How to feng shui your home

By MO Magazine

December 29, 2022

Transform the spaces where you live and work with these easy pointers, calling on the art of feng shui.

Practised for thousands of years, feng shui centres on the idea that chi – vital energy – needs to flow freely through our living and working spaces. It’s based on the Taoist belief that all objects contain chi, and that we can live in harmony with the universe by balancing chi’s primary forces, the opposing yet interdependent yin and yang.

Get the energy flowing and it’ll boost your health, happiness and prosperity. That might mean rearranging your furniture, ditching a glass-topped desk, or adding the right plant: an areca palm, perhaps, to bring good luck, or a calming white orchid by your desk.

Following feng shui principles can transform your state of mind as well as your surrounds – so get ready to feel newly balanced, energised and inspired. Wondering where to start? We consulted Judith Wendell, the founder of New York consultancy Sacred Currents and Mandarin Oriental’s go-to expert.

Get to know your elements

“The tools of feng shui are used to balance the life-supporting elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal in your home or workspace,” explains Wendell. “The colours red, magenta, burgundy, crimson and pointed shapes represent fire, for example, and the fire element symbolises one’s reputation and recognition.”

When you find out more about each element, and which materials, objects and colours are associated with them, you can tailor different parts of your home to reflect these in the places where they are said to be beneficial.

The connections aren’t always obvious. The metal element is associated with the colour white, for example, while the wood element is strongly associated with green and purple.

Welcome new energy

“An important principle of feng shui is to refresh your environment regularly by moving out stagnant energy, or chi, and replacing it with fresh and current intentions,” says Wendell. “Singing bowls are great for clearing and harmonising energy.” Try it for yourself with this singing bowl in hand-hammered bronze, created exclusively for Mandarin Oriental.

Fragrance and candles, Wendell says, are also wonderful tools for performing rituals to bring new energy and intentions into a space. Try a home fragrance warmer set, diffuser or atomiser to infuse rooms with your chosen scent, or light a Bloom candle, fragranced with ylang-ylang and rose.

Make an entrance

“The front door of any environment is called the ‘mouth of chi’, and it feeds the entire space,” explains Wendell. “It’s important to create an uplifting first impression when you enter, free from clutter. That’s because the stagnant chi caused by clutter will limit potential and create issues for health, wealth and relationships.”

Avoid having an entrance hall that’s strewn with belongings, and consider storing shoes, umbrellas and coats so that they’re not always in sight. Instead of using hallways as dumping grounds, display just one or two cherished pieces – a pair of tasselled Aquazurra slippers, say, or chic silk scarf, ready to transform your outfit as you step out of the door.

Add texture to slow down the chi

While the entrance to your home should be clear, ready to let that vital life-force come on in, avoid a starkly minimalist approach when it comes to the rest of the house. “We never want chi to travel too quickly through an environment, as opportunities could be missed and health compromised,” says Wendell. “Instead, slow it down with textured fabrics, rugs, uplifting art, and crystal lighting.”

Add tactile rugs and textiles to rooms, and drape MO’s cocooning cashmere-blend throw over a sofa or bed. Plants are also important: swap out a prickly cactus for an air-purifying philodendron, or position a lucky peace lily on a sunny windowsill.

Feng shui your home office

If you have a home workspace, says Wendell, position your desk chair so that you have a full view of the door, without being in direct line with it – the ‘command position’. “It’s also important to have a solid wall behind you. If that’s not possible, then have the highest chair-back you can.”

Having your back is to the door, meanwhile, is highly undesirable. If it can’t be changed, position a reflective surface in front of you, so that you can see the door and anyone standing behind you. (Take note, though – mirrors chosen for feng shui shouldn’t be artfully distressed.)

As for your desk, avoid glass or glass-topped surfaces, cautions Wendell, as these are associated with bad business outcomes. But if that’s the desk that you already have? Get yourself a big blotter, and simply place it on top.

Finally, sit as far back in the room as you reasonably can. “The further back you sit, the stronger your position,” she concludes.

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