Fridley consultant pursues the energies of feng shui BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Barbara Bobrowitz is quick to let people know she’s not a therapist or a doctor. But as a professional feng shui consultant, teacher, mentor and speaker, she finds herself being drawn into peoples’ personal lives. The 28-year Fridley resident is the founder of Energetic Alignments. Feng shui is an ancient art and science developed more than 3,000 years ago in China that involves balancing the energies of a given space to assure health and good fortune for people inhabiting it. Bobrowitz specializes in: • private residential and commercial feng shui consultations; • blessing and clearing ceremonies for both homes and businesses; • classes, workshops, and speaking engagements; and • mentoring professional feng shui consultants. “They are intensely personal consultations,” she said. “People are generally moving into a new space or have been in a space for a long time and are overwhelmed by clutter, experiencing a life transition, or looking for a change in their lives. “In essence, it involves looking at the home as a shelter for the body, and the body as a shelter for the soul and spirit,” Bobrowitz said. “That can get pretty ‘woo-woo.’ We’re dealing with energy. I’m working primarily with people who are looking for a change in their life.” An English and Spanish teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin School District from 1977 to 2008, Bobrowitz’s study of feng shui began in 1992.
She began her classes and meditation in a retreat at a seminar in Tahlequah, Okla., capital of the Cherokee Nation. “I took a sabbatical from my teaching job,” she said. A teacher there introduced Bobrowitz to a Chinese Buddhist lama in Berkeley, Calif., with whom she studied and did weekend workshops. “It was absolutely fascinating,” she said. Since then, Bobrowitz has been one of the first to teach it widely in the Twin Cities area, including classes in Community Education and at the Open U in the early 1990s. Her work has involved traveling all over the country, as well as to China, South America and numerous Spanishspeaking countries. When she is working in peoples’ homes, Bobrowitz usually looks at a floor plan and goes through the house. “I ask people to make a list of changes they want to make in their lives,” she said. “Most people think of furniture arrangement. We talk about what they want to change about their life or their job, and what are their hopes and dreams. We talk about their life pattern or relationships and what they want to do to make them even better. “Everybody wants to be happy. What does that mean for you?” She recalls some couples who will say they’re joined at the hip and are driving each other nuts. Others consult with her when they have an empty nest. Still others are in separate bedrooms because one of the partners snores. “The consultations are very, very personal,” she said. FENG SHUI - TO PAGE 5 Barbara Bobrowitz was visiting Cincinnati, Ohio, when this photo was taken. (Submitted photo)