How to Position Your Headboard for a Feng Shui Bedroom

To turn your bedroom into a true haven of peace, you need to choose a headboard that reflects your taste and meets your needs, and also place it well in the room according to the principles of Feng Shui. This article explains what that involves.

What is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui is a Chinese art that aims to bring as much harmony and prosperity as possible into a home. In practice, Feng Shui rests on several pillars:

• The good circulation of Qi (Chi), the energy present inside the home;
• Yin and yang, and in particular the placement and orientation of resting rooms (yin), such as a bedroom, and living spaces (yang), such as the kitchen;
• The arrangement of furniture and decor in each room of the home;
• Respect for the 5 elements of Chinese medicine: water, wood, earth, fire and metal.

Carole Imbert, a Feng Shui practitioner, sophrologist and sophro-analyst, explains:

“The circulation of energy in a home is fundamental. [..] You breathe this energy in, and it defines your quality of life inside. But if, by the time you live with it and breathe it, it has gone stagnant behind a lot of furniture, a lot of rugs, behind curtains that are never cleaned, this vital energy turns into end-of-life energy.”

In short, Feng Shui helps you channel and better direct the energy in your home, notably by arranging your furniture in a certain way.

Why is it so important to position your headboard well?

Feng Shui lets you plan the layout of your bedroom to encourage a harmonious flow of energy and give you a real sense of well-being. The furniture and decor in your room therefore play an essential role in its energetic balance.
The same goes for your headboard.

When it comes to well-being, a headboard placed between your box spring or mattress and the wall keeps you from feeling the “cold wall” effect, especially around your head. It gives you real thermal comfort.

Likewise, a headboard lets you create a cocoon around your sleeping area and gives you a feeling of security, for more restful sleep. In short, well placed, your headboard has a direct impact on the quality of your sleep, and therefore on your health and well-being in general.

How to position your headboard according to Feng Shui principles

According to the art of Feng Shui, it is essential to plan the layout of your bedroom carefully, and especially your bed and headboard, to encourage good circulation of energy in the room.

This means following certain principles, such as:

• Avoid placing your bed, and by extension your headboard, between two opposite openings (between the door and a window, for example). This can disrupt the flow of energy;
• Do not place your headboard directly under a window either. Here again, energy circulates through doors and windows;
• Ideally, position your headboard against a wall so that you feel both supported and protected, and get truly restorative sleep;
• Do not place one side of your bed directly against a wall either. That would keep energy from circulating all around your bed;
• Ideally, also set up your headboard, and therefore your bed, so that you have a clear view of the bedroom door. This gives a real sense of security.

Finally, orientation is also an important factor. There are generally two options:

• Orient your headboard to the north, meaning the top of your head points north;
• Orient your headboard to the east, meaning the top of your head points east.

According to Feng Shui principles, the orientation that suits you best depends mainly on your Kua number, determined by your year of birth.

Of course, depending on the layout of your bedroom, you may not be able to follow all of these practices. And that's fine. What matters is finding an arrangement that works for you and lets you feel at ease as you drift off to sleep.

Good to know

At Letti Letti, all our headboards can be personalized, so you create the atmosphere you want in your bedroom. Our headboards also have removable covers, which lets you change the color of the fabric and piping whenever you like, so you keep feeling good in your space over time.