Who discovered the Bowen Technique
The name of the therapy comes from Tom Bowen who developed this technique in the 1950’ trying to help his wife severe asthma.
His wife suffered from asthma and was often hospitalised as she needed medical help to assist with her breathing. Because of this, Thomas, or as he was more often known “Uncle Tom”, started to develop his own unique technique in an effort to improve his wife’s condition. Gradually her health improved to the point where she no longer required any medicines or hospitalisation at all, and it was all thanks to Tom’s new-found method of healing, or as we call it now, ‘The Bowen Technique’.
Tom Bowen discovered specific "Bowen moves" for sport injuries and chronic pains
Very soon he developed procedures to address sports injuries and was able to relieve acute or chronic pains. Somehow he discovered specific points on the body and specific moves / the Bowen moves that encourage our bodies to function better.
Throughout his life Tom had been a keen sportsman; he loved swimming, cycling, and cricket umpiring and ran a Boy’s Club which offered training for various sports, exercises, and gymnastics. Because of his close proximity to such a wide range of sports and activities, and his interest and studies into the human muscular structure, Tom was able to develop a gentle, non-invasive technique that proved effective in aiding the recovery of a whole host of conditions. He saw instant results when utilising his technique to address sports injuries at the Boy’s club and, spurred on by the success he was having, he decided to help people outside of the club who were suffering from a host of problems, from back pain to asthma, mental and emotional issues; he even helped to offer relief for disabled people using his technique.
The effectiveness of Tom technique made him so popular that regularly he was treating over 13.000 patients a year. An incredible work rate! These figures were verified in 1975 by Victorian (Australia) Government’s Inquiry into alternative health care professionals.
Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia – the School of The Original Bowen Technique (Bowtech)
Since 1992, the Original Bowen Technique has been taught to over 30,000 people worldwide, now enthusiastic Bowen practitioners
As Tom Bowen had no manuals or charts he asked Oswald Rentsch, a former massage therapist whom Tom had invited to work and learn with him, to document his work, and authorized him to teach it to anybody interested enough to learn. In 1986 – four years after Bowen’s death- Rentsch began to organise training courses. Since 1992, the Original Bowen Technique has been taught to over 30,000 people worldwide. That has been made possible with the help of over 100 instructors, teaching in over 30 different countries, with 18 Bowen Associations affiliated to the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia.