Is Fengshui Hocus-Pocus Asian Brainwash?

An analysis of the solutions touted.

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While renting in different places before, I discovered some fensghui shows along the way and used them in my living spaces in these places below. I attempt to share them in this short post! (albeit amateurish knowledge of fengshui)

On the toilet/ the loo/ the bathroom whatever you call it.

In the small country of Singapore where I live, and as far as I know Taiwan as well, many times, for a significant percentage of homes, the toilet is located in the kitchen or linked to the kitchen.

Used to live in a multi-tenant occupant flat and the toilet was directly facing the stove. It was not ideal for cooking and health as you can imagine and after living in many different places and my apartment now ( flats being the most common dwelling here) where the kitchen is separate from the toilet.

Realised that the further the toilet is from the kitchen and dining area, the better it is for health and it’s best to flush with the toilet seat down and keep the toilet seat down at all other times.

The toilet is so important and a strong flush is paramount. In a previous rental quite some time ago, I had to flush down another tenant’s poop (Haha) because he just wasn’t that conscious. Cue the kid’s screaming face from Home Alone face who is now a middle-aged adult?

On the bathroom’s position in the bedroom.

In some master bedrooms, the bathroom/ toilet/loo is very near the bed. In fengshui, based on what I learnt ^^ the loo should not be facing the people/ the faces of the person, meaning it should be further away from the headboard. The toilet door can be facing the foot of the bed due to space constraints though ideally it should be further away. The rationale is actually quite scientific as you can imagine.

The toilet wall and the wall the bed is leaning against should ideally not be the same wall, as it will lead to a very damp environment. Once, I went to this quite well-off home/ gated community apartment. The toilet wall and the master bed wall shares the same wall. The loo is just behind the bed. It’s the owners’ private details but would just say there was a gynaecological problem faced by the female owner. Not sure if there is a link but I do agree with the fengshui concept that the loo/ toilet should be further from the sleeping/ rest area.

The remedy suggested if there are space constraints is to add a full-length curtain and close the door to the washroom all the time.

On the shoes cabinet

I have lived in homes where the shoes are in open-air shelfing at the entrance, just being put there without any shelfing and places where there’s closed shelfing for shoes at the entrance. My very first rental many eons ago, the landlady put all her shoes in a haphazard manner at the front door and she has not so abundant finances.

In another subsequent rental, the landlord has arranged an open- air shelfing for the shoes. It is neater but the moment I step in, I can smell all the other tenants’ sports shoes. Haha. That particular landlord eventually had a dispute with one of the other tenants which resulted in him losing the right to rent out the apartment and all of us losing our rental homes and having to move.

In one of my more recent rentals about two to three years ago before my current own small apartment, the landlord has enclosed shelfing for all the tenants’ shoes and his financial situation was the best out of the many landlords/ landladies I have interacted with. In fengshui, dirty shoes or untidy shoes symbolise pesky human relations thus the recommendation is to put shoes neatly away in an enclosed shoe cabinet.

There are numerous other fengshui recommendations that make sense such as to keep your fridge and stove away from prying eyes and neighbours for privacy but I hope this short post helps! Let me know what you think! Feeling a lil tired and wrote this short post. Leave me your comments! ~ XO