An East-West Delight for Lunar new year Party Guests: Feng Shui Typewriter Poetry in Los Angeles and Beyond

by Jen Cheng

photo credit: Jonathan Moore

Unforgettably Insightful Entertainment that Guests Remember for the Rest of the (Lunar) Year

written by Jen Cheng (featured at right) Ars Poetica’s most sought-after Chinese-American big sister (and incidentally the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood)

Overwhelmed with questions and doubt this Lunar New Year? Consult the art of Feng Shui with a poet as your guide. 

The art of happiness is a struggle for Americans and we turn to yoga, New-Age Buddhism, and Eastern philosophies to give us new medicine. Spiritual and wellness retreats are well-loved and valuable, but what if you need a quick jumpstart? No time to learn a whole new vocabulary to understand the New-Age book collecting on the shelf? To focus through the noise and information clutter, I have developed a method called Feng Shui Poetry as an event entertainer, providing an experience with a Feng Shui card reading that includes wellness coaching and a custom poem to manifest clearer direction in your life journey.

The answers are available to us, if we know how to ask the right questions. Like a tuning fork helps tune a choir, I gently guide you and we work together to sharpen your questions and allow you to better hear your own music. In my years of studying with spiritual mentors and being a wellness coach, I have developed keen listening skills as people tell me their stories. With over 17 years of working with rehab fitness clients in physical therapy settings for all issues from hip surgeries to post-partum recovery, I have learned that your  healing progress depends on finding the interconnectedness of your mind-body wellness. You cannot feel well in your body if you don’t clarify your internal landscape first.

What does a Feng Shui reading involve? How do the elements address my mental health?

Most people know about Feng Shui as a method for interior design. We look at things through the lens of the Five Elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood. This method is a way to meditate on our world. But what is the human being’s ultimate interior? The interior of our psyche, and our emotions. That’s where we can rearrange the metaphorical furniture together.

In a reading, I explain the basics of how the Five Elements pertain to areas of life – fame, health, partnerships, career, family, wealth, for example. We collaborate with curiosity, as student and coach. During the two step-process, we first reveal question cards that help uncover a shift in perspective that upgrades our ability to handle challenges or uncertainty. Secondly, we pick one of the Five Element cards that help us answer the questions we’ve come up with together. In a focused wellness coaching conversation, we decide how that element relates to possible choices in response to the questions. I designed this process to give you, the student, agency in choosing the direction of the conversation. From this conversation, we enter the third part of the reading where the guidance is translated into a custom poem as a memento  and direction to stay your true course.

Students revel in how this light coaching experience gives them accessible, practical strategies to take the overwhelm out of their situation. And it feels more like an artful conversation with humor from this big sister and advisor. You emerge from the experience clearer, lighter, energized, and with a custom poem typewritten by me to take with you.

In what contexts, event venues, and event types does  Feng Shui Poetry work?

You might not have heard of this method of Feng Shui card reading, which makes sense because it is very new.It’s something I created in April 2023, and I’ve already worked with hundreds of students in different venues. I call myself a spiritual scientist. Originally trained as a data geek and social scientist, I intentionally set up at diverse venues -- farmers markets, art markets, teahouses, and private events -- to get a range of demographics and contexts.

The evidence is in the experience as well as the follow up, where some students reach out to me on social media or elsewhere to tell me what happened after their reading. At a wedding where I offered this event entertainment, I thought we would have more conversations about romance. However, event guests, unrelated to one another, had serious career questions with turning points in their life which included moving internationally or switching to new careers. As an open-minded big sister from a large family and life-long teacher, I listen to people’s struggles, with a judgment-free neutrality and a sense of humor. I only want the best for them, for them to see their expansive opportunities.

When is a good season for Feng Shui Poetry? Lunar New Year season and APA Heritage Month

Year-round, it’s always a good time to get clarity on what makes us happy or helps us have better direction in our lives. January and February is the Lunar New Year season where people who celebrate are spending time decluttering and aiming to bring in new opportunities. Are you hosting a Lunar New Year event in California? Or perhaps you have loved this blog post so much that you want to fly me out to wherever in the world you are celebrating the new year creatively. I’m available to bring a Feng Shui Poetry experience to you one on one, for your family and friends, or for your large-scale celebration as we enter the Year of the Dragon. 

If you’re thinking ahead to Spring, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This national heritage celebration is a good time to leverage our society’s curiosity and cultural attention to help people bond in a more spiritual and authentic way. If you have Employee Resource Groups or Affinity Groups, offering Feng Shui Poetry as entertainment at your company events is a way to help colleagues feel seen and valued.

Typewriter Poetry with a Chinese American Twist: an unforgettable experience for all

Often, friends who get readings will share their insights with each other, offering a new comradery with their self-discovery conversation. Or, someone will have a delightful insight from their reading and then recruit a friend to come get their reading. People leave an event with good memories of discussing improved opportunities for higher levels of happiness and wellness.

Ars Poetica provides event entertainment nationally and has the capacity to facilitate connecting you to my specialty of sharing this unique East-West spiritual and poetic experience.

Testimonials and more information are available on my personal website as well, but I’m pretty sure you’re already ready to book now, right?

For more info on Jen Cheng and Feng Shui Poetry, see her website!