More than 4,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese began studying ways that energy and Chi flow move through spaces. They found that designs that positively improved Chi, which they consider the life force energy, had positive impacts on humans living in these homes, and mimicked the natural world around them. For example, a house that is south-facing allowed for chi absorption, good light, and family harmony. Other benefits include prosperity, good health, and happiness.

Whether or not you believe in Chi and feng shui philosophy doesn’t necessarily matter for receiving the benefits of bedroom feng shui. Bedroom feng shui arrangements provide a relaxing and common sense layout that even the most skeptical can enjoy.

Below, we’ll go over how you can achieve a feng shui bedroom.

What is Feng Shui?

In Chinese, feng shui (风水) translates to “wind (and) water”. It is the ancient art of Chinese geomancy, where layouts are designed to allow for an easy flow of energy to create harmony and balance.

Feng shui began as a Daoist practice. Daoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy that follows the principles of the Dao (道) or “the way”. Daoists looked toward nature to inform their philosophies, and some consider it to be the way of nature. Because of this, feng shui rules and practices reflect those of nature. Today feng shui is not only a Daoist practice. Westerners who do not ascribe to Daoism also use feng shui to reap the benefits of the positive energy flows and design elements.

The Three Guiding Principles of Feng Shui

Feng shui is compromised of three guiding principles: commanding position, Bagua, and the five elements.

The Commanding Position

In a home, the commanding position is a spot in the room farthest from the door, but not directly across from it; instead, it is usually diagonal to the door. You want to center your room around the commanding position, which is where you spend a majority of your time. For example, you would want to place your bed, your desk, and your stove all in line with the commanding position. Because each one you spend time at represents an aspect of your life: the bed represents you, the desk represents your career, and the stove represents nourishment and wealth. Therefore, be mindful of the commanding position when designing your room.

The Bagua Map

The Bagua map is a Daoist feng shui and energy map that is used to properly design and note key areas related to feng shui in your home. It includes 8 areas, each relating to a unique life circumstance, which is connected to a specific color, shape, season, number, and element.

The 8 areas represent family, partnership, fame, family, children, knowledge, career, and helpful people. The ninth area at the center represents you, and is connected to health and wellness. Different schools have different ideas of how your home should be oriented and designed according to the Bagua. For example, Western schools believe that helpful people, knowledge, and career should be aligned with the front door.

The Five Elements

The five elements, or five phases, is a Daoist philosophy that describes the relationships and interactions between things. The five elements are wood, water, fire, earth, and metal. Each element represents different qualities, and by incorporating them into the right places, you can highlight these qualities in your home.

For example, the earth element is connected to rejuvenation and wellness. Because your Bagua centers your bedroom and bed around the ninth area that represents wellness, you may want to incorporate earth elements, like earth tones, into your bedroom, according to feng shui principles.

Using colors and materials that reflect particular elements will help to bring in the characteristics of those elements and qualities into your bedroom.

Western Feng Shui

Although feng shui began as a spiritual aspect, in the West, feng shui is a more straightforward practice that focuses more on design aspects, and less on the original reasons for their importance and relation to Chi flow. In other words, most westerners who use feng shui follow the rules of feng shui to inform their layout and decoration designs.

Also, out of the three principles described above, bagua is most commonly used in Western schools. To effectively use the Bagua map, choose some of the most important areas in your life, and align them with corresponding areas in your home where you’d like to highlight them. For example, if you work from home, you may want to locate your work desk or office with the career square.

How to Feng Shui Your Bedroom

Using feng shui in your bedroom should increase the flow of energy in the room, and boost your wellness and relaxation in your bedroom. It aims to reduce negative energy and bad feng shui, increase natural light, and allow energy to flow freely.

Incorporating some of these rules and solutions into your bedroom may also make your room more pleasing to look at, and create better design principles. Below, we’ll go over some unfavorable positions, solutions, and additional tips to implement feng shui for your bedroom.

Unfavorable Feng Shui Bedroom Rules

Unfavorable feng shui positions will create a wall of energy, block energy from freely flowing, and build up negative energy and bad feng shui. So, here are some positions you should avoid in your bedroom feng shui.

Don’t Sleep in Line with the Door

The principles of feng shui strongly advise against sleeping in line with the door. In feng shui practice, placing your bed in line with the door is known as the “dead man’s position”. This is because having your head or feet in line with the door reflects how people carry a dead person through the house. Always avoid this position.

Furthermore, Chi enters rooms through windows and doors, so sleeping in line with the door puts you in the path of flowing Chi while you sleep, which puts you in a position of vulnerability. Instead, you should be safe and protected while you sleep.

If you are unable to move your bed, you can put a barrier like a foot board or a screen in front of your bed. This will redirect the flow of Chi around your bed, rather than over it and past you while you sleep.

Pressure

Positioning your bed in places that create pressure is also unfavorable. This includes placing your bed under sloping ceilings, ceiling fans, chandeliers, and pendant lights.

Bed beams create pressure while cutting the energy flowing through the room, so they should be avoided. Bed beams may worsen sleep disturbances.

Can’t See the Door

The command position is very important in feng shui. So, although you shouldn’t be in line with the door, you should still be able to see it.

Bedroom Walls

Also because of the importance of the command position, you should mind the walls in your bedroom relative to the rest of your home and your bedroom itself. Avoid placing your bed against entrance walls and party walls. Instead, place it against a solid wall away from doors and windows to increase support and security.

Plants

Yin and yang are important feng shui principles because yin and yang are central to Daoist philosophy. Although yin and yang represent a variety of characteristics, yin is often associated with rest, and yang is associated with activity. Plants present a lot of yang energy, which can interfere with rest in the bedroom by creating too much energy. Therefore, it is best to keep plants out of your bedroom.

Feng Shui Bedroom Layout Solutions

If you can’t avoid one of the unfavorable positions, there are other workarounds to avoid negative energy and chi blocks when designing your bedroom feng shui. One of the most important things to keep in mind is bed placement.

Bed in Front of a Window

As discussed, Chi flows through windows, so placing your bed in front of one places you directly in the path of flowing Chi. This can disturb and disrupt sleep. If you can’t avoid placing your bed in front of a window, get a higher bed. Getting a solid headboard will increase support, and making space around the bed where you can easily move will allow Chi to flow freely around the bed as well.

Bathroom Doors

Your bed should never face a bathroom door. According to feng shui principles, bathrooms are energy sinks, meaning that energy leaves the house through the bathroom. The water element represents wealth, cash flow, and prosperity. This suggests that the bathroom has good energy. However, the bathroom is also a place of dirt and germs, so disturbances in energy are common. Therefore, position your bed away from the bathroom door.

If you can’t avoid your bed facing the bathroom door, make sure that the doors are closed at all times. Also, you can hang a mirror on the inside of the bathroom door to reflect any negative energy back into the bathroom, and prevent it from escaping into your bedroom.

Bed Beams

As mentioned, placing your bed beneath beams can cut energy flow, and create pressure, resulting in sleep disturbances. In addition, sleeping underneath a bed beam means that the bed beam is cutting across you and bisecting your body, which is bad for your health. If you can’t avoid the bed beams, hang two flutes with red ribbons on them. This negates the beam's cutting effects, and directs the energy into the flutes and away from your body.

Bedroom Feng Shui Tips

Now that we’ve discussed some positions that should be avoided, we can get into positions, layouts, and bedroom ideas that favor good feng shui.

Get a Solid Headboard

The headboard represents stability. A solid wood headboard or an upholstered headboard is ideal. A solid headboard will provide you with support and protection while you sleep, and promote good feng shui energy in your bedroom. If you don’t have a headboard, you can attach a few planks of wood to the wall by your bed to get similar results.

Make Sure Your Bed is at the Right Height

For the best feng shui energy flow, your bed should be a reasonable height above the floor. This allows for energy to flow underneath and around your bed. Keeping things underneath your bed like storage drawers block the flow of energy underneath and around your bed, and should therefore be avoided. You can easily add height to your bed by using risers. Also, if your bed is next to a window, risers will help to raise them and allow the energy coming from the window to flow underneath your bed, rather than over you while you sleep.

The Relationship Between the Bed and the Bedroom Door

As discussed earlier, you don’t want your bed directly across from the door. On the same note, you don’t want your bed too close to the door. It should be as far from the door as possible on a diagonal to the door. Being too close to the door can result in being easily startled, so you want to be farther away, so you have more time to prepare for what will come. Also, the door should be in your direct line of vision from your bed, so you can see what is coming, and feel greater control in your life.

Walls

Having a solid wall behind your bed is important. Just like a headboard, a wall provides support and protection while you sleep, whereas a window allows Chi to pass over you while you sleep, in addition to not providing you with support.

Also, don’t put your bed in a corner. Keep the head of your bed against the wall, but neither side should be against a wall. There should be equal space on either side of the bed. This prevents chi from circulating around your bed and creating blocks, and will create symmetry.

Get a Supportive Mattress

One of the reasons for incorporating feng shui principles into the bedroom is to promote relaxation, and improve sleep. One of the best ways to ensure this is by getting a quality bed that supports you, and allows for a restful night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep means staying asleep and falling asleep easier, and doing so will improve your energy levels when you wake up.

PlushBeds offers a variety of high-quality mattresses that will greatly improve your sleep. PlushBeds offers mattresses for every type of sleeper, and our offerings include organic latex mattresses, vegan mattresses, cooling gel mattresses, and hybrid latex mattresses. Each mattress is handcrafted and designed for luxurious comfort and maximum support, so that you can get a good night’s rest every night, and wake up feeling refreshed.

Keep Your Room Clean

An uncluttered bedroom and bed space promote uncluttered thinking. Keep your room and bed clutter-free, meaning that your floor should be clean, and your bed shouldn’t have too many things like blankets and throw pillows on it.

Color Scheme

Paying attention to the colors in your bedroom is also important. As we mentioned, earth tones in the bedroom will help to promote grounding and wellness. Other colors to consider in your bedroom are fire colors like red, orange, purple, pink, and yellow. Fire represents passion and energy, and can help you achieve recognition in your career. In addition, it will help to incorporate passion and intimacy into your romantic relationships.

Gray and white can also be included to incorporate metal tones into your bedroom to promote clarity and preciseness.

If promoting relaxation and calm is the most important for you, consider using pastel colors and muted shades on your bed like light blues, pinks, green, and purples.

Water

When choosing to incorporate the five elements into your bedroom, you should avoid water. Avoid paintings and pictures of water features, water fountains, and aquariums. Including them could invite financial loss and robbery into your home. Instead, place these in your bathroom.

Takeaway

Taking some time to incorporate feng shui into your bedroom can invite balance, harmonious energy, and positive energy into your bedroom. Although skeptics may say there is little science to support feng shui, at worst you will create a bedroom environment that promotes relaxation, and highlights what you want to achieve from your life, all while promoting restful sleep. You may not need to achieve the best feng shui to receive some of the benefits that come with following these rules and principles.

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