Kristina Bauer

Untamed Alchemist, Uncommon Scents - Aromatherapist, Herbalist, Writer and LMT

Kristina Bauer, also known as the Untamed Alchemist, has enjoyed a lifelong fascination with herbs, essential oils, folk wisdom, natural history, and symbology. An inspired storyteller and energetic teacher, Kristina is an aromatherapist, herbalist, writer, and licensed massage therapist with over 25 years experience in the art and science of aromatherapy, herbalism, and natural living. Troubled by the surge in essential consumption coupled with “one-size-fits-all” recipes, Kristina is delighted to be partnered with Angela Ehmke in producing an aromatherapy documentary, Uncommon Scents, that explores what aromatherapy really is, how it works, where it is being leveraged, and why it matters. Uncommon Scents offers insights from a host of experienced and credible experts who hold aromatherapy to its highest standards.

Kristina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies and Religion from the University of Redlands’s Johnston Center, where she was empowered to design her own major (Empowering Women through Nature, Knowledge, Ritual, and Divination); her personalized degree program included heavy emphasis on Mother Earth chemistry including essential oils and herbs. After a 15-year career in marketing at a natural/organic consumer packaged goods company, Kristina put her attention to aromatherapy, herbalism, and natural living full time. In formalizing her aromatherapy education, she completed the Scholar’s Program at Aromahead Institute and participated in Aromahead’s Teacher Training program. Because her passion is as much in learning as in doing, Kristina continues to invest in literature, classes, workshops, and relationships with aromatherapy professionals, industry experts, and community forums. Kristina’s experience and formal and continuing education inform her teaching and writing as well as her practice in her business offering aromatics, herbs, oils, ritual and magical tools, and workshops along with massage, sound, and aromatherapy for one-to-one clients through Untamed Alchemy. She maintains a blog (theuntamedalchemist.com) to share articles on aromatics, herbs, oils, food, nature, magic, and life, thoughts on the field today, and the occasional recipe.

Kristina lives, gardens, writes, and teaches on the biodynamically-inspired homestead she shares with her Beloved and their animal family. She delights in the magic and inspiration found all around her.

Kristina is the Writer of the Uncommon Scents movie project on Aromatherapy.

2018-12-02

Everyone is different

Essential oils have experienced an enormous rise in popularity over the last ten years. The growing awareness of their potential to facilitate healing and support everyday wellness has resulted in a surge of interest and consumption. As aromatherapists, Angela Ehmke and Kristina Bauer appreciated the extraordinary power of essential oils—but they were wary of the emerging shift from celebrating and practicing the aromatherapy they knew and loved as a rich, diverse, and holistic field to the emphasis on consumption of individual essential oils, daily use, risky applications, and cookie cutter recipes. Driven by a desire to explore and share the contrast between aromatherapy and essential oil consumption, Kristina and Angie have spent the last two and a half years interviewing aromatherapy practitioners, chemists, educators, healthcare professionals, suppliers, and distillers to inform a brand-independent feature-length aromatherapy documentary, Uncommon Scents, such that the broadest possible audience can appreciate what aromatherapy is, how it works, what its core tenets are, who is using it to greatest benefit, how it is challenged, and why its future matters not just to aromatherapists and essential oil users, but everyone on this planet.

Uncommon Scents is the first film of its kind; it’s a brand-independent exploration of aromatherapy and essential oils that digs deep, asks courageous questions, and challenges how we think of and work with aromatics every day. Executive Producer and writer Kristina Bauer will be sharing some of the profound insights revealed in exclusive interviews with experts from across the field to empower consumers, practitioners, and the general public alike. She’ll share the foundations in which aromatherapy has its roots, where aromatherapy is shining in its outcomes, how challenges relating to supply, sustainability, marketing, regulation, and adulteration are impacting the field, why everyone has a stake in how current challenges play out, and what experts tell us individuals can do (and are doing) to shepherd the future for aromatherapists, essential oil enthusiasts, and the planet alike.