Ep 4: Understanding the Importance of Feng Shui in Property With Jane Langof

Okay, let's welcome Jane Langhoff. So great to have you here, Jane. Really excited about this interview, because I don't really know much at all about what we're going to talk about. Even how I pronounce it. How do we even say feng shui? Feng shui.

Yes, that's right. Thanks, Hilary, for having me today. So feng shui is pronounced in a few different ways, depending on the region where you're from. So it can be pronounced feng shui. Feng shui. Feng shui. Just not feng shui.

Okay. Not feng shui. Okay. So how do you generally pronounce it, Jane?

I pronounce peng shui.

Nice. How did you even get into feng shui? How did this become something that you're doing? So, as I've said in the intro, Jane is a. Is a feng shui master. How did you become a feng shui master? I have read your bio, but I'd love you to tell people about your story.

Yeah, so my story is that I actually started off with a job in finance. I used to work as an accountant, and. And when I had natural progression.

Jane.

Yes, that's right. Big career change. When I had my first child, I wasn't going to go back to my accounting job, and a girlfriend of mine told me to go and see this particular spirit medium, and she suggested that I study interior design, which was something that I had been interested in for a long time, but I never had the chance to study, so I did that. Then there was a break in the course a year later, and I went back to the spirit medium. And she said to me, now you've got to go and study feng shui and combine the two, and it'll be a really good business. And so I did that. And once I started on the feng shui journey, I knew that that was where I was going to focus my business. And I've loved it. So it's just come naturally to me. Work has come to me quite easily, and I found that I feel that it's my destiny and my pat. Thing that I'm meant to be doing in life.

Fantastic. So what actually is feng shui like? What do you do? What is it that you do? I mean, I have an idea, but not everyone gets feng shui.

Sure. So feng shui is about the energy in our surroundings and how we connect to that energy and how it affects us. Our mood psychology and our luck. So what I would do is I go and visit buildings and properties and sites, and I work to harmonize the energy flow within A property look at the various design elements and the forms of the architectural elements and so forth, the colors, shapes and that sort of thing. And I also study the energetic map of a building, which is somewhat like a horoscope, and can give us insights into what. Where the best energy zones are for health, for relationships and so forth.

Nice.

And obviously also for wealth too.

Yeah, absolutely. I do know a bit about that one in the money tree and things like that at the front door. I suppose that what I picked up there was that you get involved in the construction, like early days or even the design phase of a development. So are you mostly working at the beginning of projects or do you sort of find that you come in a little bit later and what is your preference?

Well, it really varies. Some people will call me when a building is already up and they've lived in the home and they feel like something's not quite right and they need a bit of help there or. But the best time to get somebody like me into a home is, or to a building is at the design concept stage, where plans are still really lines on a page. There are no walls to knock down and changes can be easily made to maximise the energy flow of a building.

Just on that, how many people are there in Australia doing what you do?

Oh, gosh, I have no idea. There. There are. Yeah, I really don't know. There are a couple of associations that list some consultants, but I know there are other consultants and portraying masters that. That aren't part of those associations. It's probably not as prevalent as interior designers, for example, but there are quite a few out there in different states and also all around the world.

I just came across you by chance. Somebody that works with us within our community actually went through our mentoring program, but he recently needed to sell the last of a four pack and somebody mentioned you to him and that's how you got involved. You might remember Tony and he said that within. Was it weeks, you just had a session with him or, you know, feng shui, what do you say you feng shui his house or what do you call it that you do to his property? And that sold within. How was it? Hours, weeks or days? It was really, really fast.

Yes, I think it was. I think it was within. Within the week or so that I heard from the real estate agent and she was really happy with the result and very happy that they sold it so quickly and applied my feng shui remedies that I suggested to them and everyone was really happy, obviously, including the vendors, which is great.

Interestingly, that was. So you didn't come in at the start of that project. That was an. After that, the house was staged. So I know that they're in Queensland and you're in New South Wales. You're based in Sydney, aren't you? Based in Sydney? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah, I am based in Sydney, yes.

So what is the word we use work on?

So we did remote feng shui consultation.

Okay, so you do a feng shui consultation. Yeah. So how does that even work?

Well, we did our consultation via Zoom, so over the Internet. And what I did was they took me for a tour around the property and we talked about the property. I. I studied them also studied the floor plans and the orientation of the building and had a look at the forms that were surrounding the property. Also, we went through each of the rooms and I advised them on changes that they could make to improve the energy flow. There were things that they could add to make sure that the energy can settle and meander through the property rather than move quickly in straight lines. And there were things where there were areas that, like, they had windows overlooking their property, for example. And what we did was we. We put screening up, so. And screening in terms of plants. So we did things like that, added some curtains, staged some rooms that were empty, got them to place things like desks and chairs and so forth in the prosperous positions. And I also had a few little feng shui tricks that I got them to apply with some symbolism and some. A couple of little things that were hidden away, not, not in direct view of anybody that could. Then people could notice they were facing particular directions that could tap into that really positive wealth energy. And it helped them to sell the property. So there's a few. It's a. It's a stage. It's a stage process. There are a few different layers that were involved in that.

Yeah. So, I mean, that kind of sounds really exciting. And when you talk about, you know, putting things like small things behind that where nobody could see, would somebody who understands feng shui, would they have seen that had they gone through the house?

Possibly, if they were really. If they'll be really taking notice. Yeah. Yeah. But some things we would tuck behind a lounge or under a mat or behind a headboard where you can't really see it. Good feng shui done well should not be something that is noticeable by anybody. You don't want your house to end up looking like a Chinese restaurant, that's for sure.

No, no. Nobody wants their house looking like a Chinese restaurant. It should be your home. So as, as far as coming in that late for the project when it was already that the other three had sold and you were on the last one, obviously not your ideal situation. You would have preferred to have been involved earlier.

Yes, definitely. So really we want to make sure that we're avoiding any, any big feng shui mistakes. Luckily, with Tony's development, the layouts and so forth in, in the rooms were pretty good. So we didn't really have too many of those fundamental problems. But I have met developers before who have told me about experiences that they've had where they've built a property, have made some big error in terms of feng shui, have not even known about feng shui at all, and have tried to sell in an area that has a very high Asian demographic, and they've had to sell at a significant loss and really made a mess of lie of the development. So it's always worthwhile to get somebody in like me at the design stage before it becomes an expensive exercise to try and rectify.

Yeah. So this is Jane Lang off From Feng Shui Concepts.com by the way, everybody. But we will put that in the show notes so you can actually contact her should you want to. So, Jane, I just heard you say something very interesting, that there can be big mistakes that people make. What is one of the biggest mistakes that you see somebody making? You get to come to their property because you weren't bought in the design phase. You're like, oh no, so what is that one?

So sometimes I see staircases directly facing front doors. That's where the money sort of flows out of the property too quickly.

Note to self, everyone, no staircases from in line with the front door, directly.

In front of the front door and too close to the front door. And also if you have the front and the back door in direct alignment, energy can't be contained properly in that instance as well. So big feng shui mistakes are to do with the, with the front of the building, the front entrance. So ideally you want to have something like a foyer where the energy can be collected and contained and then move through the house in a meandering way. We like to avoid long, straight corridors where the energy is just shooting through the house in very quickly in straight lines.

So interesting. You bring up energy. So you're obviously talking about positive energy. And from what I've read about feng shui, it's like the luck that comes with that if I'm right there. So do you ever walk into a house and feel negative energy and think, I could so fix this by doing this, this, and this.

Yes, absolutely. So you can walk into a house and even though everything looks okay, something doesn't feel quite right. And so quite often there might be an imbalance in yin and yang, for example. So with yin and yang, that represents the duality in nature and state of balance. And so we look to see whether things are in balance, like with the light and shade, the balance of openness and closure, things like that. So that's part of the process in identifying whether a place has got good energy or not. Also, with the orientation of a property as well, we want to make sure that we're tapping into an orientation that allows enough natural light and fresh air to enter the building.

That's so interesting. I also read through some of your testimonials on your website, which, by the way, are fantastic. You've got some amazing testimonials. What are some typical results that you get? Like, what are the results people have from working with Jane Langholf?

Well, what I do is we create an environment that is supportive for people to reach their goals. So we.

It's like what I do.

Yes, exactly.

I do it with people. I do it with headspace, and you do it with buildings.

Yes. And, you know, the two actually work hand in hand. So you need to have a supportive environment around. Around you in terms of the. The where you work and where you live. And then you also have to have the right mindset to make that all work for you. So it goes in tandem, really.

It certainly sounds like it does. So, Jane, you finished your training, which, by the way, was how long to become a master practitioner. Oh, okay. That's ongoing.

The training goes on forever. But I've done years of training. I think I became a feng shui master in about 2012 or something like that. 2012, 2013. And. And I started my business around 2008. But, yeah, you know, I'd studied a lot before then to reach that level. And as I said, the study never stops. It's not something like studying accounting, where a debit's a debit and the credit's a credit. It's quite an esoteric sort of subject. And there are a lot of. A lot of things, too, that you can cover in full. A lot of areas. And I guess my brand of feng shui is taking what I've studied and I've made it into my own style, which. Which I is design orientated and practical and delivers results for my clients.

I so get that. I work as a coach and my initial Training. My start training was through like a company which was a brain based approach to coaching but I've added so many extra layers to it and add you know, sort of 14 years of coaching to that business, even mindful life and then doing personality profiling and like just learning as many. Each year I try and tackle something new or add an extra, just an extra bow to my hat and do exactly what you do by just adapting how I coach to the, the requirement of my client. It's not, I so get what you're saying. It's not an A, A to Z thing but I love the fact that you. Yes, yeah, keep educating yourself or just. Yeah, it's ongoing so totally get that. How did you manage to make your business a business? Was that hard to get started? You mentioned you've got one child. I didn't actually read that on your website so I should have probably. You've got two fantastic working mum, two.

Girls, Miley's 15 and the other one's nine. Yeah.

You only look 15. Well you look older than 15 but wow, you look pretty amazing to have a 15 year old. Fantastic. So how did you manage?

Me feel really old. When I walk around with her I have to, I have to get us walking with my, with my husband and I'll take the little one because I.

Feel, I feel your pain. Don't you worry, mine works for me full time. That was who's setting us up before. Oh yeah, yeah, that's only one. But anyway, feng shui as a business, was it hard? Was it easy? You know, how did you even manage to go around that?

I've got to say it wasn't actually hard for me. So what I did was I set up my website and back In I think 2008, my first website came up in 2008 and work just started coming to me fairly easily and that is how I really felt that this was what I was meant to do and that was my part of my destiny.

Do you think that's something to do with feng shui?

For sure. So it's all about energy and when I work with people actually I look at their birth charts and we check to see what elements are favorable to them, what directions are favorable to them. You can go to the extent of actually studying their birth dates and, and coming up with their destiny profile and that's called Four Pillars of Destiny.

Oh my goodness, that's so exciting. So do you find it scary like selling yourself and how do, like how do you promote yourself? Because it's not something that I know of to be normal. So not that it's, I mean, it's fantastic and I'm really excited to learn more. I'll be calling you up after this, I tell you. So was it scary setting up a business and how did you go about telling people that this is what you now do? You know, natural progression. I used to be an accountant, now I'm a feng shui master.

Yes. Well, I can tell you I got a lot of resistance from, from people around me about changing careers. My family, for example, they really loved the fact that I was in countenance and wanted me to stay doing that sort of job. They didn't understand at all what feng shui was about. And so, yeah, I got resistance, but I just kept following through and pushing through and I started to get some recognition. I was writing articles and I got interviewed on TV and radio and I think they started to accept it at that point and, and I started to get some, some good work and high profile sort of jobs and things just got built from there really. And it's grown into, into a good business for me that I've really.

Yeah.

And it's given me the flexibility with my family also.

Yeah, that's, that just sounds like it's really worked out for you, like you've landed on your feet and I can kind of understand your family because especially the word feng shui, people sort of might be thinking, oh, here goes Jane, she's going a bit woo woo. And yes. And really. Yeah, and really not like that at all. Do you ever doubt? Did you or have you ever doubted yourself, you know, with. On the journey to become a feng Shui master and then even make it a business. Has there been doubt ever?

No, never. I've always felt like it was, it was my path and the thing that I was meant to do and it's, I've just really loved it and just followed my passion and it's been something that I've really enjoyed doing. And in fact, when I, when I see people and talk to them about what I do, everybody's really interested. And my husband has been really supportive right from the word go. And it gives him something interesting to talk about with his friends because he's an accountant.

Oh my gosh, two of you. Just for any accountants listening, she didn't mean that.

I'm really thankful that that was my, my background because it's given me a really good basis for my business and it also has allowed me to, to feel very confident dealing with corporate people as well. So I Am really happy that, that, that, that was my start in my career journey.

And who do you mostly work with, Jane? Like, who's your most active, average client? Who's the norm that comes to you?

So I, I work with many different clients. Mostly I would sort of split that up into residential and commercial clients. My residential clients tend to be people who are building their houses, doing renovations, or people who have an existing home where they're looking to improve the energy. But more so I deal with people in the building and design sort of phase. And I like working with architects and builders and so forth. And then on the commercial side, I'm often dealing with businesses that are also, again, doing refurbs or changing, you know, changing layouts and refreshing their premises. And these are businesses that are looking to appeal to the Asian market. They might have a lot of Chinese clients, for example. And I also work a lot in hospitality too. So hospitality and gaming, where again, they're looking to appeal to the Asian market. Most of my clients are really based around trying to improve the energy in their property to make sure that it feels like a comfortable, welcoming, and prosperous and lucky place to be and a place that people love being in. So, yes, I work a lot with, in the hospitality industry also.

So feng shui is actually Chinese. They are more likely more inclined to be interested or be influenced by feng shui for you, is that what you find?

Yes, that's right. So the Chinese find feng shui to be a very important cultural aspect of their lives. And it's something that, that is ingrained in them from childhood. It's just part of the culture. And so it's not just Chinese people, but it's other Asian people. And it's all also, it's. It's also just people in general who are looking to improve the energy in, in their buildings that they understand that those principles are supporting them to reach their goals, create energy that's prosperous and support their relationships.

Right. So where do you see feng shui heading as a practice? Do you. Is this something that's growing? Like, it certainly got my interest the other day when Tony mentioned it. I was like, what, who's this lady's name? I need to tell her. And already I have got another client that she's in our mentoring program. She just purchased a site. It is in a highly populated Chinese demographic in Victoria. Like, she'll be, she'll be coming to you tomorrow. I'll be on the phone to her this afternoon. You need to talk to Jane. But so where do you see it Is it, is it a growing practice or how do you see it moving forward?

Definitely, it's definitely growing. It's something that developers are definitely taking more to notice of. For example, I've worked for a developer who had, who was developing a site in an area that's, that has a high Asian demographic and they were reviewing several different designs to see which one is the best from a feng shui perspective.

I think I've asked enough questions that would tick a few boxes for people that are interested. As I said, you can contact Jane through feng shui concepts.com but is there anything I should have asked you, Dane, that you would like people to know when it comes to feng shui? Have I missed any questions that you think she really should have asked me that?

Perhaps you might want to ask about some tips.

What tips would you give us for the average homeowner?

For the average homeowner, I would say the top tip is to clear any stagnant energy in your. So by that what I mean is that you should look at clearing clutter. So clutter is like public enemy number one of feng shui because it creates blockages and stops energy from flowing freely. So if we can reduce the amount of clutter in a home, that will be very helpful for your feng shui. We also look at bringing natural light and fresh air into a home. So, so opening those windows and doors is always a good thing to do. Adding beautiful things such as flowers, plants, making sure that you don't have dead plants around, for example. And focusing on the front entrance of your home too, to make sure that it's welcoming and that it's free of obstacles, that people can find it and that it looks as attractive and appealing as possible. And in terms of the internal aspects of the home, I would focus on the inside of the front entrance because that is the energy that you bring into the home and also the bedroom because that is where people spend most of their time sleeping and so forth. So we want to make sure with the bedroom, we're creating a lovely, restful, restful space, avoiding big problems in the design phase, for example, where we try not to have open bathrooms into bedrooms, which is something that is a design trend that I'm seeing a lot of lately. So we want to keep those bathrooms contained from the bedroom area, also avoiding things where we have mirrors reflecting the bed, that sort of thing.

That's really interesting about the bathroom. So you're seeing that as a new trend come through.

It's something that's been around for a while. Now, but I do see it more often in display homes and that sort of thing where you've got a bath and a shower and the vanity area is kind of exposed more to the bedroom. And I don't think that's a great thing. You don't want to be mixing up bathroom energy and bedroom energy together.

I actually realize, you know, when you go on holiday, sometimes you stay in a hotel and that can happen. Like, I don't know, they. I have gone into a hotel where the, where the bathroom is part of the bedroom. I'm always like, yeah, don't know how I feel about this. So not good energy.

Not so bad for. It's not, it's not. Definitely not good energy for your home. Probably not so bad for a resort style thing where you're just, you know, hanging around in a place for one night, for example. It might be, it might be a bit of fun and a novelty, but to live with that day in and day out, I can imagine it wouldn't be, it wouldn't be that great. No, it's not healthy. And if somebody has to. If you've got, you know, two people sleeping in the same room and one needs to get up early, they're making a whole lot of noise in a bathroom and it's disturbing for the, for the person who's trying to sleep. And the idea is to create that containment and that relaxation. And the bedroom is just such an important thing, place for nurturing and for growth and, and that sort of thing.

Yeah. And you mentioned harmony, so I kind of get what you're saying. We do spend a lot of time there. We should be having enough sleep each night. Just on. I know you've done design, Jane. Do you even. Does feng shui even mix into colors or not? Really?

Absolutely. So in, in feng shui, we look at the five elements. So the five elements being fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. And we look at that in terms of how balanced that is within a property. When I look at the energetic map of a property, I will see whether certain sectors of the home require particular elements. So, for example, if you've got the wealth sector of a property, you might want to charge up that energy with a water feature or place your swimming pool there. That's always really helpful. Or if there's a negative energy sector, you may need to reduce the effect of that using one of the elements as well. And so we do that through the use of color shapes, materials and layouts. So color definitely has an impact on how a space feels.

Do you Think that, like, people who aren't qualified in feng shui or don't really have an idea might pick up, like, you know, where they walk into somebody's house and they get a feeling that this isn't right and really it could be just something small that could be fixed. You think that that actually happens quite a bit?

Yes. There are issues like that where you can fix feng shui just by tweaking the layouts, changing, changing the layouts of lounges, chairs, adding certain features to help the energy meander through the space, space rather than move too quickly. And there are, there are things that can be added to improve the energy for sure.

I can sort of think back to a time I lived in my home once back in New Zealand in a place called Mount Manganui. And everyone who walked in used to go, wow, this just feels so homey. Everybody commented it was always met with a wow factor. And I'm not necessarily an interior designer by any means. It's just not my, that's. I'm way too practical. I'd love to be like that. I'd love to have staged my house out perfectly, but it's not something I'm naturally good at. But this place. For summary, I must have just had the feng shui right because it was, it was so often commented on. It's like they just, it had a really positive energy to it.

It sounds like that for sure. Yeah, definitely. So quite often, just with, with terms of the architectural layouts of the homes, where the windows and the doors are located, you know how much openness and enclosure you have in a home as well, that will add a lot to the feel of the property. Some of these new houses are really have, are all open plan and there's not a lot of enclosure. And I think that's a fundamental issue and I think we would have experienced that through the pandemic when whole families would have to live and work together. You need to have rooms and that sense of enclosure where you can, where you can work and take a break from all of the noise.

Yep, makes absolute sense. Jane, I think I've just about covered everything I need to know. Just one last off track question. If you were to create a clone of yourself, how would you design Jane differently? What are three different things you would do to make a different Jane?

I would make myself taller so that that would help me in my netball game.

Okay, nice.

But apart from that, I don't know that there's really a lot that I would change. I think there's things that I wanted to change about myself. When I was a kid, I didn't want to be so Asian. But now that I do feng shui, it's something that perfect is part of me. And, and it's, it's, it just goes hand in hand with my, with my background and I, I've just embraced my own personality doing what I do. You know, I love dealing with people and yeah, I wouldn't really change that much.

No, that sounds fantastic. Is that, That's a great answer. Hey, thank you so much for sharing what you do, Jane. Anyone who is interested, interested in having a chat with Jane @Feng Shui Concepts.com we'll put a link below. We just really appreciate you sharing what you do and maybe opening eyes up to people that didn't really know too much about feng shui and maybe how it could impact them. As I said, we just had somebody who had you do a consultation with them, I should say, and they sold their property within a week. And it was him telling me about it that got me to call to Jane because I thought, wow, this is interesting and definitely worth sharing to a property development community and just for a property interest community, whether you're renovating, whether you're selling, and even for someone like myself who just might bring Jane through the house and give me a. Tweak it up a bit and make it look a little bit, I don't know. Or make it not. Maybe just make it feel exactly right and make sure I've got it done right. Anyway, Jane, thank you so much. Really appreciate it and good luck with your feng shui future.

Thank you so much, Hilary. It's great to be here today.