The Power of just
two Bowen moves
Last week I treated a client who I have worked with for
many years (on and off), and decided to try Mind Body Bowen (MBB) with her,
which is an approach both developed and ‘discovered’ by Margaret Spicer and Ann
Schubert many years ago. For me it is absolutely fascinating work and I have
had enormous physical and emotional releases through this work, including removing
the trauma of my birth through the processing of this work.
The body is set up in a different way to ‘normal’ Bowen
work. We speak to the client and tell them that we are going to ‘switch on the
computer’ of the body and to see what happens and to track sensations as they
occur naturally in the body. I did this with my client, Sarah (pseudo-name),
who had a history of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Gardia – diagnosed in 1983.
Here is what happened with just two Bowen moves:
Bottom Stopper
moves 1 and 2 in Bowen
2 minute break
Face and chest became hot and feet glowing. Face felt hot
– that became a sweaty feeling in the scalp.
2 minute break
Feet feel like she is walking on hot sun all over the
soles of both feet – naval warm and remaining so. Reports to feeling calm.
2 minute break
Left foot fading in heat, but the right foot remains the
same and the naval is still hot
2 minute break
Right foot is still hot all over – naval area gurgling
and pulling downwards into right groin
2 minute break
Right foot is still warm just before ball of right foot
and the big toe is warmest. Left big toe is also warm and naval area remains
warm
2 minute break
Right foot continues to be warm and naval warm, but less
so than before
2 minute break
Ball of left foot in sympathy with right. Right foot
still warm and naval is getting less warm and ‘stirring itself’ up inside
2 minute break
Right foot is still warm – across the ball of the foot
and left pad of big toe. Naval is now normal.
2 minute break
On looking at the meridian and elemental work involved in
MBB – Sarah’s symptoms related to the water element and kidney meridian. I
selected to do the Psoas procedure for the naval sensations and hammer toe for
the footwork. Afterwards Sarah reported that her right toes in the pads of the
foot felt as if they were in a draft. She then reported to feeling less cold, I
left Sarah for a bit and then got her up to try and see if there was any story
connected to her experience, as is the way of this work.
Sarah told me that she had a memory of ingesting
sea-water in 1983 as she dived off a boat in Turkey in 1983 – she ‘vomited’
water – and really didn’t feel well. It was interesting she had reported a
water-related incident, following bodily sensations and reactions relating to
the water element.
Next Week
One week later – 26-5-16 – Sarah came back to session.
She has a lot to report following the session above. She said that she felt tired, but OK, but
definitely not fatigued (which was an improvement). She gave an energy score of
6 – but felt it was towards 8. When she had left last session she reported that
her knee had buckled – for the first time in ages, but by the time she got to
the station it was fine, and never went again. She soaked in Epsom salts that
evening and was very tired, and rested the next day. She reported having a very
windy tummy, that her teeth hurt and she had sinus symptoms. Her mother had
said that Sarah grounded her teeth since a young child, and she felt that now,
and as an adult, she had clenched her teeth. Sarah reported that she also felt
her right cheek feeling higher than the left, which had happened before. She
had also experienced several episodes of hot feet over the week, mainly at
night. However, she felt that she had had a ‘quantum shift’ since the last session.
Having thought carefully about what I might do today – I reflected
on doing the knee procedure and burning heel, but my plans changed altogether
when we ended up doing MBB work again -
because so much started happening after 4 Bowen moves this time:
2 minute break
Heat around naval
2 minute break
Now ‘glowing’ around the naval – both feet now feeling prickly but not hot like
the last session. All over both feet, but mainly on the balls of the feet and
rim of the heel.
2 minute break
Feet subsiding – stomach warmth moving from naval to the
diaphragm
2 minute break
Feeling of pulling at the front of the right iliac crest to
the far right.
2 minute break
Strengthening of the pull to the right, and pulling deeper
inside
2 minute break
Everything fading ‘like a mist rather than a fog’
2 minute break
Pain keeps returning to anterior/inferior iliac crest,
but less than before.
2 minute break
The niggle in the area remains, it feels like a muscle
being pulled than in the abdominal (on asking).
2 minute break
Sensations lessening.
Once again the symptoms were related to the water element
and kidney meridian. I decided to do the coccyx procedure as Sarah had reminded
me (upon my questioning of falls) that she had a major fall off a horse and
landed on her coccyx. Upon palpation the coccyx was shallow, but very clearly
defined. There was no observed tethering or pulling in the gluteal crease, as
can sometimes be observed in those with coccyx trauma.
After the session Sarah said that she remembered she felt
she could not judge where the edge of chairs were or would aim food into her
ear rather than her mouth. (This sounded like some sort of Dyspraxia). She said
this started happening in 1983 around the onset of her illness, and that she
would ‘forget words’. She said she was not at all distressed about it. She then
told me about a really serious trauma she had had in 1982 where she was grabbed
at knife point by a man trying to take her bag. She had never told me this
before. She told me that she had prayed and felt that angels must have looked
after her that day. She said that she felt that humour was the only way to cope
with the incident. She said the memory of it had never bothered her afterwards –
but I wonder. I’d say that this was a release of a trauma – and the body was
finally dispelling the trapped energy of this trauma. Sarah also said she often
felt hyper-vigilant – something I have observed in the years of treating her –
and how, once with a group of friends camping – she kept half awake all night.
This is indicative of trapped trauma, and the body remaining in freeze/flight
of flight mode. I explained how animals discharge energy after such events
(being chased) – but that in humans the energy did not fully discharge which is
why it is stored as a traumatic event. I told her about Peter Levine’s work and
his excellent book, ‘Waking the Tiger’ – but she said she would rather continue
to experience the work I was doing through Bowen, rather than read about it at
the moment. She left looking very happy, and walking virtually without a limp.
Amazing and profound.
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