Chris Dallinger performing Bowen Therapy

Bowen Therapy with Chris Dallinger B.App.Sci. (Human Movement) Dip of Prof. (Bowen Therapy), BAA Member, Owner/Proprietor of Island Healing

My purpose with Bowen Therapy is about giving people a service which helps them be the best they can be. No one likes living with conditions which can have a negative impact on the way they live. Bowen Therapy has taught me how to help people free themselves of living with such conditions. From my own personal experience to the many people who I have witnessed. I continue to be humbled by this technique and until I find a more effective treatment, I will continue to use it.

What is Bowen Therapy?

Bowen Therapy is an amazing soft tissue technique set to revolutionize the health care profession. Developed by the brilliant Mr. Tom Bowen of Geelong, Australia. It continues to amaze practitioners and clients alike because of it’s profound effectiveness with seemingly little intervention. Simply put “it needs to be experienced to be believed”.

What conditions is Bowen Therapy good for?

• back pain and sciatica.
• sports and accident injuries.
• neck and shoulder problems including frozen shoulder.
• knee, ankle and foot problems.
• hip and groin pain, pelvic tilt and uneven leg length.
• fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue.
• digestive and bowel problems including IBS.
• menstrual and hormonal irregularities.
• earache, ear infections and migraines.
• stress.
• shin splints.
• kidney and liver conditions.
• respiratory problems & hay fever.
• RSI, carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow.
• scoliosis.
• infertility.

How is a Bowen Session conducted?

• Bowen is performed on a massage table.
• The client may be fully clothed but it is preferable that bowen be performed on bare skin (underwear is left on).
• The practitioner performs a series of moves on the body which is then left to it’s own devices for at least two minutes while it responds.
• Another series of moves is then performed with the body left to respond again and so the process is repeated over the course of the session.
• During the pauses, the client experiences deep relaxation and it’s at this stage of the treatment that significant positive responses take place.
• Muscle tension is adjusted significantly with re-aligning and re-balancing occurring.
• The client may even feel these changes take place in the form of subtle tingling, twitching, heat, cold and heaviness as examples.
• Changes may take place on all levels as needed such as physical, chemical, emotional, mental, energetic, spiritual.

Where did Bowen Therapy originate?

Bowen Therapy was developed over a 30 year period from the 1950′s through to the 1980′s by the brilliant Mr. Tom Bowen of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Tom Bowen became a much sought after therapist, regularly treating over 13,000 clients a year, sometimes having people lined up until 3am!

Tom Bowen developed his technique through a keen eye and an amazing ability to read muscle tension. He was regularly seen at football clubs and he worked with Olypmic games soft-tissue therapists who he gained many ideas through. Above all, he simply described his ability as a “gift”.

Bowen Therapy was first taught in Perth in 1986. It is now practised in 40 countries all over the world and growing rapidly.

How does Bowen Therapy work?

To explain how Bowen works, first of all we need to know how conditions develop within the body. A condition can be anything from lower back pain and sciatica to irritable bowel syndrome and migraines.

Every part of your body is regulated by nerves that come from the brain and travel through the spinal cord and then branch out to control and regulate muscles, tendons, ligaments and organs.

Nerves are sensitive to the structures surrounding them.

When nerves are affected by a misalignment in structure (for example, pressure from a tight muscle), the corresponding part of the body controlled by those nerves is also affected.

The result? A condition develops. This can happen acutely, through sudden injury, or chronically, a build-up over time. From this understanding it is clear that “structure governs function”.

This is where Bowen Therapy comes in. Bowen initiates a response in the body to realign and re-balance muscle tension thereby restoring structure. Once structure is restored then function improves. This process may be instant (directly during or after a treatment) or may take up to 10 days to occur. Depending on the duration of the condition, several weeks may be needed. 80% of conditions are relieved in only two or three treatments.

How does Bowen achieve this?

A Bowen move for tight upper back (Rhomboids)

A Bowen move first slides the skin in one direction and then challenges and rolls over the tissue in the other.

A Bowen move can be likened to a guitarist strumming the guitar string. Just as the guitarist strums the string to produce a certain result, so does the practitioner when practicing bowen.

When a move is performed over a muscle, tendon, ligament or nerve, that tissue is stimulated to self adjust and the body begins making the necessary changes of realignment and re-balancing.

What happens when a guitar is out of tune because the tension isn’t adjusted correctly? It doesn’t function properly. Similar to the body when muscle tension is out of balance, the body doesn’t function as well as it could be. The resulting dysfunction can range from subtle effects which can go by unnoticed, to major problems which can have a truly negative impact on life.

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