So … What Is Bowen and What Is It That You Do?
Over the past 19 years I have studied and integrated several techniques into my work. I have also added aspects that I have intuitively developed and found to be of benefit.
The first modality that I studied was the Bowen Technique. Bowen is a choreographed series of moves over the body. The very gentle moves, which include a challenge and a release, work through the fascia and the nervous system. This gentle release stimulates a nervous system response. It helps bring the body into rest and digest, more on this in later, and brings awareness to areas of tension that have become normalized. This awareness and the release help the body to realign.
Fascia is connective tissue. Think of the stringy white stuff when you are cutting uncooked meat. Fascia connects every structure in the body from muscles, to bones, to tendons and ligaments, right down to the cellular level. Think for a moment just how powerful that is, and how incredibly connected every part of the body is.
A Bowen move in one location can affect other, seemingly unrelated locations. A good way to visualize this is take a tablecloth or flat piece of fabric. Pinch somewhere and twist. See those ripples that go in all directions? This is what happens to fascia when there is tension, an injury, or scar tissue. Those ripples go in many directions and some go for a considerable distance. This is why a move on the lower back may be felt in the shoulder, the pelvis, all sorts of locations throughout the body.
A basic Bowen session covers points on the body that affect the whole system: top to bottom; side to side; outer and inner. Plus, the vast majority of Bowen moves are over acupressure points, so you are also addressing the meridian pathways. That is a whole separate subject which I can talk about in another blog.
While I am working, I am constantly assessing what I am feeling and sensing under my hands. I am feeling for subtle temperature differences; muscles, tendons and ligaments that are tighter on one side than the other; muscles that work in opposition where one set is extremely tight and the other is under-engaged; a sense of an area being over or under energized. This feedback allows me to use additional moves to address these imbalances.
We live most of our lives in Fight or Flight. This is the stress response, the ‘run away because there’s a tiger behind that bush’ response. Fear aggravates it, as does worry, being unsettled, illness, pain, and the list goes on. We don’t have to be in full out Fight or Flight, our bodies are often stuck somewhere along the spectrum and unable to relax enough to get us into Rest and Digest where healing can occur.
When in Fight or Flight many systems in our body either shut down or go into overdrive: our heart rate increases; the stomach and small intestine delay digestion and absorption; our breathing becomes shallow and airways dilate; our muscles prepare to spring into action; the adrenal glands are stimulated; the liver produces more glucose; the eye pupil dilates and piloerection occurs. Think about how many of our body systems are affected when we are over-stressed or out of balance.
The Parasympathetic System brings the body back into a state of ‘Rest and Digest’. Heart rate returns to normal; bronchi in the lungs are constricted; stomach and small intestine increase the rate of digestion and absorption; eye pupils return to normal and hair goes back down. It is in this state of Rest and Digest that healing can occur. Bowen Technique, as well as the other modalities that I use, work synergistically to bring the body into Rest and Digest. This allows the body, physical and energetic, to realign.
The other techniques that I use are CranioSacral, energy work, and dialog. These blend and balance what I do and enhance the work. For example, I always finish a session on a person with work on their ankles and feet. This grounds them, integrates the work in the body, and brings them back if they have gone into a deep state of relaxation. I then use a CranioSacral technique at the feet to complete the balancing of the craniosacral rhythm. For the horses, I often finish with a CranioSacral release on the tail.