Hotel Room Feng Shui: How to Make it Feel Like Home
Try some simple tips to improve your energy levels while you are away from home.
July/August 2002
By Maura Conlon McIvor and Katherine Kiggins Taylor
Hotel stays can take a toll on your energy. Based on feng shui sensibilities, the following suggestions can help rebalance this energy and make your stay restful and restorative.
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When booking the room: Stale air is tiring and not health-enhancing. Call the hotel directly to determine if it has operable windows, as the central reservation service may not know.
Upon arrival: Open the windows in your room as wide as possible while keeping your door open. This washes the room with fresh air. (If the windows don’t open, hold open the door for a few minutes to circulate air into the room.) Relax for a bit before unpacking. Have a cool glass of water or make a cup of tea (bring your own teabags). This allows your mind and body time to transition into the space.
Declutter: Put away all hotel advertisements, publications, luggage racks, and other items you wouldn’t see in your bedroom at home.
Reposition: Arrange the lamps to suit your needs. Moving a table lamp from the sleeping area into the bathroom helps create a more relaxed mood as you avoid the overhead light and its attendant noisy fan. Rearrange lightweight furniture to suit you.
Set your intention: Bring a small candle (preferably, one that sits inside a votive jar to keep the flame contained). Use the candle to bless the space and make it yours. Put out a photograph of a loved one and an item of beauty or emotional significance, such as your child’s toy or something of your mate’s.
Connect through senses: Spray the room with your favorite fragrance. If you don’t use a scent, try fruit, such as a cut orange, to scent a room. Bring along a CD or a tape. Music can help inspire stretching or doing yoga in your room—another source of relaxation and energy rebalancing.
Texturize: To make the room more “yours,” balance energy by draping a scarf or jacket over a chair or the back of a door, where you’ll see it often.
Nest: Set out items just as you would at home. If you keep a book by your bedside, do it here. If you leave your socks on the dresser at home, do it here.
Before bed: Ask if your hotel provides footbaths and Epson salts, or the like. If it doesn’t, pack your own in your travel bag. Add a drop or two of your favorite essential oil. And if you use a lightweight robe for unwinding in the evenings, pack one of those, too.