The pros and cons of Bowen Technique

The pros and cons of Bowen Technique

I plan to share some of the many bowen therapy pros and cons. This is based on my experience of receiving Bowen over the past 20 years and practicing it for 5 years. In a nutshell, Bowen therapy is a relaxing alignment technique, providing pain relief and increase in mobility. 

❤ It is sooooooooooooooooooo relaxing – literally it calms down your ANS, er what is this? Part of the nervous system (system of nerves) that takes us out of fight or flight, (too much adrenaline/fight = adrenal fatigue) therefore it supports your digestion, sleep, blood flow and sexual response, oh so now your interested eh?

❤ It can help reduce pain & inflammation – I love working with peeps that are ready to commit to being pain free, you deserve to be.

❤ It can increase your movement in your joints and muscles – yipsters

❤ It provides freedom to do what you love to do, but pain free!

❤ It can support healing of trauma from old & new acute injuries

❤ It can relieve back pain, sciatica and spinal problems, see some of my case studies here.

❤ It can ease joint pain and restrictions

❤ It can ease respiratory conditions

❤ It can help pre and post recovery of an operation

❤ It can ease sports injuries, such as a pulled hamstring, athletes such as Michael Owen, Jonny Wilkinson and Bear Grylls have all received Bowen treatments.

❤ You become more aware of your weaker areas after receiving a treatment and what your body is supported by to prevent injury from happening again.

❤ It improves posture – over time and from repeated moves, fascia becomes sticky and restricted. Fascia is a web like substance which surrounds all the muscles, ligaments and joints. With Bowen Technique, we work to free up fascia, this supports to unwind, restrictions and free up compensation patterns, providing a straighter, freer, lighter you.

❤Its a nice relaxing way to receive alignment as opposed to through strong alignment manipulation – some manipulation therapies require forcing bones back to alignment but often this is stressful and dosent hold, with bowen, your body receives the moves and processes where to make the changes,  realigning itself in a relaxing way.

❤ It encourages the bodies own self-healing mechanism, so your body does its own healing – Bodies are so clever and many of us don’t really understand how they work or how connected they are, in bowen when we make a move all the stretch receptors in the skin tissue and the brain are communicating.

Bowen cons

❤ It is a lighter touch and it’s not hands on all the time, so those used to hands on all the time massage, might feel a bit like they want more squidging. Would you ask your dentist or osteopath for a massage? No, the same with Bowen its a technique to support those that need help and there is no need to fluff it up, however it is still relaxing, I often do some lovely moves around the face and feet for extra relaxation.

❤ Some can find it hard to understand how it works, if its not painful or hands on all the time. A lot of us are used to the idea that you need to feel pain to see an improvement, whilst its perfect to choose what you see best supports you, this is a myth that you need to feel pain to see improvement. Like many of our beliefs and systems in society, they can be a bit out dated. So, I also am very patience to educate and introduce those that are already and wiling to re-education in how we take care of ourselves. 

So, to conclude I hope I explained some of the many benefits of Bowen, its a relatively unheard of treatment, but the effects are so incredible.

Book a bowen treatment here

Fascia Release Technique – What is Fascia and How it Impacts Your Health

Fascia Release Technique – What is Fascia and How it Impacts Your Health

Fascia release technique, otherwise known as Bowen Therapy.

Every cell in our body has its own electromagnetic field and each field pulses at different vibrations. Each cellular structure is surrounded by fascia. Fascia is like a web that wraps around all our cells, organs, bones, muscles, tendons, tissues, vessels. It acts like a telephone with many lines that are constantly transmitting and receiving. It is predominantly collagen, which has a characteristic of toughening when under stress.

Every bit of you is encased in it. You are protected by fascia, connected by fascia and kept in taut human shape by fascia.

Fascia is messy stuff, its hard to study, its so expansive and intertwined it resists the medical standard of being cut up and named for textbook illustrations, its more subtle that that of the other body systems.

Fascia is what composes over 80% of what we consider muscle tissue. Trauma, daily life and repetitive motions or positions can create fascial restrictions in your body. Imagine the amount of time per day we spend badly sitting at our desks or driving, over time this compensation takes hold.

Lack of activity will cement the once supple fibres into place. Chronic stress causes the fibers to thicken in an attempt to protect the underlying muscle. Poor posture and lack of flexibility and repetitive movements pull the fascia into ingrained patterns.

The picture below is taken from the book Anatomy Trains, by Thomas W. Myers. It is a beautiful illustration showing the different colours of fascial lines. You can see that the jaw has a close link to the pelvis and also runs through the digestive meridian. You can also see the knees are connected to the shoulders. This demonstrates why we sometimes have pain, restriction in one area, but it shows in another area. our body is a beautiful connected fascia web.

How to take care of your fascia

♥Move! Sticky adhesions form between fascial surfaces that are not regularly moved and over time these adhesions get strong enough to inhibit range of motion.

♥Drink plenty of water, it is made up of water and is happier when wet, if dehydrated, this will dehydrate. We loose so much water each day through sweat, urine and filtering out toxins.

♥Stretch for 1-3 minutes and relax into the stretch. When muscles are chronically tight, the surrounding fascia tightens along with them. Over time the fascia becomes rigid compressing the muscles and the nerves.

♥Epsom salt baths for up to 20 mins can loosen up tight muscles and fascia.

♥Use a foam roller to help free up tightness, take it slowly and gently.

♥If you are not seeing improvements or have a niggling injury, new or old, then see a therapist that can deliver fascia release technique, like a Bowen therapist, which is what I love to treat with. This will uncoil, relax fascia, soothe pain and provide more mobility. 

Bowen work is a gentle but powerful technique that works by balancing the ANS, which controls more than 80% of our bodily functions.

Bowen technique realises it is also working with our energy systems, not just the central nervous system but our meridians, which are like rivers that dissect our fascia, organs and all body matter.

♥Listen to your body, if you have an injury perhaps best to not push yourself but to do gentle exercise that benefits, rather than harms further.

Contact me here to book a fascia release technique treatment.