The Life Gua is used to choose favorable directions in the Eight Mansions system. By contrast, the House Gua is used to choose favorable locations within a house or building. Using the Life Gua, people can tap into the most appropriate types of Qi to accomplish their goals in life.
The main factors to evaluate with the Life Gua component of the Eight Mansions system are:
Ideally, the main door should tap into one of the four favorable directions. Which direction is best to tap into depends upon the goals of the individual. Someone interested in climbing the corporate ladder would do well to tap the Sheng Qi direction. Someone trying to overcome health problems, for example, would be better suited to tap into the Tian Yi direction.
Generally speaking, if your main door faces your Sheng Qi direction, your hard work will ultimately be rewarded. If it faces Tian Yi, you will get help from noble people when you need it. If it faces Yan Nian, you will have good networking and relationship prospects. Finally, if it faces Fu Wei, you will benefit when trying to concentrate or apply creative thinking. Remember the mantra, though: Forms override formulas! There needs to be beneficial Qi circulating in the external environment before you try to harness Qi using formulas like Eight Mansions!
The Facing Direction of a bed is based on the direction that the top of your head points toward when you lie down. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that it is based on the direction you face when you sit up in bed, but this is not the case.
As with the main door, the best direction to orient the bed depends upon one's goals in life. Having said this, the Sheng Qi direction is Yang in nature, and does not lend itself to helping one get a good night's sleep. Naturally, you should try to avoid having your bed point toward one of your negative directions.
Since the kitchen represents the area of the home where food is prepared to nourish us and provide us with the energy we need to meet our goals in life, the kitchen takes on a great deal of importance in Feng Shui. It is especially important in relation to the health aspects of Eight Mansions.
The Facing Direction of a stove is based on the position of the knobs, not the direction the person using the stove faces when preparing food.
In addition to the alignments mentioned above, there are numerous other alignments one can use when possible. For example, if you can orient yourself to face your Sheng Qi direction while working, this can benefit your endeavors. If you have a meditation area, try to orient yourself toward your Fu Wei direction while using it. Develop mindfulness about your orientations while you carry out important duties, and it can benefit you in many ways.
