Flow of Chi

Feng shui names three kinds of chi. Sheng chi (green) is the nourishing kind: it meanders the way water winds through a garden. Sha chi (red) has been sped up by long straight lines, narrow halls or a door that lines up with a window; it rushes straight through and out. Si chi (grey-brown) has slowed and gone stale in dark, enclosed corners and behind furniture.

Chi enters mainly through the front door, the “mouth of chi”, and some comes in through sunlit windows. The dashed route shows how you’d naturally move through the home: in through the front door, into each room, around the furniture you can walk around, past the things you use, and back out. Move a piece of furniture and the route changes with it. Red chevrons at a window mean chi is escaping there; a blue swirl means it’s draining away. Plants make chi slow down and curl around them, lamps draw it in, wind chimes stir up stale chi, and screens make it turn.

In feng shui the five elements (wu xing) are five qualities of chi, five ways energy can move. Every room has a mix of them, and that mix shapes how the room feels.

How they relate. In the nourishing cycle each element feeds the next: Water feeds Wood, Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth, Earth makes Metal, Metal carries Water. In the controlling cycle each one keeps another in check: Water puts out Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood, Wood breaks up Earth, Earth dams Water.

How each room’s mix is worked out. Everything in the room adds to its mix. Wooden furniture and plants count as Wood. The hob, lamps and the sunlight falling in the room at this time of day count as Fire. Stone, ceramics, linen upholstery and the room’s walls and floor count as Earth. Wind chimes and metal fittings count as Metal. The bath, toilet, sink and windows count as Water. The biggest share is the room’s main element, shown in the solid circle on the plan.

What it means for your rooms. Every part of the home thrives on a particular element, based on where it sits on the bagua map (shown in the small dashed circle). When a room is filled with that element, or one that feeds it, its chi feels supported and easy. When it’s filled with an element that works against it, the chi feels off. A kitchen full of Fire in a part of the home that wants Wood, for example, burns through energy and can feel tiring. Open a room to see its balance and the one cure that would help most: a plant for Wood, a lamp for Fire, a stone vase for Earth, a wind chime for Metal or a water bowl for Water.