Bowen Unravelled

For Bowen technique therapists and any bodywork practitioners interested in using a gentle, nonintrusive pain-relief therapy, this book draws on myofascia and connective tissue dissection to explain how the Bowen technique initiates a body-wide signaling mechanism to start the process of healing and restore normal function. With more than 100 full-color images, this useful guide helps manual therapists understand how the Bowen technique can help people with back pain, neck pain, headaches, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, respiratory problems, hay fever, high blood pressure, kidney problems, arthritis, and knee pain. The Bowen technique, named after its originator Tom Bowen, has been growing in popularity since it was first taught in the 1980s. Known for its gentle rolling motions and intentional pauses between moves, the technique has been shown to bring extraordinary pain management results with very little pressure on the part of the therapist. Yet until now, little has been known of the actual workings of this technique. Tom Bowen himself called it simply a "gift from God" and treated thousands of people without trying to understand the processes that drove his results. This book fills in the gap in scientific understanding by explaining in anatomical terms what happens during a Bowen technique treatment. Author Julian Baker shows how traditional anatomy fails to fully explain the complex biomechanical relationships that make up human movement. Each move of the technique is analyzed in depth, with an emphasis on the role of fascia and connective tissue.

The Bowen technique resets and repairs the body, restoring balance to relieve pain and improve energy. This book shows how it can be particularly effective at alleviating conditions that are renowned for being difficult to treat, as well as at enhancing performance in dance and other sports. Covering lower back pain, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel, hayfever, asthma, diabetes (type 2), migraines, stress and tension disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, palliative care, performance enhancement, and in pre and post-natal care, clinical case studies reveal Bowen technique in action along with detailed explanations of how and why Bowen is so effective for each of these different situations. This is the perfect book for Bowen practitioners, and other complementary and alternative health practitioners and medical professionals wanting to know how and why the Bowen technique can help their patients, as well as patients interested in learning about what Bowen can do for them.

A paradigm-shifting, integrative approach to understanding body movement. The ability to move with efficiency and agility has been an essential component to our evolution and survival as a species. It has enabled us to find food, fight threats, flee danger, and flourish both individually and collectively. Our body's intricate network of bones, muscles, tissues, and organs moves with great complexity. While traditional anatomy has relied on a reductionist frame for understanding these mechanisms in isolation, the contributors to Movement Integration take a more systemic, integrative approach. Ensomatosy is a new paradigm for comprehending movement from the perspective of the body's entirety. The body's many systems are understood as synchronized both internally and externally. Drawing on expertise in physiotherapy, somatics, sports science, Rolfing, myofascial therapy, craniosacral therapy, Pilates, and yoga, the authors assert that a more comprehensive understanding of movement is key to restoring the body's natural ability to move fluidly and painlessly. With over 150 images, the Color Illustration Model of Relative Movement provides a visual tool for understanding how joints interact with surrounding structures (rather than in isolation). This is an ideal book for physiotherapists, massage therapists, structural integrators, coaches, as well as yoga and Pilates instructors.

You've tried everything! Now are you ready to learn how to live pain free? Dealing with pain can be distressing and depressing but now is the time for you to take charge! This book is full of practical information and resources to help anyone who is suffering from back and neck pain, headaches, muscle and joint pain, sports injuries, stress etc. For those of you not in pain now, but have been in the past and definitely don't want it back again - this book is also for you! At the age of 22, international author and natural therapist Suzanne McTier-Browne was diagnosed with fast progressing MS and given less than a year to live. In excruciating pain and with her mobility quickly deteriorating, Suzanne's own investigations gave her the tools which helped her fully recover and now help her clients deal with a variety of pain conditions. This ultimate guide can help you take back control of your life and live pain free! You'll discover:- Natural and non-invasive techniques to help free yourself from pain- Body alignment tips crucial to relieving your pain plus helping you move and feel better- The golden health rules you should know to improve your life and support your recovery- Easy and practical ways to handle your physical and emotional stress- Simple exercises and stretches you can do at home- How to avoid aggravating your pain- Case studies from real people who have used these techniques to relieve their pain and improve their quality of life Take action and live pain free!

The ability to walk upright on two legs is one of the major traits that define us as humans; yet, scientists still aren't sure why we evolved to walk as we do. In Born to Walk, author James Earls explores the mystery of our evolution by describing in depth the mechanisms that allow us to be efficient in bipedal gait. Viewing the whole body as an interconnected unit, Earls explains how we can regain a flowing efficiency within our gait--an efficiency which, he argues, is part of our natural design. This book is designed for movement therapy practitioners, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, massage therapists, and any bodyworker wishing to help clients by incorporating an understanding of gait and its mechanics. It will also appeal to anyone with an interest in evolution and movement. Drawing on recent research from paleoanthropology, sports science, and anatomy, Earls proposes a complete model of how the whole body cooperates in this three dimensional action. His work is based on Thomas Myers's Anatomy Trains model of human anatomy, a holistic view of the human body that emphasizes fascial and myofascial connections. Earls distills the complex action of walking into a simple sequence of "essential events" or actions that are necessary to engage the myofascia and utilize its full potential in the form of elastic energy. He explains the "stretch-shortening cycle"--the mechanism that is the basis for many normal human activities--and discusses how humans take advantage of isometric contractions, viscoelastic response, and elastic recoil to minimize calorie usage. This streamlined efficiency is what enabled our first ancestors to begin to migrate not only seasonally but also permanently to new lands, thereby expanding the natural resources available to us as a species.

This little book really could change your life. It takes less than 30 minutes to read, but what you learn will impact the rest of your life; showing you how you can have so much more personal power.

To be human is to be in relationships. We can’t survive without them but it’s in relationships that we can so easily get unravelled. Some relationships just seem to do us in. Either we feel like we lose ourselves or feel burnt out from futile efforts to make things right for another. In our relationships we can experience the very best of ourselves and the very worst. The message of Growing Yourself Up is that you can’t separate understanding the individual from understanding relationships. All of life’s relationships are integral to increasing self-awareness and maturity. And it’s not necessarily the comfortable relationships that promote personal growth. In this 2nd edition of the bestselling book, Jenny examines how to help others without fostering dependency, and how to determine what kind of help you or others want from therapists. This is in response to the many lay and professional people who have found this book valuable personally and want to know how to help others grow. Drawing from Bowen family systems theory, the book takes you on a journey through each stage of life to see predictable patterns of relationships and to show how to use this knowledge to make purposeful adjustments in yourself; as well as lending a mature helping hand to others. The result is a sturdier self, sturdier relationships and a refreshing new way to view life’s challenges and opportunities.

This first book-length critical examination of the life and work of Marjorie Bowen (1885-1952) reveals a major English writer whose prodigious output included stories of history, romance, and the supernatural. As Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda writes in his Foreword, Bowen may be "the finest British woman writer of the uncanny of the last century," a view that echoes the high regard of cultural historian Edward Wagenknecht, who called her "a literary phenomenon," one whose best work places her alongside such contemporaries as Edith Wharton and Daphne du Maurier. Publicly acclaimed--known only by a series of pseudonyms (including "Marjorie Bowen")--but privately inscrutable, she was and is a mysterious and complex character. Drawing for the first time upon archival resources and the cooperation of the Bowen Estate, this book reveals a woman who saw herself as a rationalist and serious historian, but also as a mystic and "dark enchantress of dread." Above all, through a lifetime of domestic storms and creative ecstasy, Bowen worked tirelessly as both a professional writer and a consummate artist, always seeking, as she once confessed, "to find beauty in dark places."