Whether you work at home or in an office, the work desk is an essential piece of furniture where you get your work done most of the time, if not all of the time.
Therefore, it is an absolute must to have the desk placement right if you want the power of the elements to help you achieve any more than just staying average.
The feng shui of placing and positioning the office desk comes down to 3 metaphysical concepts.
- Interior forms
- Favorable personal directions
- Energy map of the room
While all the 3 concepts are important, it must be said that interior forms just slightly edges the other two in terms of precedence and priority.
This is because no matter how auspicious a space or lucky direction is, one would not be able to tap on the auspicious chi properly when harmful interior forms are playing tricks on the configuration.
It’s sort of like carefully placing a funnel to collect water into a bottle. Despite how well positioned the funnel is, you are not going to collect much when someone is constantly shaking your hands. It will also result in a messy carpet as well.
Interior forms
There are a number of form factors to consider when planning the layout of furniture in an office or cubicle.
But 3 of the most common are exposed overhead beams, position of windows, and alignment of doors.
Beams
The “beam above your head” feng shui affliction is one of the most well-known problems to feng shui practitioners.
Yet it is still a very common problem as builders seldom account for feng shui when designing working spaces.
They are most often observed above walls, and if you are unlucky enough, it would be right above the chair where you’d be sitting where the default workstation desk is located.
Other times, it can cut right across the room, causing an unsightly interior.
When a desk is placed, there should be no beams above the sitting location.
Windows
Windows provide scenic views so that you can relax your eyes by gazing out once in a while. Sometimes they can also provide a view of chaos right across the street.
However, when we talk about windows in regards to desk position, the focus is on not having behind where you are sitting.
Such furniture arrangements can attract a tendency of being the victim of backstabbers… something you especially don’t want when office politics is concerned.
The ideal orientation is to have windows on the left side of the desk, and the second choice would be on the right.
Door
A door is always a focal point in feng shui.
When an office if concerned, the desk should not be in the direct line of sight of the door. This is just asking for trouble.
The best desk placement is to have it perpendicular to the door without being in the line of sight.
If that configuration is not possible for one reason or another, then the second choice would be to position the table facing the door, but not directly in the door’s line of sight.
Personal directions
When we are at a place of work, we are supposedly in a state of purpose so as to finished off tasks required of the job.
This is why, the main source of chi that we should want to tap on is sheng chi (SC).
In 8 mansions feng shui, one can calculate his or her kua number and determine which direction is the personal sheng chi direction.
For example if you have kua number 1, then your sheng chi direction is southeast.
If after determining your desk placement options after analyzing the interior forms, a section of the space allows for a position of the table where you would be facing southeast when sitting down, then that is the best location and orientation of the desk as it meets both the criteria.
What if there are no possible desk positions that allows you to face your SC direction? Should you go for one with no form problems or one that enable you to face the SC?
This is really a decision that you have to make.
But I’d always suggest going with the location without falling afoul of interior form guidelines.
In any case, if interior forms identify a good location that don’t face SC, it would still be a good placement and position for a work desk should it allow you to face one of the remaining 3 favorable directions as described in 8 mansions theories.
However, energy maps might shed more light into this.
Energy maps
For the configuration of furniture in a house or office, the energy maps that are most often used is that of flying star feng shui.
Without discussing how to find the flying star natal chart that would apply to your office (which is discussed to a great extent all over the website), let’s assume that the energy map of the office is one for the period of 8 facing SW2.
The below natal chart would be applicable.
From the birth chart above, it can be observed that there is a favorable white star 1 and white star 6 sitting on the north and northwest sector as the respective facing stars.
Thus, the best feng shui desk placement in this case would be at the north or northwest section of the space. The northwest would resemble a command position and be the better choice, while the west sector should be avoided.
This placement enables the office desk to meet all criteria and would be the best location to situate it.
- Window on the left signifying the dragon
- Wall behind representing mountain for support
- Not directly in front of door
- Facing southeast sheng chi direction
- Favorable water star on the northwest where the desk is located
It is important to be mindful that while the simple example above illustrates an area where the desk can be placed which meets all 3 criteria, there is every chance that you might not enjoy that feng shui luxury.
You could very well have to make the tough decision of contemplating which feng shui ideals to sacrifice.
In such circumstances, the best way forward is always to avoid problems with interior forms, then choose a space that avoids negative energy rather than attracts positive energy.
This means that you don’t go for the positives, but rather avoid the negatives.