WOMAN GETS `ENERGY' FROM HOME DESIGN; INTERIOR DECORATOR, TEACHER ADOPTS OLD ASIAN PRACTICE.Byline: Victoria Giraud People and Places When interior designer Pat Sendejas studied feng shui Feng shui Traditional Chinese method of arranging the human and social world in auspicious alignment with the forces of the cosmos, including qi and yin-yang. It was devised during the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). , she discovered there was a lot more to interior design than she'd ever imagined. An ancient, respected practice in Asia, feng shui interprets the types of energy in a home or business, Sendejas said. It's based on when a building was constructed and where it is placed, its interior design and environment, and the people who will live or work there. ``There is no good or bad,'' she said. ``Feng shui is the Chinese art Chinese art, works of art produced in the vast geographical region of China. It the oldest art in the world and has its origins in remote antiquity. (For the history of Chinese civilization, see China. of living in a harmonious environment in order to receive the greatest benefits in life, health, love and prosperity.'' Trained at the American Feng Shui Institute, Sendejas teaches the subject at Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. and incorporates her knowledge in her interior design business. ``When I consult with clients regarding feng shui, I am giving information about the energy around them,'' she said. Not long ago a couple called her to ``read'' their new home. Exploring the home and asking questions about the changes they had made, Sendejas soon found some remedies. The new owner had overenthusiastically adv. 1. In an excessively enthusiastic manner. trimmed the trees and plants on the sloping back yard and had changed the house's interior paint from green to white. ``Plants on a slope hold in energy and wealth,'' Sendejas told them, adding that the formerly green walls had supported the home's prosperous energy. Sendejas has been fascinated with interior design since she was a youngster growing up in Omaha, Neb. ``At 8 years old, when I'd sleep overnight at a friend's house, I would wake up and say, let's rearrange your parents' furniture,'' she said. The family moved to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, when she was 9. After deciding early on a career in interior design, she got her associate's degree as·so·ci·ate's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a two-year college after the prescribed course of study has been successfully completed. at Santa Monica College Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is 32,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The college also has one of the largest international student populations of any community college in the US, with approximately , where she also met her future husband, Sal, a captain with the L.A. Fire Department. While raising sons Chris and James, she wanted to work, but not regular hours. Deciding on selling cosmetics, she found it offered her the experience of learning how to run a business and how to speak in public. She soon was pursuing a certificate in interior design from University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , then she started her own interior design business and was hired in 1980 to design the laundry room for the Design House in the Conejo Valley. The small room with a gazebo gazebo Lookout in the form of a turret, cupola (small, lanternlike dome), or garden house set on a height to give an extensive view. Few late-18th- and 19th-century rustic gazebos survive, but 17th-century turrets built up in an angle of the garden wall are not uncommon. effect on the ceiling was so inviting that the new home's owners ``hired me to do the whole house.'' Her career took another turn when she taught a workshop on marketing for interior designers. A woman, who turned out to be the head of the Interior Design Department at Moorpark College, took Sendejas' workshop twice. At the end she invited Sendejas to teach at the college part time. The next few years were busy with teaching, designing and taking the courses for her bachelor's degree at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an . For a while she took a full-time job at a shutter company, but when her brother was dying of cancer, Sendejas left the company. A friend from work gave her a parting gift of two books that changed her life: ``Feng Shui'' and ``The Choice'' by Og Mandino. ``I left a good, paying job and went to the Feng Shui Institute,'' Sendejas said, a choice she's never regretted. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Pat Sendejas uses a type of Chinese compass to determine which way a house faces. Evan Yee/Daily News |
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