feng shui in the office

When designing your office using Feng Shui, the Bagua map is very helpful. For an explanation of this diagram of zones, and how these different areas of the room or building affect different aspects of your life, read the article entitled How to Use the Bagua for Feng Shui.

When designing an office, you typically pay the most attention to the zones that enhance your prosperity and your reputation. The Chinese orient the Bagua using compass readings and anchor the fame "gua" or zone to the south wall. The prosperity gua is then just to the left of the fame gua when you are facing them. In the West, people tend to orient the Bagua so that the fame gua is opposite the entrance to the room or building, and the prosperity gua is to the left of that as you face them. Some folks prefer to cover all the bases, and have two of each of the afore mentioned guas, one pair oriented by compass, and the other oriented in relation to the entrance, thereby drawing on the wisdom of both schools of thought and practice.

Where ever you decide to put your fame and reputation gua, be sure to display diplomas, awards, and photographs of your achievements on this wall. It is also good to place objects that represent power and influence here. Bells and wheels are Chinese traditional symbols of power, and will look less ostentatious in a western setting, if you are trying to keep your symbology too subtle for clients to be conscious of. A lotus flower is a great symbol for anyone who is self made, and is rising from humble beginnings to achieve great things. A pearl or any spherical object will help keep unbridled ambition from running amok.

In your prosperity gua, a broad and smooth leafed plant symbolizes growing wealth, and water elements symbolize abundance. A real fountain or aquarium with red colored fish are ideal for enhancing prosperity, but you can also use a picture of a waterfall or river to raise prosperity "Qi" (pronounced Chi, and meaning vital energy). Combining a waterfall (water element) with the growing plant (wood element) would be especially auspicious. The trickle of the water down the rocks to a pool that does not leak, symbolizes steady income with containment of resources. The plant's roots being nourished by this pool symbolizes the growth of wealth and prosperity, as opposed to income being depleted by draining away.

A red envelope containing coins, and a crystal pendant hanging on a red ribbon, are good objects for enhancing your prosperity and reputation.

There is some controversy over the use of mirrors in offices. Some Feng Shui masters consider it to be taboo as the mirror will reflect the negativity of certain clients. Other Feng Shui masters regard the use of mirrors to be a fundamental tool for Feng Shui, even in offices, and apply them in much the same way that you would in any other type of room or building, to help Qi to flow in areas missing a particular gua due to an oddly shaped room or building, or to redirect Qi in areas where it would slam into a wall.

In an office setting, the placement of one's desk is considered very important. The traditional Chinese school puts more emphasis on compass direction and takes into account the year of your birth and your gender, as described in the article entitled The Use of the Kua Chart in Feng Shui. A simplified approach popular in the west orients the placement of your desk in relation to the windows and entrance to the room. Some basic rules include:

1. Do not put your desk directly opposite the entrance, but be sure you face the door so that you can see who is entering. This is a position of power. A diagonal from the entrance is the optimal placement for your desk. If there are more than one desk, have them face the room's center on diagonal orientations, rather than lining them in rows classroom style, and rather than placing them back to back.
2. In back of your desk there should be a supporting wall, a solid curtain representing a supporting wall, or a tall building seen through the window, which represents a supporting mountain. A high backed chair also creates this effect. Any image showing on the wall behind you should be chosen to enhance your image.
3. The sunlight should hit your desk from the side or an oblique angle, rather than cook you right under the window.
4. Your computer should be in the prosperity gua if it is used to make money, but it can be put in the creativity gua if it is where you do your creative work. If the computer is primarily how you advertise, it would be appropriate to place it in the fame and reputation gua.
5. If there is any jutting corner pointing at you when you sit at your desk, especially if one is pointing at your back, you must remove it, as this is considered a "poison arrow" harming you. If the corner is on a piece of furniture, moving that furniture is relatively simple, but some jutting corners can be part of the structural design of the room. If you can not remove the feature, then cover it with cloth or a plant that hides the sharp corner, and rounds it out as much as possible.
6. One should not position a desk or chair under an overhead beam, as this is a very inauspicious position.
7. The Bagua diagram can be laid over the desk itself, and you can put symbols that enhance the guas in each zone on the desk top. For instance, if you orient the Bagua so that your seat is in the career and life path gua, a paper weight that resembles ancient Chinese currency could rest in the far (top) left corner of your desk, in order to help bring prosperity to your work.

The most important aspect of Feng Shui is to keep your office clean, tidy, in good repair, and with everything filed neatly for easy reference and preservation of documents. The Qi can not flow smoothly where there is mess, dirt, chaos, and broken objects (especially burned out light bulbs or doors and windows that are blocked, jammed, not swinging freely on their hinges, or presenting stuck or loose knobs and handles). When you use Feng Shui to design your office, it changes the way you perceive the space, and helps you to prioritize the necessary maintenance and cleaning tasks that keep the Qi flowing smoothly to empower your work.