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It's been a few years since we last spoke with Eileen Cuce and explored her wonderful holistic practice. This time we delve deeper into Eileen's emphasis on best practices for her clients as well as some of her favorite H&A herbs and formulas.
Eileen is a Holistic Health Practitioner, Master Clinical Herbalist, Clinical Nutritionist and Bodyworker busy in her practice Five Elements Holistic Health in Coopersburg, PA.
You grew up in a family that practiced natural medicine, then after you and your children each experienced a health crisis years ago, you began to study natural medicine more deeply. How did that evolve into your launching Five Elements Holistic Health?
Within one year after a family crisis two of my children and I were diagnosed with auto-immune diseases – all different. This piqued my interest into how stress and trauma are the catalysts to disease. I began to study more about the mind-body connection at that time. Through the grapevine people would hear that I had healed our bodies so I was constantly fielding questions pro bono. Answering them began to take up so much of my time that I decided to study formally and get paid for my passion. Initially I enrolled in Nutrition School, followed by Chinese medicine. After I graduated from these two programs, Five Elements Holistic Health was born. Once practicing I got certificates in Polarity and Cranialsacral Therapy, and Family Constellations Therapy which were wonderful adjuncts to the programs I already offered.
You place a lot of emphasis on nutrition and its impact on individual health in your practice, along with herbal medicine and body work. How are your various modalities incorporated with each other?
My Chinese medicine background is what impacts my practice most. This is a big statement but I think the explanation to the world is within the Five Elements Theory which is the basis of Chinese medicine. Each element relates to an emotion, season, life-cycle, organ system, behaviors and practices, and even food taste-properties. When I have an initial intake with a client I listen closely to their chief complaint. Then I listen to where imbalances in their bodies might possibly have taken root. I confirm my hypotheses with a tongue and pulse diagnosis. At that point I can link the imbalance that is at the root of their official diagnosis or symptom patterns to a particular organ system that needs to balanced. With this information I can develop a very individualized and effective healing/balancing protocol, I even know how to motivate the client to make change using these elements. This is what sets me apart from many practitioners. Two people can have the same diagnoses or symptoms and they could get completely different protocols based on their constitutional diagnosis (tongue and pulse dx). Bodywork is part of each client’s program. The types I practice are excellent medicine for the nervous system. I believe the nervous system is at the root of all imbalances. Polarity and Cranialsacral therapies and reiki can unwind stuckness in the nervous system – old and new – this is essential to total, complete and lasting healing.
How did you come to study with David Winston, and how has his teaching augmented your herbal practice?
I found David’s school when I was looking to get more clinical experience. I already had an active Chinese medicine practice but I had always been attracted to Ayurveda, which is included in his program, in addition to South Eastern American medicine, Middle Eastern and others. What attracted me to his program was the science. I have a lot of clients who are on complex Western pharmaceutical protocols. Once I completed his program I was able to confidently blend the tinctures I write for each person with their existing protocols, knowing there aren’t contraindications. I am able to furnish physicians with this info also so the patient is less likely to be told that the herbs won’t work, or worse, will harm them.
Are there any H&A herbs that you particularly like?
This is a tough one! Other than my patent Chinese formulas used in my clinic, his tinctures dominate my extensive herbal pharmacy. I love that they are organic and sustainably grown and they feel energetically superior to any others I’ve tried. Even though I use SO many – and love them all - I’ll tell you the ones I most frequently purchase: Amla, Bacopa, Ashwagandha, Passionflower, Gotu Kola, Sarsaparilla, Huang Qin, Rehmannia and Atractylodes. His pre-made formulas for lung balancing are fabulous.
How did you become interested in herbal medicine?
I was fortunate to have grown up in a home with Andrew Weil’s books strewn about, an organic garden that supplied us with much of our year’s food, and a goat in the backyard, which was bought solely because my sister had recurrent tonsillitis when drinking cow’s milk. I think it was ingrained in me from birth that the answers to healing are all around us. My interest in herbs was piqued after the birth of my first child when I was plagued with recurrent bouts of mastitis. I remember how soothing a cabbage leaf was on the inflamed tissue. But it was more than just the cooling of the inflammation that I felt. The fact that it was a leaf made it feel like real healing to me, or it gave me hope that true healing would occur. It resonated on a very deep level. As my children grew, I continued to search for information that would help when any illness would occur. I used herbs to become symptom-free from my own autoimmune diagnosis. Impressed and excited by the results of the herbs, it was then that I decided to study herbal medicine formally and practice professionally.
When did you study with David?
I was a student of David Winston’s 2-year herbalist training program from 2012-2014. I also completed the 1-year Therapeutics class in 2015. I was a practicing Chinese herbalist prior to enrolling in David’s program. Once I completed his 2-year course I was introduced to approximately 200 more herbs. I was able to combine these with the herbs I was currently using and make my formulas even more specific, and I started having even better results with clients. I feel like I paint a very specific herbal picture for each client now when I write formulas. It’s very exciting!
A distinct benefit to David’s program was that we were taught the science behind each herb. Upon the completion of the program I became completely confident using herbs with clients who are on pharmaceuticals, a demographic I had only used dietary modifications with in the past.
Tell us about your practice.
My home office is in the Lehigh Valley, PA. I also have an office in NYC and I practice remotely via phone/skype with clients all over the country. Each client who comes to me gets a specific healing program designed for them with consideration to their current condition, constitution and lifestyle. Their program includes dietary changes, herbs, and bodywork—if they are local. (I am a polarity and cranial sacral therapist also).
I am not normally the first practitioner my clients see. Most of my clients have been searching for answers for a long time, seeing many doctors in an allopathic system to no avail. By the time they see me they are normally very frustrated and sometimes fairly hopeless that they will ever achieve healing. My average client has done a lot of reading, experimenting and exploring on their own behalf so it is natural that they want me to explain my strategies and ideas to them. I have an extensive library at my office that interested clients can read even more if they please.
After education, most clients understand how herbal medicine has the ability to get to the root cause of their issues. It makes sense to them, and I’m sure my enthusiasm rubs off as well. I normally explain the function of each of the herb tastes. So, instead of being repulsed by a particular taste they become excited, knowing its function and what organ system it is targeting and how that relates to their healing. It helps with client compliance to prescribed protocols if they know what the “bitter tasting herb is doing” in their herbal formula. Clients tell me that knowing this has actually led to them craving their herbs.
