Feng shui – the ancient Chinese practice of achieving harmony, balance, and prosperity through arranging space – is especially important for students, finding themselves under a lot of stress and pressure, facing challenges, finding themselves in novel environments, constantly in the face of new energies. At the centre of feng shui is the flow, direction, and impact of different energies around us in everyday life, and establishing such equilibrium simply in your own room can have a profound impact on your studies and you may just find yourself enhancing your productivity, sleep, mood, and much more just with a few simple changes (especially for those sensitive to the ‘feel’ and energy of a space).
It is important to know that in this practice, different types of spaces and objects have differing energies and properties: these can range from being a powerful source of energy to being a drain or exit for it. These energies can also be positive or negative – chi or sha chi, yang or yin, upwards or downwards – and are also associated with varying sources, e.g. water elements and mirrors (positive energy), and windows and bins (negative drains of energy). This constant movement of energy can reflect, bounce around, be absorbed by objects in, or escape your room, and since feng shui concerns itself with achieving a balance of energy (such as in the Ying-Yang), there cannot be too much or too little of it, both in your space and yourself. This stability is also closely intertwined with nature: the five elements – earth, metal, wind, water, and fire – should similarly be balanced around your room to enhance your own inner energy and observe improvements in your studies.
A Few Easy Changes You Can Make to Your Room
Seeing as bins are seen as a source of negative energy, try positioning them away from direct view and consider a closed lid if possible, as this can help prevent negative chi dissipating into your room.
This feeds onto the importance of decluttering regularly, to prevent the disruption of free flow of energy around your room (this also includes keeping your bin tidy). Importantly, make sure to declutter your room of any broken items (especially clocks!) as these can symbolise a hindrance to one’s life.
Another easy tip is the positioning of mirrors, as these can aid in the circulation or otherwise stagnation of energy in your room. Avoid placing mirrors opposite and facing beds (as this results in too much energy directed at your bed and can affect your sleep and rest), and facing doors (as this can reflect positive energy back out of your room and diminish opportunities entering your life). Instead, place mirrors on a wall perpendicular to the door or in a way that reflect positive energy (such as plants, natural light, or the sky).
However, for you to be able to reflect positive natural light into your room, the window (a powerful source of energy) requires to be unobstructed to allow all the positive chi from outside natural light to lighten the energy of your room.
A final tip which would be simple but effective for your room in terms of achieving a positive feng shui is the use of colours. Green is often seen to be related to growth and new beginnings, so implementing this colour effectively would be ideal for your time at university. White and warm colours stimulate creativity and so should be prominent near your desk and working area, whereas cool colours (such as green and blue) aid in relaxation and so are most effective around the bed.
So, although rooms may be difficult to change around and certain feng shui elements may not be possible to implement (such as having the bed in the command position), I hope that these few simple feng shui tips can help you achieve an energy balance important during your time as a student, and that you can experience the benefits of these subtle changes in your mood, sleep, and studies.