Ileen Weiss Nelson
My
personal Feng Shui Story
In
1997 I began my journey into Feng Shui when I happened upon the book
called Interior Design with Feng Shui written by Master Lin Yun, the
worldwide authority in BTB approach to Feng Shui and Sarah Rossbach, a
senior student of his and one of the first Americans writers to be
published.
I
found the book fascinating and something resonated deep inside my soul. I
made some changes using the Feng Shui from the book, and felt something
subtle shift in the environment, but didn’t know exactly what it was.
Then by coincidence a Continuing Education catalogue came in the mail from
the local high school. There were going to be two classes on Feng Shui. So
I signed up for both. I had no idea that you can actually go to a class.
(My first Feng Shui teachers, Joan Stigliano and Meihwa Lin are now part
of my current Faculty.) I thought that it was a topic that could only be
found in books. While in the class, one of the other students had a
brochure for a Professional Training Program at MIID.
We
had been having some financial difficulties and I wondered how I would
afford to pay for this training program.
In addition, I had a small child at home and I had no babysitter
for the time that I would be in class. Then things began to open up for
me. My birthday was coming up and my grandmother sent me a check. Then, my
sister quit her fulltime teaching job, and magically became available to
babysit for me while I was in school learning Feng Shui.
The
Feng Shui class made me feel so connected.
All the work I had done in the past, all the metaphysical books and
information that I had learned, all my working experience with fabric and
colors, finally all came together and made sense for me.
Something clicked’ I felt invigorated with each new teaching that
I received.
At
home, we had a Professional Feng Shui consultation and started
implementing Feng Shui cures and my husband got a new job. Things started
moving forward.
When
my Professional Training Program ended, the Director of the program left
her position. The school’s previous Director then returned to run the
Interior Design School. She did not know anything about Feng Shui.
When
I returned to the school to pick up my final project, the new Director
asked me if I would like to talk to perspective students about Feng Shui,
and by the way….I could work from home.
BINGO! This was exactly what I wished for. I could care for my
daughter and work at the same time, and I could work with all these
wonderful teachers.
The
school never hired a new Director.
I became the new Director!
I hired the teachers, set up the curriculum, did the advertising,
and scheduled the classes. It was as if all of my past corporate
experience trained me to know how to perform all of these tasks.
The class size grew as more and more people became interested in
Feng Shui. There was one thing missing. The class location lacked every
aspect that we were teaching in Feng Shui. It was in an industrial park,
sandwiched between an active paint store, and a screen-printing company,
with all of the sounds and fumes around. The classroom itself was a
vanilla box with no windows. It had florescent lights and low ceilings. It
was not good. I tried to reason with the owner, but he was truly not
interested in the Feng Shui, merely his bottom line. This became a
problem. As students entered the class space, they did not want to be
there. They felt uncomfortable.
I knew that my time there was ending and I was very sad.
After
I left, I meditated over what I should do next.
In my heart, I felt I was doing the work that I was meant to do. I
decided to continue training students in Feng Shui. I would find an
incredible location in nature and teach Feng Shui. It wasn’t so easy.
I looked at every conference space in Long Island and couldn’t
find a good fit. Then the Planting Fields Arboretum, State Historic Park
came up. I connected to some wonderful people who had heard of Feng Shui
and were agreeable to our partnership.
And
so my current story continues to unfold before me.
Our
name and our auspicious time of birth were picked with special care, and
in 2001 Long Island Feng Shui Institute was born.
The
class of 2007 will be our 8th graduating class. Welcome to The
Journey.
