I've suffered horribly from fibromyalgia - over 17 years! Touching me even lightly caused great pain. After the 1st bowen treatment I was pain free for 3 days! 2nd treatment 5 days and my family and friends noticed a wonderfully big difference in me. After the third treatment my husband was able to hug me for the first time in many years - without it hurting. You don't realize how much pain fibromyalgia causes as you become consumed with the pain. I took a chance and tried Bowen Therapy with Ann and my life has been changed dramatically. My life is great, I can go out and enjoy time with my girlfriends and family. I am smiling, happy and am myself again. I have been able to return to my business part time which is great.
I missed out on a lot of things especially the hugs from and to my grandchildren, with Bowen I can now enjoy my grandchildren and their activities. i can sleep through the night again without pain after years of lack of sleep. I can take walks again where I couldn't before, I can do normal daily routines again. I'm pain free and enjoying life to the fullest.
Deb Hunter, Simcoe, On.
Lupus and Fibromyalgia
When I began Bowen Therapy with Ann I reached out to her because of joint and all over physical pain. It had reached a point where there were times that all I could do was curl up under the heated throw and not move but even that hurt. Along with this was a heavy fatigue level.
Having met Ann previously as an event that she provided for people to learn how to create wreathes, she told me about Bowen Therapy that she was excitedly working on. Having always been interested in what would be deemed as alternative therapies I set up an appointment.
Ann invited me into her home and we sat and talked about Bowen Therapy and the many wonderful stories that have been shared about the good things that can happen with this. At that point there was still a lot of pain with lupus and fibromyalgia symptoms. Joint and allover body pain made it so that some days I simply could not leave the house. There was also a very uncomfortable swelling in my hands.
I went for my first treatment in which Ann told me that she was going to be working on balancing my body first. As I lay on the treatment bed it brought out my curiosity as with Bowen Therapy it seemed that not much was being done in the physical sense. During treatment I felt relaxed and with Ann’s care she talked me through my questions and I found the whole experience to be a positive one.
With a busy schedule, I continued on but soon realized that my need to get under the heated throw was no longer as often to alleviate pain but rather just to warm up. This was an exciting realization because of the feeling that possibly, finally, happily something had been found to help that was not prescription related. This led to more energy and being able to get to sleep earlier and having that sleep be a better one.
It is strange when you first receive Bowen Therapy as most of us are trained to believe that more is better, but this is a case of less being more and by this I mean that the gentle approach of Bowen Therapy is surprisingly wonderful.
Along with the physical difficulties that I was experiencing, I was also having conflicting emotions about life's issues and circumstances. Within the next couple of weeks there was a recognition that I felt clearer in my mind and this provided me the ability to deal with some things that needed to be dealt with. Having had a trying year previous to beginning with Ann it was a relief to have this experience. Looking back I would have to make the connection that having been relieved of a lot of the physical pain, I was able to start dealing more with other pains that were just as deeply seated. After the first treatment along with the other positive happenings (less pain, etc.), I found myself laughing more and feeling stronger in spirit.
After my second treatment wherein the respiratory system was worked upon I wasn't quite sure what that meant but after leaving Ann’s treatment it was obvious to me that over the next few days I realized my constant shallow breathing had changed and I was able to take in a full breath and fill my lungs completely with ease. It was exciting to be able to tell Ann about this as she is someone who really believes in what she does and in Bowen Therapy and to provide proof of various successes from the Bowen Therapy and from her work with it.
Needless to say contacting Ann about Bowen Therapy was one very positive decision and I am very happy to have done that.
Other health experiences I have had difficulties with including poor circulation and Raynaud’s phenomenon had varying initial reactions to Bowen Therapy. One night following an appointment that I had with Ann that day there was a definite change in my circulation. In the moment it did not feel like a positive one but I knew that sometimes things have to get worse before they get better and that the soreness from the increase circulation to hands and feet would improve.
At the next treatment I reported to Ann about these reactions including a tingling/numbness that had not been present on the left side of my face was there (something I did have a few years ago but had basically been absent) and to me this meant that things were taking place internally, and this is a good sign. My hands and feet also went through a spell of being very hot and with the circulation problems that have been the case, this too was looked upon as a positive thing as it would be reflecting positive change in my circulation.
One issue which has been of challenge for me is that of a spasm that would take place on my right side at times, in particular my hand/arm in particular with loud noises. There was an example of this happening shortly after the first treatment when I was out attending an event and joyfully it was found to not be extreme as it had been at times in the past.
The list seems to go on and on, but this is the case for someone with multiple health issues and something that really meant a lot too was being able to get out of bed in the morning and not having a large lessening of the harsh pain in my feet that would normally have been the case upon initially getting out of bed and starting to walk for the day.
Another example of how Bowen Therapy can have a positive effect was one day when I was in treatment my neck was very sore on the left side. As I sat at the side of the bed on Ann's request she used Bowen Therapy and once again a positive response was felt. I left that day with my neck only feeling a slight reminder of the pain that it was in prior to Ann's treatment.
To summarize, I went to Ann with a lot of physical issues and working on the physical issues helped with the emotional issues as I was able to breathe better, sleep better, and move better. I am very grateful to Ann for introducing me to what I believe is a quietly powerful way of finding relief from the varying ailments that you may have.