Feng Shui Your Bedroom

Congratulations, you made it through 2016! You’re gonna need energy for the year ahead. And what’s one of the best ways to make sure you’ve got all the energy you need? Sleep, of course!

How do you get a good night’s sleep? In our opinion, your mattress and bedding come first, but they’re not the only factors at play.

Have you ever thought about the location and layout of your bedroom and how those factors can affect sleep? If you haven’t, maybe it’s time that you did.

Let’s talk feng shui

The ancient Chinese art of feng shui focuses on aligning a space’s energy to bring peace, serenity, and joy by aligning it with nature. Though the practice well over one thousand years old, its popularity remains.

Implementing feng shui into your bedroom can promote a healthy lifestyle, and help you get a good night’s sleep.

Small changes make a big difference

Feng shui intimidates people because they believe there are too many rules and concepts to adhere to. In reality, it can be as simple or intricate as fits your needs.

Ease into the practice by implementing these three steps into your bedroom:

Place your bed in the command position – The command position is an important aspect of furniture placement in feng shui. It centers around the concepts of power and safety, both important feelings to possess in your home.

To achieve the command position, your bed should face the door. This allows you to clearly see anyone who enters the room when you are in the bed.

The headboard should be against a wall, but not the same wall as the door. Having your bed against the wall provides the feeling of safety while you sleep.

Finally, your bed should not be placed under a window. This helps to prevent noise pollution and to further ensure the feeling of safety.

Close your doors – Especially the door to the bathroom if accessible through your bedroom. Water is an important element in feng shui, symbolizing wealth. The bathroom constantly drains water (wealth) out and away from the home, which we do not want. Closing the door to the bathroom helps stop this negative connotation from leeching into the bedroom.

Keep other doors, such as closets and the entry, closed as well (at least while you sleep). It helps the space feel safer, makes the room less busy, and keeps out excess light and noise pollution.

Ditch the television – You’ve probably heard this one before; your television belongs outside of the bedroom. Some people claim to sleep better with a t.v., but it’s more likely to cause unrestful sleep due to the noise and light pollution. Better to keep it in the living room and only use your bed for its intended purpose.

This holds true for all technology. Blue light is harmful to our sleep/wake cycle. If you need to keep technology in your bedroom, such as your phone, try leaving it on a dresser or somewhere else that is further away from the bed.

Make a move towards minimalism

Decluttering your space declutters your mind. Your bedroom should promote calm, relaxation. When a bedroom overflows with stuff, it can be hard to wind down and mentally prepare for sleep. The overstimulation and/or distraction from the clutter is a recipe for a restless night.

Marie Kondo offers great advice on getting rid of excess in her books, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy. The Japanese author and organizational guru is not a practitioner of feng shui, necessarily. However, her thoughts regarding minimalization and organization fit well into the practice; her books are also very user-friendly.

Want to further your feng shui?

If the basic changes outlined in this post make you want to learn more about feng shui, great! The web is full of useful information on how to effectively implement the practice into your space.

More in-depth areas to explore include the use of the bagua map to place items throughout your space, implementing crystals and colors to promote certain energies in a space, and (my personal favorite) bringing life into a space via plants and pets!

Of course, if any or all of the above-mentioned areas don’t appeal to you, leave them. The aim is to create a home/space that provides clarity and happiness. Your things and your space should work for you, not against you.