The bedroom Feng Shui is thought to affect our lives, relationships, and overall quality of life. Let’s discuss some of the key ideas in the Feng Shui bed direction and placement, and why you might reconsider your obsession with it.
We will talk about the layout of the following:
- Ceiling, light, and fan
- Headboard
- Mirror
- Bedroom door
- Window
If you’re just wondering what Feng Shui is, let me give you a little explanation.
I will also refer to Feng Shui as FS.
What is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is a system of laws that govern the arrangement of things in an area in relation to how their energy works.
It was often used in the Chinese culture to determine the location and design of the building. Right from the ancient days, people felt that buildings, furniture, the orientation of doors and windows, and other decorations have to fit perfectly to have a great home environment.
In other words, it is a concept that suggests that you can reorganize your room to achieve peace and balance.
The Chinese translation of Feng Shui means “wind” and “water.” These are two natural elements that flow freely. They are the most basic elements that sustain human life in the world.
Technically, it may be just difficult to dig deep into Feng Shui to understand everything about it because that could take several decades of study.
Rules of the Bedroom Feng Shui
There are general rules that govern the arrangements of the bedroom according to the concept of Feng Shui but do they have any significant applications in real life?
Let’s have a look at some of the 10 most common laws described in the system.
1. Location of the Bed
Feng Shui requires that a bed does not directly face the door. Contradicting this rule will lead to an unstable Chi.
Chi, in this case, refers to the balance between negative and positive electromagnetic energy which flows through items or everything in creation.
So, if the bed is placed at a location where it’s in direct line of the door, traffic from the door will disturb sleep.
It does not end there. If the bed faces the kitchen door or a bathroom door, it is a bad Feng Shui as well.
Such disorganizations could lead to bad temper, illness, and career problems.
Reason to take a step back
I don’t find anything wrong with this rule. This system is just trying to prevent too much distraction that usually comes from opening and closing doors.
We all understand that when the door keeps opening and shutting, the banging can be so irritating when you’re just trying to get some good sleep.
The doors leading to the kitchen and bathroom are often the busiest ones. So, I can see why Feng Shui discourages placing your bed at a location that faces them.
Eventually, lack of sleep leaves you emotionally distracted. In the morning when it is time to go to work and you still have dark puffy eyes, a foul mood, and a feeling of deep exhaustion, there is no way you will perform well at your job.
A study reported by Harvard Medical School found that indeed, lack of sleep or too much of it is associated with many health problems.
Why you don’t have to worry about the rule? It’s pretty obvious to me that a majority of people are already following this Feng Shui rule, either knowingly or unknowingly.
For those who have not made such considerations, it is usually because they do not have so much space in the bedroom to locate the bed strategically.
Also, assume that you live in the house alone, it is only you who will always open the door while moving around. When it is time to sleep, there won’t be any distractions such as a baby randomly busting in from the kitchen or something.
I would only be concerned about the bed’s location if we share a room, especially with restless and loud toddlers or teenagers.
2. Feng Shui Bedroom ceiling
The next important Feng Shui bedroom guide is the ceiling. Everybody loves a nice ceiling.
It is not a good practice to have a bright light source or ceiling fan directly above the bed. The reason for this is because the bright light and too much movement of the fan can disturb your sleep.
Based on the guidelines, whenever there is a beam on the ceiling, avoid putting your bed there. Also, in FS, placing important furniture such as beds and sofas under the beam is not acceptable.
My take on Feng Shui bedroom ceiling
For the bedroom ceiling, back sleepers would be the most concerned group regarding the design of the ceiling.
I am not just concerned about lighting in the bedroom. A recent survey found that over 85% of adults sleep with bedroom lights turned off.
Another 3% said they slept with lights on due to medical conditions while 1% said they leave the lights on because of their children.
While FS insists on not having bright light, an article published by Healthline suggests that sleeping with any lights on has detrimental impacts on the quality of night sleep.
Look at this bedroom already. There is no space to add a fan up there. This is true for many bedrooms today. You will find a dim source of light, but fans are rare.
The image below illustrates this so well. Home décor has become so universal that such design mistakes are very hard to find.
3. Feng Shui Headboard
Feng Shui of the bedroom requires that the headboard should be against the solid wall. And on the other side of the wall where your bedroom lies, there should be no kitchen or restroom.
Having such a bad design could suggest cause excessing quarreling or bad relationships.
Also, behind the headboard, there should be no window, elevator, door, air conditioner, hallways, or stairs.
Personal view
This is also another quite common sense law of Feng Shui bedroom. There is a lot of knocking going on in the kitchen and most walls do not block sound. So, FS discourages this arrangement for an obvious reason – better undisrupted sleep.
I am not sure how many people have their headboards facing the wall toward the kitchen, but my guess is that not so many.
4. A walkway on both sides of the bed
Best Feng Shui bedroom practice recommends that people should leave a couple of inches of space on both sides of the bed.
The reason for this layout is because the left side of the sleeper is the dragon (male energy) while the right side is the tiger (female energy). FS requires that both energies should be balanced.
Therefore, having one side of the bed against the wall as indicated below is bad Feng Shui bedroom practice.
This is one of the Feng Shui mistakes to avoid. Reason for this? The energy to the male or female partner in the relationship is blocked.
So, if it is the left side of the bed, then the flow of energy to the male is obstructed. Blocking the right side of the bed means that there is no energy flow to the female partner.
Reasons to stop obsessing
What if your bed is built into the wall? Do you pull it out? And if you do that, does it mean you will still have space for other pieces of furniture considering that not all bedrooms are 10 feet by 10 feet?
If your bed is this close to the wall, don’t worry yourself so much.
5. Feng Shui bedroom mirror
The next system we cannot miss to talk about is the location of the bedroom mirror.
It is bad Feng Shui if the mirror is facing directly at the bed. This rule applies to any other reflective item such as metal or glass. The TV is also placed in this category.
If these bright surfaces face the bed, they might disturb your sleep and lead to poor sleep quality.
My opinion
Do I see any problem with this FS suggestion? Probably not. I hate it when I wake up and the first thing I notice is the reflection of my ugly face on a mirror.
I love to wake up to silence and darkness.
However, this Feng Shui concept about the mirror location seems to me as something that would much depend on personal preference. Some people love themselves so much that they wouldn’t mind having a mirror face them directly as they sleep.
Also, unlike the wind or door, the mirror is an item that is easy to relocate to another place like the closet or the bedroom corner.
Others can cover it with a piece of cloth until they are awake. So, Feng Shui mirror arrangement should not be a big deal.
6. Feng Shui Vanity or Makeup Station
Another common piece furniture we have in the bedroom is vanity.
Bedroom Feng Shui requires that the vanity should not directly face the door or traffic. The reason behind it is that when you sit down at the makeup station, your back should not face the traffic.
It should also not point to the bed.
Feng Shui vanity suggestion would be something like the one below.
Thoughts
It doesn’t matter that much to men. Again, it all goes back to how much space you have in the bedroom. You could place the vanity toward the footboard only if the room can accommodate it.
7. A room inside the bedroom
It is increasingly becoming common for people to have washrooms inside the bedroom. The Feng Shui guidelines indicate that it is bad to have a rest room inside the bedroom.
Having another room inside the bedroom means that there are two doors in the bedroom. Feng Shui shows that this could mean there are two people locked up in a Chi fight. So, adding a long curtain to such a room could be the solution.
Do any of these Feng Shui bedroom rules make sense?
I get that it could be difficult to Feng Shui. However, every one of those rules should make sense even if you do not subscribe to the system of energy flow.
We all know that bright lights and TVs cause sleep problems. Bedrooms also usually require some modifications until the owner identifies the most suitable layout.
My only concern is about how many people can do all these suggestions right.
I have lived in student rooms where none of these rules can apply. Under those circumstances, what should one do? Probably nothing. Once you have a comfortable bed to sleep on, that should be enough.
Some people don’t even have bedrooms. So, why would they give a penny about bedroom Feng Shui?
People can try to rearrange the bedroom for various reasons such as space and comfort, but no evil spirit is going to chock you to death because you did not follow FS.
Do not allow the Feng Shui suggestions to affect you.
Concluding remarks
Feng Shui is not bad. The rules make a lot of sense when it comes to having a great sleep.
But if anyone asks me, “is the hype around Feng Shui worth it?’ My quick response would be a big NO!
We don’t have to obsess over it because most of it is common sense and basic engineering considerations that bedroom architecture have already figured out.