Your body has specific energy fields that, when blocked, can have real effects on your physical and mental well-being. According to the ancient Chinese art of feng shui, the same can be said of your home.
In feng shui, it is believed that the spaces you inhabit contain energy as well (called chi), and by facilitating the flow in certain ways, you can literally change the way your house makes you feel. Think about it: You may have certain rooms in your house that you feel more comfortable in than others. You might not be able to put your finger on why, but you know it’s true. You’re picking up on the energy currents that are swirling around you, and when they are positive you feel better.
Feng shui has been used for thousands of years, often to conceptualize how to build temples and other religious structures but also in commercial and residential building as well. It’s thought that creating a building with good feng shui from the beginning invites positivity, prosperity, and longer lives to the occupants. You may not have a lot of control over how your house or apartment was built, but that’s okay. Making a few changes to how you’ve set things up inside can change the feng shui too.
Using feng shui to create a more relaxing, comforting environment can make your self-care routine easier. Just like you’ve decorated your home to create a place where you feel comfortable, using these tips to optimize energy flow can take your self-care to the next level.
In order to properly feng shui your home, you first need to understand the whole picture.
Think about the rooms you feel most comfortable in and try to identify why that is. Maybe you have positive memories in a specific room, or the color of the walls speaks to you. Maybe you have mementoes or plants in your favorite room but not in the others. Try to identify a few things you like best about your favorite rooms so you can understand what you respond to on a deeper level.
No matter how big your house or apartment, start by going through every space. Look in every closet and don’t leave out any room. You might not think that the laundry room you never go in or the storage room behind the kitchen matters, but in feng shui, the house is viewed as one entity, just like a human body.
One of the biggest parts of feng shui is understanding how energy enters and leaves your house. Start with the front door and look to see what it opens into. If there are stairs directly in front of it, for instance, energy might swoop upstairs instead of circulating through the first floor. Move on to the internal doors to see if you can identify circuits or blockages. Look at the windows too and see if they open into the air or if they’re blocked by anything from the outside.
Before starting any feng shui makeover, you need to get rid of clutter. Not only can it physically impede airflow and keep dirt and dust inside, but it also blocks energy. Think of clutter as a clog in an artery: The more there is, the harder everything has to work to get around it. You don’t have to get rid of everything, but try to pare down what you can.
Once you’ve done an initial feng shui sweep of your home, start with a few small adjustments that can make a big difference.
In feng shui, water symbolizes wealth, and the bathroom is the place where water leaves your house. Keeping the bathroom doors closed (and the toilet seats down) is said to prevent wealth from being swept away with the water.
If only one side of your bed is open, like if it’s pushed up against a wall, then you’re shutting yourself off to the possibility of love. Even if you’re not in a relationship, make sure both sides of the bed are accessible as a signal to the universe that you are inviting companionship.
In feng shui, mirrors are useful tools at diffusing and directing energy. If you think a room is stagnant, put a mirror on the wall to keep things moving. Mirrors also do well at the end of hallways so energy doesn’t get caught in a loop. Just keep mirrors out of the bedroom because they’re thought to stir up energy and make it hard to sleep.
According to feng shui, electronics are believed to emit energy that disrupts the natural flow of chi. This is especially important in the bedroom, where they can alter sleep patterns, so keep electronics like TVs and computers away from the bedroom when you can. Doing away with them from your home entirely is impractical, but try to keep them relegated to certain rooms.
In each room, try to face furniture toward the door. Not only will this make the space look more inviting and facilitate better airflow, but feng shui believes that it creates a positive energy flow. It also helps with security too since you’ll always be able to see when someone enters a room. The exception to this rule is your bed. The foot of the bed should never face a door that enters into the room (this is called the death position and is bad news).
In design and in feng shui, colors are important. It’s advised to stay away from bright colors, which can create an energetic frenzy. Instead, choose soothing colors for the walls and fabrics of a room. This doesn’t necessarily mean muted, but consider each space and what mood you evoke. You can even go deep to figure out what element is associated with your birth date in feng shui and use colors to balance it.