Feng Shui for Soothing Sleep

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We’re all well versed with the benefits of a good night’s sleep. From improving our immune systems to reducing the signs of aging, studies have shown that getting seven to eight hours sleep can improve our health enormously.

As women, we’re used to putting the wants of others before our own, and our need for sleep is no exception. But a good night’s sleep shouldn’t be a luxury, it’s a necessity.

One of the ways you can improve the quality of your sleep is by embracing the principles of Feng Shui, the ancient practice of arranging our physical environment to improve our lives. It does this by balancing the energy (or chi) that flows in and around us, enhancing the positive and counteracting the negative, to promote happiness, prosperity and good health.

Making a few changes to the layout and decor of your bedroom can really improve your quality of sleep, so here are a few Feng Shui practices to turn your bedroom into the serene sanctuary that you’ve been dreaming of.

1. Choosing Your Bedroom

If you’re lucky enough to have the option to choose between a few bedrooms in your house, then you should use a room at the back of your home away from the noise and activity of the street. Large bedrooms have the potential to dwarf us, so need to be brought down to human scale to create a cozy resting place. If your bedroom is large, think about purchasing a canopy bed, or sectioning off a smaller sleeping area with plants or a screen.

2. Color

Colors are an extremely important part of Feng Shui, as each is an expression of one of the five Feng Shui elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. By choosing soothing colors you can positively influence the energy in your bedroom.

Feng Shui practitioners recommend using rich, warming earth colors such as beiges, terracottas and cocoas to promote nourishment and stability in your room, whilst the use of soft, natural water colors such as light blues, greens and lavenders can bring quiet, calm and ease. Wood colors encourage health and vitality, so can also be used in abundance.

Fire colors such as red, orange, purples, pinks and strong yellows are linked to passion and high energy and should be limited to accents such as pillows and throws.

3. Your Bed

In Feng Shui, the best place for your bed is as far away from the bedroom door as possible, but still in a position that allows you to see it, giving you a sense of safety while you rest. Your bed should have a solid, protective headboard to support you while you sleep, and should not have anything underneath it, blocking the flow of positive energy from circulating around you and causing stagnation in life.

Ideally, your bed should never be placed underneath a window, as this lacks the symbolic support of a solid wall. Windows allow energy to travel in and out of a room and this can lead to a restless night’s sleep. As well as this, you should avoid having a mirror facing your bed. They’re energy activators and enhance the vitality in a room, doing nothing to aid a good night’s sleep.

4. Furniture Choice and Placement

As well as your bed, the choice and placement of other bedroom furniture can have a huge effect on the room’s energy. You should choose furniture with soft, curved lines to prevent the creation of “poison arrows”. These are sharp corners that direct negative energy towards you while you sleep. If you can’t afford new furniture, try draping material over right angles to soften them.

In Feng Shui in general, less is more. All of the furniture in your room should have positive associations, so get rid of anything that reminds you of a negative time in your life.

5. Clutter

Clutter can leave you feeling irritated and overwhelmed at the best of times, so has no place in a calm, peaceful bedroom. Things like piles of paperwork and exercise clothes take up, and therefore give off a lot of energy, preventing you falling asleep.

Your bedroom should be a place where you can shut out the world, so try not to bring it in with you. Most electrical goods serve as constant reminders of what’s going on outside your haven. If you can’t give them up completely, try putting them away or covering them while you’re sleeping.

Siobhan Tumelty is a freelance writer and interior design enthusiast from Cardiff, South Wales. She’s currently working on her first novel. You can follow her @shabby_siobhan.

4 Comments

  1. I do have trouble sleeping so I read every word of this post. I’m ok on a few points – small cozy bedroom at back of house – but need to work on a few (like the clutter).

  2. Thanks for these tips! I need to fix few things in my bedroom asap!

    -aneesh-

  3. Very interesting.I def need more restful nights….

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