I woke up this morning and was immediately thankful of the great night’s sleep I’d had. Feeling refreshed and renewed in the morning is NOT something that all of us enjoy. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 64 million Americans suffer from insomnia and other sleeping related disorders per year. So, this article reviews the all important position of your bed in fostering good bedroom Feng Shui. After all, we spend one-third of our lives asleep. So, check out my top six feng shui bedroom tips below for ideal bed placement: Contents1 Placing your bed under a beam is a Feng Shui bedroom disaster!2 Sleeping under slanting ceilings & eaves is a Feng Shui No-No!3 Take the widest possible view for good bedroom Feng Shui.4 Placing your bed DIRECTLY opposite the doorway is not good bedroom Feng Shui!5 Avoid placing your bed under a window6 Mirrors facing the bed is a Feng Shui bedroom No-No7 Cure for an L-Shaped Feng Shui bedroom with en suite bathroom8 Avoid bookshelves opposite
your bed9 Overload of bedroom Feng Shui clutter Think about what’s on the other side of the wall Don’t sleep on the floor! A supportive bed will support you! Beware of bedside tables and cutting chi Conclusion Exposed beams create a downward flow of energy or chi in the space directly below them. The result is an overwhelming sense of pressure. For example, if the beam cuts the bed in two it will symbolically divide the bed and the couple sleeping in it – a Feng Shui bedroom disaster in my mind! Similarly, a beam that lies across the middle of the bed is likely to cause health problems. A beam that lies above the head, or indeed overhanging shelves or cupboards, can cause headaches and migraines. Do you get the picture here? The lower the ceiling the greater the resulting pressure – not good bedroom feng shui! So, I’ve listed four Feng Shui bedroom tips below if there’s no option to remove the bed or beam: Chi or energy flows to the end of the slope of a slanted ceiling which means that anything below it will be under considerable pressure from the downward pull of energy.
Feng Shui bedroom tips to negate this include placing uplighters or miniature lights beneath the slope to push the energy back upwards. Alternatively, place a canopy hung from the ceiling above the bed to protect you from the downward pull of chi. Your bed should ideally be placed so that you can see the door easily and anyone who enters it. Diagonally opposite the doorway is best so that you have the widest view possible of the room. You can appreciate that not being able to see the doorway and all who enter can result in nervous or jumpy behavior – not good bedroom Feng Shui! If, for some reason, your bed cannot be positioned diagonally across from the doorway, try placing a mirror so that it reflects the entrance. Be careful, however, that the mirror doesn’t reflect the bed when you sleep! Note that in the previous tip, I mention placing your bed ‘diagonally opposite the doorway’. Please don’t confuse this with placing your bed ‘directly opposite the doorway’.
The doorway to your bedroom is the main gateway for incoming chi and because chi travels in a straight line, placing your bed directly opposite the door is not good bedroom Feng Shui. You may feel overwhelmed and find it difficult to sleep. Equally, sleeping directly opposite the toilet door (if you have an ensuite) is again not good bedroom Feng Shui. If you absolutely cannot avoid sleeping directly opposite your doorway put up a partition, for example, a folding screen at the foot of the bed so that it reduces the amount of vital energy lost. Your energy field or chi retracts or goes back into your body when you sleep so you feel restored and revitalized when you awake. However, placing your bed directly under a window will mean that vital chi is lost or siphoned off from your energy field. You’ll also be in the direct glare of any exterior street lights or car headlamps. Good bedroom Feng Shui states that the best place for your bed is in front of a solid wall (and headboard) for protection and solidity.
Mirrors that face the bed (be they wardrobe mirrors or wall mirrors) do not create good bedroom Feng Shui! Mirrors tend to reflect your energy or chi when you sleep. Instead of retracting back into your body (thereby replenishing it) energy or chi gets distorted. In my experience, mirrors that reflect the bed in this way seem to have a divisive effect on couples so if you want to keep your marriage strong leave mirrors out of the bedroom! At the very least, cover your mirrors with a piece of fabric, curtain or a screen to limit the distortion of chi. The same goes for any other reflective surface in the bedroom. Ensure that televisions and PC screens (best avoided altogether in the bedroom) are covered when not in use. En suite bathrooms (increasingly common) cause all sorts of bedroom Feng Shui problems, namely because the position of the bathroom creates not only a missing corner but also shar or negative chi which results from the sharp corner. So, a good bedroom Feng Shui remedy here is to place a screen to deflect negative chi from the corner.
If screens don’t appeal, try to square off the bedroom (and ba gua) by placing furniture in the missing corner. Remember, a regular rectangle shaped room promotes good bedroom Feng Shui allowing chi to circulate freely. Bookshelves or open shelving directly opposite your bed create bedroom Feng Shui problems. Open shelves emanate cutting chi directed at you whilst you sleep. Try putting doors on your shelving to contain the energy and protect you whilst you sleep. Sometimes I walk into a bedroom and it’s clear that the space is just far too small for the amount of furniture in it. Try to limit bedroom Feng Shui clutter and allow energy to flow freely around the bedroom. Never impede the entrance with bookshelves, desks, cupboards and other bulky items. When it comes to feng shui for bedroom harmony, less is more! People also tend to double or triple up on how they use their bedroom space – for gyms, home offices, multi-media entertainment hubs and the list goes on.
It’s hardly surprising that they find it difficult to relax. How can doing a hugely active, yang workout with dumbbells (which look like mini weapons) induce restful sleep? The energy of a well designed Feng Shui bedroom is yin, passive energy so think about what you use your bedroom for. If you want some help with your bedroom Feng Shui clutter, I have had several clients have great results with this award winning clutter solution. Try to avoid placing your bed so it shares the same wall with a toilet! Equally, think about what’s on the other side of the wall. I once went to a house where the occupant was suffering from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) only to find that the head of the bed was pointing towards a toilet on the other side of the wall. Similarly, a toilet that is situated above you is not great Feng Shui for the bedroom – symbolically flushing vital energy downwards in your direction as you sleep. I always advise against putting a mattress on the floor.
Your energy and body will become too infused with the passive, yin energy that emanates from the floor potentially resulting in health issues – not great Feng Shui for bedroom harmony! Try to invest in a solid, wood bed with a solid headboard which will contain your energy whilst you sleep. Brass headboards are not good bedroom feng shui as too much energy is lost out of the top your head. Water beds provide an unstable base and round beds tend to confuse chi. Feng Shui for bedroom romance and love states that sleeping on a double bed with two single mattresses alongside each other is not ideal, worse still if you push two single beds together. Think about the symbology here and the lack of cohesion it creates. Most of us here in the West seem to be hooked on placing bedside tables either side of our bed. The problem here is that cutting chi emanates from the two corners of the tables crossing your body whilst you sleep. This causes all sorts of limitations, a feeling of being held back or unable to make real progress in life (not good bedroom Feng Shui).
The solution in terms of feng shui for bedroom success here is to cover the sharp edges with a piece of fabric, move the tables further away from your bed thus diminishing the effect of harmful chi or invest in tables with rounded edges. I hope the above tips have given you food for thought when it comes to feng shui for bedroom harmony. Don’t worry if your bed placement does not foster good bedroom Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about making the best of the space you have. Making use of mirrors and other cures such as lighting can often alleviate harmful chi… and the resulting problems. Placing your bed and bedroom furniture in the best possible position is of paramount importance, enabling you to rest, relax and regain your strength ready for the day ahead. Ready to Learn More? I have a special offer for my loyal readers! I have read a lot of books/eBooks on feng shui in my lifetime and I can not recommend Feng Shui Secrets enough. For a limited time this ebook will also come with 5 Deadly Feng Shui Mistakes, Your Very Own Bagua Map and 7 Golden Secrets to Enhance Your Love Life!