What Is Bowen Therapy
Bowen Therapy is a gentle, subtle non-invasive hands on treatment, and is very relaxing, as there is no hard tissue manipulation. Suitable for all ages, there are almost no contra-indications to treatment. It is a holistic, remedial therapy and addresses all soft tissues, muscles, ligaments, tendons, fascia or connective tissues, skin and organs.
What a Bowen Therapy session consists of
A Bowen Therapy session consists of a series of rolling moves which are performed over precise points of muscle, tendons and ligaments. These points sometimes also correlate with acupuncture points or meridians in Chinese Medicine.
The moves both disturb the underlying fascia and stimulates the nervous system, initiating the bodies own ability to re-align and heal itself. A Bowen session involves one or more ‘procedures’, each of which consists of several sets of moves. During the treatment there are a series of short breaks of around 2 minutes or more, and in this time the practitioner leaves the room leaving the client to fully relax. These pauses allow the body to make subtle and fine adjustments, helping reduce pain, relieve tension and re-balance.
How Bowen can help
Bowen assists with musculo-skeletal conditions (painful areas, injury, tightness), chemical balance (release of endorphins and hormones) and emotional issues to help the body balance itself. Another positive effect is the influence Bowen therapy has on the lymphatic and circulatory system, helping to remove waste from the body and encourage healing. This means that Bowen therapy can be used in rehabilitation, improving performance as well as improving range of motion and flexibility. It may improve healing time regardless of when the injury was sustained. Many people experience emotional well-being as well as physical benefit. Bowen is good for relaxation and “maintenance”, keeping your body balanced, so that you are in the best possible shape to accommodate the stresses and strains of life!
A holistic therapy
Because of the holistic nature of the therapy, when treating a specific condition or injury, it is no uncommon for other areas not being directly targeted for treatment to also respond to treatment. The beauty of Bowen therapy is that as it stimulates and activates the body’s inner ability to heal itself, and unlike other therapies it works on the cause of the problem, instead of only treating the symptoms. This is why many people with long standing injuries and problems who have tried many other therapies and come to Bowen as a last resort, often find lasting relief with only a few sessions.
Gentle and Non-invasive
It can be carried out equally well on pregnant mums, new born babies, the elderly and those bound to a wheelchair or bed. It can support those receiving palliative care or invasive treatments and also those not injured or in pain who just want the opportunity to completely relax every now and again or optimise sports performance and minimise the risk of injury.
Your body will respond
Bowen Therapy is not necessarily a long term treatment program, many clients find that after the initial recommended series of 3 treatments at intervals of between 5 to 10 days are sufficient to provide adequate relief from even long standing problems. Regular Bowen Therapy treatments are recommended to maintain optimum health. If you have an existing problem, please feel free to give me a call to discuss how Bowen may be able to help.
The Science behind Bowen
For examples of scientific research studies on the effectiveness of Bowen Therapy, please refer to these links: