Bowen Technique : Gentle Movement

THE Bowen Technique is a relatively new form of treatment that uses gentle movement on specific parts of the body. INES RUSTEBERG explains.

MY first thought when I encountered the Bowen Technique was, "That looks completely odd." I had never seen anything like it before, in any of the therapies I had previously studied.

The Bowen moves are done very gently over specific parts of the body, without any structural manipulation. Nothing like the clicking and cracking of bones, accompanied by the gentle groaning of patients, that I was used to.

I studied complementary and orthodox medicine, including cranio-osteopathy, in Berlin. I had intended to complete Chiropractic training after moving to the UK, but a friend of mine told me about the relatively new Bowen Technique, so I met with a practitioner, who told me about the amazing cures effected by this gentle technique.

I remained sceptical - we have all heard stories of miracle cures involving almost every complementary technique out there - but the practitioner invited me to watch her working for a day, which I did.

It was a busy clinic, so I was able to gain more and more understanding of this technique by watching her work. Most of her patients who came that day arrived with back problems, or sports injuries, and, instead of cracking the structure back into place, the practitioner simply reset the body to heal itself. On my return to the clinic a week later, I saw these patients arrive for their second treatment and they had all responded and felt 50-70% relief - some were pain free.

It is normal to only need to see a patient around three times, even with long-standing or chronic pain. But the most exciting thing that I realised about this technique is that the treatment 'held'. Most of the patients did not return to my friend's clinic until years later, or until they came with another injury or ailment.

The 'father' of this powerful technique is Tom Bowen, who always said that this technique was 'a gift from God'.

Ossie and Elaine Rentsch are direct students of Tom Bowen, and they now teach all over the world. Ossie says:

"Tom was able to see energy - I'm sure of that. And he could feel heat and energy with his hands. He knew where there was a blockage - all he did was release it.

"It was harmonic vibrational energy. By touching the body, a message is sent from the part you touch to the brain, and from the brain back to the area of concern. It's like a 'feedback loop'."

One unusual feature of the Bowen Technique is that it is imperative to have certain delays between the moves to allow the body time to respond to each movement.

Our bodies are 70% fluid, so when we move, the movement flows or vibrates all the way through the body. The gentle vibration initiated by the Bowen move is picked up by the body, which has its own blueprint. This blueprint is the body's own awareness of how we are meant to be, in the state of perfect health and balance, and the treatment reminds and activates the body to return to this blueprint.

Through his discoveries of the power of this blueprint, Tom Bowen unlocked information about the innate power of the body to bring about its own healing.

Throughout my time working as a full-time Bowen practitioner, I have had first-hand experience of the power of Tom Bowen's ideas. One of my patients, who had a frozen shoulder for 24 years, found it was back to normal after two treatments. A farmer who suffered from lower back pain and had lived on painkillers for the last 30 years, was free of pain after 3 treatments. A young mother - who had suffered from the age of 16 with severe, debilitating migraines - came to me after her desperate GP had offered her a hysterectomy as a cure.

She only needed one treatment to return her system to good health and to date has not needed a top-up treatment. I have also had a countless number of patients with arthritis, who had been told they just needed to put up with the pain, and who found that Bowen has dramatically improved the quality of life they can enjoy.

From babies who had suffered for weeks with colic (I treat babies and young children for free) to the rugby player with pulled hamstrings who could play again the following weekend, I am continually amazed by the range of conditions that Bowen can aid.

One of the great joys of doing this work is being able to give people hope that they can return to better health. Many patients who come to me have tried many other techniques and think Bowen sounds a bit odd, but are willing to try anything.

I always tell people that there are no guarantees, but that the results of the technique can be very encouraging and that they should never just put up with pain or give up hope.


Ines Rusteberg works in the Queens Walk practice in Exeter and around Devon, she can be contacted on 01822 880289.