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Feng shui follows the directional, elemental, and color tenets of the Ba Gua to create balance with natural laws to draw positive energy, chi, into one's home or office. Positive chi helps create good luck, health, prosperity, and peace. The bathroom creates a special challenge in placement and design, but like every challenge, it can be met with a little creativity and ingenuity.

The bathroom gets a bad rap in feng shui (pronounced fung shway), the ancient Chinese philosophy of organizing one's personal space, for two reasons. First, thousands of years ago, when the Ba Gua (pronounced ba gwa) was developed, indoor plumbing did not exist so the bathroom did not receive placement in the nine area layout meaning there's really no ideal place for one. Second, the bathroom can serve as an escape route for one's positive chi (pronounced chee) due to the many drains located in it.

If you're building a home

If you plan to build a new home, you are at an advantage, because you can pick the placement of your bathroom(s), as well as, the fixtures used. As previously discussed, no perfect location exists for a bathroom in the Ba Gua, but there are better locations for it. The following "don'ts" should help you pinpoint the areas to absolutely avoid placing a bathroom.

* Don't locate a bathroom in the fame and reputation (south), wealth and prosperity (southeast), or love and marriage (southwest) areas of the home.

* Don't locate the bathroom in the center of the house because this will cause your chi to drain from your home rather than coalesce in the center, as it should.

* Don't locate the bathroom in the front hall or near the front door as this drains away chi before it can circulate through the home.

* Don't locate a second floor bathroom above the front door since this floods the main entry with negative energy.

* Don't locate a second floor bathroom above the kitchen because it extinguishes the hearth fire of the home and floods the kitchen with negative energy.

* Don't locate a bathroom adjacent to the kitchen as this drains the chi from the food prepared within it.

Regarding fixtures, remember to purchase sinks and tubs with closing drains. There are three places to avoid installing your toilet - the southeast, southwest, and north corners. These adversely affect your finances, romantic relationship/marriage, and career, respectively. Finally, insure that the toilet does not face the front door of the house.

If you are remodeling or redecorating your home

Perhaps you are

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