No, not the Bone Technique – the Bowen Technique

Everyone seems to mishear and nobody seems to have any idea what it is, and indeed the only reason I know about it is that I was asked to help a friend out who was studying to become a therapist and needed a guinea pig for her case history, three weeks in a row.

Dutifully and sceptically I lay down on her couch, telling her that my lower back was hurting all the time, and had very little hope of anything happening to make it better. After the first treatment, nothing much seemed to happened, after the second things began to look up, and by the third, I was pretty much pain free. It was unexpected and entirely convincing!

Bowen is soft tissue manipulation, which encourages the body to reset and heal itself. It is unfussy, and precise. There is no massage involved, and therapists are discour- aged from having the music of mating whales in the background, or even scented candles.

Case histories ranged from the ‘no, there's nothing wrong with me, don't want to make a fuss, I'm fine', to the ‘ooh that's better', to the "Blimey, no pain, and I slept wonderfully for the first time last night in ages." Each treatment has its own challenges. The ‘I'm fine' needs a lot of questioning, and comparison. They are the ones who say there is a little pain in the shoulder and pull a face when you touch it, but the next week when you ask, say ‘oh yes it hurt a bit didn't it, but it went away all by itself!"

How it works

Your first treatment will address the whole body. Gentle manipulations are made over skin or light clothing according to the client's preference. These will usually be made over the lower and mid back and legs, the upper back and shoulders, and finish with neck moves. Each session will last a maximum of about 45 minutes and the client can lie down or sit in a chair. The moves are separated by two or five minute breaks. Usually the therapist leaves the room during this time so that the body registers what has just happened to it. Each session involves a consultation or catch up on symptoms and condition, and then about half an hour of appropriate moves. Although this is very gentle and has the appearance that not much is happening within the treatment, over 2 - 3 sessions there is usually a noticable difference. Whilst receiving Bowen, a client should not have any other forms of physical or energetic therapy (massage, acupuncture, reiki, reflexology, physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy although Homeopathy is OK.)

Case Studies

Mr Y was interesting -  an overweight, overindulgent and an intelligent man, received a treatment during a training weekend. He sat up, distinctly underwhelmed. His wife the next morning told me that he had spent the night in the lavatory, and was so frail this morning he was staying in bed. That, I fear, was Bowen releasing the toxins in his taut, stretched, unhealthy body, often a side effect of treatments and one that needs to be accepted as part of the healing process.

Miss X - Overweight too, but dieting sensibly so she has lost three or four stone. Knees have been replaced, hips are usually agony, ankles often can't be touched... She used to be a sportswoman but now this is a distant memory, and she is in constant pain. She was treated over three weeks. She sleeps better, the pain is better and she comes back for more treatments.

Mr Z - A spry but bowlegged 75-year-old managed to walk all over London all day, pain free for the first time in ages after his first treatment!