Are you a clutter bug? Is your trash can overflowing? When is the last time you made your bed? As many students know, college is a time when you finally get the freedom you’ve wanted to live the lifestyle of your choice. But did you know that your cramped and cluttered dorm room affects your stress levels and prevents you from studying or sleeping effectively?
With the limited space and dull colors and shapes, dorm rooms often become a hodgepodge of clutter and objects. And for good reason. Combining two or more people and all of their possessions into a single room is often a difficult task. But by using the art of feng shui, you will be able to create a space that is open, comfortable and inviting.
Feng shui is the study of the relationship between the environment and human life. According to this Chinese philosophy, living well means allowing a positive flow of “chi,” or energy, to flow in an environment and act as a motivating force. Using feng shui, you can create an environment that allows energy flow to be in harmony with your surroundings.
To create a dorm room with proper feng shui, there are several steps you must follow. In order to create balance and increase the flow of chi throughout your room, you must incorporate the five natural elements in the world: fire, growth, earth, metal and water. All elements help to balance chi and create a room with proper feng shui.
According to Katherine Olasken’s Dorm Room Feng Shui, bagua is an essential part of feng shui. Literally meaning “eight section,” the bagua is a way to divide any space into eight separate pieces that are held together by the ninth piece – the center piece. You can identify each bagua within the grid.
To do this, sketch out a layout of your room, with the door at the bottom of the page. It should look similar to the image below. Draw a box around your room and make a grid with nine even squares. Don’t worry if your room is not a perfect square. Try to divide your room, whatever shape, into nine equal sections in a similar pattern.
After you have done this, each square is assigned a number and a title. refer to the image below and mirror these on your sketch.
