Calming.....

The benefits of Bowen therapy start straight away with the moves calming your nervous system and balancing hormonal activity towards a restful state. The intervals between moves help the body and mind relax.

Important hormones such as cortisol, melatonin and DHEA are influenced when deeper states of rest are reached.  

Cortisol is the stress hormone and levels can be too high in our bodies in today's frantic world.  Too much cortisol sustained over long periods can lead to adrenal exhaustion and a host of other health complaints- including muscular aches and pains. 

Cortisol can also mask underlying imbalances due to the way it acts on the body.

Rebalancing the body....

Muscular aches and pains can be due to a range of causes.  Untended they contribute to postural compensations, dysfunctional muscle firing patterns and ongoing discomfort.

The gentle moves of Bowen therapy help to initiate a cascade of changes where there was discomfort at a site in the body.

The moves also influence areas away from the part of the body where you may have been most aware of symptoms.

As moves are made over the muscles and tendons - their the tension and stretch receptors signal new information to the nervous system and brain. 

As tissues and structures adjust with each of the moves, tension is released which assists them in being restored to normal functioning. 

Proprio-receptors and other receptors are responding to changes as well.

Last but not least, also responding is the "superficial fascia". 

Fascia is the sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue that separates and binds muscles and organs and influences their nerves.  Fascia can become constricted due to lack of adequate stretching, due to injury and due to the compensatory changes we make when dealing with discomfort.  The moves of Bowen therapy can assist in improving the mobility and function of fascia.

When the body is adjusting in this way, it is possible for previous pain messages that were being carried from limbs and other parts of the body through the peripheral nervous system (to the spinal cord and to the brain) to be reduced and inhibited.

The brain can then respond to the altered state of the body and the new signals that it is receiving.

Chemical changes take place including release of feel-good endorphins.

From this, the body is given the opportunity to generate new healing pathways and responses that are associated with the relief from pain and discomfort.