Guide · At home
Bedroom Feng Shui by Kua Number
Updated
You spend about a third of your life in bed, which is why Eight Mansions feng shui treats bed direction as the single most useful thing to get right. Here is how to find yours, how to measure it, and what to do when the room will not cooperate.
Bed directions for every Kua Number
In Eight Mansions, "bed direction" means the direction the top of your head points when you lie down, which is the same as the direction the headboard faces away from you. Tian Yi (天醫, health) is the classic choice for sleep. Yan Nian (延年, relationships) is the usual choice for couples. Fu Wei (伏位, stability) suits anyone who sleeps badly or feels unsettled. Avoid Jue Ming (絕命), your worst direction. Don't know your number? Use the calculator. If your sum came out as 5, see Kua 5.
| Kua | Group | Health (Tian Yi) | Relationships (Yan Nian) | Stability (Fu Wei) | Avoid (Jue Ming) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kua 1 | East | East | South | North | Southwest |
| Kua 2 | West | West | Northwest | Southwest | North |
| Kua 3 | East | North | Southeast | East | West |
| Kua 4 | East | South | East | Southeast | Northeast |
| Kua 6 | West | Northeast | Southwest | Northwest | South |
| Kua 7 | West | Southwest | Northeast | West | East |
| Kua 8 | West | Northwest | West | Northeast | Southeast |
| Kua 9 | East | Southeast | North | South | Northwest |
Sheng Qi (生氣), your best direction overall, is usually kept for your desk and front door. It is not wrong for sleep, but some teachers find it too active for rest, and the health direction tends to be the better default.
How to measure your bed direction
- Lie down, or stand at the foot of the bed facing the headboard. The direction you are facing is your head direction.
- Use a phone compass held flat, away from the bed frame, speakers and the wall socket. Metal and electronics can pull the reading by 10 to 20 degrees.
- Take the reading two or three times from slightly different spots and use the average.
- Each of the eight directions covers 45 degrees. North runs from 337.5° to 22.5°, Northeast from 22.5° to 67.5°, and so on around the compass. If you land within a few degrees of a boundary, treat it as uncertain and prefer a clear direction if the room allows.
When you and your partner are in different groups
If you are both East group (Kua 1, 3, 4, 9) or both West group (Kua 2, 6, 7, 8), you share all four good directions and can simply pick one of them. If one of you is East and the other is West, every direction that suits one person is unfavourable for the other. The common approaches are:
- Prioritise whoever needs it more right now, for example the partner recovering from illness or under the most pressure. Revisit it when things change.
- Split the house. Give the bed to one partner's direction and set the other's desk, dining seat and sofa spot to their good directions.
- Avoid both Jue Ming directions. Even when you cannot suit both, you can usually make sure neither of you sleeps toward your worst.
The room matters as much as the direction
Most feng shui teachers agree that a comfortable, well-placed bed pointing a so-so direction beats a perfect direction in a bad position. Before chasing the compass, check these:
- A solid wall behind the headboard. Avoid a window directly behind your head, or a headboard floating in the middle of the room.
- See the door, but don't line up with it. You should be able to see the door from bed without your feet pointing straight out of it.
- Nothing heavy overhead. Beams, bulky cabinets and ceiling fans directly above the bed are traditionally unsettling. A canopy, a false ceiling panel or simply moving the bed out from under them helps.
- Mirrors off the bed. Turn or cover a mirror that reflects you while you sleep, including wardrobe doors.
- Keep the underside clear. Storage beds are practical; keep them to soft items like linen rather than paperwork and old electronics.
- Avoid a shared wall with the toilet behind the headboard if you have the choice.
When the room will not cooperate
Small rooms often allow only one or two bed positions. In that case, work in order of importance: a solid wall behind you first, then avoiding Jue Ming, then any good direction. If only an unfavourable direction works, choose the least bad one (Huo Hai is the mildest) and put your good direction to work elsewhere, such as the way you sit at your desk. You can also angle the bed slightly if the room is large enough, although many people find a diagonal bed hard to live with.
For flat-specific advice, including common layouts in Singapore, see our guide to feng shui for an HDB flat.
Kua directions come from the Eight Mansions school. They are a gentle guide for arranging your space, not a promise of health or luck. If you have trouble sleeping, see a doctor first.