How to Feng Shui Your Desk

Last week, I told you that within days of upgrading my desk, a reporter I didn’t previously know asked to highlight it in an upcoming article in Coast Magazine.

Why Feng Shui Your Desk?

Your desk is the domain of your career, which is the gateway to your life path.

Proper Feng Shui should help energy called Chi (or “Qi”) power up your desk as you would have it energize your home.  This energy can amplify your business success, as well as improve various aspects of your life.

Desk Feng Shui

The secret to adding Feng Shui to your desk is all in the Bagua. The Bagua is the center of the Black Hat Feng Shui universe and understanding it is crucial to making sure your desk serves your career goals and life path.

Simply layout your desk as if a Bagua were drawn on top, with the Career Area against the side where your chair sits. If it helps, you can think of your desk broken up like a tic-tac-toe board.

This means that as you sit at your chair, your left hand will touch the Knowledge, Family, and Prosperity/Wealth areas as you reach across your desk.

Likewise, your right hand will touch the Helpful People/Travel, Creativity/Children, and Love areas as it reaches across your desk.

The middle of your desk will be your Health Area and across your desk directly in front of you should be the Reputation/Fame area.

The colors and elements (water, wood, fire, earth, & metal) you use should be consistent with those of the respective areas of the Bagua that you would use in your home. Be sure to read up on the Feng Shui Bagua for more information on this.

Symbolism you might use, however, could be relatively unique to you and your profession.

The Bagua Sections of the Desk

Career: This area is right in front of you — the bottom center square of your tic-tac-toe board. The primary element is water and the color is black. Ensure this space is clear for new work to flow in. If you have a desk with a glass top, you can insert a picture of a stream of water flowing in. Without a glass top, you can simply tape that picture underneath your desk. You don’t need to see the item for it to help you.

Knowledge: The bottom-left box of your tic-tac-toe board is for knowledge. Blue is the primary color here. You could have books related to your profession in the drawers under or a small bookshelf on this corner of the table. Having something blue here will help you concentrate and make better decisions.

Family: This area can be found in the middle-left box of your tic-tac-toe board. The primary element here is wood and the ideal color is green. Portraits of your family, friends, or colleagues in a wooden frame would be ideal in this side of the desk. Adding green here will help you feel more at ease with your family and coworkers.

Prosperity & Wealth: The upper-left corner of your desk is for prosperity and wealth. Gold, purple, and green are prosperous colors. You should also have elements here that remind you of wealth. A money plant, a picture of a dream home, or some golden trinkets would do the job in this corner.

Reputation & Fame: The top-middle square of your tic-tac-toe board is here. Fire is its dominant element, which is also represented by the color red. Candles and lights are ideal here. Company awards or even your nameplate would also be well-placed here. You should place your business cards in this area.

Love & Relationships: This area can be found in the upper-right corner of your tic-tac-toe board. Pink and love symbols represent this area well. Items in pairs represent love, as well. A photo of your spouse or a hidden description of your ideal mate fits well in this corner. I added a pair of small turtles to signify me and my husband.

Creativity & Children: The middle-right area is where creativity flows. It is represented by metal and black & white items. This is another great spot for pictures of your kids. If you are looking for an infusion of creative energy, add a metal pendulum or a picture of something creative that inspires you, such as the Sydney Opera House for an architect.

Helpful People & Travel: The lower-right corner of your desk is where you call upon the help of others, which we can always use. This is best represented by silver or grey objects. Recent business cards that you have collected or your Rolodex can work well here. Create a handwritten note detailing how someone will help you achieve your goals and hide it in your desk drawer in this corner. Swap it out periodically. You could also place a small globe or pictures of your vacation goal here.

Health: This area falls in the center square in the tic-tac-toe board. Earth is the element here and it is represented by earth tones, especially yellow. You could tape a big round yellow circle under your desk here or have objects signifying the earth, such as a jar of decorative stones. Otherwise, ensure that the center of your desk is clutter-free.

Feng Shui Desk Shapes

• Rectangle: This shape is ideal for most offices where you want to accomplish individual work. A rectangular desk helps you concentrate.
• Circle: Circular desks are good for brainstorming and creativity. Thus, they are ideal for group meetings.
• Curved: If you have trouble concentrating because people are frequently disturbing you, it may be wise to change to a curved desk. If you are inside of the curve, in the concave area, you will concentrate better. The convex area where it curves out will keep others from approaching too often.

Feng Shui Desk Material

• Wood: Desks made of wood are sturdy, solid, supportive, reliable, and long-lasting. This is my first recommendation for most job functions.
• Metal: Desks made of metal are sharp and penetrating. They provide lots of mental energy and concentration, but they can be draining to the body.
• Glass: A desk made of glass can be very revealing, meaning that you have nothing to hide. However, energy passes through a glass desk very quickly. Be sure to slow the energy with wooden accessories or plants. Glass desks may be ideal for those in sales who want to show customers that they can be open with them.
• Laminate: Desks made of laminate materials are the vanilla of desks. They do not provide much positive or negative energy.

Feng Shui Desk Colors

• Black: A black desk will attract energy inward, which encourages introspection and creates opportunity.
• Brown: A brown desk stabilizes and strengthens the body, but does not energize the mind.
• White: A white desk activates the mind, but drains the body of energy.
• Gray or Metallic: A gray desk gives you more focus, but drains your physical body.
• Green: A green desk is a good balance of body and mind. It is especially good if you have drawn-out projects.
• Earth Tones: Lighter earth tones will increase your mental focus, and will drain your physical body of energy less than gray.
• Bright Colors: Bright colors such as yellow, orange and pink will draw a lot of attention but make the body and mind restless. I suggest bright desks in rare circumstances, such as for reception areas.
• Wooden Colors: Medium-toned wood colors provide stability and strength to the body. Using lighter tones will help energize the mind. Pine, ash, oak and birch colors should be a good balance while providing just the right amount of contrast with white paper to alleviate visual strain.

Additional Feng Shui Desk Tips

Proportions: Ensure that the size of your desk is proportional to the amount of and space of work you need to do. For instance, if the extent of your work is data entry, you likely wouldn’t need as big of a desk as someone who is an architect with drawings that need to be spread across the desk. Ensure that you can reach everything without allowing your desk to look cluttered.

Strong Foundation: Desks should have strong legs that are built of strong materials. The legs are the foundation of your desk, and thus the foundation of your career and life path.

Modesty Panel: I usually recommend a modesty panel that prevents someone from seeing your legs from in front of the desk. This provides greater security and establishes boundaries. A desk with an open front might feel more intimate, however, and will allow others to feel more comfortable approaching you. Unless you are in human resources or a pure leadership role, I recommend a modesty panel.

Face Toward the Door: If your desk faces a wall, window, or partition, you need to try to move it. Though employers love to be able to look over your shoulder, it adds stress if your back is to the door. If possible, turn your desk to face the doorway, but do not have it in line with the doorway. In other words, if someone were shining a light straight into your doorway, it would not line up with your desk, but you would be able to see the light coming in.

Windows: Try not to have your back toward windows, as you can be overwhelmed with energy. This may be unavoidable in some circumstances. There are cures to help minimize the effect of windows.

Power Position: Your desk should be in an area of your office where you can see as much of the room as possible.

Keep It Positive: On your desk and in your office should be objects that are uplifting and empowering.

Feng Shui Mouse Pad: For a boost of positive Chi and a reminder of how the Bagua should be laid out on your desk, look into getting a Feng Shui mouse pad.

Clutter: There is simply no room in Feng Shui for clutter, especially on or in your desk.

Home Office or Workplace: Be sure to Feng Shui the desk in your home office, as well as the one at your workplace. They both represent your career and your life path in general.

Next Steps

Looking for a Feng Shui consultant you can trust?  Learn a little more about me and how I can help you add harmony and balance to your home or office the Feng Shui way.  Contact me today!

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Photo Credits
Jade plant photo courtesy of Steven Severinghaus via Creative Commons license. Swans photo courtesy of Fredrik Alpstedt via Creative Commons license.