Feng shui is a pseudoscience that was developed in China dating back to 4000 B.C. It is believed that how you arrange your home can affect how energy (chi) flows through your home and your life.

Historically, the principles of feng shui were widely used to orient buildings in an auspicious manner—often spiritually significant structures such as tombs but also dwellings and other structures. Feng shui means “wind-water,” two of earth’s flowing elements.

Feng shui—or good energy flow—can be easily applied in any space in your home, by arranging furniture appropriately, like the placement of your bed, doors, the colors you use, mirrors, and water features.

Incorporating Feng Shui in Your Home

You do not need to have a deep understanding of feng shui principles to start applying feng shui in your home. Just say you believe in universal energy flowing through everything, and then embrace feng shui in your home remodel or redecorating.

It is helpful to identify which areas of your home need help the most. For example, you might feel very good about your kitchen and your living room, thus tending to spend quite a bit of time there, but your bedroom, bathrooms, and closets are neglected. Do not completely ignore the areas that feel like too much work, such as the attached garage, the laundry room, or the closets. In feng shui, the house is viewed as a whole being in which one part is intricately connected to the other. Understand that one neglected area may sooner or later spread negative energy throughout your whole house.

Define a feng shui plan for your house or a list of priorities to bring the current state of your home closer to the state of your desired home. Know that with a strong intent and with enough perseverance, a harmonious home with great energy can be yours to enjoy.

Feng Shui Hot Spots

Front door color, door placement, and staircase placement in the home can affect how energy flows through your home. The front door, as the main portal for energy to enter the home, is very important. For example, if you have a staircase immediately at the front door, how does energy travel through the rest of the house? There are some fixes like the placement of plants, mirrors, and furniture that can diffuse the energy throughout the house.

Check your flow of chi. You can check your flow of chi by closing your eyes and imagine chi as a deluge of water that comes in the front door. Are there any spots in the house that will never get wet because things are blocking the way? Does energy get blocked before reaching your bedroom? Do you have good energy (sheng chi) or bad energy (si and sha chi) in your home?

Clutter disrupts the flow of chi through your home sometimes leaving pockets of bad energy. Clean up clutter to keep the flow of energy uninterrupted to all the parts of your home.

Tips for Some Rooms of Your Home

Anyone can implement a few of these tips to improve the feng shui flow and feel the power of connection between life and space:

1. Bathroom: The easiest tip to implement is in the bathroom. Always keep the bathroom door closed and keep the toilet seat lid down. The idea is that water goes out of the home here. In ancient Chinese tradition, water is related to wealth. You do not want your money being flushed or drained away.
2. Home office: Where you place your chair is important. A feng shui commanding position means you do not have your back to the door. Your desk should be positioned further from the door and not in line with it.
3. Baby’s room: Keep your baby’s bed away from the door, and minimize the number of electrical appliances that are close to the crib. Electronics near the baby means there is a field of electromagnetic energy surrounding the child.

Feng Shui Is the Art of Placement

Feng shui (fung-shway) means wind and water. It is the ancient Chinese artform of placement. The goal of feng shui is to create a positive flow of life force energy known as chi.Related Articles

1. Understanding the Western School of Feng Shui
2. Holistic Approach to Feng Shui Design
3. Fung Shway and Other Common Misspellings of Feng Shui

Chi Energy Divides Into Yin and Yang

Chi energy is divided into two opposite forces, yin (female) and yang (male). For a healthy existence, chi energy must be balanced. Too much yin or too much yang creates an imbalance. When this occurs within the body, you’re more prone to disease. On a global scale, nature suffers. In your home, life becomes off kilter.

Elemental Energies Come From Different Yin Yang Configurations

Chi energy further divides into five feng shui elements that have different configurations of yin and yang energies. These five elements create a cycle that must be observed and kept in balance in order for chi to flow optimally.

Elemental Energies Govern Luck Sectors

These energies govern different sectors of homes, rooms, and other spaces. They are based on compass directions and laid out on the bagua, a map that guides basic feng shui layout and placement.

Place Appropriate Elements in Each Luck Sector

These luck sectors are all represented on the bagua, and using items from the proper elements that govern the sector can enhance luck in those areas of your life. Luck sectors, the elements, and their compass directions include the following:

Sector	Direction	Element
Career	North	Water
Knowledge and wisdom	Northeast	Earth
Health and family	East	Wood
Wealth and abundance	Southeast	Wood
Fame	South	Fire
Marriage and relationships	Southwest	Earth
Children and creativity	West	Metal
Benefactors and travel	Northwest	Metal

There Are Different Schools of Feng Shui

There are three main schools of feng shui in the Western world. Two are considered traditional or classical feng shui, and the third is a western version of the ancient eastern art.

Shapes and Form School of Feng Shui

Typically called Form school, this is one of the traditional or classical feng shui schools. In the modern world, it’s rarely practiced by itself and is usually combined with the Compass School. It’s known as Form and Compass Feng Shui. Shapes and Form Feng Shui focuses on land formations and the elements surrounding the house. Exterior elements have a greater impact on the home than which room you use for a bedroom. For example, if a dead-end street ends directly across from your home, then you and your family can experience health-related issues and financial stress due to what is called the poison arrow effect.

Compass School of Feng Shui

Compass school relies on taking compass readings to determine the sitting/facing directions of your home. It also employs calculating the house’s Kua number (calculated using year house was built and compass reading), and each family member’s Kua (Gua) number (birthdate). In addition, the East and West System or Eight Mansions and Flying Star System are calculated for each member within the home. When combined with Shapes and Form school, you get a very concise and mathematical evaluation of your home and each family member.

1. Flying Star Theory (change annually and monthly)
2. Eight Mansions or Directions (four auspicious and four inauspicious)
3. Pillars of Destiny (birth month, day, year, and hour)
4. Kua Number (personal number and number of a house)

This school of feng shui requires many tools including the following:

1. BaGua (Pa Kua) – a map that shows directions and power areas of spaces
2. Luo pan compass – a special compass used to determine directions in the home
3. Lo Shu square – a 3×3 Chinese numerological grid

Black Hat Sect of Feng Shui

Black Hat Sect was invented by Lin Yun, who first discovered the Black Hat sect of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism as a child in Peking. He was trained in the sect’s mystical arts by a high lama. Lin Yun is responsible for bringing the Black Hat Sect Feng Shui to the West, which is a simplified version of traditional feng shui. Traditional Feng Shui masters have dubbed Black Hat Feng Shui as “fast food feng shui”. It is feng shui for the masses. Many Americans believe Black Hat is traditional feng shui and have yet to discover Form and Compass Schools. In Black Hat feng shui, a Bagua is the same for every house. It’s placed over the home according to the location of the front door, not the house’s facing direction as in traditional feng shui.

Choose One Feng Shui School and Follow It

Choose a single feng shui school and follow it, or you risk sending the universe confusing messages. Find the one that works for you; there is no right or wrong answer, although feng shui experts from all schools have strong opinions. According to traditional feng shui practitioners, if you place elements in a one-size-fits-all Bagua overlay for your home, then the elements are being placed in the incorrect areas. Traditional feng shui experts claim Black Hat cures may work or appear to work due to applying the basic feng shui principle of getting rid of clutter which frees up blocked chi energy.

A prime example of the differences between Black Hat and Traditional Feng Shui: The north is controlled by the element of water and is a career sector. Black Hat dictates placing a water fountain in the north sector of your home to activate your career. In some cases, this could literally end your career. If you’re in a year where inauspicious flying stars have moved into the north sector of your chart, then adding a water fountain will only boost those negative influences. This why a fountain may have worked quite well for you the previous year but suddenly the magic seems to have disappeared and your career is failing. Black Hat practitioners disagree with this assessment. They feel their form of feng shui is helpful, useful, and easy to follow, making it an ideal form of feng shui for the western world.

Basic Advice for Feng Shui Beginners

As you can see, Feng Shui is a complex system. Learn about the basic tenets of feng shui and then decide which school you wish to follow.