Bowen Therapy

While Tom Bowen’s therapy technique is relatively new in the broader field of natural Therapies, it is far from being ‘new”. Tom used his innovative work at his clinic in Geelong, Victoria for 32 years before his death in 1982, at the age of 66.

Tom Bowen was a wonderfully compassionate therapist who forged a high reputation for himself in the Geelong region, west of Melbourne, and beyond.

His association with famed Melbourne therapist, Ernie Saunders (1880-1951), led Tom to expand his unique assessment and tactile abilities as he used and developed the work shown to him by Saunders.

Tom Bowen, following the ‘learn on the job’ apprenticeship style tradition of the time, was not a teacher in the formal sense and did not run courses like we see today. He allowed a number of people to watch him work and it is from the interpreted work of some of the observers that the therapy bearing his name was derived.

ISBT-Bowen Therapy is a recognised interpretation of Tom Bowen's work and is applied to treat a broad range of physical ailments including muscular, structural and visceral complaints.

Bowen Therapy is a dynamic fascial and muscle release modality. In most instances, the basic Bowen move is a gentle cross fibre mobilisation of the fascia or connective tissue.

These specialised moves are applied to specific muscles, tendons and ligaments, initiating relaxation of the muscles and reduction of nerve pressure. This allows the body to make appropriate adjustments to re-align and balance for improved health and well-being.

Bowen Therapy is a minimalist approach to bodywork, doing away with the need for repetitive and often invasive action. It is especially useful with its ability to be effectively applied when many other therapies cannot, such as with extreme trauma, frail, elderly people, very young babies and animals.

Leading international equine physical therapist and competitor, Suzanne Baker is responsible for developing ISBT-Bowen Therapy for animals.

Suzanne is a former international three-day eventing and dressage competitor, representing England. She achieved a degree in Chiropractic in 1991 and is qualified to treat both humans and animals.

Suzanne worked in practice in the UK, treating human patients in a busy chiropractic clinic and also treating a large number of canine and equine patients, from racing greyhounds to dachshunds, and racehorses to Olympic dressage horses.

Having a Diploma in acupuncture, Suzanne was fascinated by Bowen and initiated ISBT’s introduction into Hong Kong, completing the human Foundation and Advanced Courses.

Suzanne also assisted in many courses while spending a number of years developing the animal courses.

While animals respond exceptionally well to Bowen, simply transferring the human concepts to animals doesn't deliver the best results.

It has taken several years to develop the animal sequences, much of the time taken up conducting trials then confirming the results with further trials to ensure an exceptional standard of bodywork.