EileenHutcheson, M.Ed., holds a Master's degree in counseling and a postgraduatecertificate in Gestalt therapy (two-year program).   She hasalso completed over 300 hours of study/training in dance/movement therapyand graduate coursework in theology.  At the undergraduate level,she holds a B.A. in religious studies and teacher certification in Spanish,French, and dance.  What Eileen loves most is to hike, kayak on mountainlakes and streams, and spend time "just being" in nature. 

Earlyin her life, Eileen worked as a bilingual secretary (Spanish- English),multi-lingual secretary, Spanish teacher, and modern dance and creativedance teacher (for high school and children).  More recently, forabout ten years, she led workshops which integrated creative dance withspirituality and psychology.

Eileenhas been involved in natural health care and alternative medicine on apersonal level for over thirty years.  She has followed a naturalfoods vegetarian diet for over thirty-five years and a vegan lifestylesince 2003.  She has attended many trainings in alternative healing,such as Healing Touch, Touch for Health, Pranic Healing, and Energy Medicine(with Donna Eden).  Eileen's primary focus lies in the area of vibrationalmedicine, of which flower essence therapy is one modality.

Eileenis currently a flower essence therapy practitioner, certified by AustralianBush Flower Essences, Flower Essence Society (FES), and Pacific Essences.She finds that flower essence therapy is fulfilling in so many ways: it lends itself well to a psychological framework; is very spiritual and,dealing with subtle energy, is rooted in Mystery; helps foster a deep senseof connection with the earth; puts one in touch with the aesthetic dimensionof life through the beauty of the flowers and the natural world; allowsher to help her clients by creatively selecting essences; and is orientedtoward the inner life and awareness, even the inner world of dreams. 
 

Inpursuing flower essence therapy certification requirements, Eileen, in2001, attended the week-long Pacific Essences energy medicine practitionertraining on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, with Sabina Pettitt,acupuncturist and author of Energy Medicine. That same year sheattended the four-day Australian Bush Flower Essences practitioner trainingin New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, with Ian White, herbalist, naturopath,and author of Australian Bush Flower Essences and Bush FlowerHealing.  In 2002 she attended the week-long FES (Flower EssenceSociety) practitioner training in California, USA, led by Patricia Kaminskiand Richard Katz. These trainings became the catalyst for the long andcomplex case study work required for certification.  It has been invaluablefor Eileen to learn so many different approaches to working with essences--frommuscle-testing meridians and chakras to the attention to depth processwhich is so characteristic of FES--and to be able to integrate them intoa cohesive working model. 

Floweressences and essential oils complement one another beautifully. In 2003Eileen began studying aromatherapy through the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy,directed by Kurt Schnaubelt, Ph.D., author of Medical Aromatherapyand Advanced Aromatherapy. She chose this school because of itsemphasis on the French medical approach, which allows for internal ingestionof essential oils, when appropriate, in addition to topical application,and because Dr. Schnaubelt's work is very scientifically-based, well-researched,and respected. Eileen completed her Certificate of Aromatherapy Studiesin early 2004. 

Eileenis the author of a featured article, "Getting Physical with Flowers," inthe July 2003 issue of CAM Magazine for Practitioners of Complementaryand Alternative Medicine (London, England).  She finds it fascinatingto be engaged in a range of 
alternativetherapies which connect us with our past and which 
areat the cutting edge of the future of medicine. 

First photo: Eileen and Coccolino, her companion parrot for twenty-five years.

Second photo:Arest and reading break along the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park,Montana, USA.

Third photo: Kayaking on String Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA.

Fourth photo: Zinnia helps one experience the playful inner child (courtesy of FES).

Fifth photo: Indian Paintbrush fosters lively, energetic creativity.

Background: Holly, a classic Bach remedy, is helpful for anger, jealousy, and envy. It stimulates forces of love in the heart.