Until last week, I was a feng shui virgin. I had never delved into the reasoning behind why a person’s head should face a certain way while sleeping or read up on changing a room’s chi.

Feng shui literally translates to “wind and water.”

The flowing nature of these two elements intermingling illustrates the essential energy, chi, which is the foundation of all feng shui.

Feng shui operates on the idea that there is a constant flow of energy running through our bodies. This energy, or chi, leaks out of the body and mixes with the energy of our surroundings.

This integration of energies can lead to a particular room changing the way we feel or think. Our own energy can also start to fill certain rooms we spend a significant amount of time in and our emotions can end up leaving a mark in the space.

The art of feng shui involves arranging furniture and adding or taking away certain elements in a room to create a chi that is conducive to the energy you want to achieve.

Feng shui isn’t a one-size-fits-all type of practice. It’s about creating an environment that fixes your own negative energy catastrophes.

In an attempt to correct some of my own energy problems, I rearranged the items in my bedroom in feng shui fashion.

The first exercise in feng shui is finding the ideal place to sit. The most powerful position protects and supports your chi. In order to achieve this, feng shui principles suggest finding a position that allows you to have as much of the room as possible in front of you with a clear view of all windows and doors.

It is also recommended that you find the position that simultaneously allows for a wall or substantial piece of furniture to be behind you, a low, heavy object to the left and a light, airy object to the right.

Sitting in this position allows for your inner chi to merge most naturally with the surrounding energy.

An especially important factor in feng shui for a bedroom is the direction in which your head faces while you sleep. The top of the head is an important channel through which chi runs.

Originally, my head was facing east, which runs the risk of heightening feelings of frustration and anger.

Now, it is facing south, which supports feeling passionate, excited, proud and generous.

The most conducive direction for sleeping peacefully is north, which correlates with winter and midnight, making it ideal for calming down.

Another feng shui practice is the balancing of the five basic elements: fire, soil, metal, water and wood.

There is a continuous chain in which each element can increase, calm or break down the energies that correlate with another element.

My room is mostly composed of wood elements — wooden furniture and bamboo plants — and soil elements — carpet and fabric. In order to keep both of these in balance, it’s necessary to incorporate metal elements.

Metal elements slow down the active, upward energy of wood elements, while the wood elements calm the downward, settled energy of soil elements.

For complete balance, also incorporate water elements, which include glass and mirrors, as well as fire elements, such as glazed tile.

The flexible and regenerating energy of water elements counteract the expressive and colorful energy of fire elements.

Though it seems insignificant, adding certain elements and moving objects around really feels as though it’s made a difference in my room. Opening up the room and reducing some of the clutter in my personal space has made for a much more peaceful energy.

It takes a few weeks to fully change the flow of energy and chi in a room once the principles of feng shui have been instilled, but I already feel as though I’m well on my way to becoming a feng shui fiend.