Essential Feng Shui Tips: Mirrors

Feng Shui Definitions

Mirrors activate, expand, and circulate Ch’i throughout interior spaces. When properly chosen and installed, they can visually enlarge small rooms and double beautiful views.

• Mirrors make a room more active. They’re great when you want to keep the Ch’i lively in active rooms such as the living room, family room, office, bathroom, and kitchen, but they are not meant for rooms dedicated to sleep and relaxation. Use them to “cure” or erase architectural challenges such as poles and odd angles, or to enhance positive features such as a great view. The bigger, the better!
• One of the quickest ways to calm a bedroom down (along with its occupants) is to remove or cover the mirrors (see Bedrooms). You can treat large mirrors like windows, with beautiful curtains or shades that can be opened by day and closed by night. Other mirrors can be hung in a more active room or draped with fabric at night.
• Mirrors can overactivate the dining room and influence diners to hurry through their meals (see Dining Rooms).
• It is crucial in Feng Shui to choose mirrors that reflect whole, realistic images. Clear, bright mirrors reflect clear, bright Ch’i; so mirrors that are one clean, clear piece of glass are best (they can be beveled around the outside edges). Avoid mirrors that distort or cut up images, as they distort and break up the Ch’i. These include fancy beveled mirrors, broken or mottled antique mirrors, and mirrored tiles.
• Make sure each mirror in the house is hung high enough to reflect every adult’s entire head with several inches to spare. This requires mirrors to be large enough to accommodate everyone’s height. Mirrors that reflect your whole image enhance your self-esteem, whereas reflections that cut your head off have the opposite effect.
• What do your mirrors reflect? Are they enhancing the harmony in the room by reflecting something beautiful? If you have a mirror that’s reflecting an eyesore, either change the placement of the mirror or add pleasing elements that beautify the reflection.
• Mirrors hung directly across from each other reflect images to infinity, distorting and disorienting people and Ch’i.
• Mirrors are wonderful for opening up small spaces that would otherwise feel confining. Hung directly across from hall doors, or any door in close quarters, they make the wall  “disappear” and give the impression of more space. Mirrors hung across from windows will increase the light, as well as the perceived size of small foyers, dens, and home offices.
• Use mirrors to reflect what’s behind you when your back is to the door.
• In Feng Shui, mirrors are sometimes used to push energy back from whence it came. If you have a very unsightly view of power lines, sharp corners from other buildings, or an impossible neighbor, you can hang a small mirror that faces in their direction. It can be placed over a window or door outside, or behind a painting or under a rug inside. Always point the reflective side of the mirror toward the offender. Hang it in the spirit of goodwill, with the intention of redirecting the energy and improving the Ch’i. Any mirror that is about two inches wide (such as a compact mirror) can be used, or you can purchase one at a Chinese specialty shop.