If, like many Muscovites today, you are renovating your apartment, you might choose to avoid sharp corners and consider the "flow of energy" when selecting and arranging the furniture. And if you are one of the growing number building a new living space outside the city, you might even choose the location not for its price or beauty, but according to the mandates of an ancient Chinese practice.
This is because feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of harmonious arrangements, is growing in popularity in Russia. Widely touted over the past decade as the latest craze in Western interior decorating, while some Eastern countries employ feng-shui specialists for almost every building or design project, feng shui arrived a bit later to Moscow, but its principles are now becoming in the capital more than just a superstitious fad.
"It's people of all types who hire a consultant. Mostly women," Tatyana Shumilina, a Moscow feng-shui consultant, told The Moscow News.
Feng shui, which literally means "wind-water," is the ancient Chinese practice of arranging a person's environment in accordance with what are viewed as laws of the heaven and Earth. Proponents of the practice believe it can bring harmony to all spheres of a person's life: improve one's health, increase one's material provisions and enhance one's romantic life.
Interest in feng shui came to Russia in the late 1990s through books like those of world-famous feng-shui writer Lillian Too. Vladimir Zakharov, an expert in feng shui and licensed instructor of the Academy of Masters of Chinese Metaphysics, located in Malaysia, classifies Russia's first taste of the practice as "pop-feng shui," a world constructed entirely of psychology, symbols and superstitions. "Real, classical feng shui became widespread from 2002-2003," he told The Moscow News, and claimed that many of the consultants practicing in Moscow today take their work very seriously, investing significant time and money into their study of what has been called both a science and an art.
In the past few years, schools of feng shui have popped up all over the city, and the number of consultants grows accordingly. Moscow apartments, homes, stores and shopping centers number among the many locations choosing to look East.
Shumilina and Zakharov agreed that any kind of private business in Moscow is likely to employ the services of a feng-shui consultant. While in recent years, several international companies have famously maximized the flow of energy, known as qi, in their locations around the world, this trend does not seem to have caught on in Moscow.
"Consultations are requested by offices, hairdressers, beauty salons, stores... In the past couple of years, consultants have been asked to take part in the planning of medical centers and shopping centers, cottage neighborhoods," said Zakharov. He added, "Normally the decision is made by one to two people," noting that if a board of directors is to decide whether or not to hire a consultant, he would not even bother to attend the meeting.
Feng shui continues to be most popular in the private sphere. "Right now we see the following trend," said Irina Anfinogenova, another Moscow feng-shui consultant, "mortgages are developing, and resultingly, more families are buying apartments. There are many families who want to arrange their apartment in the best way and look to the help of feng shui. In this case, the whole family comes to the consultation, all interested in the arranging of their new home." She noted that the improving quality of life for Russian families has meant that she sees many clients who have only average incomes.
A consultation in Moscow costs upwards of $5-10 per square meter, depending on the consultant and on the specifics of the particular site. The entire process can be completed in just a few days. Clients building a private home often bring in a consultant to direct every step of the process, beginning with the choice of location. Feng-shui experts also can choose an auspicious date for opening a business.
While Zakharov indicated that in his experience, 9 people out of 10, "especially men," would not give feng shui any credibility, "everyday it all becomes more popular." He added with a smile: "Sometimes people get consultations on the principle of ‘I also want feng shui, my friend got it, and my apartment became not feng-shui-ed!"
By Alisa Ballard