Ah, feng shui. The ancient art of manipulating an environment to maximize the healthy flow of chi, or vital energy, is often promoted in Western cultures as a ticket to financial security or luck in love, but the Chinese philosophy can also be used to enhance health and wellness.

The core tenets of feng shui are really the basic theories of life: everything is alive, everything is connected, and everything is changing. Feng shui is based on the theory that even inanimate objects — like rooms — can have healthy chi or unhealthy chi. Following principles similar to those of Chinese medicine, feng shui practitioners believe that blocked or stagnant chi can lead to illness.

The entire house can benefit from a feng shui facelift, but the best place to start is in the bedroom. The room in which you begin and end your day can have a profound affect on your health.

Lilian Too — kind of like the Tony Robbins of Feng Shui — suggests the following changes for a healthy sleeping chamber (from her book Feng Shui Fundamentals: Health)

• Never sleep with a mirror facing the bed. “A mirror in the bedroom is one of the most harmful of feng shui features—[as it] creates health problems connected with the heart. Mirrors above the bed are equally harmful,” Too explains. A television counts as a mirror because it also reflects; if you must have a TV or mirror in the bedroom, cover it when it’s not being used.

• Never sleep with a water feature behind your bed. A painting of a lake or waterfall—or, worse yet, an aquarium—has the same effect on the heart as a mirror.

• Never sleep with the sharp edge of a corner pointed at you. The sharp edge of a corner is a deadly form of poison arrow that brings the “killing breath.” Use furniture to disguise the sharp edge.

• Never sleep under an exposed overhead beam.If the beam is directly over your head, you may suffer from migraines and headaches. If it crosses at chest level, you can usher in problems with the heart, lungs, and other respiratory problems. Beams are not a good feng shui feature in any room.

[via Swedish Health]

(Image: The Feng Shui Advantage)