Changing Clients' Lives by Changing Their Houses

“Change 27 things in nine days and you will start to see some change in your life,” said Julie Rutkowski, a Winchester-based certified feng shui consultant and owner of Feng Shui Services of New England.

It doesn’t matter what you change – you can rearrange pictures or move furniture around – but Rutkowski says it can make a big difference. She sees those changes in her clients’ lives all the time. 

Rutkowski does private feng shui consultations for homes and businesses, and also speaks about and teaches classes on feng shui. Feng shui, meaning “wind” and “water” in Chinese, has been practiced for thousands of years. Concepts behind feng shui involve balance and flow of energy throughout the house.

When Rutkowski does a private feng shui consultation, it begins with asking the client about his or her wishes and desires. Then they do a walkthrough of the client’s home. 

“I come in with feng shui vision, or feng shui eyes. I can say, ‘Tell me what’s happening here,’” Rutkowski said.

Someone looking for a new relationship may have too many photos of family and friends on the walls, signaling there’s literally no space for a new person in the client’s life. 

One client had a young boy who was never able to sleep all night in his own bed. When Rutkowski went into the boy’s room, she realized the bed was in a section of the house that jutted out, unsupported by any structure underneath. The client moved her son’s bed to a different part of the room and, the next morning, Rutkowski got an email saying her son had slept in his bed all night for the first time.

Occasionally, there are issues with the house itself – problems like door placement or windows that are too big. When an issue can’t be easily fixed with furniture placement, Rutkowski can always find a workaround.

“There’s no home that isn’t curable, which is nice to know,” she said.

Even so, when Rutkowski was planning to move to Winchester from Burlington last fall, she went house-hunting with feng shui in mind.

“When we walked into this home in Winchester, the first thing we said was, ‘This home has good feng shui,’” Rutkowski said.

While Rutkowski now works out of her house as a consultant, her first career was as a registered nurse. She was working as a school nurse when she first heard about feng shui. There was a professional development day coming up, but the scheduled speaker canceled. Instead, Rutkowski’s co-workers took turns speaking. One woman spoke about feng shui. 

Rutkowski and her co-workers were so impressed by the talk they decided to use feng shui principles on their nurse’s office. They soon saw significant changes in themselves and their students.

After that, Rutkowski decided to pursue feng shui further, attended the New England School of Feng Shui in Connecticut. After graduating from the program in 2009, she divided her time between nursing and feng shui. Now, she does mostly feng shui. Sometimes those two worlds intersect, as at an upcoming speaking engagement on stress relief for nurses.

Fees for Rutkowski’s feng shui services vary, but a mid-level consultation runs around $333.