More than 150 people who attended the Astrology and Feng Shui 2011 seminar at the Hotel Novotel yesterday turned their attentions towards each other's eyebrows, cheek bones and sitting postures.

Malaysian expert Joey Yap lectured them on the basics of face reading, demonstrating the art by pinching his left cheekbone and admonishing the crowd that "bony is bad. Is it fleshy? If it's fleshy, investment will be good for you this year!"

Rows of people pinched their cheekbones and crowed in response.

He then asked attendees to press their fingers to their foreheads. Women would have property luck this year if they could fit four fingers between their eyebrows and their hairlines; men, if they could fit five.

But rather than advocate a passive acceptance of the outcomes predicted by the face reading system, Yap stressed a results-oriented approach. Having gleaned the knowledge through the face reading system that one will have property luck this year, he challenged the lucky ones: "Do you have the right agents? Have you started forming your team?"

Some of the attendees on hand came from the Mississauga real estate industry.

Walter Hayde, President of the Mississauga Real Estate Board and emcee of the seminar, said he introduced Feng Shui courses into the Board's continuing education program for real estate agents two years ago, after taking a five-day practitioners course himself.

"A lot of homebuyers ask for feng shui, and real estate agents don't know about it," said Hayde. "I say to buyers, you can go to a master, you can learn from a master, but I can give you the basics."

Through the courses, Hayde wants to make sure that local real estate agents can correct simple feng shui problems to speed up the sale of their homes.

Sharon Hay, Mississauga's resident feng shui expert, has taken several courses with Yap and teaches the Board's credit course to 25 real estate agents, four times a year.

"Clients believe in it. Even if agents don't believe in it, they have to be able to speak to their clients professionally," said Hay.

She recently did feng shui for the Hotel Novotel's new sales office. Among the challenges she faced were deciding where to put up the walls for the manager's office, and where to put the water cooler.

Yap has appeared in Mississauga once a year since 2007. Instructors from his academy visit Mississauga three times a year to conduct classes at the Hotel Novotel for interested practitioners.

Yap said many of his clients are developers who hire his company to match buyers to homes, or to consult on land development for properties.

Click here to view the review in full.