The Tradition of Feng Shui: Wind and Water
When we translate the term “Feng Shui” from Chinese, we find that “feng” means “wind” and “shui” means “water.” Wind and water are two elements that, within Chinese culture, are indicators of good environmental health and, by extension, of human well-being.
In everyday terms, feng shui is a term that evokes the idea of being lucky and full of energy. The premise underlying this ancient, millennia-old science is that the earth is imbued with energy and that this energy can be harnessed by human beings.
By following a few principles, you can best influence it so that you can reap its benefits in your daily life.
Personal Feng Shui
Specifically, what one seeks through the practice of Feng Shui is balance—harmony between human beings and the environment in which they live and move.
Since ancient times,private architectural structuresandpublic buildings in Chinahavebeenorientedinsuch a way asto attract positive and harmonious energies. To align with the yin-yang force fields. And this is not a practice without basis—it was precisely the needs of Chinese architecture that led that civilization toinventatool for orientation. What we still call todaya magnetic compass.
Personal Feng Shui for the bedroom, living room, bathroom, garden, and office
The bedroom is the most important room in the house.According to the principles of Feng Shui, The bedroom represents the individual It reflects his innermost self. It is the room where one spends the most important and most intimate moments of their day. It’s important to remember that the bedroom is where we spend the most time, since, on average, we sleep for seven or eight hours straight.
And it is in light of this important fact that our reflection on this practice begins. The passivity experienced during sleep (the yin state) makes us more receptive, and it is the perfect state for testing the shifts in energy that can influence people.
Many experts in this field start by offering a set of tips.
Feng Shui for the Bedroom: Tips
01) Set up your bedroom to suit your personal style,removingall devicesthatgenerate electromagnetic fields. Devices that could cause disturbances and interference while you’re sleeping, compromising the quality of your sleep.
02) To embrace Feng Shui in the bedroom, it’s also necessaryto purify the room, eliminating as much as possible any chemicals or toxic substances that may be present. Whenever you clean, you should useeco-friendly cleaning products. But micro-particle pollution is also present in curtain fabrics, clothing, carpets, and bedding made from synthetic materials, without strict production controls or certifications to guarantee the final product. To sleep soundly in a clean environment, Chinese tradition recommends using onlyfurnishings and accessories of organic and natural origin. Therefore, it is necessary to furnish the bedroom with items made from natural materials and to wear only clothing made from organic and natural fabrics.
03) Air and lightmustcirculate freely, so care must be takennot to clutter the spacesorblock passageways. According to Feng Shui,windowsrepresentthe eyes of the adults and the mouths of the children living in the home, and for this reason, they must never be dirty or obscured.
How to arrange the bed in the room
Now let’s delve a bit into the realm of belief and superstition. Once you’re lying in bed, it’s best not to have your feet pointing toward the door. In fact, this belief has traditionally been passed down from generation to generation in our country as well. Our elders used to explain it by linking it to this superstition: “Lying in bed with your feet pointing toward the door means you’re ready to be carried out of the room in a coffin.”
In Chinese tradition, however, this choice is not based solely on superstition. The goal is tohave a clear view of the doorwhilelying down, but at the same timenot to be aligned with it. If you are unable to position the bed diagonally but still want to follow Feng Shui principles for the bed, you can place a freestanding, movable mirror that can be adjusted to the right angle so you can still see the door while lying down.
The position and choice of bed
The headboardmust beplaced against a wall—a solid wall, not the one separating the bedroom from the bathroom. Theother three sides of the bed shouldnotbe placed against any wall and must remain open and well-ventilated. Furthermore,the ceilingaboveshould not be sloped. The headboard represents the structure and stability of your life; it should be solid so that it can provide support without making you feel suffocated or trapped.
Whenchoosing a bed,it iscertainly important to opt forastructure raised off the ground. Avoid storage beds, the kind that are stuffed with various types of linens. It is important that air and energy can circulate all around the sleeping figure to heal it, without encountering any obstacles.
It’s best to opt fora symmetrical layout, with two identical nightstands, one on each side. This is also very important if you sleep with a partner, as it ensures energy is well-distributed and space is equally divided. This creates a balance between yin and yang.
How to incorporate the energy of colors into your bedroom
Even those unfamiliar withFeng Shui colors may have heard ofchromotherapy. Chromotherapy is a practice that falls within the realm of alternative medicine: colors are usedto help the body and mind rebalancejust enough to alleviate a symptom.
There is no doubt that certainshades of colorcaninfluence people. This is because human beings are, by nature, “visual beings”—creatures who explore the world around them through their eyes. So it’s understandable that colors influence our vital energy—we just need to decide how to make that happen. Or perhaps just do it with a little more awareness.
Before even choosing the desired color palette, it’s important to determine whichelements within the bedroomwillbring colorto the space. Not everyone likes the idea of repainting the walls, but it’s not mandatory. In this case, you can usefurniture, home accessories, and fabrics. By basing the room’s color scheme on these elements, it will be much easier to change the colors if you get tired of them. You can even switch them up seasonally or based on your mood: after all, replacingsheets, curtains, and pillowsisdefinitely less of a hassle than repainting frequently.
Feng Shui for the Bedroom: Choosing Colors
Regarding the choice of color shades You have to start with your own personal feelings. Choosing the right color palette is important: you should seek advice from a interior design expert and then let our energy guide us toward the colors that appeal to us most.In Italy, most people choose to leave the walls white And this isn’t a problem at all if it’s a matter of choice. White shouldn’t be seen as a passively accepted option, but rather as an element of light, harnessed for its energy, capable of conveying purity. If desired, it can be softened and blended into countless more delicate variations, such as, for example, theivory. Earthy colors, the giallo, theorange o he brown, in their various forms, are the best choice for people who suffer from anxiety. They evoke a sense of grounding and warmth and can be a great help to those who want a bedroom that conveys a sense of security and stability. The aquatic shades of the green e del blue have healing properties and restore vitality. Whereas the pastel shades Instead, they lead to experiences of relaxation and calm.
Those who are more spiritual may also choose the dark blue, which conveys a meditative energy, or the viola, which helps promote balance, boosting self-esteem and a sense of personal dignity.
If, on the other hand, you want to work on your ability to form or build a relationship, you can use the color rosa. Whereas a soft tone is perfect for calling a companion over fishing.
He gray finally, which can be used solo – and thanks to its combination of yin and yang, it brings balance, or as support color.
Is it a good idea to keep plants in your room?
Theharmonycreatedwithin the bedroom requiresyin energy, whereasplantshaveyang energy. Discussing plants and Feng Shui is therefore a matter that pertains to other areas of the home, which are more suitable for this purpose. Unless you have a large bedroom, where the presence of a small plant becomes irrelevant.
Much also depends on the personal history of those who practice Feng Shui. Those with compatible energy, if they are not overly sensitive and sleep deeply without issues, will have no trouble keepinga small plantina large bedroom. As everyone knows, plants undergo chlorophyll photosynthesis and therefore produce oxygen during the day andcarbon dioxide at night. In the bedroom, people sleep at night in the dark, so they are in the presence of plants at the exact moment they release carbon dioxide, not while they absorb it. This could lead to anincrease in the concentrationofcarbon dioxide in the blood, which would result inaccelerated breathingcausedby the body’s demand for more oxygen. Nothing particularly harmful to health, but theseepisodes coulddisrupt sleep. By changing one’s breathing pattern—shortening the duration and depth of breaths—the quality of sleep could suffer.
The best solution forharmonizing the bedroom with greeneryaccording tofeng shui is tokeep it within sight. A good idea is to have a direct view of greenery or, if you have a balcony in the bedroom, to keep natural elements and plants within view.