According to P.K. Odle, master feng shui consultant and executive director of the renowned American Feng Shui Institute, feng shui is like gravity. “Its influences exist in natural and man-made environments. Whether you believe it or not, they are already affecting your daily life.” Feng shui isn’t something you do; it is something that’s already everywhere. It affects you in ways you may not even realize. “All buildings have a unique feng shui energy blueprint from the moment they are built, which you can think of as the building’s DNA sequence,” Odle says.
Feng Shui as an Art and Science
Classical feng shui is an art and sister science to acupuncture. “Both ancient Chinese sciences have been improving people’s lives for centuries and are based on the Yi Jing or Book of Changes, which acknowledges that everything is energy,” Odle says. “Qi is the Chinese word for the universal lifeforce energy that is in a constant state of change.” According to Odle, time-tested calculation methods reveal the unseen feng shui energy blueprint of a building, which is determined by its magnetic orientation and when it was built. “These repeatable energy combinations have predictable consequences on the lives of the building’s occupants,” she says. “And as with all things in life, there is a mixture of supportive and harmful energy combinations within every building.” From an artistic perspective, decorating and furniture can be used to create positive flow. Practicers of feng shui believe that a room with unbalanced energy can affect our health, relationships, and finances. Here are some feng shui bedroom rules to follow when decorating one of the most important rooms in your home.
Feng Shui Bedroom Rules
Proper placement of furniture and accessories is at the heart of creating a feng shui bedroom. Every building has an unseen section grid, like a tic-tac-toe game. “The feng shui blueprint grid divides the interior width and depth by three,” Odle says. “These energy grid lines are like unseen beams that can cause health problems in the area of the body that is bisected between two sections of the energy grid.” Beams in general are a no-no for feng shui experts. If there is one key to a proper bedroom layout, it’s to avoid bedrooms with exposed beams. If your bedroom already has them, make sure that frequently occupied furniture is away from them. Keeping your bedroom clutter-free is also essential to good feng shui. A messy bedroom isn’t good for energy flow, even if all of your furniture is in the right place. So commit to keeping a neat and tidy space.
Choose Bed Placement
A good general rule is to make sure the top of your head is near a solid wall. “Or at least toward a wall with a closed window that doesn’t have any drafts,” Odle says. “This reduces the movement of Qi or energy above your head, so you will have a restful night’s sleep.”. Your headboard should fit flat against your wall. Floor molding can create a small amount of separation, so try to keep your bed as close to the wall as possible. If your bed cannot fit against a wall, Odle suggests keeping the door closed, or at the very least, a few inches ajar, when you’re lying in bed. The bed you choose is also important. A solid wood frame or a solidly upholstered headboard is best for feng shui. Avoid headboards with multiple panels, open bars, or beds with built-in shelving or storage.
Select Optimal Colors
To choose the best feng shui colors for your bedroom, Odle recommends having the space professionally evaluated. Avoiding primary colors—particularly reds, purples, blues, and black—is a good rule of thumb. “They can trigger major problems depending on the feng shui energies of the space,” she explains. So if you’re redecorating, look for furniture, bedding, and accessories that are neutral in color. If you can only change one element of the room, switch up your bedding. Look for neutrals that are calming without being uninteresting, such as Brooklinen’s Hardcore Linen Bundle ($387; brooklinen.com), which is available in stylish muted shades of blue, pink, and taupe, among other colors.
Place Mirror Properly
While most of us like to keep mirrors in the bedroom, a feng shui bedroom should not have one. Odle explains that because mirrors reflect light, it makes the energies of the bedroom very active, or yang. “This causes delays in going to sleep after lights out, because you are waiting for the bedroom’s energies to become more still, or yin.” Another consequence of mirrors in the bedroom is that, depending on your date of birth and gender, they can activate your personal “lonely pillow” direction. Odle says this can affect your relationships, preventing them from progressing and resulting in you sleeping alone.
Balance Energy with Elemental Remedies
Another part of creating a feng shui bedroom is implementing the necessary elemental remedies to complement the space. In other words, add accessories that reflect the five elements: water features, plants for wood, fire colors (reds and purples), and objects made of earth or metal. Odle says that it is never about having all five of the elements represented in each room. Which one should take precedence? “The mathematical calculations reveal which element is required to optimize the existing unseen energy combination.”
