命位, the commanding position
The Commanding Position
The commanding position is the oldest rule in feng shui for a bedroom. You place the bed so that, lying down, you can see the door without sitting in its direct line, with a solid wall behind your head. Drag the bed below and learn it by feel.
命位, the commanding position
Place the bed in command
The commanding position rests on three conditions. Lying in bed you can see the door without being in its direct line. A solid wall and a firm headboard sit behind your head, the mountain, 山, that gives you backing, rather than a window. And the bed sits off the door's path, ideally in the far corner diagonal from the entrance.
Tradition warns against a few placements. The feet pointing straight out an open door, in line with it, is called the coffin, or dead man's, position, the arrangement it cautions against most. A bed directly under an exposed beam, 橫樑壓頂, is said to press on rest; a classic cure hangs two bamboo flutes on a red ribbon. A mirror facing the bed is read as too active for sleep. One subtle point worth keeping: a mirror placed to reflect the door is the traditional cure when the bed cannot see the entrance, but it must never face the bed itself.
The commanding position: bed diagonal from the door, head to a solid wall, door in view.
Turn any JavaScript on to drag the bed and score your own room. This is traditional design guidance, offered as cultural practice for reflection, not a promise of any outcome, and schools differ on the finer points.
Common questions
Questions about the commanding position
What is the commanding position in feng shui?
The commanding position places your bed so that, lying down, you can see the door without being directly in line with it, with a solid wall and a firm headboard behind your head. It is the arrangement feng shui trusts most for rest, because a person settles more deeply when nothing important can approach unseen.
Which way should the bed face?
Tradition puts the head against a solid wall rather than a window, and the bed off the door's direct path, ideally in the far corner diagonal from the entrance. In the Eight Mansions school you can also point the head toward one of your favorable directions, though schools differ on what facing means.
What is the coffin position in feng shui?
The coffin, or dead man's, position is a bed set in line with the door with the feet pointing straight out of it, named for the way a body is carried out feet first. Feng shui treats it as the placement to avoid, and moving the bed off the door's path corrects it.
Keep exploring
More of the Feng Shui hub
See how this shapes your own space in the Habitat, or find your animal on the Oracle.