What is Bowenwork? History FAQs Home
How does Bowenwork/Bowen therapy work?
What should I do after Bowenwork?
What will Bowenwork do for me?
What kind of results might one expect?
What Happens after a Bowen Treatment?
How long does a treatment take?
How many treatments will I need?
Helpful Instructions to Make the Most of Your Bowen Session
Who Can Have Bowenwork?
What Does It Feel Like To Have A Bowenwork Session?
How Can Such A Gentle Technique Produce Such Profound Results?
How does Bowenwork/Bowen therapy work?
Within the spinal cord there is the capacity to relay messages from the brain with the greatest speed and precision. When this occurs, the organs of the body and even the cells themselves operate far better. It is through these channels that Bowenwork affects the body in both subtle and profound ways.
Bowenwork stimulates the body's autonomic nervous system to rebalance, initiating a healing response on structural and energetic levels.
Through very gentle moves at specific points on the body, Bowen impresses a healing sequence that the body responds to at its own pace.
What should I do after Bowenwork?
- Avoid other bodywork treatments for at least five days.
- Drink extra water
- Walk
- Don’t sit on tailbone
- No extreme cold or heat – showers or ice/heat packs
- Every 30 minutes stand up and walk around a little on day of appointment only.
What will Bowenwork do for me?
Bowenwork helps to restore the body to its original design after the stresses of life, injuries, accidents, degeneration and old age have taken their toll on us.
Everyone who is tired and stressed will be assisted with this work. Bowen can assist recovery from many conditions including but not limited to:
- Traumatic injures
- Overuse injuries
- High/low blood pressure
- Stress reactions
- Arthritic pain
- Fatigue
- Fluid retention
- TMJ problems
- Depression
- Stroke recovery
- ADD/ADHD
- Development delay
- Migraine/Headache
- Back and neck pain, tension and stress
- Respiratory conditions, diaphragm tightness, sinus problems, colds and allergies
- Lymphatic drainage, kidney, bladder, pancreatic, gallbladder or liver problems
- addrenal exhaustion.
- Digestive tract problems. hernia, indigestion, bloating, heartburn, nausea
- Pregnancy (during and after birth). Unsettled or distressed babies, colic.
- Shoulder discomfort
- Ankle and knee problems, tight hamstrings
- Heel spurs, shin splints
- Hip and pelvic discomfort, postural imbalance, abnormal gait, leg lenght discrepency
- Bunions, hammertoes, plantar fasciitis, flat feet.
- Bell's Palsy
- Stress, tension, shock, anxiety and grief.
What kind of results might one expect?
The response that people have to Bowen therapy varies as each person is unique, with unique situations.
Most people experience a deep sense of relaxation during the session often lasting longer (5-7 days) than traditional massage or other soothing therapies.
Energy begins to flow within and sometimes out of the body as tensions release and realignments process. Warmth, tingling, "adjusting", mobility and goose-bumps are typical things experienced during and after a Bowen treatment. Sometimes temporary discomfort may be experienced as tensions gather to be released. Emotional responses can occur as releases are made but are not especially commonplace. After time most people gain a sense of "put-togetherness", calm and confidence.
Particularly stressed people, often fall into a deep sleep, or report a sensation of floating during a Bowen session.
What Happens after a Bowen Treatment?
It is very gentle treatment but the results can be very profound, especially when integrated into one's lifestyle choices. For at least five days after a treatment Bowen is continuing to work on the body. Put another way, when you have a session of Bowen, be it for 15 minutes or one hour, the processing delivered into the nerves and cells will continue to respond for at least five days, tweaking and adjusting that which requires it, even when you are sleeping.
It is for that reason that it is advised not to partake in other treatments (chiropractic, massage, physical therapy, energy healing etc) for at least five days after Bowenwork. The five day wait period allows the body to fully respond and process the Bowen “download”.
How long does a treatment take?
Treatments may last 15 minutes or as long as an hour and 15 minutes depending on what is required.
How many treatments will I need?
Typically an acute situation, such as an accident, will require fewer treatments than a chronic one, such as asthma.
For an acute situation, 3 to 5 sessions is often enough, depending upon the circumstances.
Chronic conditions take longer to establish themselves in the body, often presenting multiple or underlying conditions, and therefore may require more sessions.
Once a state of stability has been reached, regular "maintenance" sessions are desired by most people. Usually these are once a month or bi-monthly and have been found to be most beneficial in addressing new (daily) stresses, preventing them from taking hold and causing problems in the future.
Helpful Instructions to Make the Most of Your Bowen Session.
After some treatments a client may be given certain exercises to perform. Exercises recommended after Bowen sessions are an extension of the treatment and important to do. They are gentle and easy for most people to perform. If you have a regular exercise routine, you should also continue it as usual.
It is recommended that the client pay particular attention to hydration of the body following a Bowenwork session. Drinking plenty of water for at least five days after a Bowen session helps to flush out toxins that release during the process and provides a fluid environment for the continuation of the process over the coming days.
No other form of bodywork is recommended during the initial five days after a session, as the Bowen continues to work and be integrated into the body. To do so will interrupt the Bowenwork process and negate the work done. This includes massage, chiropractic and physical therapy. If treating with these modalities it is recommended that they are scheduled before, or at least five days after a Bowen session.
Gentle walks also are advised. On the day of your treatment it is recommended that you do not sit longer than 30 minutes at a time until you retire (sleep) for the night. This simply means every 30 minutes get up and walk around for 10 seconds or so and then sit back down. The reason for this is to keep the energy flowing unrestricted.
Avoid sitting on your tailbone. Sit on your “sitting bones” – with your weight forward off your tailbone and on your thighs and buttocks. If you catch yourself slouching on the couch, get up, move around and sit back down.
When getting off the table after a Bowen session, it is essential to bring your weight down to the ground on both feet evenly, at the same time. This is recommended every time you stand – out of bed, or from a chair. By making this simple postulate you are grounding your body evenly creating balance throughout.
Who Can Have Bowenwork?
Bowen is completely safe and appropriate for everyone, with few contraindications. It has helped the chronically ill, the highly conditioned athlete, accident victims, the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and children.
What Does It Feel Like To Have A Bowenwork Session?
Bowen practitioners develop a depth of awareness about tissue tension. This heightened sensing enables a Bowen Practitioner to coordinate the component parts of a move into a smooth, dance-like rhythm that is soothing and relaxing to clients, who sometimes fall asleep.
Being relaxed is the basic foundation for the work. The touch is very gentle, the moves minimal, but the results are amazing. It is a highly experiential treatment producing very individual results. A common observation is that the client is bewildered that such a seemingly insignificant series of moves can have such profound results.
How Can Such A Gentle Technique Produce Such Profound Results?
All natural therapies recognize the existence of an innate self-healing intelligence that establishes, maintains and restores health, given optimum conditions. This innate intelligence communicates with the body through the vehicle of the nervous system. When the body experiences stress, trauma or shock our nervous system gets triggered into “fight or flight”. However, when the need to respond is past, the body often gets stuck in its stress response and loses the ability to rest and relax. In such an imbalanced state, the function of our nervous system is compromised and its communication obstructed.
Bowen moves are designed to free the body’s innate self healing intelligence – the true healer of the body – by restoring balance and harmony at the cellular level. The precise and gentle Bowen moves send subtle vibrational messages along the nervous system to the brain. These powerful stimulations, when given adequate time for integration by the body, reset and balance the autonomic nervous system which results in an immediate improvement in all the body’s organs and system. The technique initiates an integrated body response, balancing the body at the cellular level and restoring the energy flow within it. The rhythmic pattern of movements and pauses that continues throughout a session allows the “sacred space” needed for healing to occur. Treatments are thus directed at normalizing the autonomic nervous system with concern for establishing and maintaining the normal structural integrity of the body.