26/2/2014 0 Comments A Few ResultsPhoto I am continually amazed at the incredibly positive effects Bowen has on people. This week Bowen has helped with back spasms, thumb pain, lower back and quad pain, amongst other things. Back Spasms An active elderly lady came to see me suffering from muscle spasms in her back from her hips to her shoulder blades. She explained that she gets these episodes of muscle spasm maybe three times a year and they last about a week, and this has happened since she was 19 years old. She was very uncomfortable, even on muscle relaxants and strong pain relief, and quite distressed. It seemed that some movements of her head and neck triggered the spasms, amongst many other things. After the initial Bowen treatment, which allows the whole body to relax and re-balance, she got off the table pain free. When she tried to bring on the muscle spasms with movements that triggered it before, she was unable to. However her neck was a little restricted in some movements so I did some Bowen while she was standing, and she regained normal neck movement with no discomfort. She was particularly amazed that the pain behind her knee, which she had experienced since she was a child and hadn't mentioned to me before, had gone as well. Thumb Pain A keen gardener came in for a third visit with a very sore thumb. Three weeks beforehand the thumb had been a bit sore, along with his jaw, lower back, calves and feet, and he complained of having very low energy levels. The first treatment had resolved the lower back and energy issues and had improved the thumb pain, and he had felt so good that he went out and dug in the garden for four hours the day before the second Bowen treatment. That night the thumb had swollen up and begun aching again. By the time he came in to see me the next day it was throbbing, and he rated the pain level as 9/10. During the second treatment the client felt lots of tingling and burning in his arm and hand which settled before the end of the treatment, but his thumb was still very painful. It did improve during the week, and on presenting for his third Bowen session he rated the pain level at 4/10. As he left this treatment he rated the pain at 2/10. Lower Back and Quad Pain I didn't quite know what to do with a shop worker who had lower back pain and pain in his quads which worsened during the day to pins and needles, burning and numbness. He had been putting up with this for at least ten years, having consulted chiropractors who wouldn't treat him but referred him to doctors, and medical specialists who did not know the cause and told him there was nothing they could do. Obviously a nerve was involved, but the basic tests I performed to find where the restriction was located were all inconclusive. So I trusted in the Bowen process and treated this person to the overall body relaxation and re-balancing session. The result was quite astonishing - no lower back pain or quad pain at all after the treatment. He has phoned me since to tell me that the pain does come back when he stands still for a long time, but that just by moving his hips a bit he can make it go away. He also said that he has been sleeping through the night every night since, which was very rare before, and he thinks it has had a very positive effect on his depression. All good news. If you have a crappy back, crook neck, creaky joints or aching muscles, make Bowen your first port of call. Check out the website www.bowentherapy.com.au for more information, or contact Prue by email or phone 0427 143 7430427 143 743. If you have a crook back, a stiff neck, aching joints or sore muscles give Bowen a try - it can't hurt, and often works when other therapies haven't made any real improvement. For more information, or to make an appointment, take a look at the website www.bowentherapydubbo.com.au, or contact me by email or phone 0427 143 7430427 143 7430427 143 7430427 143 743. Cheers for now, Prue
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19/2/2014 1 Comment Training MilestoneI'm now fully qualified in Bowen Therapy, which gets amazing results for people with crook backs, stiff necks, aching joints, sore muscles and much more. Just before Christmas I was presented with my Diploma in Bowen Therapy -Yay! Many thanks to David Winter and his class in Toowoomba for welcoming me to their assessment weekend and sharing their knowledge with me. I have now completed all the formal Bowen training with Border College of Natural Therapies and the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia. This training has included the Certificate IV in Bowen Therapy, Diploma of Bowen Therapy and the completion of the advanced course of Specialised Bowen Procedures. Now that I have my Diploma, many more private health funds will provide rebates to my clients. When you make an appointment, please ask if your health fund provides cover for Bowen. You will then need to check with your fund to ensure you have the extras cover to be able to claim successfully. To keep up accreditation with our industry associations, BAA and BTAA, we are required to continue our education with workshops on applying Bowen or supporting education. Over the next five years I am hoping to complete workshops that will increase my knowledge in Bowen for stroke victims, diabetics, sports injuries, shoulder injuries, and childbirth, babies and toddlers. My big plan, however, involves studying Bowen for horses (EMRT) and Small animals (CCMRT) with Ali Goward at Tairo, QLD. This will involve 2 years of study which includes many weekends a long way from home in Queensland, not to mention a lot of money. I am hoping to begin this year, but whether that actually happens remains to be seen. Working with horses and small animals will be so enriching, and will enhance the incredibly fulfilling work I already do with people. For more information about Bowen, or to make an appointment, check out my website, www.bowentherapydubbo.com.au, contact me by email or call on 0427 143 743. Looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers for now, Prue 13/2/2014 1 Comment Less is MoreIt often puzzles people how incredibly effective Bowen is in resolving issues and managing pain with very little bodywork. Caretakers of the technique, Ozzie and Elaine Rentsh, and their wonderful team of instructors continually remind us in our training of the philosophy "less is more". This can be seen in many facets of Bowen, from the amount of pressure the Bowen practitioner applies to the amount of Bowen treatments recommended.
Less is more for the amount of pressure the Bowen practitioner uses. Bowen is well known as a gentle therapy. The pressure we use is no more than you would use when rubbing your eye. Many of my new clients say “you can go harder if you like”, but Bowen doesn’t work that way. Bowen relies on the muscles being relaxed so that they can react in the correct way to the Bowen move. If the practitioner places too much pressure in the challenge and the move, the body would tense up to protect itself from harm, and when this occurs the effect of the Bowen move is reduced. Less is more for the number of issues addressed by the Bowen practitioner. Bowen seems more effective if the body has only one job to heal at a time. The first treatment has one objective, and that is to relax the body and set it up for healing. This treatment addresses the lower back, the legs, the upper back, the mid back and the neck. This should be the longest and biggest treatment, but only has one objective – to relax the body. It is amazing the results this has on its own, and often we don’t see the client again because their problem vanishes even though we haven’t actually addressed it. If the issue has not resolved, subsequent treatments are then able to focus on the most important issue. Once that issue clears, the next issue may be addressed. Addressing more than one issue at a time will reduce the effectiveness of the treatment and therefore you will not get the desired result. Less is more for the number of moves the Bowen practitioner makes. Once the body is prepared for healing by the first relaxation treatment, the Bowen practitioner will try to address the problem with as few moves as possible. Some procedures have no prerequisites, and some procedures have many prerequisites. In general though, the less done the better the outcome. Keeping it simple seems to be the key. Less is more for or the stimulation during the treatment session. For your body to integrate the effect of the Bowen treatment it needs to have an environment where stimulation is minimised as much as possible. There will be no nice relaxing music for you to listen to you as this will distract your body from doing the work it needs to do. I will not communicate with you except to give you some directions and unless you ask me to do something for your comfort or ask a question relating to the session. Less is more for the amount of time the Bowen practitioner stays in the room. Bowen’s characteristic “waits” make it so different from other therapies. After a few moves the Bowen practitioner actually leaves the room for two minutes or more. Sometimes they will even come back in to check you and then leave for some more time without doing anything. Bowen practitioners around the world agree that the “waits” are the most important part of a Bowen treatment. During this time the Bowen move is integrated and processed by the body. The Bowen practitioner leaves the room so that they do not get involved nor inhibit this process. It is important that the client’s body does this by itself, so that it learns to heal itself without reliance on other stimuli or energy. Sometimes the client will feel sensations within their body during a “wait”. It is important to recognise that whilst ever this is occurring the body is still processing. If the practitioner continues with more Bowen moves the original processing will be interrupted and the effect will not be as great. It is very important that you let me know if there are still things going on in your body when I come back in the room after a "wait" so that I don’t go ahead and do more. Less is more for the amount of treatments you receive. Whilst I always explain that the first session will be relaxing your body and not necessarily addressing the issue, and I encourage clients to give Bowen three treatments a week apart to see if it will make a difference, there is no need to keep coming back for subsequent treatments if the issue is no longer present. Sometimes problems are so deep it might take months to resolve. These people have faith that Bowen is working because they have noticed a small improvement (even if it’s just sleeping better) over the first few treatments, often where other therapies have had no impact at all. Other times what seems like a major issue is not so deep and is resolved after just one session. It is these people who often discount the effect of Bowen, putting their recovery down as a coincidence. Unfortunately often these issues recur and when they do the client doesn’t seek Bowen again because they don’t recognise it has helped. If these people would return for more Bowen they might find that it would resolve the issue once again, more sustainably the next time, and the issue may not recur for a longer period, if at all. To find out more about Bowen please check out the website www.bowentherapydubbo.com.au, or make an appointment by emailling me or calling 0427 143 743. 3/2/2014 1 Comment Bowen Helping BabiesBowen gave dear little Ruby some relief from reflux for the first time in nearly 4 weeks. The first three weeks of Ruby's life were spent sleeping, consuming and eliminating, just as a baby should. Then reflux began and life in the household turned upside down. Ruby screamed most of the time, slept fitfully for a total of about four hours a day, became a bright red colour all over, threw up a lot and writhed around in pain. Luckily some friends new the effects of Baby Bowen, and Ruby's mum brought her in to see me. As Ruby squirmed in her mother's arms I did 4 tiny Bowen moves on her back. About 10 seconds later she stopped crying, took a deep breath and went to sleep. A few minutes later Ruby woke and began squirming in pain again. After the 3 tiny Bowen moves on her front she stopped squirming, stretched out, relaxed and went back to sleep. A few minutes later we noticed that Ruby's red blotchy complexion had changed and she was now the beautiful peaches and cream complexion that she was meant to be. Ruby slept for an hour and a half while her mum and I talked, and was still asleep as she was being put in the car to head home. I haven't heard from them again, so imagine the household is back to normal. |
AuthorHi, I'm Prue Duffy, a Bowen Therapist and Equine Muscle Release Therapist in regional NSW, Australia, and the results most of my clients get is truly amazing.. I've been doing Bowen since 2007, and opened a practice in Dubbo in 2012. Since then my passion for continuous education has led me to learn from world leaders in the field of Bowen Therapy and myofascial techniques, and my desire to assist animals with a better understanding of what they are experiencing has led me down a fascinating path that can also be applied to people. Archives
September 2021
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