She came in looking for relief of shoulder and upper neck pain. The pain has been there for years, not so much that it hampered her active retirement lifestyle, just that it sits there bubbling gently in the background.

We broke the ice, consulted, explained, observed and assessed. I saw her for two sessions. During our second session, a set of moves led to her feedback that her ‚mid-back feels tight‘. I had chosen to perform Respiratory and I mentioned it to her at end of the move. Then came the information, not mentioned in her medical history shared till then – she used to have severe asthma as a child, often having attacks so severe, her mother had to cradle her to help her breathe and sleep. It petered off after age of 12 or so… At the end of the 2-minute pause after Respiratory Move, she commented ‚I feel much looser now at mid back around the chest’ as a by-the-way throwaway comment.

A couple of days before the third session, I received a call from her. ‚Hi, This is the 5th day since our second session, but shoulder and neck pain hasn‘t gone off. In fact, it flares up after the session. I think Bowen is not for me.‘

I assured her that it is not an issue to cancel the third session, recommended that she might consider Epsom Salt soak to reduce the inflammation and aches after checking with her doctor and wished her well.

After I put down the phone, I had a good ‚think‘ about this case. Could I have helped her with further sessions? Yes, very likely I can, with Bowen Therapy. The change and healing is taking its due course. Her due course. I had already explained when she first enquired about Bowen that her body will decide how, where and when to release the pain. It might even decide to resolve an issue that she had not brought up on the agenda at all.

So I guess it did not register on her that her respiratory and thoracic system being released is part of her body allocating its healing priorities. But then few people really understand what they walk away with after a Bowen session.

You are not a KPI. The goal-setting, scheduling, planning – Leave those for work and school. Pain has its time and space to enter our system, structurally, mentally, emotionally. Sometimes it creeps in, bidding its time before going off bells and whistles. At other times, it crashes in without any warning, catching us off-guard. So with Bowen Therapy as part of your healthcare regime, it can be an enlightening experience. We learn where what our bodies need to let go off, and it might not even be the part that our nervous system tells us is most painful at that very moment…

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