Six quick ways you can improve your home’s Feng Shiu
Is your home bringing you bad luck? Discover six quick changes you can make to your home to help improve its Feng Shui.
Our homes are where we come to relax and restore our energy. But what if your home doesn’t feel relaxing and revitalising?
According to research from iWardrobes, the positioning of your room can significantly impact the flow of energy, known as Qi, influencing different aspects of your life. By strategically placing furniture, adjusting lighting, and incorporating specific elements using the principles of Feng Shui, you can tap into positive energy and attract prosperity, success, and happiness.
What is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui, which translates to “wind-water” in English, is a centuries-old Chinese philosophy that emphasises the connection between people and their surroundings. It encompasses a range of principles and practices aimed at creating balance and harmony in living and workspaces.
Here are six Feng Shui principles you can employ to make positive changes to your home – and possible your health, relationships, mood and even wealth.
1) Clear pathways
According to Feng Shui, if the pathways to and through your home are cluttered, it can cause you to feel stuck. Items that block our path are literally a road block for good energy. If you want to invite good things and people into your life, you need to help them in by ensuring a clear path for them.
So ensure that your pathways are unobstructed so energies can flow freely, promoting vitality and opportunity. For example, avoid placing furniture in narrow corridors or walkways to promote vitality and invite opportunities to flourish.
2) Balance your furniture arrangement
Feng Shui likes balance and harmony, and this is important when thinking about how best to arrange your furniture. So think about how best you can create balance and harmony, and foster a sense of peace and tranquillity in your space.
For instance, placing a sofa facing a fireplace or a focal point in the room can create a visually pleasing arrangement that promotes relaxation and social interaction. Also consider the comfort of your guests, and place seating to help the flow of conversation.
If you are entertaining, arrange your furniture so that your guests are seated at the same level, and no one has their back facing towards one another.
3) Avoid sharp angles and corners
Angular edges and corners within your home can generate what Feng Shui terms sha chi or negative energy, potentially causing sensations of discomfort and unease. So try to ensure your rooms don’t have any ‘poison arrows’ caused by sharp corners.
For example, opting for a rounded desk or using corner protectors on sharp furniture edges can help alleviate the harshness of angular shapes. By doing so, you can mitigate the effects of sha chi and create a more harmonious environment.
If you have sharp corners you can’t avoid, you can block the negative energy with a plant, drape, cushion or even a windchime.
4) Add symbolic elements
Feng Shui loves auspicious images and elements. For example, dragons are believed to ward off negative energies. Placing a Feng Shui dragon is thought to invite positive energies into your home and banish negative ones.
Placing a jade plant near the entrance of your home meanwhile, symbolises prosperity and abundance, and hanging a crystal in a sunny window can disperse positive energy throughout the room.
Here are some other Feng Shui symbols that can bring luck, health and prosperity into your home:
- Fresh flowers are though to bring good luck and joy
- Buddha represents peace, prosperity and good luck
- Horses mean fame, freedom, speed and strength
- Fruits symbols abundance, fertility, love and peace
- Butterflies represent freedom and openness
- Fish are believed to attract wealth into homes
- Bird means beauty, freedom and inspiration
5) Align your furniture in the best directions
When it comes to the placement of your furniture, especially big items, you are obviously limited by the lay out of your home. But significant prices of furniture, such as your bed and desk are also incredibly important in Feng Shui, so it’s worth thinking about where you place them.
When it comes to your bedroom, your bed is the most important piece of furniture, and should therefore be in the strongest possible position. Getting this right can help with your sleep, health, energy and stress levels and relationship.
Ideally, your bed will be in what is known as a ‘commanding position’. This means you can see your bedroom door from your bed, while avoiding the ‘dead man’s position’ or the ‘coffin position’ where your feet or head face the door.
The best place for your bed is diagonal to your door. If this isn’t possible, place a mirror so you can see a reflection of the door in it instead.
For adults, try to ensure there is space all around your bed, even if you move it an inch or two away from the wall. This allows energetic space for both of you and balances the yin and yang. For children, it’s good to have the bed against a wall as this provides them with support.
When it comes to your desk, if you can place it in the middle of a room so energy can flow around you. If this isn’t possible, make sure at least that your back is not facing a door. You need to see the door so you can see what is coming. your way.
6) Declutter
And finally, eliminating clutter can help to remove stagnant energy and create space for new opportunities to enter your life. For example, organising and tidying up your workspace can improve productivity and creativity, while donating or discarding items that no longer serve you can create a sense of lightness and freedom.
A recent survey revealed that over 90% of Brits have clutter inside their home, with almost 50% of those surveyed admitting that the clutter makes them feel stressed, and over 20% feeling actively upset or annoyed by the items. This ties in with what Feng Shui believes about clutter: it prevents the good flow of chi energy and can lower your spirits.
Create a welcoming and revitalising home using Feng Shui
The crucial approach is to consider the room as a whole, employing elements such as colour, lighting, texture, and arrangement in harmony with one another. Through deliberate planning and decoration, you can create a space that is both welcoming and revitalising.
Photo by Aditya Rathod
