The Bowen Technique was pioneered by Thomas Ambrose Bowen born in 1916 in Geelong in Victoria, Australia. After working in labouring jobs as a young man, he developed a great interest in massage and body work and spent time observing football trainers and others involved with sports. By the time he was in his early 40's, this gifted man had established a full-time practice in remedial therapy using the technique he had developed. In 1978, when he was interviewed by a parliamentary committee looking into complementary medicine, he stated, under oath, that he treated about 280 patients per week with the help of an assistant and a receptionist - an incredible 13,000 patients a year, 88% of whom only required two or three treatments! Mr Bowen died in the early 1980's but today there are a number of flourishing therapies based on his work.
Quite simply one of the most straightforward and effective 'hands on' therapies available.
It is a system of subtle and precise rolling type moves called "bowen moves" which aim to disturb the muscles, tendons, nerves and fascia. The moves are performed using the thumbs and fingers applying only gentle, non invasive pressure. During the treatment there are periods in which the client is left resting to allow the body to absorb the gentle moves that have been performed. This gives the body time to make the subtle and fine adjustments which help to relieve tension, reduce pain and initiate the healing process.
The Bowen Technique encourages the body to realign itself; there is no manipulation or adjustment of hard tissue and no force is used or needed. It is not a form of massage.
The technique can be applied with some adaptation throughout the body in specific locations and in prescribed sequences to affect specific body systems (digestion, lymph circulation, respiratory apparatus, and so on) or body parts (pelvis, TMJ, shoulder, knee, etc.). Sounds simple! Well it is simple, but the practitioner must develop with practice a keen sense of the tension in the tissue. This will tell him exactly where stress has built up in the tissue and how much pressure to use, where and when to do a move to release that stress.
How does it work?
Tom Bowen never really explained how he came up with his remarkable healing modality nor how and why it worked so well, but the Bowen Technique affects the body primarily through two of its main regulatory systems - the energetic system and the nervous system - to bring it back to a state of balance.
The Bowen practitioner is a catalyst, setting in motion a self healing stimulus. The application of the technique is a study in delicacy and restraint. The Zen saying "less is more" really applies. It is important not to do too much. The Bowen moves are information being programmed into your body. The simplicity of the moves enables your body to integrate the information and do something with it in the direction of healing.
Think along these lines, if you are attempting to learn something, and in that process you get over loaded with complex information, then you get overwhelmed and your brain gets distracted and tired and proceeds to shut down. Your body is no different, information needs to be fed into it in bite sized bits and given time to assimilate, then the next piece of information can be, in turn, synthesised. After trauma or illness the tissues involved hold a cellular memory of that derangement. Often your body can heal itself without intervention, but sometimes it needs help to shake off the cellular memory of the shock, your body is still is protecting itself. It has forgotten, because of the severity or impact of the shock, how to be in balance. The Bowen Technique reminds the body that the trauma is over, and very quickly enables it to harmonise itself.
Autonomic nervous system rebalancing
This is maybe one of the most profound and important effects that the Bowen technique has on the body and where the self healing mechanisms of the body are mostly stimulated. The autonomic nervous system controls over 80% of bodily functions (cardiac, respiratory, peripheral circulation, reproductive, endocrine, gastrointestinal, and so on) and is very susceptible to stress and emotional states. Most people living in our modern "civilized" society are in a constant state of high stress and sympathetic over stimulation.
This could explain why so many people can't heal, or experience incomplete recovery from sickness or injuries. For healing to happen the body needs to shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance, and for this to happen, it needs time and space to literally unwind and digest physical and emotional stress. This is what the Bowen Technique does.
During a treatment it is very common that a patient will quickly fall into a deep state of relaxation or drift in a pleasant trance like state.
In giving a session, I am focused with intent without being attached to the outcome. In doing "the move", I am present and give it my best, then I let go and step aside to let the body take over and do it's own self healing.
Chakra system and Auric field balancing and clearing
The Bowen Technique affects the Chakra system and Auric field very strongly. From a clairvoyant point of view, a patient suffering from physical pain or psycho-emotional stress will show imbalances in the chakra system, and areas of dense, gray-dark, low frequency energy in the auric field. After receiving a few Bowen moves, the energy in the auric field will be instantly stirred up and gradually the areas of dense gray energy will clear and shift to white light or gold high vibration energy. The patient's energetic field will become radiant. If the cause of the blocked energy was from an emotional origin, as the energy in the auric field get stirred up, emotions can and will come up.
His main principle and belief was that the body is able to heal itself. He believed that good medicine was to assist the body's natural ability to repair and regulate itself and that bodily dysfunction were the result of disturbances in the tissues. His underlying assumption was that structure governs function, and that disturbances of structure in whatever tissue within the body will lead to disturbances of functioning in that structure and, in turn, of the function of the body as a whole. His goal was to restore the structural integrity in the body in order to restore its optimum function.
To book a treatment with Sonia, call her on 0431 911 329 or send her an email asking to arrange an appointment.
Disclaimer: Bowen therapists are not doctors and therefore recommend you always seek an appropriate medical opinion where necessary.
