Feng Shui Craze Making Its Way to Corporate Suites.

Two years ago, negative energy stalked the city of Gardena. Bad business deals had created a budget deficit of $4.7 million, and a former city manager was suspected of embezzlement.

Things got so bad that then-Assistant City Manger Mitch Lansdell decided to call in a feng shui practitioner.

Angi Ma Wong worked with Lansdell and his staff to realign the energy in their offices. She persuaded Lansdell to replace dried flowers with a large tropical plant, and got him to remove papers from the ground that were restricting the flow of energy, or chi. And she suggested Lansdell use only one of the doors to his office, to prevent beneficial energy from leaving.

Wong's advice seems to have worked. As of June 30, the city's deficit had shrunk to $2.9 million and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt had opened a casino that promptly paid off $1 million in city fees owed by the previous property owner.

"I have faith in a whole lot of things; this is just a piece of it," said Lansdell, now city manager and a feng shui believer. Lansdell says the changes Wong recommended were practical and easy to accomplish. "We didn't have to spend $50,000 in redoing the office."

Feng shui, which translates to "wind and water" is a "Chinese environmental system of placement that aligns or harmonizes energy with the natural energy of the Earth and rhythms of the universe," Wong said. "You're capturing this energy."

It is also becoming increasingly popular -- and not just among New Age homeowners in West L.A. A number of large corporations like Ford Motor Co. and Universal Studios Inc. are reportedly incorporating feng shui principles into their office designs.

Increasing interest

Palos Verdes-based Wong, who had only a handful of business clients a few years back, added 70 new businesses nationwide to her roster this year. The American Feng Shui Institute in Monterey Park used to offer seminars every couple of months, but in the last two years demand has increased so much that classes are now taught every weekend.

Prices for consultations vary widely, from several hundred dollars an hour to 50 cents per square foot, with a $3,000 minimum, which is the fee charged by master Larry Sang and the Feng Shui Institute. Some new practitioners charge as little as $25 per hour.

Wong and Sang practice a form of feng shui known as the compass method, which uses a lou pan, or Chinese compass, with eight directions that designate the areas of life that feng shui can influence. While Wong believes that those areas are fixed -- for example, the north governs career, the south fame and fortune, the east health and the west creativity -- Sang believes that energy shifts, depending on the alignment of the planets and the year of a building's construction.

Ancient Chinese belief has it that the five elements -- fire, earth, metal, water and wood -- interact with each other in both creative and destructive ways. By placing colors, objects or elements in certain areas, one can activate energy in various aspects of one's life. According to Wong in her booklet, "Feng Shui for your Desk and Office," each element is associated with a compass direction.

For example, metal is associated with the west, which represents completion. If you want to strengthen the metal element -- that is, you want to create energy that fosters completing projects -- you would add earth enhancements, such as a clay pot or geode, to your office's western corner, because metal comes from the earth. The west is also a good place for your outgoing mail basket or tray, Wong said.

The eastern portion of an office represents new beginnings, so office holders should place a list of their goals and aspirations there, Wong said. Awards and photos of the office holder with celebrities should be placed in the south, the area associated with fame and fortune.

Plenty of converts

Skeptics abound when it comes to all of this, but so do true believers.

When Juana Atalig and her husband Gus Zapata started a mortgage business out of their Bellflower home, it wasn't growing as fast as they had hoped, so they contacted Wong, who quickly diagnosed the problems. She concluded that energy was flowing out of their house and into the storm drain at the curb.

Wong's prescription: Place a mirror on the riser of the stairs leading to the house -- deflecting energy away from the drain -- and realign the back door so energy remains inside the house.

Atalig, who admitted some of her loan-officer friends giggled when they heard about the consultation, said the couple had the last laugh. Two years after implementing Wong's recommended changes, their Advantage Mortgage processing center has grown six-fold, and the couple is now forming a real estate corporation.

"It's 100 percent feng shui," insisted Atalig. "It's like a tool to get you going."

Feng shui teaches that everything inside a business has energy, so be careful of what you bring in. During a recent lecture sponsored by the Asian Business Association, Wong advised, "Don't use furniture from a company that has gone under. Buy it from a successful company."

And if you're expanding, "don't get rid of your old desk. It's like your lucky charm," Wong said. Many successful Asian executives, she said, "keep their dingy office where they made their first million. They may own the whole building now."

Wong also recommends that executives work facing the entrance to their offices. But they shouldn't place their chairs directly in line with the door. That's because negative energy flows in straight lines, and such a direct placement opens the executive up to this sha chi, which can lead to health problems, she said.