SEA SALT AND A BLUE RIBBON MAKE THE ROAD A CALMER PLACE FOR EVERYONE
11 April 2006 - AON Insurance

- Motorists warned to park cars away from buildings to keep ‘predatory tiger’ at bay, according to Feng Shui survey

Sprinkling crystals of sea salt inside your car and tying a blue ribbon around your satellite navigation may sound like unusual tips for improving your driving, but according to the first ever report studying the feng shui of cars, these measures could improve the flow of energy in vehicles and help drivers alleviate the negative feelings which lead to road rage.

The ancient Chinese art of feng shui has long been associated with buildings but leading insurance broker for high net worth individuals, Aon Private Clients, commissioned internationally renowned feng shui expert Raymond Catchpole to conduct a unique examination of how feng shui affects cars and their drivers.

The study found that, amongst other things, a driver should park his or her car facing away from the driver’s home. According to feng shui, cars are ‘predatory tigers’. If parked facing towards a house or office building, they create a threat to the occupants of the building.

According to the report, the best ways to improve the feng shui in any car are:

Remove clutter from the car: it ‘sucks the life force out of the driver’.
If using wi-fi connections such as Bluetooth, drivers and passengers should drink regular quantities of still water to flush out the effects of this negative and draining energy from their bodies.

To get rid of negative energy inside the car, which could affect the driver’s mood, the owner should sit in the car and sing, clap their hands or play music to make a statement that it is now your cleared space and will go forward refreshed and free from past events.

Keep the windows clean: this allows chi energy to enter the car from outside. In feng shui terms, the windows are the eyes for the car.

Tie a small blue ribbon on the satellite navigation or the rear view mirror: the colour blue is a representation of the Water element, the perfect driving state of mind: clear, thoughtful, flowing and clear.

Keep a bottle of water in the car for the same reason.

Sprinkle sea salt crystals on the carpets: they absorb passengers’ negative energy and can be cleaned out regularly to take the negativity with them.

The report is based on the feng shui of four cars regularly seen on UK roads – a Nissan Micra, a Volkswagen Passat, a Porsche Boxster and a Lexus 4X4. The cars were chosen to represent four very distinct types of vehicles: a 4X4; a family saloon; a small urban vehicle and a sports car. The findings ranked each car according to its feng shui score. One car outshone all others in terms of having the widest possible range of functions and driving accessibility, so its feng shui must be regarded as best. It is the Lexus 4x4:

Ranking
Car Type
Summary of Findings

1
Lexus 4X4
An extremely purposeful vehicle. Its chi energy gives it the ‘wow’ factor. Powered by the Fire element, the Lexus promises to go anywhere and through anything to deliver its driver safely and unruffled.
The car is both family and business orientated and has the best possible quality of feng shui to achieve this.

2
Volkswagen Passat
Quiet, restrained and in a state of perfect yin/yang balance. Ideal for non-sales related decisive managers who place great importance on family and friends.

3
Nissan Micra
A fun, and possibly a little cheeky car in the right/wrong hands. A very yin motor. Ideally suited to a first time female driver who wants an incident-free journey and an arrival that may well raise a few smiles.

4
Porsche Boxster
A feminine and unemotional car which uses the natural element of Water to help chi energy flow. An unaggressive vehicle, an ideal drive for a happy and single architect.

Ian Cullen, a director of Aon Private Clients, commented: ''It may seem unusual for a specialist insurance broker to be interested in something like feng shui, but we believe it’s worth investigating. Feng shui is about the way in which our environment affects our behaviour and our mood – be it a building or a car. If some of the information in our report helps drivers keep calm and alert, then we feel it’s a useful exercise. With road rage on the increase and our cities and motorways becoming ever more congested, maintaining a balanced state of mind becomes all the more difficult.

''As we specialise in high net worth clients, many of the drivers we insure are in business and lead very stressful, pressurised lives. Helping them to feel relaxed and in control while driving is good for them and hopefully stops a few accidents.''

For a copy of Aon Private Clients’ report on feng shui in cars, please visit our website on www.aon.co.uk/privateclients or contact Alexandra Lewis on 020 7 882 0541

www.aon.co.uk

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