Why Does the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® Require Licensing?

nine-steps-feng-shui-licensing

Other schools of Feng Shui give you a certificate, then send you on your way. While all they give you is a certificate, I hand to you a profession, and the continued support you will need in the future, with continuing education and access to me when you have questions on how to help your own clients.

The Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System is a very specific type of Feng Shui Consultant training that I developed based on many years of studying Architecture, Feng Shui and Spiritual Healing.

This is a long article, but please bear with me and read to the end.

This is the most important article for you to read and make a decision about Becoming a Feng Shui Consultant.

To Become a Nine Steps to Feng Shui® Consultant you need to:

  1. take the training,
  2. do an apprenticeship, and
  3. sign a license (not just get a certificate)

So why do you need a license to practice the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System, instead of just a certificate?

Let me explain:

Not a Generic Course

Other Feng Shui consultant training courses are generic courses. They may have a particular flare given to them because of the personalities or beliefs of the teachers, but they all draw from Feng Shui knowledge that has been passed on from generation to generation.

The problem with that, is that a long time ago there was a Chinese ruler who believed Feng Shui should be a tool reserved only for his own family. A previous ruler had tried to outlaw Feng Shui, making it more popular than ever, so the new emperor decided to try a much more sneaky approach. He had many Feng Shui masters executed, then he paid the ones that were left to produce Feng Shui books filled with errors. Some of these books, and much of the advice on these books, are still in circulation.

This is the reason why Feng Shui is so confusing when you first start studying it.

Furthermore, as Feng Shui had been exported to different countries in the Far East, each culture had added things to it from their own beliefs. Many of these beliefs were fear based superstitions.

A core issue for me, when trying to make sense out of Feng Shui was to separate superstitions from true knowledge, and to sort out false information from authentic teachings.

A Branch of Chinese Medicine

Few people talk about this, but Feng Shui is actually one of 5 branches of Chinese Medicine:

  1. Acupuncture
  2. Herbalism
  3. Massage
  4. Qi-Gong
  5. Feng Shui

Since all 5 branches of Chinese Medicine are based on the same ancestral knowledge and universal laws, I decided to find out the truth about Feng Shui by contrasting it to other branches of Chinese Medicine.

Whenever I came across confusing or contradictory information, I checked to see if there were parallels or similarities between the Feng Shui applications on the space and the applications of Chinese Medicine on the human body. This gave me a framework against which I could compare Feng Shui information and arrive at the truth.

Testing Feng Shui Concepts

I wanted to make sure that Feng Shui theories worked in practice. I had several groups of core volunteers that helped put my Feng Shui conclusions to the test.

  • One group tested in the USA
  • One group tested in Australia
  • One group tested in Ecuador (right by the equator)
  • One group tested in Uruguay (Southern part of South America)

Assistance from Experts in their Fields

Some of the testers, who shared with me this fascination with Feng Shui, were experts in their fields, so I consulted with them often. These included:

  • An acupuncturist/herbalist
  • A Tai Chi/Qi Gong instructor
  • Spiritual practitioners and teachers
  • An expert in Western symbolic psychology

All their input allowed me to refine the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System to make sure it had:

  1. Theoretic integrity: that it honored the principles of Chinese Medicine and ancient Chinese wisdom.
  2. Applicability: that the advice offered was easy to implement and effective.
  3. Spiritual alignment: to make sure the system would work for the highest good of consultants, students and clients.
  4. Adaptability: so that the advice provided would make sense to our modern times and current sense of aesthetics.

My Own Professional Evolution

I received a degree in Architecture from the the Central University of Quito, Ecuador in 1995. That same year I moved to the USA, where I found out that I would not be able to practice Architecture (unless I went back to school for several years). It seemed like a cruel cosmic joke, when I had felt so strongly that studying architecture was the path for me to follow.

Now I believe that I needed to study architecture for 2 reasons:

  1. So that it would give me credibility as I created a new brand of Feng Shui.
  2. To give credibility to Feng Shui as a profession.

My Own Healing Evolution

When I was a child, the nuclear family in which I grew up was DYSFUNCTIONAL with capital letters.

As an adult, I knew I needed help to heal. My healing path led me to explore many healing modalities, including:

  • homeopathy
  • macrobiotics
  • Reiki
  • vibrational medicine
  • shamanism

I learned from all these disciplines, and even became certified to practice a few. My healing path taught me the difference between true healing and false healing. This knowledge was helpful in developing my Feng Shui system. Feng Shui is fascinating in that, unlike most healing modalities, that work from the inside out, it works from the outside in.

For true healing to happen, you always have to be respectful of the person’s free will, and their own engagement with their destiny (understood in Feng Shui not as fate, but as potential). The Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System takes all these things into consideration.

“I Still Don’t Understand Why I Need a License — or What a License Is or Does!”

Let me use an example from the fitness world: Zumba® is a dance-inspired exercise program. Anyone can teach a dance inspired exercise program, but if you want to use the Zumba music, choreographies and gear, you need to have a license. Without a license, a fitness instructor cannot call their class “Zumba.” The current licensing fee for new Zumba instructors is $35 per month, or $420 per year.

Another example: I am licensed to teach a type of Tai-Chi called “Tai Chi for Health.” This is a form of Tai Chi put together by Paul Lam. Paul Lam is a medical doctor and acupuncturist who studied many different forms of Tai Chi and then created a new combination of Tai Chi moves designed specifically to help with different types of health issues. He did this with the assistance of a team of physical therapists and rheumatologists.

In order to keep my license for Tai Chi for Health, I have to re-certify every 2 years. If I missed my re-certification, I would lose my license.

Without my Tai Chi for Health license, I would not have permission to teach the combination of movements outlined in the Tai Chi for Health class, because this sequence is the intellectual property of Dr. Paul Lam. By keeping my license active and attending trainings, I get to improve my Tai Chi, I learn more about how to promote Tai Chi classes, and become a better instructor. It is totally worth it!

Protecting You and Protecting Me

The Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System is also a particular sequence of Feng Shui analysis and cures that I put together, and it is my intellectual property. No one had done this before me, and no one can practice this system without my authorization. A license is a document that protects my intellectual property and your rights to use it while your license stays active.

A license comes with perks, such as:

  • the ability to contact me directly with questions about your own Feng Shui or the Feng Shui of your clients
  • large discounts on new courses (50% off) and on Feng Shui cures and books
  • the ability to make money when you refer a friend and they purchase a course from me (a 50% kickback!)

After you finish your apprenticeship, you are required to sign the licensing agreement. There is no cost for you to keep your license for your first full year of practice.

Starting on your second year of practice, there is a cost of $300 per year, for the next 3 years. This amount will be applied as a credit for continuing education classes on my training website.

Why Does It Cost $300 per year?

A license gives you privileges. Your license payment gets applied to your continuing education. From your second year of graduation on, you are required to get continuing education courses at my training website for the next 3 years. If you purchase a course for more than $300 one year, the difference gets applied to the licensing fee for the next year.

You do not have to pay for your license the first year, it only becomes due during your second year of practice.

Taking continuing education classes helps you improve your practice as a Feng Shui Consultant.

At the end of the 5th year, you will no longer be required to pay a licensing fee, as long as you have kept your license active and are in good standing with Feng Shui for Us.

There are also a number of costs that I have to cover on my end to protect the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® brand and logo.

I have had to spend thousands of dollars in getting legal assistance for things such as the terms of use for the training and the licensing agreement documents. Have you noticed the ® at the end of the name? That means “registered trademark”, as opposed to ™ which means that you are claiming the trademark, but it is not registered.

Every few years, I pay legal fees and filing fees to make sure that the trademark stays registered.

As a licensed consultant, you will receive copies of client consultation contracts that my lawyers have drafted for me, so that you can have your own lawyer revise them and adapt them to your state or country. This may very well save you hundreds of dollars, compared to hiring a lawyer to draft contracts for you from scratch.

Other training programs give you a certificate and send you on your way to practice Feng Shui as a professional. A license provides you with continued support and training!

Do You Have What it Takes? (Homework)

You should never start a business if you are unable to confront legal documents. Show yourself that you are serious about Becoming a Feng Shui Consultant by reading the legal pages for the training: http://feng-shui-for-us.teachable.com/courses/nine-steps-to-feng-shui-for-homes/lectures/1112695

PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE, SO THAT I KNOW YOU HAVE READ THIS ARTICLE. YOU CAN SIMPLY COMMENT BY WRITING YOUR NAME IN.

Complete and Continue  
Discussion

11 comments