This World But Once: All About Bowen

Katey's dog Pan loves his Bowen!

Today's blog is by Katey Kastin, who offers Bowen Technique, as well as Reiki and massage, at Healium.


I'd like to talk to you about the wonderful world of Bowen! I first came across this therapy about 10 years ago, when I received a 20-minute taster treatment at a walk-in surgery in Muswell Hill (London) one rainy day. I was amazed at how the incredibly subtle movements were affecting me - I could feel little realignments all the way up my spine in waves, as well as a deep sense of relaxation.

I got straight on the computer when I got home and started to research. Turns out The Bowen Technique had been developed by an Australian named Tom Bowen who was born in 1917. Tom had started off working at a dog-racing track. The dogs were raced too hard and too long and inevitably developed pains and problems. Tom started experimenting with his gentle therapeutic touch movements on the dogs, guided as much by his intuition as his research in anatomy and osteopathy (in which he never formally trained). And the dogs got better! Being an animal lover myself I got a real kick out of this!

Pretty soon, Tom was working on people, and by the mid-Seventies he was seeing 13,000 patients a year at his little practice . . . clearly something was working! He was a man who possessed a remarkable healing touch, who designed an inspired set of physical therapy tools, which he taught to his apprentices and have since gone all over the world! I figured I had to give it a go.

One of the things I like most about working with Bowen is the inclusivity. It's so gentle that it can truly be used on anyone - from infants right through to the elderly, from peak athletes to those dealing with crippling arthritis or chronic fatigue. I also like that it's a bit mysterious. By that I mean, I don't direct the course of the treatment - you do, or rather your body does. I put in the work and your body decides how to use it - what it's going to address, and in what order.

I've had people come to me for a bad shoulder. Two weeks into a course of treatment I ask about the shoulder and they say, "Oh, that's not loads different but my stomach trouble that I've had for 15 years and didn't even mention has cleared up," or "I've been sleeping through the night for the first time in ages."

Bowen is also holistic - in the truest sense of the word. It treats the whole person, not a set of symptoms or conditions. Saying that, the therapist can guide the process to an extent depending on the presenting conditions of the patient. For example, my Bowen teacher, Alastair Rattray, has done loads of work with Bowen and childhood asthma, with amazing results. But the great results that you can get are the bonus; it's the process of connecting with your body in this way that I find really delicious. It's just a lovely bit of body magic that everyone could do with!

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To inspire you to try it, and to help your pocketbook, I'm running a deal on Bowen until the end of June. Bowen is the kind of therapy you ideally need to do a whole course in to get the full benefit, so the deal goes like this: First get one treatment at the full price of $85. Rebook within a week and you get your second treatment discounted to $70. Rebook again within a week and you get your third discounted to $50! So you get a course of three treatments with a $50 discount!

I'm at Healium on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so feel free to come in for a chat to learn more, or message me through the Healium email. Or, to book a session, click here. Cheers! Katey xx

I'd like to leave you with the words of Stephen Grellet, words that inspired Tom Bowen in his work:

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature; let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect for I shall not pass this way again.