The Bowen Technique: The Immune System
by Janie Godfrey
There are a number of case histories of people with infections seeing them finally shifted after Bowen treatment. The case history has been mentioned before of an older woman who suffered with an 18-month long, low-grade infection that antibiotics were not shifting at all.
Bowen treatment seemed to kick her immune system into gear and in the week after Bowen, she had coughed out a great quantity of infected sputum and boils had erupted all down her left arm, which were green, poisonous and suppurating. Her body was now doing an efficient, if dramatic, job of isolating and expelling the infection.
There are similar cases of the body isolating and expelling infection after the prompting of Bowen treatment. In one, a woman in her early 40’s who, as the result of a bad accident some years before has metal rods and screws in a section of her lower spine, came for Bowen treatment to help with the consequent back pain and also a feeling of tiredness and low energy.
After a few Bowen treatments, a good-sized swelling appeared in her groin. She was admitted to hospital while they investigated what it was. It proved to be an infection that her body had brought to the surface. Her doctors said that if an infection had established itself in that area, it would have been almost impossible to clear, in their opinion.
Much success has been achieved by treating longstanding sinusitis with Bowen. In one case, a lady who had suffered from chronic sinusitis for 14 years, had had four operations with the last one making matters much worse.
After a course of Bowen treatment the condition completely cleared and she has remained clear without any further treatment for some 15 months. In a similar case, infection of the right side of the sinus had continued for a year and a half and a third operation was scheduled.
Within a short time after commencing Bowen, the infection stopped and the sinus cleared soon after. This patient had been taking 6 Anadin a day for the whole period of infection. By the end of the Bowen treatment programme, she needed none.
Dr Bruce McEwen, the director of the neuroendocrinology laboratory at the Rockefeller University, has discovered that the overproduction of cortisol has some dramatic effects.
Cortisol is the stress hormone that enables all the physiological reactions already mentioned that we associate with stressful situations. His research has shown that prolonged stress weakens the immune system as well as strains the heart, damages memory cells and deposits fat in the abdomen rather than the hips or buttocks.
So it would appear that one good way to ensure the immune system is operating well is to control the stress levels as much as possible. A frequently seen effect of Bowen, quite apart from the changes in the physical problems that have been presented, is a shift in the psyche of the client.
“I feel better in myself and about myself,” is a common remark and is often accompanied by a re-evaluation of what has brought them to this point in the first place. In short, Bowen is an excellent de-stressor and this in itself will be one valid consideration in treating a struggling immune system.
As with any factor in illness however, it’s important for people who are prone to being stressed, or who face stressful situations daily, to identify the sources of the stress and the point at which the feelings of being under too much pressure start.
Stress is only a problem if it is allowed to continue unchecked and the role of a good therapist is to help the client identify the signals before they become the problem.
There are many detailed case histories documenting the change in health patterns before and after Bowen and it is clear from these, in people of all ages, that Bowen can orchestrate the body-mind-spirit into functioning well and efficiently resisting the bugs and infections.
Contacts and References
For further information, List of Accredited Practitioners or full course prospectus contact:
European College of Bowen Studies
38 Podway, Frome, Somerset BA11 1QU Tel/Fax: 01373 461 873
Email: info@thebowentechnique.com
web: www.thebowentechnique.com
Todays Therapist, Jan/Feb 2006
by Janie Godfrey