is no cabinet or shelf or drawer to put it in, then it’s on the chopping block. Go to one of my old newsletters to get ideas on where to take the stuff. I copied a few links here for you from the newsletter archives on my website:

Feng Shui Palace Newsletter January, 2006

Feng Shui Palace Newsletter April, 2003

Feng Shui Palace Newsletter October, 2003

If you are interested in becoming an inspired professional feng shui consultant, capable of transforming your life and your client’s lives for the better and all the while making a good living, I invite you to sign up for the next training session coming up August 3 through 7th, in Naples Florida. There are 6 spots left. The sooner you sign up, the more time you have to study the pre-training assignments!

Here’s the link to give you more information on this wonderful course!:

Certification Course

If you wish to become a student of mine this year but think you don’t have the money, or it is too expensive, I’d like to respond by first letting you know that once you’ve taken a look at our tuition financing options, you’ll understand how affordable it can really be. Give us a call and we can discuss these options with you.

I’d also ask you to consider what it’s going to cost you if you don’t do it. What is the price - physically, emotionally, and financially of not knowing how to set up supportive environments for yourself and others around you?

I’m writing this because a couple of people have emailed with their limiting belief in a lack of funds and I wanted to expand their awareness a bit.

This kind of thinking reminds me of a time in my past when I ran my own landscape architectural firm, and decided to travel to Europe and Japan. Some of my friends who also owned their companies looked at me dumbfounded and asked, how do you do it? How do you take the time to go so far and spend all that money, when you should be out getting new business in this cruddy economy (think early 90's)? I’d say, "I buy a ticket!"

Believe me, if I never bought the ticket, something else surely would have taken up that time (and money). But I didn’t let it, and I went. And looking back, I can’t remember what projects I was working on or trying to get then, but I do remember standing in a Japanese garden in Kyoto, and wandering through a giant labyrinth in a garden outside London. And looking back, I still think it was waaay worth it.

You see, the issue isn’t about investment. The issue is how much you think you’re worth investing in – and I thought the experience was worth having. And believe me, it did pay off financially as well as spiritually. Yes, those travel/educational experiences somehow grew my spirit.

So, if you think the training is too expensive, I’d ask you, "Too expensive compared to what? Compared to the cost of not having this education?"

One student from the first class that I trained last year was VERY CONCERNED about where she was going to get the money to pay for the training and I shared with her the following quote (which I later put in my training manual!):

"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no one could have dreamt would have come their way."

Sir William Murray

Long story short, she committed and came to the class (and most certainly survived)! Today, she happens to be signed up for my mastery training (only available to graduating students from my certification training program) in 2009. She got it, and it’s working well for her. :)

(And if you want to really get into how to deal with limiting beliefs, get certified in my feng shui training and then come along to my mastery training!)

Success Story # 1: Here’s my personal success story! When I found out that my assistant quit the afternoon of March 31st, I felt overwhelmed and understaffed. So I immediately wrote a note for my helpful people box (a metal box that I use for help requests that I place in the front right hand area of my desk) that said, "It is April 2, 2008, and I now have everyone in place in my company that help me create the company of my dreams that transforms lives quickly, happily, and with seeming little effort. Thank you."

To tell you the truth, it did not seem possible that a less than 48 hour solution could be met. In fact, it seemed quite ridiculous. But that’s what I wanted. But really, how could I get someone in here working in 1.5 days? (I say this to show that it doesn’t even take faith to work, although I usually say it helps!)

On April 1st, I started dialing up everyone I had accounts with to see what orders were outstanding and so on. When I called one of my graphic designers, I asked her if she could be available to help me with any computer situations that might come up in the next couple of weeks because I knew she was a wiz at that sort of thing. She said she could only help me at nights and on weekends because of her job, but her daughter was a temp, and work was a little slow at the moment. She put her on the phone, and long story short, she started working here on April 2nd!

Now, she may not be the ultimate, forever, perfect for a lifetime assistant, but she met the requirements in the parameters that I set and so far, has fulfilled the requirements just fine. :)

Please send in your feng shui success stories! I know that many people say they love reading them. Here’s the link to report your success story. (It’s at the bottom of the web page) Feng Shui Palace Success Stories

This month, our Feng Shui Essentials for Real Estate multi-media kit and the Move Your Stuff...The Real Estate Edition CD set are a whopping 40% off! That’s $179 for the Essentials Kit that regularly retails for $297, and $30 for the CD set that retails for $49.

The multi-media kit has all sorts of supplies and information geared for both the real estate professional as well as the homeowner doing it themselves.

The CD set includes one CD filled with tips for selling properties, one CD for buying properties with good feng shui, and one clutter-clearing CD. Of course I consider this CD mandatory if there is any problems with either buying the right property or selling one.

So, if you are in the real estate business or are considering buying or selling your home, now is the time to pick up these products. Let’s get through this "foreclosure" situation and move on with life!

Here’s the link: Feng Shui Palace Product Specials

A Different Way to Look at Obesity.

When it comes to the average American diet, from a Traditional Chinese point of view, it would be most oftentimes considered "spleen yang deficient." What the heck does that mean? The spleen yang energies turn food into blood. It separates and transforms energy.

An all-to-common "symptom" of spleen yang deficiency where food is not properly separated and transformed is obesity. (Some other signs of poor transportation and transformation are cold hands and feet, but we’re going to stick to the obesity conversation for now.)

One reason obesity occurs is when the "digestive fire" that burns the food fuel has been extinguished. If the digestive fire is not there, the inability to feed the body is not there.

So what puts out the fire? Damp foods. "Water douses fire" in the 5-element system, so it makes sense that food dampness squelches the digestive fire. Dairy foods like cheeses are a good example of damp food. They are considered a "cold" food, and create mucus in the body. Some other foods that should be avoided if damp are pork and fatty meats, roasted peanuts, including peanut butter, concentrated fruit juices, especially orange and tomato juice, excess refined wheat products, bananas, sugar and sweeteners, chocolate, saturated fats, especially deep fried foods, nuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt, alcohol, limit raw, cold, processed, sugary or fatty foods to aid in spleen which needs to be nourished with dampness.

Some foods to help get rid of damp include:

Ginger, Papaya, Mango, Pineapple, Bitter melons, Dark Bitter Greens, Watercress, Shitaki, Cinnamon, Bay, Tumeric, and Corriander.

Some other strategies to increase digestion include:

Sipping hot water throughout the day, or ginger tea 2 to 3 times per day.

Fasting one day a week on liquids. You may have fruit or vegetable juices, light soups, teas, etc.

Chew a thin slice of ginger root a few minutes before meals, or grate a little ginger, and mix with some lemons juice and salt, and eat a pinch or two.

Use herbs and spices like cumin, ginger, mustard seed, cayenne, and black pepper generously in your cooking.

Use Ayurvedic herbs such as gotu kola, amalaki, and shilajit in powder or capsule form.

Exercise regularly or start or up your yoga practice.

When was the last time you gave your pots and pans some TLC? After all, they are the sacred objects you put your life force called food in just before you eat it. If it has been a while, give your pots and pans the love they deserve by scrubbing off any burn marks or stains. Clean the copper bottoms and shine the stainless steel. I use a little tomato soup to get my copper its glow back!

sAnd while you’re in the pot and pans cabinet, take a quick look at what they are made of. Since the 1970's aluminum (pans) have been associated Alzheimer’s, so it would be considered prudent to remove or phase out your aluminum pans and reduce or stop your use of cooking with aluminum foil. (Instead of plastic bags or aluminum foil, I now knock out two negatives by using unbleached waxed paper bags for my son’s school lunch sandwiches.)

Non-stick coatings such as Teflon have also been questioned due to their "perfluorochemicals" (PFC’s) which once were thought to be inert at the original time of their use on pans. But now they and have been scientifically shown to be highly toxic chemicals that negatively affect human blood and wildlife. PFC’s can be found in other things such as cosmetics and furniture and things that repel dirt and grease like furniture treatments and shoe sprays, floor wax and shampoos so don’t just scold your breakfast skillet! My advice is to at least stop using PVC coated items that touch your food and start to consider phasing out these other things from the home as you make future purchases and "stick with" glass, stainless steel, and cast iron pans and up your chances for longevity.

I know it seems like sometimes it is easier to just put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist, but if you take it one step at a time and not put yourself in overwhelm, you’ll do fine. :)

If you have any interest in me coming to your city for a consultation or a lecture/speaking engagement, please contact my assistant Jennifer or Suzanne during Pacific business hours at 714-508-9935.

July 23-24, 2008

I will be available for approximately 4 on-site local consultations in Austin, Texas over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

July 25-26, 2008

I will be speaking to the overnight guests at the Lake Austin Resort and Spa, so if you are interested in pampering yourself and learning a bit of feng shui, feel free to make a reservation be calling 800-847-5637 or make a reservation at Lake Austin Resort & Spa

August 3-7, 2008

I’ll be hosting/teaching the inspired feng shui practitioner certification course! If you are interested in being a part of this fun adventure, give Jennifer or Suzanne a call at 714-508-9935!

August 8-9, 2008

I will be available for on-site consultations in over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

August 11-12, 2008

West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Florida

I will be available for on-site consultations in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

August 20, 2008

Louisville, Kentucky/Southern Indiana

I will be available for on-site consultations in these areas for this one day only. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

August 21, 2008

Lexington, Kentucky

I will be available for on-site consultations in Lexington for one day only. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

August 22, 2008

Cincinnati, Ohio/ Northern Kentucky

I will be available for on-site consultations in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky areas for this one day only. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

September 12-13, 2008

Phoenix, Arizona

I will be available for on-site consultations in Phoenix over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

September 23-24, 2008

Portland, Oregon

I will be available for on-site consultations in Portland over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

September 25-26, 2008

Seattle, Washington

I will be available for on-site consultations in Seattle over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

September 27-28, 2008

Vancouver, B.C.

I will be available for on-site consultations in Vancouver over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is US$699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

October 9-10, 2008

Ojai/Santa Barbara, CA

I will be available for on-site consultations in the Ojai and Santa Barbara areas over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

October 20, 2008

Los Angeles, CA

I will be available for on-site consultations in Los Angeles. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

March 2-3, 2009

I will be available for on-site consultations in the Houston area over the course of these two days. Each consultation usually takes between two and three hours where you will end up with a priority list of changes to be made that are specific to the results you are requesting. The consultation fee is $699.00. Please contact my office at 714-508-9935 or email Jennifer or Suzanne to set up a consultation time.

Southern California

When I’m not traveling or writing, I am available for on-site commercial or residential consultations. Call 714-508-9935 to check availability and to book an appointment time.

With intentions of being of service,

Karen

If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, please go to the newsletter that is printed online at Feng Shui Palace Newsletter