Bowen Therapy continues to work after you have left the table. So what you do next is also important. Here are some things to consider for your Bowen Therapy after care.
You can enhance the effects of your Bowen Therapy session with the following advice:
Stay well hydrated. Drinking good quality water little and often will assist the healing work of Bowen Therapy and can assist in flushing out toxins.
Keep moving. Do not sit for long periods of time, get up and about and move around. I recommend moving every 30 minutes until bed time. Resting in bed and lying down is fine.
Let the Bowen do its work. Try to allow at least a week before another session or any other therapies or physical manipulation.
Go gently. Avoid strenuous movement and exercise for at least a couple of days after your treatment. Gentle, short walks are recommended.
Allow rest time. Some people may experience mild symptoms after their session as their body realigns and healing takes place.
Avoid extreme temperatures. Wait for 48 hours before applying hot or cold to your body. Hot showers, baths, saunas, heat packs or heat rubs and ice packs can interfere with the healing process. Magnets can also disrupt the process, so avoid bed underlays and body magnets.
Avoid crossing legs, knees, ankles or feet and carrying things unevenly for a few days. Retain good posture and alignment.
Please make a note of any differences in your pain, sleep, stress and emotions after your session to discuss at your next appointment.
I hope these Bowen Therapy after care tips help you get the most out of your Bowen session!
Want to try out Bowen? I am an Advanced Bowen Therapist with over 23 years experience helping people with pain and stress relief. I consult in Rockhampton and the Gold Coast. Get in touch to book. I would love to help you.
What do you do when pain medication doesn’t work for you? When you can’t get any relief? I know how this feels because it happened to me and I have to look for alternative solutions.
Those of us who have been in pain or those who are currently battling pain conditions know the personal and emotional costs.
I’m not anti-pharmaceutical or anti-pain medications. There are some great pain and life-saving medications. If they are working for you – thank goodness for them! It’s just that prescribed pain medications did not work for me in the past and so I had to ascertain the cause of my pain and then work to eliminate it at the source.
For the vast majority of people I come into contact in a clinic situation, pain medications are also not working for them and so many have been left in painful limbo. Sometimes those medications may have worked well initially but because the cause of the pain was not addressed, they lost their potency and good effect. Sometimes the side effects outweigh the benefits.
While pain meds are invaluable to handle pain in acute or emergency situations, for long-term chronic pain they can sometimes be temporary ‘band-aid’ solutions that may come with side effects and decreases in efficiency.
So if you do not want to be reliant on prescription medications forever, again it becomes important to deal with WHY you are getting pain and HOW you are going to fix it for the long term.
Of course everybody is different, medications and treatments that have worked for others with similar conditions cannot always be guaranteed to work for you. Different genetics, raised in diverse environments, having been exposed to unique combinations of chemicals and toxins, eating differently, having various personalities, emotional states and abilities to handle stress and disease etc. Likewise the therapies and techniques that worked for me and for my clients cannot be guaranteed but at least they are safe to try and will support your health in other ways.
The reality is that no one can give you a guarantee because people are wonderful, complex beings who can be massively unpredictable. Sometimes the only way to know whether something will work for you is to try, and if that doesn’t work try something else. Keep taking positive action and don’t get angry if your doctor, therapist, medication or supplement doesn’t work straight away for you. More time might be needed, maybe some fine-tuning or perhaps it’s not the right answer for you just now.
I know it can be hard (sometimes excruciatingly hard) but be grateful that you are learning along the way and it is important to keep moving forward. Take responsibility and realise that you have to do something different if you want different and positive results. If you become complacent and keep doing what you have always done, then chances are that you will keep getting the same results and the same pain!
When I was diagnosed with MS and orthodox medicine had no cure and no hope for me, I had to be determined (some called it stubborn) and try out things for myself and persist, keep going even when there was no hope. If I’d given up and prepared for my demise like my neurologist had advised me all those years ago, I would never have recovered, got married, had children and had a wonderful career helping people.
So if you are currently in a similar situation, my heart goes out to you but please whatever you do, don’t give up.
Patience and commitment are extremely important as usually the longer you’ve had a pain condition, the more time and effort it takes to turn it around. It’s a bit like the momentum of a runaway train. Once pain has become entrenched, it develops a momentum of its own which requires a lot of effort to firstly slow down the progression and then to gradually bring it to a stop.
It then takes another mighty effort to reverse the direction of that “pain train” and commence your healing journey. So be prepared to put in your best effort – this is the most important work you’ll ever do!
For more information on how I beat my pain, naturally, you can check out my book DRUG FREE PAIN RELIEF.
At the age of 22 I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) and told that I would not be alive for my 23rd birthday!
I healed from MS with my own research and some ‘alternate’ therapies and remedies. The doctors were struck dumb at my recovery!
One aspect of my strategy for recovery was Citamin C. Read on to discover why I believe in the power of Vitamin C!
I actively did my own research about how to heal myself from MS, I was determined that I was going to overcome my prognosis. Luckily my university degree was in journalism which had given me solid research skills. I could also speed read and had the ability to go through large amounts of information to find the ‘treasure’ or important points.
Early on in my research, I was lucky to come across two small but so valuable books Lady Cilento on Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies and The Cilento Way. Actually for all my library research, these books had belonged to my parents and were at home in my father’s office.
Lady Cilento was my earliest female inspiration. She was amongst the first female doctors in Australia and wrote many health and medical articles with her husband Sir Raphael ‘Ray’ Cilento from August 1929 for the then Brisbane Courier newspaper. So by the time I found Lady Cilento’s books she had been writing about health and vitamin supplements for more than 50 years!
These two books gave me the nutritional information that undoubtedly helped turn my health around. People now tend to think that healthy eating and taking vitamins and minerals is some new age thinking but it is mind blowing to me that in fact Lady Cilento and her colleagues and inspirations, such as Dr Linus Pauling (won the Nobel Prize twice), Dr Irwin Stone (author of The Healing Factor), Dr Frederick R Klenner (world authority on the clinical use of vitamin C) and Dr Robert F Cathart (famous orthopaedic surgeon) were using vitamins very successfully in their research, surgeries and clinics for multiple health conditions so many years ago.
Around the same time my MS symptoms had started to decrease as my body was brought back into proper alignment and balance, I started taking mega-doses of vitamin C powder with bioflavonoids (including hesperidin and rutin) because it was indicated in Lady Cilento’s books as being useful in fighting viral, bacterial and arthritic type conditions. The bioflavonoids were important to assist in the fast assimilation by the body.
Unlike many other animals and living things, humans (like monkeys, guinea pigs and fruit bats) do not manufacture their own vitamin C. It cannot be stored in the body and so it has to be consumed regularly in order to survive.
Lady Cilento writes: “Vitamin C is non-toxic, has no side effects, does not build up in the body and any surplus to the body’s needs quickly passes out in the urine …This vitamin protects the body by aiding the adrenal glands to produce cortisone, maintains the strength of all the ‘cementing’ substance between cells, stimulates production of antibodies against germs and the number and effectiveness of the white blood cell.“
The exact cause of MS is unknown (most likely there are multiple causes) but it is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The MS Society (UK) advises that the immune system, which normally fights infections and protects the body, starts attacking and damaging the coating or myelin around the nerve fibres creating lesions or plagues which then disrupts crucial signals and smooth functioning between the brain and the rest of the body. Damage to the actual nerves can occur as well as myelin loss and this can create a variety of symptoms which tend to increase over time. To this day there is no definitive cure.
So from my research, I knew that MS was neurological and was caused by problems in the myelin sheath and nerve conduction but since my doctors could not help me, I decided that I need to try to rebuild my myelin and strengthen my body through vitamin supplementation in addition to the important corrective bodywork.
Mega-doses of vitamin C were the corner stone of my personal attack on MS.
In his book Food as Medicine, Dr Earl Mindell advises:
“Vitamin C, which is water-soluble, is essential for the formation of collagen, the substance that binds together the cells of connective tissue. Collagen is necessary for the production and growth of new cells and tissues: it also prevent viruses from penetrating the cell membrane … it is especially important in the healing process.”
And of course in an ideal unpolluted, uncontaminated world with ready access to fresh raw food, not genetically modified, organically grown so not exposed to pesticides and other toxic chemicals, we should get all our vitamin needs from our food. But for most people today if you are not able to grow your own food (and a variety of it) then you might like to consider high quality, food-based natural supplements (less expensive synthetic supplements are cheap for a reason and can just expose you to more chemicals and toxins).
My decision back then to use vitamin C supplementation to help repair and support my body is also supported by other doctors now such as Dr Carole Hungerford, who in her book Good Health in the 21st Century writes about how vitamin C assists in the production of neuropeptides (neurotransmitters) and in the repair and synthesis of collagen amongst many other important body functions and uses.
During my research in 1985, I’d also found another interesting quote in The Cilento Way contending that “sodium ascorbate, or vitamin C, is the only antibiotic that will get rid of a virus.”
Because I had no way of knowing definitively what had caused my MS (and my doctors did not know either), I decided that this strategy might also help with the possibility of a viral contribution, so another reason to use vitamin C.
Within four months of bodywork, eating fresh food, no white sugar, soft drink or artificial sweeteners, taking vitamin C plus gradually getting back into exercise, yoga and meditation, every MS symptom disappeared and I was able to return to full-time work.
Years have passed and my good health continues to this day. I still use those strategies to maintain my health. Now I am a health warrior committed to helping others find natural solutions for their pain and suffering.
If you would like to read the whole story, I go into detail about how I beat MS (multiple sclerosis) in my book, Drug Free Pain Relief.
We have all heard the saying, “move it or lose it” and it could not be more true!
Movement is a vital part of our overall health and wellness. As humans we are part of the animal kingdom and are made to move – in all directions, every day.
We were not designed to sit all day at a computer desk, be in a car driving around for hours or working a 12-hour shift in a mining truck etc. We are biped with long legs and arms for a reason – we are made to walk, run, jog, dance, stretch, climb and reach.
Our anatomy and physiology is such that if we don’t constantly move, our muscles and joints do physically become stiff and our fascia (connective tissue or membranes that surround line and separate our muscles, stabilises our bodies etc.) will actually start to fuse together and then limit our mobility.
Do you struggle with movement?
Seeing a structural therapist to correct your posture and body alignment should make movement, stretching and exercise easier for you.
If pain has kept you sedentary, then any movement is valuable. Even if you are chair bound there will still be parts of your body you can move. If you can’t move yourself, get someone to assist you.
Moving and stretching usually feels good, sometimes initially there is a little discomfort but never stretch into pain. Treat yourself with love and respect and most importantly don’t give up, your goal is to keep moving.
The benefits of movement
improves your cardiac health, gets your heart pumping and improves circulation
improves your breathing and lung function
strengthens your muscles and joints and helps with balance and preventing falls
improves flexibility, movement and will enable you to do everyday tasks more easily
helps maintain bone density
increased blood and lymphatic flow helps improve skin elasticity and healing
helps you feel better, relieves stress and you will feel a sense of accomplishment
you will look and feel younger with increased energy and stamina
It’s also important to protect yourself if you are getting help with your stretches and exercises – do not allow anyone to test or push you into pain. Numerous clients have come to clinic because they have over-stretched, hurt themselves in a too vigorous exercise routine or their pain has been inflamed in the process of being tested and diagnosed. You need to be honest with your health professionals and let them know when something is increasing your pain.
So the truth is that a movement program takes effort and commitment, however the benefits are immeasurable and the alternative is very scary. Getting started may not be easy but you just have to do it if you want to relieve your pain long term.
What do you do for movement? Do you need to be doing more?
If you need help to get your body moving better, please get in touch and book a Bowen Therapy session!
Correcting posture and restoring proper body alignment can be the most important factor in becoming pain free and staying that way.
Having corrective bodywork was the first major step in beating my MS diagnosis, the associated chronic pain and rapidly deteriorating mobility. In recent years, my own clinic experience has shown me that many other pain and health conditions can also be improved.
I’ve had clients who were not prepared to do anything else to help themselves (for example making lifestyle changes) but who liked to come for treatments and they still had amazing results by relying purely on bodywork alone.
So corrective structural therapies can work to relieve pain very well by themselves but it also depends on the person and how serious and chronic the condition. Normally the more pain you are experiencing and the longer you have had it, the more strategies you will need to implement to speed your recovery.
When a structural imbalance and/or muscle contraction in the body is causing pain and it needs to be corrected, there are typically three steps or phases that are processed through to gain pain relief.
The first step is the physical release of tight or contracted muscles which also usually helps take pressure off nerve pathways. Circulation and lymphatic drainage are often enhanced.
Because muscles attach to bones, in the second step, that physical release then allows the bony structure or skeleton to rebalance and make minor adjustments and corrections.
The final third phase is that with the body structure more balanced, function and mobility are also improved and there begins a reduction in the triggering and firing of nerves, and so pain decreases.
Depending on the person and their pain condition, this three-phase pain relief after physical structural correction may happen very quickly or can take several days to process.
If you are interested in a Bowen Therapy session, please get in touch.
I became a Reflexologist in 2004 and absolutely love this modality!
Reflexology is a science that deals with the principle that there are reflex areas in the feet and hands which correspond to all of the glands, organs and parts of the body. Reflexology is a unique method of using the thumb and fingers on these reflex areas. The Reflexologist’s thumbs and fingers apply pressure on client’s reflexes in the feet and hands, stimulating the body’s own healing responses.
It is a really useful therapy that has a long history (around 5,000 years) in Chinese, Egyptian and Indian medicine. In 1582, two European doctors published a book on zone therapy and British neurologist, Sir Henry Head in the 1890s, identified skin or head zones that corresponded to internal organs.
Modern reflexology then developed in the west, largely based upon the work of American Dr William Fitzgerald, known as the founder of zone therapy, and Eunice Ingham, the Mother of Modern Reflexology. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many doctors used reflexology or zone techniques for pain relief. However, like most bodywork, it can be time consuming so as doctors needed to help larger numbers of people and drugs became popular, those body skills were mostly let go.
Reflexology primarily addresses the foundation of the body, the feet (although it also has wonderful applications with the hands, ears and face). Like a house or building, if the foundations are not sound or are structurally unbalanced it can have a detrimental influence on the integrity of the rest of the structure. Like Bowen Therapy, it also deals with the body’s fascia, circulation, lymphatic and central nervous systems.
Because areas of the body have associated reflexes in the feet (and the hands, ears and face), it enables a therapist to help someone who is uncomfortable with physical touch to the body or allows support for an injured area that cannot be worked on directly.
Nature & Health magazine reports that in a double-blind trial, migraine patients given reflexology found it as effective as Flunarizine drug therapy. And children suffering from chronic constipation given reflexology had significant reductions in their pain scores.
If pain means that it is difficult for you to be touched or get up and then down off a massage table, reflexology can provide further treatment options as it can be done in a chair or on a bed. Hands, ears or face can be worked if feet are not an option.
Reflexology can:
Help relieve stress & tension – approx. 80% of today’s diseases can be attributed to stress and tension
Improve blood supply and promote the unblocking of nerve impulses
Improve the body’s immune system and energy flow
Boost lymphatic function
Help your body achieve homeostasis – underactive or overactive organs and glands can be helped to return to normal functioning levels
Reflexology is non-invasive (only the feet, hands or face are worked) and it works well with other therapies including conventional or orthodox medicine.
If you would like to try a session of reflexology and reap the benefits for yourself, get in touch for a session!
So… here’s some real talk about chronic pain and illness (from someone who’s been there).
Sometimes severe or chronic pain is the wake-up call you need to kick yourself into immediate action. We can get complacent with our health and think we can just take a pill and fix everything. That is not always the case, sometimes you have to step up and take urgent action to fix the situation.
If you get a bad diagnosis, you’ll probably go through grief stages such as shock, denial, sadness and anger. You can use an emotive feeling such as anger to energise and fuel your fight back. Those strong feelings can focus and prod you into becoming your own health warrior and fighting – for yourself and your loved ones!
You always have a choice. Whatever your pain condition, you can choose to get a second (or a third) opinion. The medical profession is so specialised that people can be experts in their own field but have little knowledge of alternatives outside their expertise. Medical professionals are also often overworked and are looking after numerous patients who are all unique. Sometimes they don’t have all the information needed to make the best decision (so do your part and always keep them fully informed) and occasionally test results are misinterpreted. There is a reason the term ‘medical opinion’ is widely used.
You already know personally what pain is and how it can make you feel. It can keep grinding you down until you find it hard to remember a time when you weren’t in great pain. You despair of ever feeling good again and anxiety or depression can start to raise its ugly head.
You also probably know how at first people sympathised with you but as the days dragged on into weeks and months, they began to get tired of you and your pain because while it exhausts you, it also exhausts those around you. Then people start to avoid you and slowly you become isolated and lonely in your pain.
But you can fight back and you don’t have to continue to accept your current situation. You can get angry about it and totally annoyed with the unfairness of it all but then decide to use that anger. After all anger is just an emotion or ‘energy in motion’. So you can choose to use that energy in positive ways to your advantage, to motivate and become determined to conquer your pain. You have to dig deep but your power is there, just patiently waiting for you to step up and use it!
Finally sometimes you, and everyone around you, can do everything right and you still get a bad outcome or no improvement in your pain. Sometimes bad things happen to good people but that’s life and beyond our control. It is still important to never give up because you only fail when you stop trying!
On a personal note, when I was diagnosed with MS, pain medications did not work for me and a big motivation at that time was finding relief. If my pain meds had worked, I may have sat back passively, accepted my diagnosis and would probably have rapidly deteriorated and passed away just as my neurologist predicted. Now when I look back, my pain was actually my saviour!
And so this is the power of pain. Once you become determined to fight and overcome it, you have a mission and a different focus, a distraction from your pain and then it becomes your powerful motivation. Because frankly the vast majority of us will do anything to avoid pain.
Then once you overcome it, you will become so empowered and strong. You will come to know that it is not a permanent condition and that you can beat it – you just have to engage the fighter, awaken the warrior in you.
“Pain does not have to mean suffering, it can actually be the birth of a stronger and more powerful you.”
