Chinese palaces of antiquity and large modern multinational corporate headquarters in Asia share a guiding principle for the location, design and orientations of their buildings through Fengshui. Many corporate and successful business houses incorporate Fengshui not only in their design elements but also in the placements with the sole intention of deriving a harmonious and auspicious place to live and work. For thousands of years the Chinese have felt that their lives were magically linked to their environment. They had a strong belief that if a person changed and balanced his surroundings; he could balance and improve his life.

Today mastering Fengshui requires many years of training as well as an intuitive talent. The training and the experience are of prime importance in deriving the best out of the available space.

Urban development, however, can interfere with Fengshui. The new developments may block view or energy and pollute a stream, changing positive attributes to negative around your home. Here is where Fengshui comes into play. Instead of having to move away, tearing down walls or build new ones, this ancient Chinese Art incorporates more subtle changes and effective solutions.

Of late, there has been an unfortunate trend which has given rise to pun when a mention of Vaasthu or Fengshui is made. The common man is of the belief that it is too difficult to adapt Vaasthu due to the stringent structural changes or Fengshui as it would make his home look like a Chinese Artifact Store. Many a time Vaasthu or Fengshui is mocked as the general impression is that "in spite of moving the door, they have not become rich" and on the contrary "landed up spending money". This has been predominantly due to the fact that many who practise this skillful art of space alignment have been superficial and approached a specific problem with only basic information of the subject. The general misconception that changes brought about in a space would give instant richness itself is a gross misunderstanding.

Let us discuss a little about Bathrooms and Toilet layouts. You will realise that in the past most of the homes had the toilets away from the main building either at the backyard or garden space. As time lapsed, they were brought closer to the home for the sake of convenience. Today we cannot imagine a home without an "en suite" toilet. A problem one would generally face with an en suite bathroom built in a bedroom is that it forms an "L-shape" and the corner juts in to the room. If this cannot be avoided ensure that it does not point to your bed generating a "poison arrow".

Space constraints have forced most of us to place toilets in the available space but the major taboos in positioning are - toilets directly above main door, toilets opposite front door, toilets in the middle of the house without window, toilets beneath staircase, toilets next to kitchen or toilet entry from kitchen. Oriental science recommends suspending a ceramic mobile between the rooms to balance the energies if the toilet is located next to a kitchen.

Toilets placed farther away from view of entry to the bathroom are preferred. A screen or half wall between toilet and the bathing area is even better. Bath tubs need to be positioned such that the bather's head faces the door.

In the process of my consultations, I have come across many homes with heavily decorated toilets. This is definitely bad Fengshui as toilets create bad energy in whatever area or corner they are located and the contributory afflictions relate to the positioning. My suggestion is keep toilets small, hidden away and the door ALWAYS SHUT. Do not decorate or place flowers, antiques, paintings or any auspicious symbols in the toilet, as you will be actually energising the toilets, which would cause problems.

Remember toilets are areas emanating bad energies. Beware wrongly positioned toilets affect both your HEALTH & WEALTH.