Written by Michael Hanna 12^th November 2021

I visited an old client who had recently bought a derelict old barn in the west midlands (UK) to convert into a home and business; this is the fourth home and business that I have consulted for them over 23 years. My first impression when I arrived was what a stunning looking building and location; the views were breathtaking.

The barn, which is probably about 200 years old and over 3000 square feet with two acres of land, has so much potential, although there were oak beams of all sizes pretty much in every room; that aside this barn was perfect in my eyes and from a Feng Shui facing direction it was not only excellent but an ideal home from every Feng Shui aspect including flying star (Xuan Kong), eight mansions theory (Ba Zhai), form school (San He) and many elements that we look at when we carry out a Feng Shui consultation.

This was a very large project for both of us. Still, I love this type of work, and the most significant benefit of buying a barn type home is you can work with a good architect and place essential rooms like the master bedroom, study, living areas etc in all the positive areas for the client.

At every Feng Shui consultation I carry out, I always take many photos so that I can build a library/memory to use when I speak to clients in the future. It also helps me when I am writing their report up the following week, as sometimes you cannot see the woods for the trees and studying the photos later may show up some points that I will address with the client in the report. Anyway, I was taking these photos thinking how great this place was and will be and thought of an excellent article for you all.

So, is it bad to have beams in a home or business?

I receive so many emails every week asking about the harmful effects of beams in a home or business as someone has read in a book or a website that if they live in a home or work in a building or sleep, eat or sit under a beam, their head will fall off, get divorced, bankrupt or develop a severe illness; this is slightly exaggerated but not that far off, and it is a pet hate of mine that so many websites or books create mountains out of molehills.

If I had read that 41 years ago, I would have probably panicked as well, but now I am older and wiser, which I think is debatable; I have thousands of clients who have many beams in their homes and business, and they live very happy, healthy and wealthy lives. I also have clients who have slept under beams all their adult life and enjoyed excellent health, wealth and relationships, so it is not always that bad, but without a doubt, they can be harmful.

Let me give you the facts about those pesky beams.

If you look at the photos below, you will see some great examples. Think about the people you may know who have beams; all those large country homes with great big oak beams that would hold up a skyscraper, they are not that bad, and they have been used as cannon fodder to fill the pages of books and websites. However, there are some negative aspects to them but usually reasonably easy to resolve their effects.

The books and websites need something to fill the pages, and they do tend to exaggerate problems, which is not fair in my opinion as it worries so many people. I have had people crying over the phone with worry that their child has been sleeping under a beam, and they may have caused them misfortune or caused them to be bullied at school or similar trauma.

Let me tell you what is good and what is not good

If you look at photos #1 and #3 below, you will see a large beam that I have marked with a red arrow, these types of beams you should avoid sleeping under, working or even just sitting under, this will cause you problems, and it is like sleeping under a guillotine. Photo #2 is the more common beam, these are fine to sleep under, and I have hundreds of clients who sleep under these, and it causes them no problems at all; avoid big intense low beams; it is common sense, really.

Avoid sleeping, working or sitting under this type of beam shown below

This type of beam shown below is not that bad, and as long it is a fairly high ceiling above 8 feet foot it is fine

The type of beam shown below is very harmful, and you avoid at all costs sleeping, work or sitting under a beam like this.

Over the last twenty-five years, I have visited hundreds of homes and businesses where they had a Feng Shui consultant come along and advise their client to paint the beautiful oak beams the same colour as the wall or ceiling, which is usually a white colour. However, the advice was all the beams regardless of where there were positioned.

Personally, in the right type of home, especially those beautiful country cottages that we have in the UK, I think they look lovely and add character to a building, although if they were in a modern home, they do not have the same appeal.

It is far more essential to sleep, work, and sit in a good magnetic compass direction calculated from your personal Min Gua (life Trigram) or sleep in an area with auspicious mountain flying stars.

This is one of the reasons why we produced our Feng Shui software so people can instantly calculate their Xuan Kong natal chart or best eight mansions four directions, colours, elements, and so much more; this is real traditional Feng Shui, not the Mickey Mouse Feng Shui that is so often written about.

Because of the nature of my job, I find myself constantly looking at land formations and buildings when I am out, and I was in a coffee shop/restaurant in Bicester (Oxfordshire, England) a few weeks ago called “Pret a manger” apparently they are a large coffee /sandwich restaurant chain.

I am not sure if this was standard décor for the brand, but this restaurant was fitted out in enormous shiny stainless-steel beams and large old-style ventilation pipes, the types that most Feng Shui books and websites would be condemning, this coffee shop was packed.

The quality of the food and coffee was pretty good too, but if they had read the Feng Shui books about this type of décor, they would have had condemned this business, and according to my son Daniel they are incredibly successful, and these beams were doing them no harm at all.

Try to think of all the homes you know with beams; they usually belong to grand country manor-style homes with wealthy owners; how many old English successful pubs with beams?

How many successful people or businesses do you know with beams all over the place?

If you think about it, they cannot be that bad, think carefully about where you would place your bed, chair or desk, do not let it sit right under a large, heavy beam, and if you are not sure about where you are sitting, sleeping etc hang a pair of bamboo flutes or crystal spheres to weaken some of the negative energy, it will not be the perfect cure, but it will help.

If you are an author of a Feng Shui book or website and you have written about the negative effects of beams, please do not write to me chastising me with a “who do you think you are” type attitude; I have heard it all before and will not reply unless you can convince me of an actual case where you can prove it has caused a problem, believe me, I have been proved wrong before, I only write what I think is true based on actual results I have personally experienced and can account for. One of the best things about getting old is experience.

The reason for this article on Feng Shui and beams?

So you do not get worried about the small things in life as the mind is exceptionally powerful, and if you have something in your mind that is negative, you can make small things grow into gigantic monsters.

Please leave some comments below, and have a wonderful weekend!

Michael