Go with the flow
If you enter a home that just doesn't feel right, it may need a feng shui makeover
You've just toured what seems like the perfect house. The price is right, the neighbourhood ideal. It ticks off all your needs with the greatest of aplomb. Heck, even your real estate agent is grinning like a dog that's just fetched a temperamental stick.
But you're still on the fence. Maybe the house just has bad feng shui. The ancient Chinese practice, which charts the balance of energy through specific calculations, has long been popular as a furniture-arranging practice in the west.
The purported benefits include a sense of harmony, greater prosperity and even better health.
But the structure of the house and its surrounding environment can also affect the life force energy, or “qi” (pronounced “chee” in English). As P.K. Odle, executive director of the American Feng Shui Institute, told Real Simple: “All buildings have a unique feng shui energy blueprint from the moment they are built, which you can think of as the building's DNA sequence.”
Here are four features in a home that can indicate bad feng shui, says feng shui master Joey Yap, who spoke with Her World magazine.
1.
A lamp post facing your main door
Although it may seem like a positive thing — the lamp is literally shedding some light on the matter — the post could be creating what's known as Piercing Heart Sha. This would cause health issues for the house's occupants and invite career obstacles into their lives.
To check if the house has a Piercing Heart Sha, extend an imaginary line from the two ends of the main door out towards the post. If the post lies between those lines, there's a Piercing Heart Sha.
2.
A stove on the kitchen island This design feature isn't great because the stove is exposed to energy on all sides — which could mean whatever you cook there could be affected by bad qi. Better to have the stove flush against a wall, so it has stability.
3.
A kitchen sink opposite the stove This one comes down to incompatible elements — the stove represents fire, while the sink symbolizes water. When the two clash, it can impact the health of anyone who lives in the house. You can, though, put something in between the stove and sink to mitigate the effect. A console or island will do the job nicely.
4.
Pillars in the bedroom
A pillar positioned in the middle of a bedroom is a heartbreaking design element — literally. In feng shui, it's known as the Pole in the Heart Formation and messes with the flow of energy in the room, which could lead to a bad sleep.