Feng shui furniture placement ideas for the living room

Call it "new agey", pop-culture, or whacky, if you want to, but many people are calling Feng Shui just plain "wonderful".

Feng Shui is the philosophy of arranging and coloring your living or working environment in ways that will contribute to your health, peace, and success. The practice of Feng Shui (meaning "wind" and "water") is believed to have begun in Tibet over 10,000 years ago. It has been practiced in China for over 3,000 years and is a comparatively recent consideration in the western culture. Feng Shui as a part of western life style has developed rapidly in recent years. Its concepts have been applied in the construction of many notable office buildings, art museums, shopping centers, and city parks, not to mention, personal office spaces, and the exterior and interior of homes.

The main concept of Feng Shui revolves around the belief that there is a constant flow of energy in nature. This energy can be either good or bad or a combination of both. In order to deflect the bad energy and receive the good, we must take into consideration the arrangements and contents of rooms in order to maximize this energy flow on our lives. This concept is especially important for rooms that are focal points in our homes, such as the living room.

Before the direct application of Feng Shui in living room arrangement can be discussed, there needs to be an understanding about the basic concepts of this practice which consists of part science, part intuition, and part spirituality. The natural earth elements of fire, wood, water, and metal are the basis for the decisions made for arranging within environments. In some practices of Feng Shui, these elements are put on a "map" called a "bagua". Practitioners of Feng Shui can use this tool to determine the weak spots within a home and make recommendations about how to overcome the bad qi (pronounced "chi") that is part of the environment's layout.

The bagua is sort of like an eight-sided map. In order to understand what this "map" looks like, pretend you are looking at a clock. At approximately "12:00" on the bagua is the element of "fire". It represents "fame" and the color red is associated with it. At "1:00" on your imaginary clock face, would be the element of "earth". Earth represents marriage and relationships and the colors, pink and orange. In about the "3:00" area is the element of metal. It is called the "lake" area and it represents children and the color white. At "4:00" is the area called "heaven" and that represents helpful people and the color gray. At "6:00" is the element of water. It represents "career" and the color black. At "7:00" is the area called "mountain". It represents knowledge and self-cultivation and the color blue. At "9:00" is the element of wood. It is the area of thunder, and represents family, elders, and the color green. At about "10:00", is the element of wind. It represents fortune, wealth, and the color purple.

To get a better understanding of how the bagua works in helping determine room arrangement, for example, imagine you are entering a room with the bagua in hand. Standing in the door way while holding this "map" with the water side of the bagua facing toward the door, you can get an idea of where the weak spots of the room may be and where they correlate to your life. For example, if the right side of the room is blocked with furniture and does not have balance, it is probably having an effect on your marriage and your children. If the left side of the room does not have the correct balance and connection with the energy flow, it can affect your life's area of wealth and extended family relationships. If the doorway itself is in a bad position and does not have remedies in place for this bad position, it can affect your career. If the area you face as you come in the door has bad qi, it will affect your fame and fortune. Of course this is a very simplified explanation and there are many considerations to be made in arranging a room, but it might give you an idea of how the bagua is used in the practice of Feng Shui.

In using Feng Shui in arranging a living room, there are some very basic considerations to keep in mind. First of all, you need to get rid of clutter. If a room is cluttered it means that the mind is probably also cluttered. Clutter breaks energy flow and is counter-productive to relaxation and peace. Another area to evaluate in your living room is what you see upon entering your room. If you walk into your living room and face a wall directly opposite you, without anything to soften the energy that comes into that room, you may not be able to accomplish what you want to in life. If, however, furniture blocks the natural flow in a room, you'll feel uneasy and you will probably be less productive and less successful. The idea is to control the energy flow so that it is not too fast and not too slow because either extreme can cause illness or unhappiness.

Some specific tips for arranging a living room under the Feng Shui guidelines would include making sure you don't put a sofa directly in line of the door. If this happens, qi will be directly aimed at you while you are sitting there and it will make you feel uncomfortable. Arrange your sofa so that you have the most expansive view of the room and the entry. Open up the space and you'll have more energy flowing into your room and into you.

The best choice for the shape of the room is rectangular, if possible. That is a natural energy flow enhancement construct. If your room is not rectangular there are steps to minimize bad qi such as the placement of plants and mirrors, room dividers, or perhaps a small, indoor fountain in the area of the room showing weakness.

There are many other basic tips for furniture arrangement in a living room. The furniture should be kept in a circular arrangement and if possible, no chair should have its back to a door. If it is necessary to have a chair with its back to the door, hang a mirror on the opposite wall so a person sitting there can see who is entering the room and the mirror will also help redirect the energy flow. Also, in the areas of the room which are weaker, use plants, wind chimes, lights, crystals, greenery of any kind, and items of color associated with those areas so that your room will be as balanced and open to energy flow as possible.

Also, try to avoid having exposed beams in the ceiling in your living room as these interrupt the energy flow. If you do have beams, try to get the flow to move downward by hanging chimes, or bamboo that points downward in various places from the beams. Also, make good use of color in your living room. You want it to be a place of rest and peace and balance. If the area of the living room that represents marriage and relationships is more empty or less balanced than the other parts of the room or has a corner wall or some type of inhibitor that will interfere with the qi in that corner, add something pink or of the reddish shades to help enhance that portion of the room and that portion of your life.

Using Feng Shui in your living room will contribute to your peace of mind. Thinking closely about your environment not only helps the energy flow, but it is a great intellectual and entertaining endeavor that enhances your intuition and your enjoyment. Call that whacky if you want, but if you do, perhaps you should take a look at the knowledge and self-cultivation corner of your room and perhaps at least add a little blue color to the area. You seem to have some bad energy flow there.