Feng Shui for Insomnia

Feng Shui is a Chinese system for managing "chi". Chi is basically life energy. When you’re awake, you want lots of positive energy to keep you feeling invigorated. In the bedrooms, you need to calm the life energy to achieve a blissful, deep sleep.

Chi loves to bounce around on shiny, reflective surfaces, making it more lively and disrupting your sleep. The more mirrored surfaces you have, the more it will bounce! Ideally, if you have a mirrored wardrobe, try installing a net or voile curtain which you can draw over it at night.

Mirrors were what got me started with Feng Shui. I read that you should never have mirrors on opposite walls. I had a mirrored wardrobe on one wall, and a decorative mirror on the opposite wall. I knew nothing about Feng Shui at the time and was sceptical, but I was ready to give anything a try, so I removed the decorative mirror. Imagine my surprise when I slept much more soundly that night!

Now let's look at the location of your bed in the room. Assuming there are no mirrors to bend and disrupt the flow, chi generally flows from the door to the window of the room.

If your bed is positioned between the two, the life force will flow straight across your body - which would be a good thing if you wanted to feel awake and lively, but no good if you want to sleep!

If you can't position your bed to avoid that flow, you can place something to block the chi and make it go around. A room divider or screen makes the most solid barrier, but if you don't have space, a mosquito net canopy over the bed is a good alternative.

The flow of chi is why Feng Shui disapproves of en suite bathrooms - because it means you have two doors in your bedroom, making the currents more complex so it's difficult to avoid having chi flowing across the bed. Always keep your ensuite door closed at night.

By the way, also keep the seat down, gentlemen - Feng Shui believes that if you don't, your wealth will drain down the toilet!

Another important Feng Shui rule is to avoid the "coffin position" for your bed, which is considered very unlucky indeed. You're in the coffin position if, when you're lying in bed, your feet are pointing straight out the door.

Another common sense recommendation is that your bedroom should be free of distractions (I'm sure you've heard sleep specialists advise that your bedroom should be kept for sleeping and sex only).

This especially applies to anything connected to work, such as paperwork, computers, etc.

The television is a huge source of chi (think of all the activity that happens on the screen, not to mention its electrical energy). If you really must have it, cover it completely before you go to bed – and on no account watch it before bedtime, because that will guarantee you don’t sleep!

In fact, Feng Shui frowns on clutter of any kind. “A cluttered room makes a cluttered mind”. Don’t use your bedroom as a dumping ground for “stuff”! When you’re ready to go to bed, make sure the room is tidy and all the cupboards are closed.

Finally, the points of the compass are important in Feng Shui. They may sound fanciful, but in fact there's logic behind their recommendations.

For instance, traditional Feng Shui says your living areas should be on the South side of the house and your bedrooms on the north. In the Northern Hemisphere (where Feng Shui originated), that means the living rooms are filled with light. The bedroom location also makes sense. Many of us want to be "cosy" when we go to bed - but in fact, cool is better, because our body temperature needs to drop in order to reach deeper sleep states. And the last thing you want is to be awakened at the crack of dawn by the sun streaming in your window, if you didn’t get to sleep till late!

However if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, following these rules would mean gloomy living rooms and hot, sunny bedrooms. So some modern practitioners reverse the original rules for sites in the Southern Hemisphere - much to the horror of traditionalists! I strongly recommend that if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, you follow the modernists' approach.

The other position to consider is the orientation of your bed. Unfortunately different practitioners offer differing advice on this score! Often the layout of the room makes the decision for you, so there's no point in fretting about it. But if you do have a choice, I suggest you try placing your bed in different positions and see what works best for you. You may find that you sleep better with your head pointing in one direction than another. Don't base your decision on one night - try each position for a few nights

Of course, there are those who say Feng Shui is nothing more than a heap of superstition. However, trying some of these ideas costs nothing, and won't hurt. So why not give it a try?

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All text copyright Marisa Wright.

Chinese carving photo courtesy of Kainet on Flickr