Your body knows how to heal! Let your body do the work
The Bowen Technique
The Bowen technique is a highly effective and powerful treatment for a wide variety of conditions, both acute and chronic, supporting a soft and gentle process which empowers your body's own resources to begin the healing process. The Bowen technique is holistic; it addresses the entire body and simply put, allows the body to reset, rest and heal itself.
Excelling in healing backache, to chronic fatigue, migraines, sciatica and sports related injuries through to pregnancy and childbirth related conditions, the list is exhaustive. Bowen is appropriate for everyone, from newborns to the very elderly and frail and can help with a vast range of conditions, whether a highly trained athlete or a pregnant women, who each benefit equally, according to need.
Each session is tailored to the individual and your needs with the aim being to bring the body back into balance and restoring optimum health and function.
Many come to find Bowen having exhausted other avenues and are so pleased that they did.
Here are some of the common issues that Bowen can address:
THE MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM
Frozen Shoulder/Shoulder Pain • Tennis Elbow • RSI • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome • Arthritic Pain • TMJ Syndrome • Scoliosis • Postural Problems • Gait Disorders • Fibromyalgia • Leg Length Discrepancies • Plantar Fasciitis • Shin Splints • Foot and Ankle Problems • Hernia • Knee and Hip Restrictions • Pelvic Problems • Sciatica
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
Asthma • Bronchitis • Hay Fever • Sinusitis • Allergies
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
Constipation • Colic • Crohn's Disease • Indigestion • Bowel Problems • IBS • Haemorrhoids
SPORTS / PHYSICAL PROFESSIONS
Improved Flexibility • Improved Performance • Injury Prevention • Sports Injury Recovery
GENERAL WELL-BEING
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome • Migraine/Headaches • Vertigo/Balance Problems • Tinnitus • Prostate Problems
GYNAECOLOGICAL
Infertility • Pre-Menstrual Syndrome • Menopausal Symptoms
DURING PREGNANCY
Back Ache/Sciatica • Breast Tenderness • Swollen Legs • Carpal Tunnel • General Well-being and Energy Levels
POST CHILDBIRTH
Re-aligning the Body and Spine after Childbirth • Mastitis
CHILDREN AND BABIES
Colic in Infants • Asthma • Glue Ear • Sinus Problems • Headache and Migraine • Indigestion • Dyslexia • Cerebral Palsy • Dyspraxia • ADHD • Bed Wetting
After an initial consultation about any previous and current conditions, your treatment will start on a massage couch in our warm, quiet, cosy room. Bowen can be can be administered directly on the skin or through one layer of loose, light clothing if preferred.
Precise, gentle rolling movements are performed over muscles, tendons and nerves, in short sequences and at key structural points to re-awaken the restorative mechanisms of your body. One of the defining features of Bowen therapy is that a few minutes rest is given to you between each set of moves. This is to allow your body time to react to and integrate the work, I like to call it time for your body to have a conversation and I will leave the room during these few minutes, which may at first seem strange, but is an essential part of this powerful technique.
You may feel subtle sensations in your body or emotions arising during or after a session. If you do, let me know as this may be useful information to the root of your condition, and where and when to work next.
Your treatment will last from 20 minutes to an hour and is a quiet time, a time for you to relax and listen to your body, with minimal talking, except for feedback to your practitioner.
While some experience immediate relief, improvement is just as likely to unfold over the following few days.
Please follow carefully the after-care guidance given to you and do any exercises that may have been suggested for you.
Often just two or three treatments are needed, a week apart, to allow the body time to readjust itself. For long term issues or where you are unable to stop the work that may have caused the problem, it's advisable to continue with a therapeutic session every 4-8 weeks . Many people receive treatments on a regular basis, just as they would a massage to help keep their body balanced and healthy.
About Bowen -
Bowen Technique is a gentle neuromuscular bodywork technique for re-alignment, relaxation, and restoration. Rather than focusing on a single complaint, the Bowen Technique is holistic; it addresses the entire body. This is especially important in long standing conditions, where there may be patterns of dysfunctional muscle recruitment and postural misalignment that have become entrenched.
Our bones rely on the muscles to move and maintain their structural integrity and posture, and because of this the Bowen Technique can bring lasting relief, where in many cases the usual more forceful adjustments will not always hold.
The History of Bowen
Who was Tom Bowen?
There are many stories surrounding the incredible Tom Bowen and how he found this wonderful therapy without any medical background. Please research to find out more.
Born in 1916, Tom Bowen was the youngest child of William and Norah Bowen, who moved from Wolverhampton in the UK to Australia in 1910.
After serving in World War II, Tom Bowen became interested in finding out ways to relieve pain in the human body. He noticed that when he made certain movements on the body it responded in a positive way.
Tom Bowen spent years refining and developing the effectiveness of his newfound treatment through observation without any formal training from any medical field. Mr Bowen felt strongly that his treatment was a “gift from god”.
As the popularity of the treatment grew, Tom Bowen was able to set up a full-time clinic in a retired medical practice.
It was not uncommon for Tom to treat 60-100 people per day at the clinic, always maintaining that children would receive free treatment.
As more people found out about the Bowen Technique, many people wanted to learn from Tom directly.
Tom officially recognised six men to have an active understanding of his work and enough knowledge to pass it on. Tom affectionally referred to these practitioners as his “boys”.
Keith Davis, Kevin Neave, Nigel Love, Oswald Rentsch, Romney Smeeton and Kevin Ryan would continue the growth of the Bowen Technique long after Tom Bowen passed away in 1982.
Further to this, Tom Bowen worked with both Horses and Dogs. Equine and Canine Bowen are popular treatments and rumour has it that the animals instinctively show the area of issues and when to stop.
2021 has seen a Nobel prize awarded for the discovery of how the receptors in our body can sense human touch!
Has Bowen known this all along?
My Story into Bowen
The most powerful and gentle therapy!
I found Bowen, through a friend, when my boyfriend had hurt himself at work. He was in extreme agony for 5 days. Unable to walk unassisted and having to sleep downstairs, often screaming in pain. We went to A&E twice, they could only supply very strong pain killers and still after X-Rays have been unable to come to any diagnosis. As it became worse we had reached the weekend, all holistic therapists, specialising in pain management, were closed. On the Monday I took him to an x physio therapist who now specialises in Bowen. Within hours of receiving this gentle therapy, he slept, woke without pain and was able to continue his life. I was blown away as I watched this procedure done, even though I had tried many alternative and holistic therapies, very successfully, in my own healing journey, I'd never seen such a gentle, yet dramatic, effect on anyone. I had to experience it myself! I booked an appointment a couple of weeks later. I felt so incredible during and after the treatment. I am able to feel energy movement in my body after many years of energy work, when the practitioner leaves the room, it felt like I was still being worked on even though I was alone for a few minutes. I felt my body straighten up and these incredible waves of energy moving through my body. That was it, I was compelled to become a Bowen therapist and I feel privileged and honoured to share this wonderful treatment with everyone.
The College of Bowen Studies
In 1993, Julian Baker brought the Bowen Technique from Australia, and with the help of Isy Gabriel (Saunders) they set up the first Bowen training sessions in the UK.
Initially the training sessions were not universally popular, but after an article in the Daily Mail in 1994, Bowen was spectacularly launched on to the British psyche and the phenomenon that was Bowen in the UK was born.
Since then thousands of people have discovered the power of Bowen and have had their lives transformed by treatment and training.
The nature of the connective tissue known as fascia has become much more widely understood.
I am proud to say I trained with Julian Baker and his college of wonderful teachers 😊
Fascia, water and the nervous system
How are they connected?
Fascia, or connective tissue, envelops and penetrates all; it is around nerves, organs, in and around muscles becoming tendons, which in turn are attached to the connective tissue around the bones. The fascial system is now being recognised as the underlying cause of many functional problems in the human being. Fascia can be likened to the rigging of a sail ship. If the rigging tangles or knots, undue stresses and strains occur within the ship's structure, and more often than not problems will eventually arise. The tensions have to be correct for the most effective movement, and care must be taken to not tangle up the rigging. This is equally true of the fascial system of the body.
Water molecules stick to the surface of the fascia and allow the muscle bundles (ropes) to glide freely against each other. Dehydration and traumas impede this process. The liquid crystalline nature of fascia allows for a superfast network of communications within the body whilst also building a pattern memory of repeated movements. Gentle cross fibre stretching such as created in a Bowen Treatment has been found to generate the strongest piezoelectric currents, and due to fascia’s highly conductive nature (best with proper hydration!) this current can travel far from the source of creation. Clients often report sensations far from where the move was initiated. Physiological changes in the cells occur with reception of these impulses. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why people keep seeing such remarkable successes.
To get the best results from your Bowen treatments your therapist will inform and guide you on how to make sure that you are adequately hydrated, not just for the treatment itself but for at least the following week.
Water is the lubricant of the body and without enough in our system we cannot function correctly. Thirst is a bad indicator of hydration. Urine colour is a much more efficient way to tell; if it's dark then you need water! If you lose just five to six percent of your water you might notice a lessening of mental clarity, headaches and nausea.
We can lose up to 2 litres of water per day just in normal perspiration, urination and respiration. This needs to be replaced, and the best thing for that is yes, you've guessed it, water!
often we are living with the residue of cumulative stress and over -stimulation. When in danger or stressed, the autonomic (Unconscious)
nervous system changes balance to a dominant sympathetic state (fight, flight or freeze), which draws energy towards emergency systems and away from less immediately vital systems, such as digestion and the restorative systems, reducing their function. This can lead to our bodies struggling to fully return to the parasympathetic state (rest, digest and repair), where healing occurs. Through gentle precise movements over muscles and connective tissue Bowen facilitates the transition back from the emergency state, encouraging the body's natural healing processes to return to optimal function.
Control of Involuntary Muscle Cardiac muscle and smooth muscle function involuntarily-beyond our conscious control. There is smooth muscle in organs of the digestive, respiratory, circulatory and urinogenital systems, while cardiac muscle is found exclusively in the heart.
