Feng Shui Friday – Mirror, mirror on the wall…

… where is the best place to put ya’ll?

According to Feng Shui mirrors will bring you more of what they reflect. They will also bring into the space what you can see in them. This is good to keep in mind when deciding where to place them in your home.

 

Good places for mirrors

• You can place a mirror in a long hallway to invite Qi to slow down and linger a bit longer.
• A mirror on the wall of a dark room reflecting a window will help bring natural light into the space.
• It’s ideal to place a mirror reflecting your dinner table as this will bring you abundance (reflecting the food) and great relationships (reflecting the people around the table).
• Place a mirror anywhere in your home where you want to bring the outdoors in and make sure the mirror is reflecting only what it is you love (so not the neighbours wall or windows for example).
• On the wall above your stove so that you can see the kitchen behind you if you have your back to the room when cooking. This will give you a sense of control and calmness.
• On the wall in front of you at work if you sit with your back to the door or rest of the room. A small mirror where you can see what is going on behind your back will give you a sense of security and control at work. Try it!
• When you want to make a small room look bigger and more spacious.

A good couple of questions to ask yourself when you look at what is reflected in the mirrors of your home is:

• do I like what I see?
• do I want more of what I see?

Of course there are some places where mirrors are not so great according to Feng Shui as well.

 

Not so good places for mirrors

• Directly opposite your front door. This will reflect Qi, opportunities and visitors away from your home.
• In a position where it reflects something you don’t like or find ugly (like the neighbours fence).
• Where it reflects a toilet, bathroom or laundry. This will bring the energy of these rooms into your living space. Keep the doors to your wet rooms closed if this is the case.
• Reflecting a staircase.
• In your bedroom. Let’s expand on that one.

 

Mirrors in the bedroom

If you can see your own reflection in a mirror while in bed, this is not great from a Feng Shui perspective. There a few explanations as to why.

According to traditional Feng Shui a mirror in the bedroom is not recommended as it is said that your soul leaves the body while you sleep, and if the soul sees its own reflection in a mirror it might get startled. This will cause disturbed and disrupted sleep patterns. Also a mirror in the bedroom can be harmful to your relationships, especially if it is placed directly opposite the bed. A mirror reflecting a couple in bed is said to bring the energy of a third party into your intimate relationship. Something most of us don’t want.

I actually don’t know ho much of the traditional Feng Shui point of view on mirrors is true. Some might find the above too airy-fairy, and I can understand that.

What I do know is that several of my clients, myself included, has had great success by moving or covering mirrors in the bedroom in the form of improved quality of sleep in different ways.

I have actually “come up” with a more modern explanation as to what might be going on when your body is reflected in a mirror while sleeping. This is what I think.

As humans we have this “animal part” of us. Some like to call it our subconscious. Some like to call it the primal part of our brain. Whatever term you like to use, the focus of this part of us is to keep us alive. That’s it. This part never sleeps. It never stops working. It never completely stops keeping track of what is going on around us. Have you heard that you subconsciously can learn new things while you are sleeping? That’s the part I’m talking about.

Now imagine you have this part of you that is looking after your survival. This part is awake while you are asleep. This part sees something moving in the dark in your bedroom. It’s ready for fight or flight, whatever it needs to so to keep you alive. You’re not awake to explain to this part that “oh, that’s just my reflection in the bedroom mirror, nothing to worry about”. So this part is keeping track of you in the mirror all night while you are supposed to rest and recuperate. So instead of peaceful sleep, you have disrupted sleep, being prepared at any time to defend yourself against whatever it is that is moving around out there… Exhausting!

What I recommend all my clients is to make sure that they are not reflected in a mirror while lying in bed.

If you have a stand alone mirror this is easy to address. Just move the mirror so that it is no longer reflecting you on bed, or cover it with a beautiful blanket or pashmina. If you,like many people these days, have mirrored built-ins in your bedroom, you can either change the doors out (expensive) or cover them up. Some people use wall paper or sheet paper. What I have successfully done before is to put up a curtain rod in front of the built-in and hang curtains or drapes. That way you can close the curtains/drapes at night while sleeping and open them during the day when you might want to check your outfit or bring more light into the room.

As always, I hope this is helpful information. Have fun with checking out the mirrors in your home and please do get in touch if you have any questions. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Happy Feng Shui Friday!
Sara