A little bit of history

A little bit of history.......

TOM Bowen (pictured above), was a visionary whose pioneering form of body work decades later continues to have a huge impact on so many lives around the world.

Born in Australia (1916-1982) his early work as a sports therapist for young footballers in Geelong led him to realise that many of the apparently unrelated musculoskeletal and other problems his patients experienced could be traced to the body’s connective tissue and fascia, lying just under the skin and affecting muscles, tendons and nerves.

Recognising that certain moves had a specific effect, and without the benefit of formal training, Tom Bowen developed a unique set of moves associated with different sequences and timing intervals. Adjusting tension levels this way in the muscles and fascia helps balance the whole body and gives the treatment its unique ‘pause’ feature.

Tom Bowen's procedures have been proven to provide long term and often immediate resolution of many conditions. In 1975, the Victorian government’s own committee of enquiry reported that Tom saw 13,000 people a year and enjoyed a success rate above 80 per cent.

Around this time, he was introduced to osteopath and natural therapist Oswald Rentsch who was invited to study with him in his practice in Geelong. For almost three years, Ossie and his wife Elaine studied alongside Tom who authorised them to document his work which until then had no formal notes, charts or manuals.

At Tom’s request, it was not to be until after his death that Ossie and Elaine began teaching his procedures which they named “The Bowen Technique” to honour Tom. By 1990, they were teaching full time with a formal teacher training programme launched two years later to keep up with demand. Today, with an international network of instructors accredited by the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia, awareness is growing of the benefits of this healing modality as thousands of practitioners help people improve their quality of life through the relief of pain and a diverse range of physical ailments.

 The original Bowen Technique is now recognised throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as the USA, Scandinavia, UK and Europe and parts of Africa with more countries being added at an exciting rate.