What is Bowen Therapy?

The Bowen technique is a holistic approach to pain relief and healing that is based on the recognition that the underlying cause or source of many musculoskeletal, neurological, neuromuscular and other health or pain problems can be found in the form of an imbalance of the energetic and facial systems of the body.

The Bowen Therapy technique is a very gentle and non-invasive, but extremely powerful, soft connective tissue hands-on therapy that addresses all the bodies systems restoring the natural balance within the body. Bowen Therapy uses a sequence of small positive gentle moves made at specific points on your body that are non-invasive, used for relief of pain and and effective treatment for a wide range of problems.

Bowen therapists use their thumbs and fingers to make subtle rolling movements on the client’s body. Bowen sessions may last from 25 minutes to 1 hour and are often customized to the individual. As a Bowen therapist, in my opinion this approach is “Complementary”, meaning this goes well together with medical treatments, such as prescription drugs, medical interventions, chemotherapy and surgical procedures, and not as a replacement.

The Bowen Technique affects the body primarily through the nervous system in conjunction with all other bodily systems, to bring it into a state of balance.

The Bowen Technique is a cross fibre muscle release technique that balances and stimulates energy flows, resulting in a deep sense of overall relaxation.

The body is sent a message that the emergency is over, and it is now possible to initiate healing. To put it simply, a Bowen treatment resets the body allowing it to heal itself. After each series of 2 to 8 of Bowen moves, there is an important pause of about 2 minutes to allow the body to respond to new information from the nerve receptors. It is during this pause that the body begins to make changes.

Autonomic nervous system rebalancing

The autonomic nervous system controls over 80% of bodily functions; cardiac, respiratory, peripheral circulation, reproductive, endocrine, gastrointestinal.

For healing to happen, the body needs to shift from sympathetic fight & flight mode to parasympathetic, rest & relax mode.

Joint proprio-receptors

All Bowen responses on the body moves are implemented around a joint will directly affect the joints and surrounding muscles.

Lymphatic circulation

The Bowen Technique stimulates lymphatic circulation and drainage.

Spinal reflexes

Many of the Bowen moves are performed along the spine over the erector muscles (two thick columns of dense muscles on either side of the spinal column which run from the base of the pelvis to almost the full length of the spine). These moves appear to produce referred reactions to other areas of the body.

As a soft tissue therapy, it ‘disturbs’ the fascia or connective tissue, there is no pulling or cracking of joints and no manipulations. The therapist uses fingers or thumbs in a rolling action over specific muscles, tendons and ligaments, incorporating resting periods to allow the body to absorb the information and respond accordingly.