Bed facing the door
A bed facing the door, with the sleeper's feet toward it, recalls the way the dead were once laid out and carried, which is why it feels wrong to many. Often the unease arrives only once someone tells the story.
What it may mean
Plenty of people sleep for years with their feet toward the bedroom door without a thought, until someone tells them the story. Bodies were laid out and carried feet first; in ancient Rome, a body was set near the threshold with its feet toward the door, and feng shui calls the same layout the coffin position. After hearing that once, a room that felt fine can suddenly feel wrong, though nothing in it has moved. That is the odd power of an old rule: it changes a space by changing what you see in it. Some people shift the bed and sleep better; others shrug and leave it where the outlet is. Either way, the moment shows how much of a room's comfort comes from the stories attached to it. You might ask which corner of your own home feels the way it does because of something you were told.
Depending on how you saw it
Feet pointing straight out the door
Angling the bed or sliding it a few feet along the wall is often enough to break the straight line. The change takes ten minutes and costs nothing. If a small move would let you rest easier, what keeps you from making it?
A bed with its back to the door
When you cannot see the doorway from your pillow, footsteps and hallway light arrive from behind you, and a small sound can feel bigger than it is. Where in your week do you sit with your back to the door?
Sleeping with your head to the north
Russians, Hungarians and Poles avoided sleeping with the head to the north, a 1903 collection says, and in Japan the dead were buried facing that way. Other traditions favored it. Does any direction feel right to you for sleeping, and do you know where that feeling came from?
A small room with only one layout
Many bedrooms have exactly one wall that fits a bed. A footboard, a bench or a rug between bed and door can make the line feel softer. When you cannot change a space, what small thing makes it feel like yours?
Why it happens in nature
Most people feel more at ease when they can see a room's entrance from where they rest, since an unseen doorway keeps a little alertness switched on. Light and noise from a hallway also reach a bed lined up with the door first, and a door that swings toward the bed can disturb light sleepers.
What folk beliefs say
Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, Brand notes, a body was laid out near the threshold with its feet toward the door so that passersby could see it, a custom the poet Persius describes.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 2 (1849), vol. 2, p. 246. View the page
Russia, Hungary and Poland
Russians would not sleep with their heads to the north, a 1903 collection says, being taught that all evil came from that quarter, and Hungarians and Poles shared the same dislike.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 322. View the page
Japan
The Japanese never slept with their heads to the north, since the dead were buried in that direction, and rooms often had a diagram showing which way north lay.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 322. View the page
To reflect on
Which corner of your home feels different because of a story you were told, rather than anything in it?