Bowen Therapy at Aurea Health
Helping your body heal itself, through tonal assessment and targeted intervention to bring alignment, pain relief and relaxation.
A holistic remedial body technique
A holistic remedial body technique based in principles and holistic assessment that enables the therapist to provide targeted treatment specific to each individual.
Bowen Therapy works on the connective tissue (fascia) of the body. It is a form of body work, in which very subtle moves are performed over the muscle fibres and connective tissue, sending messages deep into the body, retrieving cellular memory in a relaxed and balanced way of wellbeing.
The Bowen technique is safe to use on anyone, from newborns to the elderly, and can be used to treat musculoskeletal or related neurological problems including acute sports injuries and chronic pain or organic conditions. It is measured, controlled and relaxing.
It is a holistic therapy that addresses the whole person and aims to treat the cause of problems, rather than the symptoms or the site of the issue.
Humble beginnings of Bowen
The Bowen Technique was developed in the 1950s by the late Tom Bowen from Geelong, Australia. He became interested in ways to alleviate human suffering and began to notice that certain moves on the body had particular effects. He continued to develop and refine the technique throughout his lifetime.
Mr Bowen was extremely busy in his Geelong clinic, performing about 13,000 treatments a year. An amazing number of clients passed through the clinic and benefited from his technique. Mr Bowen also held clinics for children, people with disabilities, and community service workers. Tom never documented his technique, but instead trained students who developed training in Bowen therapy — thus continuing his legacy as a gift to the world.
Even today the teachings of Mr Bowen are inspiring.
How does Bowen Therapy work?
Tap a section to read more.
01“A practitioner will perform a Bowen move…”
A practitioner will perform a Bowen move where pressure is placed on a muscle and the muscle, together with the tissue, is gently stretched. Once the move is completed the body receives the signals through muscle fibre and information is sent along the nerve pathways to the spinal cord.
Every second, the brain receives information about the status of each muscle spindle thousands of times. After the sensory information induced by the Bowen move reaches the spinal cord, it passes through the nerve pathways to different centres of the brain. Here the information is shunted backwards and forwards via a complex, self-corrective feedback mechanism, after which the information is sent back down the spinal cord to individual muscles. This response of the body may take no more than a few minutes to assimilate.
When we are awake and moving around, positional information from our muscles, tendons, joints, skin and fascia is continuously being processed by the brain. When we are lying down and relaxed there is very little activity happening within this self-corrective system.
02“For an effective Bowen session…”
For an effective Bowen session, it is essential that there is as little interference as possible from the conscious part of the brain (our cortex) or from our muscles, so that this feedback mechanism can re-orient without disturbance. Most people today live in a constant state of high stress and sympathetic ANS (Autonomic Nervous System) over-stimulation.
The ANS controls 80% of bodily functions and is very susceptible to external stressors. The Bowen technique addresses the entire body by restoring balance via the ANS. Healing can occur only after the ANS shifts from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic state (rest, relax, repair mode). The Bowen Technique enables that shift through gentle moves that are performed on the body. These movements send neurological impulses to the brain, resulting in immediate responses and putting the body into a parasympathetic state so that it gets into that rest, relax, repair state.
It is often observed during a session that the client drops into deep relaxation and often falls asleep. Both of these changes are indications of a profound release from stress and a shift towards parasympathetic influence. This shift could explain, in part, the common observation that a Bowen Technique session seems to reactivate the recovery process in situations where healing from trauma, sickness or surgery has stalled or reached a plateau.
03Holistic tonal assessment as a tool to guide and prioritise the application of Bowen therapy
At Aurea Health, a holistic tonal assessment technique is used to help guide and individualise your Bowen Therapy session.
Tonal assessment involves carefully observing and palpating the body to assess changes in neurological and muscular tone, and how different areas of the body are responding. This provides ongoing feedback and helps identify areas that may benefit from targeted Bowen moves.
Throughout the session, your body will be observed to note how it responds to each technique. This ongoing assessment helps guide the treatment, allowing for adjustments in the approach to treatment according to your individual response rather than following a fixed sequence.
This combination of careful assessment, targeted Bowen techniques and ongoing observation allows each session to be personalised to you, with the aim of supporting your body's natural capacity for balance, regulation and wellbeing.
Conditions Bowen Therapy can help with
Bowen can assist recovery from many conditions, from traumatic injury to chronic illness, depending upon each individual’s capacity to heal, with no reported adverse side effects. Bowen can help with multiple concerns, including the following:
- Neck and shoulder pain
- Headaches and migraines
- Jaw pain and TMJ syndrome
- Lower back pain and sciatica
- Carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow and RSI
- Arthritis and joint pain
- Knee, plantar fasciitis, foot problems
- Sports injuries
- Stress, anxiety, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia
- Respiratory problems
- Gout
- Groin pain, pelvic tilt
- UTI (adults) and bed wetting (children)
- Sluggish digestion and irritable bowel syndrome
- Menstrual and hormonal irregularities
- Scoliosis
- …and much more
- Or simply for rest and relaxation
It is a holistic therapy that addresses the whole person and aims to treat the cause of problems, rather than the symptoms or the site of the issue.
Let’s begin
Contact us today to see how Bowen Therapy can help you
By Appointment Only · Bowen Therapy: 9:30am – 6:30pm Mon–Thu · 9:30am – 1:30pm Fri