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HISTORY OF THE BOWEN TECHNIQUE
The Bowen Technique is an original system of gentle but powerful
soft tissue mobilization that affects the body both structurally
and energetically to restore its self healing mechanisms. It
is painless, non invasive and safe to use on anyone from the newborn
to the elderly and provides lasting relief from a wide variety of
acute or chronic conditions .
Developed in Australia by the late Tom Bowen
(1916-1982), a very intuitive, gifted and self taught healer, who
devoted a lifetime to develop his original technique independently
from any medical or bodywork background. In 1958 he was working
at the Geelong cement factory when an accidental encounter started
his reputation as a healer, which quickly outgrew his immediate
work environment, to the point that in 1959 at the age of 43, he
began a full time practice in "remedial therapy",
practicing what he called "soft tissue manipulation".
He ran an extremely busy clinic in Geelong, Victoria. In 1973 he
was interviewed by the Osteopathic, Chiropractic and Naturopathic
Committee (Victorian Parliament), where he stated under oath that
he treated about 280 patients per week with the help of a receptionist
and an assistant. Reporting that he never advertised but just relying
on word of mouth, he estimated modestly his own
success rate to be about 88 %, and
claimed that he could sense minute vibrations in the soft tissues
and that the tension in the muscles helped him find the precise
places to mobilize. By 197, he was seeing 13.000 patients a
year!!! (documented by the Victorian Government Webb report over
a 27 weeks period ). Considering that treatments were usually 7
days apart and that most people only needed 2 to 3 visits, that
was a amazing number of clients per year for a one man clinic. Tom
Bowen allowed only a few therapists to come learn from him. In 1974
he met one of them, Oswald Rentsch , a natural therapist
practicing massage and osteopathy. Over the next two and a half
years he became Tom Bowen's apprentice and scribe, documenting his
treatment protocols, as Bowen had never recorded his work. He started
using Bowen's original technique in Hamilton where he and his wife
Elaine ran their own clinic. Tom Bowen in his later years lost his
legs to diabetes, but kept on treating his patients from his wheelchair
and continued to refine his technique. It was not until Bowen's
death that the Rentsches started teaching what was going to be known
as the Bowen Technique. By 1990 they were teaching full time, and
introduced the Bowen technique throughout Australia and New Zealand,
then North America and the United Kindom. Their goal has been to
pass on to students the original techniques used by Tom Bowen at
his clinic.
Because the technique is so effective, it has been embraced
by a broad spectrum of health practitioners and patients and its
reputation has spread pretty much world wide. In 1987 the Rentsches
established The Bowen
Therapy Academy of Australia as a governing body and in
1994 they implemented a teacher's training program in Australia,
North America and the UK in order to satisfy the increasing demand
for new seminars. Bowtech became the trade name for the Technique.
Instructors are now regularly offering seminars in Australia, New
Zealand, USA, Canada including Quebec, England, Scotland, Northern
Ireland, Austria, France, Italy and Israel. Other countries will
certainly be added to this list in the near future like Mexico and
Brazil. Since 1987, over 8000 students have attended these seminars.
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