How to feng shui

With bulky residence hall room furniture and little financial freedom, challenges exist for students who want to practice feng shui. But experts, practitioners, books and articles are full of tips to help.\n• Remove all clutter in the room -- a challenge for the cramped student, but important. Clutter is stagnation -- a chi no-no.\n• Remove from the space any articles with negative associations, including items bringing back bad memories.\n• Choose bright colors, such as yellows and soft blues when decorating, rather than blacks or deep hues.\n• Don't place a mirror across from the bed. "Seeing" yourself sleep interrupts the flow of your energy.\n• Remove dead plants from the room. Death is negative energy.\n• Don't put the bed near the computer, especially if you leave it on. It can bring illness.\n• Read and visit Web sites. There are bagua maps on the Internet and in books. \n• Use the bagua with a compass to discern the eight sections of your room, which is important if you want to specifically improve certain aspects of your life. If fixing your ailing love life is a goal, for instance, use the compass to find the southwest corner, which the bagua shows as the romance corner. Ferru suggests tying two flowers together in that corner, or hanging a photo of two rose buds. The budding flowers create the energy of growth in the romance corner. Or, if studying is your goal, put a paper or a test on which you did well in the northeast corner, which is the knowledge sector.\n• While hanging pictures or putting plants or fountains in the room, focus on the goal. Thinking creates energy.\n• While hanging or organizing as feng shui dictates, repeat something nine times. It can be a prayer, a word, a mantra or just the phrase "oomm." The repetition creates energy from the vocal chords. \n-- Information provided by Carol Bridges and Guy Ferru. For more information about feng shui practitioners, see www.fengshuiguild.com/practitioners.htm, which lists practitioners in every state, with their phone numbers and e-mails.