Wednesday, November 9, 2011

bowenwork 4 part series - part 3 - transitioning to all bowenwork

thanks for following along in my bowenwork 4 part series. in case you are just tuning in, you can catch up on part 1 - what is bowenwork? and part 2 - how does bowenwork WORK?

part 3 is all about the transition i am currently is of converting my massage therapy practice into an all bowenwork practice.

i remember being in ohio during my first bowenwork training back in january and calling my boyfriend ryan and excitedly telling him that i was switching my massage practice over to bowenwork. his first response was, 'you mean you aren't going to do any more massages?!' i had to laugh because i knew my transition would be slow but the ultimate answer was yes. absolutely yes!!

i knew then what i know now, even though my vision is more clear than ever.

respiratory procedure

so, why switch from massage therapy to bowenwork?

first of all, i have to say that i am not knocking massage therapy or massage therapists at all! i mean no disrespect at all. remember, i am a massage therapist too. but there are a few reasons why bowenwork works better for me than massage therapy.

  • for the reasons mentioned in part 2. there are some diseases, disorders, chronic pains & problems that massage doesn't address.

  • from my own personal experience of working with clients. i have seen clients make huge improvements from crohn's, celiac, TMJ, migraines, infertility, fibromyalgia, and many, many more. bowenwork never ceases to amaze me. some of the best results that i've seen is a client who had crohn's disease who wrote me this beautiful testimonial: "Having suffered with Crohn's disease since the age of 9, it has been an ongoing struggle to maintain a healthy, normal lifestyle. Attempts to control symptoms with corticosteroids and 5-aminosalicylates were mediocre at best, with debilitating side-effects. Since beginning Bowenwork I have seen remarkable improvement in symptoms, especially with gastrointestinal health." ~ T. D. and another client was a 10 year old girl with aura migraines. aura migraines are the hardest to predict and prevent. that sweet girl was put on medication to help prevent her migraines but unfortunately it didn't work for her. i saw her for a session and didn't see her for a month & a half. when i checked in her mother reported that the girl only experienced one migraine since her last bowenwork session. the mother thought this was amazing. she explained that the girl usually gets migraines in clusters but she only had one in a month and a half!
knee procedure

  • from my own healing experience from receiving bowenwork. i have si joint problems and my hips were killing me. i tried everything from massage to chiropractic visits to reiki. these modalities helped for a little while but the problem kept coming back. after my first bowenwork session my hips felt 75% better and that lasted for about a month an a half. i have only had 4 bowenwork sessions for my hips and they are back to normal. i do need occasional tune-up visits to make sure that my hips stay functioning order without pain. but trust me, after my bowenwork session, i was a believer!!

  • as my mentor told me, i can do this until i'm 80 years old if i want to, because it doesn't hurt my body. i was experiencing more pain in my hips as i was giving massages than an any other time (except deep hip opening postures such as firelog). not to mention the pain that i was getting in my hands and wrists from doing several massages in a day.

  • as a massage therapist i was getting frustrated because i was seeing the same clients every week or every other week with the same issues. i was a temporary fix to a deeper problem that massage therapy wasn't getting touching. sure, this is great for job security but that is not what i am in it for. i want to see people get out of pain, heal, and get on with their lives! no body should have to live with pain!
perineal procedure

thought the transition has been slow, i am always keeping my end goal of doing only bowenwork at the forefront of my mind. i believe in the work that much!!

image credit, credit, credit

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Been loving reading this series!

One of the big things I'm interested in is my own health + ability to keep working - especially in regard to long term RSI type effects my very busy massage practice has on my hands. I'm currently learning a forearm massage technique which helps a lot - as do making sure I divvy up my massages with hot stone therapy which is less hard on my hands. But ultimately I see myself moving into Cranio-sacral or Bowen works because it means, like teaching yoga, I can do it til I'm 80.

I'm not sure I ever want to stop massaging though!