The bagua is a map used in feng shui that explains what parts of homes influence specific parts of your life. There are areas in your rooms and home and just about every other space that correlate with relationships, money, family, career and even your influence in the world.
A reader asked an awesome question today about the bagua map because she tried to fit it onto her home’s floor plan and realized that it was not that easy to figure out because her house was irregularly shaped: “ Hi Dana,” she wrote, “I’m wondering if you can help? my house is a weird shape and when mapping the Bagua using my front door a whole room which is on the right of the house (Front door is on left of the room) is missing from the plan completely, not sure how to go about it, any advice is much appreciated!”
Here is my answer:
Let me start by saying that everyone’s experience of space is unique and the bagua is more of a diagnostic tool than the answer to your feng shui completely. To that point, I can tell you much about your place by looking at a floor plan, but I can’t really understand how you are interacting with the space and how it affects you until I see the furniture, your elemental profile, hear you talk about the space with you and, if possible, walk through if not look at detailed photos. The bagua is a jumping off point— it is not the main point.
Align the bottom of this map with the wall that contains the entrance door.
That said, the bagua is a powerful tool and so, lets look at the floor plan above and see what is happening. In this case, we fall into two schools of thought. Option A: Some will say that because this area that extends out from the basic floor plan is so large (the lounge room) that it should be considered that the left corner (where the door is ) is “missing” from the bagua, and that we should draw the bagua to start out at the bottom edge of the lounge room on the floorplan. Option B: Others will say that the far corner where the lounge room is happens to be EXTENDED which means that you have extra of the energy from those areas of your life in your space. Both camps of thought tend to be very certain that they are correct.
This is what I say: If you feel like you are having a hard time with relationships and/or losing your good sense (making bad decisions, etc) since you have been living there I’d be more likely to say that Option A is more likely how you are experiencing your space. If you are having a wellspring of clients and career boom since you have lived in your space (or, conversely, if you are having a total meltdown in these areas in a big way because it is poorly set up) Option B is more likely the case.
When you approach feng shui in my way, EVERY area of the house gets the attention it needs to glow & become balanced and energized, either situation can be made to work in your favor! Also, when you are stuck with the bagua and can’t figure it out, place it over each room individually. Since we experience live room by room, this can be an easier way to navigate the bagua map. Hope this helps!
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Always, I love hearing from you! xoxo Dana
I have a question pls. Sometimes I read: put “x” in the NE area. My question is this: Is the NE area on the Bagua Map with the front door being South, Accomplishments being due North, Children being East etc. OR is it NE according to a compus?
thanks in advance.
Carol
You know, there is a school of feng shui that involves an actual compass. That’s what the directions are all about. My issue with the “compass” stuff is that it has litttle to do with your personal experience of place in our modern world, and, lets say your front door is in an “inauspicious” direction….Do you knock down your home? Its very limited and very much designed for a different era. 🙂
Great! You almost answered the question I had about my “funnily shaped house in the vineyards” across the atlantic.
I might get back to you for some questions as soon as I have my floor plan ready in those busy days I have ahead of me. Because even trying to apply the bagua, room by room, seems quite difficult…There’s a mezanine, funnily shaped rooms :-)… It’s a funny, but fortunately beautiful place, with huge windows and light light light almost everywhere. It was the “studio” of a painter quite some years ago. So here you go, funnily shaped 🙂 but great view and great light. But feng shui seems to struggle to settle in 🙂
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog!
Catherine
Thank you so much Dana for featuring my floor plan and answering my questions regarding my house! I am looking forward to putting everything into action! Kind Regards, Kim
Love it!!! Wishing you the best of all things! Xx Dana
Dana, my fiancé and I live in an open-plan loft which has a single entrance, a large door, which opens to a long hallway (there is no “wall” on either side of the door), and then our main living space is a wide rectangle after that (a “T” shape). Should we apply the bagua starting at where the hallway meets the main living space? What section is the hallway, then? (Right now we have photos, storage, and bookcases).
Thank you!
I’ve seen this before and it’s an interesting one… I would say in most cases that the hallway tends to be a prelude to the living space…Kind of like a path leading to the from door of a hose after entering a gate. I’d look at the bagua from when you enter the actual living area, most likely!
So we can place the Bagua in every room to do like little changes in every corner like that? I live in a single wide trailer with a little bathroom and two little Bedrooms, and some say to move because its bad chi and fung shui, but that isen’t simply an answer for the next 6months to a year, could be why I feel so unbalanced for the past year, since moving in…
yes you can! make it home, even if its temporary. you’ll see & feel the difference!
Hello there, two questions that have not been answered with all the reading I have done.
I own and live in a building with two floors, the bottom floor is actually a shop with our pantry and my husbands office. The stairs are right in the corner, going up into our main living area.
The door and pantry are in the wisdom area, decendants and wealth are the office and furnace room. all other six squares are in the woodworking shop.
Upstairs, I am curious, if I do a bagua for the whole floor, the rooms do not line up with the bagua, some are cut in two.
Does each room’s bagua superceed the whole floor bagua or what? How do they get to work together?
Thank you very much for your insights,
Leigh
The general area, which can encompass more than one room. No home will geometrically fit perfectly (almost no home)…! The bagua is mainly a diagnostic tool in feng shui, its only one of about 20 or so different factors top consider in any space. So don’t get tooooo significant about it. Also, do it room by room to see whats happening in your home if you are struggling.
Hi,
My house includes a woodshed attached to it. Do I include the woodshed as part of the Ba Gua?
If so, then I have another issue. This is so complicated, I will do my best to explain…
If I include the woodshed, my house becomes an L Shape- which wouldn’t be an issue except that, parallel to the inner corner of the L is the sleepout/garage. So, with the wealth area I have the corner of the house, an L shaped lawn that edges around the L part of the house and then the sleep out garage. My issue is that do I assume the sleepout garage is the extension of our wealth area. Let me know if you would like a sketch.
Hope it makes sense.
Thanks
Debbie
Hi! I’ve emailed with you, but I highly suggest making that backyard area dynamic! Garden or some form of special place. Even an outdoor solar fountain would be fabulous!!! xoxo
Hello. I’m confused about placing the map at my front door (we rarely use) or the side door which is our main entrance from the garage. Also, my living room is square with 2 double wide entrances, both being in the center career position so how can I enhance the missing health/family section (map used from side entrance) or the missing children/creativity section (map used from front door)? I greatly appreciate any advice.
Thank you.
Laurie
i would actually suggest that overall, yes, use the side door to orient the space and enhance the outdoor area (if possible) in the missing space as well as the areas that surround the missing space. its not actually missing, it’s just “folded in”… Also, try room by room to do the bagua if you are confused to start. we experience space room by room 🙂
Thank you so much. LOVE your blog!
Cheers, Laurie
Please help!
I am a Fashion Designer that has a 1700 sq.ft. studio which is two separate rooms. My question is this; the main entrance to the space faces a wall, if you turn right and walk up the stairs you are at the landing to the space, where there is a toilet : (
So do I place the bagua map downstairs at the main entrance or upstairs at the landing (this is for the first room only; the second room has it’s own entrance door).
Thanks a bunch!
Laura
Do it on both floors, seperately!
Help! When you enter through my front door, there is an immediate staircase leading up to my condo (I live on the top floor). At the top of the stairs, you basically turn right to enter the main space.
Do I still use my front door to position the bagua map, or do I position it based on the orientation at the top of the stairs where I enter the main space?
Thanks for your help!
I’d base it from where you enter the main space in your situation! And if you are confused…work room-by-room! 🙂
Hello! I was wondering if you could help me determine in which area my entrance is. It’s in the corner and it opens to the left. Thank you!
I’m not sure I understand. Can you explain more?
Hi Dana,
Similarly to the floor plan above, my front door is alligned with the bottom wall of the lounge, but in its’ place there’s a small bathroom I rarely use, where I keep all my cleaning stuff like vacuums, mops etc, and there’s a hallway leading from the front door to the rest of the apartment. So if I allign the bagua to the actual front door, which I had never considered before, this small bathroom is in the Self area, and there’s no area in the Compassion area. Sorry for being so specific, but is there something you could suggest for my case? i.e. a not-so-functional bathroom in the self area (sounds bad!), AND a missing Compassion area? I realize your answer might be to consider the bagua without adding the odd bathroom, but it might be helpful if I consider it otherwise? Thank you in advance, hopefuly you find the time to answer my question!
Theodora! Bathroom needs to function no matter where it us. And of an area is ‘missing”, energize the areas beside it, along with the hallway when you enter. maybe some art for the walls? xxx
I bought your feng shui 101 book and it has been such a life-saver! I cannot thank you enough for writing it! There is a part of your book in which you state that we experience one room at a time. If that is the case, when applying the bagua map to our homes, do you find it best to apply the bagua map individually to each room , applying it to our entire home (as in the picture at the beginning of the article), or both? I would love to know your feedback. Thanks!
Thank you & great question! bagua for overall space usually will suffice unless 1. you have a very big problem to solve (in which case I’d adjust in each room) or 2. you have a strange house shape. I don’t want anyone to get too hung up on doing a bagua for each room, but if you have an oddly shaped house, that is a great strategy to start with, as it does work (just can get a bit “heady” at times if you have many rooms :)) xoxoxo