“My interest was always with Asia, and Asian culture – specifically China,” says Schutz, who studied Chinese at university and eventually moved to Beijing 30 years ago.

For many years she worked as a consultant, specializing in setting up foreign companies in China, which included finding office and factory space, hiring people, training staff, negotiating contracts on all government levels, and so forth. She says that in the process of this work, Feng Shui always came up, especially when trying to find office space.

“Despite the fact that real estate agents and government officials never stopped mentioning Feng Shui concerns, nobody was able to adequately explain what it was all about,” she shares.

This led Schutz to her own research, eventually finding her own Grandmaster – Dato Joey Yap – and studying with him in Malaysia. She says she did not really intend to practice Feng Shui, or Chinese Metaphysics as a serious career, studying it out of pure personal interest.

However, according to her, life took a few difficult turns and at one point she had to make some “very tough life and career decisions. I had the option to either go back into business and management consulting, or follow my passion – Chinese Metaphysics. I chose my passion. In 2014, I started my own Chinese Metaphysics consulting firm in Hong Kong – one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.”

“While most people refer to me as a Feng Shui Master, I am actually a Chinese Metaphysics Master. Chinese Metaphysics is an umbrella term for disciplines such as Feng Shui, Chinese Astrology (Bazi Astrology and Purple Star Astrology), Date Selection, Qimen Dunjia, martial arts, Chinese medicine,” says Schutz. Another misunderstanding, Schutz says is that Chinese Metaphysics is not tied to any religion and can be practiced regardless of religious leaning. “Feng Shui, for example, analyses landforms and geography in relation to a property – this has nothing to do with religion. Chinese astrology looks at elemental energies present at the time of birth – again, nothing to do with religion.”