What is Bowen Therapy?
Bowen Therapy is a gentle soft tissue bodywork that alleviates pain and improves function through structural re-balancing.
Treatment is based upon sequences of ‘Bowen moves’. A Bowen move is a specific manipulation over one or more of muscle, tendon, ligament, nerve or fascia.
These moves initiate the release of muscle tension, improve blood and lymphatic circulation, promote physical alignment, and generally induce a feeling of relaxation and well being – the first step in feeling better.
How does it work?
Basically, Bowen Therapy works to reset your nervous system to allow the body to work as its supposed to and heal itself.
If you experience an injury or have a condition that causes pain, the body tries to guard against this pain through different means controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which has 2 branches: sympathetic and parasympathetic.
The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is stimulated to external stressors. It controls the “fight or flight” responses that protect us from harm, like if a bear is chasing us, the sympathetic branch will be highly active and prepare our bodies to fight or run from the bear (a better idea).
Unfortunately, sometimes the nervous system can get stuck and even though the initial stressor or pain has been eliminated, the body stays in this stuck pattern, resulting in other problems.
For example, with back pain, the muscles can tighten up around a joint that has been irritated. But even though the irritation is gone, the muscles remain tight, causing other problems such as stiffness and fatigue, or even muscular damage from over contraction, creating a vicious cycle of pain.
Bowen Therapy resets the nervous system, ending the cycle of pain.
The pauses unique to a Bowen session allow the brain to process and integrate the new signals and get back to normal.
The brain then sends a message back to the affected areas telling them that “everything is OK”. The body will then return to normal functioning and healing capacity.
The complex processes involved are why people often wonder how such a gentle treatment can have such immediate and profound long-lasting effects.
If this sounds like something that might work for you, Contact Me Here to schedule an appointment or ask any questions you may have.