The Body Mind Bowen Story
My fascination with pain and dysfunction and how the human body and mind respond to and manage it, began from my long career as a Paramedic in the Ambulance Service.
In 2009 I was introduced to Bowen Therapy. I had suffered two muscular tears in my calf from an acute injury running. These failed to repair well despite all the usual NHS referral pathways exhausted. Having had reduced mobility for 4 months it was suggested I try Bowen Therapy and my initial mindset was skeptical, simply because I had never heard of it! However, I was elated when following only 6 sessions I was back to full functioning mobility and have never injured again since!
From this I became massively curious about how people experience pain and that no two people are ever the same, despite having the same injuries, illnesses or dysfunctions diagnosed and treatments applied. I also became intrigued how it came to be that people’s perceptions of pain and dysfunction impacted on the success of their treatment and recovery.
This innate desire to learn more about the significance of the integration of body and mind set me on track to qualify as a physical and psychological therapist. On my journey of learning I became self-employed setting up my business in 2014 under the then banner of Southwest Bowen Therapy. As my learning gathered pace I left the Ambulance Service to focus on my business and soon after, Body Mind Bowen was created and ignited my drive to further my knowledge and expertise.
Have you ever wondered how chronic illness, pain and dysfunction can occur without ever having experienced a serious illness or physical injury? Or how experiencing a traumatic injury can sabotage your mindset, performance and health long after you have physically healed?
The mind truly drives the body and this is widely understood and now proven by medical science to be true. So it is no wonder that for many of us, the problems we experience and the understandings we hold regarding our problems are not the actual problem. It got me thinking just how impacted we are by our belief systems and perceptions of our health, pain and dysfunction and how, for some people, no matter what the treatment or medication prescribed, no changes happen for that individual.
It is a sad statistic that many of us in our lives will experience some sort of mental health illness. The frequency of this is becoming more common and the age groups much younger. Invariably this can lead to health problems in later life, manifest in undesirable behaviour patterns or chronic health or pain related illnesses. I believe the key to breaking this cyclical pattern of health events is to challenge and change the cause at the earliest opportunity. Transferring reliance on pharmaceutical and surgical interventions from an over burdened, over stretched NHS and movement towards forward thinking, well trained and qualified therapists, is the way forward in creating healthcare change that can make a significant difference to the quality of peoples lives.
This is the primary reason Body Mind Bowen was established and continues to serve the clients it does with constantly evolving new learning and contemporary therapy that works and lasts.