Feng Shui is a Chinese term meaning wind and water and has been practiced for thousands of years in China as a way to enhance one’s life. The main principle of is to know that all things—living and inanimate—are alive with Chi (energy). And this energy can sometimes be blocked by objects in our space. Here are some Feng Shui tips on how to make your home or workplace a more pleasant place to be.

• Feng Shui Color Guide

Furniture is important. It surrounds you day and night and supports you in every way. Think of living with absolutely no furniture, and you realize how important it is. You are either using it or looking at it. Each piece of furniture in your home or office has a distinct presence that demands a response. Either you like it, love it, or dislike it.

Ideally, you already love every piece of furniture in your home and workplace. If not, begin to plan how you can change your furnishings so that in the near future you will love them all. It could mean that you live without until the perfect piece shows up. Or, make it a priority to find it now, not later.

You want to surround yourself with furniture that always pleases, embraces, and supports you. Creating personal comfort and safety when arranging your furniture also involves finding the “power spots” in each room. This is especially applicable when arranging a piece of furniture that you spend much of your time using, such as a desk or a bed. You know you are in a power spot in a room when you can see the door leading into the room. If there’s more than one door into the room, then you can see all the doors from the power spot, or at least, the primary door.

There are very few people who are comfortable sitting or lying down where they can’t see the door. It’s a deep instinctual response that, when ignored, can jangle people’s nervous systems and set them on edge. Many of us spend most of our waking hours at a desk or work table. It is our power place—the place where we work, have meetings, make phone calls, write, and in general, further our professional lives. Desks and work tables are ideally located in a power place in the room, with a view of the door. If your desk is against a wall, with your back to the door, there are two possible solutions: 1.

Reposition your desk so that you can see the door. Place a mirror on or behind your desk so that you can see the door in the mirror. Mirrors can also be used to reflect the view you may lose when you turn your desk around to see the door. In one case, a client set up his desk in his home office with his back to the door facing a gorgeous view across a canyon and out to the ocean. He was writing a novel and would become very immersed in his creative musings. Every night at exactly the same time, his wife would come in with their son to say goodnight, and every night the man would nearly jump out of his skin when he realized someone was behind him. He became very irritated with her because she scared him like that every night.

Her response was to be very annoyed with him for always jumping, and then being so testy with her about it. You’d think he would have gotten used to it! His wife tried calling his name first, clapping, or “yoo-hoo”-ing, and he’d still jump. Even so, he wasn’t willing to turn his desk around because he loved and was inspired by the awesome view. Our solution was to place a standing mirror, often called a shaving mirror, on his desk, and he never jumped again. His eye would catch the first movements of his wife and son coming in the door, and he was fine from then on.

In a business setting, everyone’s life, from the president of the company to the receptionist in the lobby, pivots around their desks. Since many offices suffer from a long list of Ch’i-depleting conditions including crowded work areas, low ceilings and fluorescent lighting, it’s even more crucial for workers to balance and enliven the Ch’i on and around their desks. First and foremost, desks need to have a view of the door, either directly, or via a mirror. This is one of the easiest and most powerful enhancements you can make. Use plants, screens, or false fronts when computer and other wires need to be camouflaged. Enjoy personalizing your desk area with items that you love and that nourish your Ch’I throughout the day.

Enjoy building an energizing, revitalizing circle of Ch’i, using your desk as the foundation. Exercise: When you want to reposition your desk and have two or more places in the room from which you can see the door, put your desk chair in each of those spots first. Position the chair exactly as it would be if your desk was there, sit quietly for a few minutes, and get a sense of what it would feel like to spend time there. In most cases, there will be one spot that immediately feels right—this is your power spot.

A bed is another piece of furniture that, when well placed, assures a good night’s sleep and a feeling of safety and comfort. This is important because we spend a third of our lives in bed, and it’s the time when we are most vulnerable. Beds are trickier than desks for two reasons.

First, mirrors don’t really belong in bedrooms. They activate the Ch’i in a room meant for rest and relaxation, and they reflect movement that can frighten a half asleep person. Believe it or not, mirrored closet doors in bedrooms are more of a Feng Shui problem than a benefit. The rule of thumb is to have one mirror or less in the bedroom, hung as far away from the bed as possible.

A bedroom should feel like a safe, restful nest, not an elaborate dressing room. Here are a few more feng shui tips to remember: Your furniture is essentially alive, interconnected with the rest of your life, and subject to being moved around at any time. When your choices in selecting and placing your furniture are focused on creating comfort and safety, and when you surround yourself with pieces that you love, you enhance the circulation of vital Ch’i. This approach will create your own personal paradise. Your choices in selecting and arranging your furniture can balance the yin and yang qualities and the five elements, which also enhances the flow of vital Ch’i throughout your environment. Your precise choices of the placement of your furniture can invite people and vital Ch’i in, rather than pushing people and vital Ch’i away. For more about information on how to Feng Shui your home or office, see my book,.

Feng Shui Color Guide

Filled with photographs, stories, and many practical Feng Shui 'tricks of the trade,' this book is packed with ideas and tools that you can easily apply to your life to increase your prosperity and improve your health, creativity, and overall happiness. Terah covers every room in great detail-including your living room, dining room, bedrooms and bathrooms, home office, kitchen, family room, and storage areas. She also explores the attitudinal and spiritual work-the inner Feng Shui-that complements and strengthens your outer Feng Shui enhancements. Includes a 16-page insert of color photos to emphasize the author's points.