Everyone experiences something different. After a session some people feel energized like they haven’t been in a LONG time, others feel a little lethargic or tired – the body’s way of telling you to take it easy and to go take a nap. Honor whatever your body is “telling” you to do.
Others feel calm and balanced, others relieved and stress free and peaceful. Remember, your body is going to heal what IT knows is most important, first. Some even feel so different they say that it feels like they are walking in someone else’s body.
On rare occasions, people may momentarily feel a bit out of balance. For any of these we say, “GREAT, IT’S WORKING!” These displays are wonderful signs that show that your body is responding to Bowen.
On rare occasion, some people experience “new areas” of tenderness, soreness, discomfort or even some level of pain in their body for a few days after a session. This too is GREAT! Muscles you haven’t used for a long time didn’t have a chance to go to the gym and work out for 8-12 weeks to get back into shape. They had to immediately start working after having been laid-off or not fully working for some time. When muscle compensations and poor postural or movement practices in the body begin to improve, some muscles and joints will have to work a little harder, whether they want to or not, as they recapture their correct function.
Your body may also be re-tracing backwards through old injuries and traumas for some time as the body works its way back into balance. Your entire body is also releasing toxins and built-up waste products. It is really cleaning house! Muscles that have been held in contraction for some time do build up waste products and lactic acid. Bowen may have shaken your body up a bit to begin moving it out of the body into the bloodstream so you may experience feelings of having worked out or even those that feel like you have run a marathon. Drink more water and go on a walk.
Nearly everyone will feel some elimination of the pain or symptoms immediately following a session.
It is important to understand that Bowen is quite different in its approach in helping the body to fix itself and that all symptoms or pains may not “go away” after the first few sessions. It has taken years to get to the point where your body is and it may take some time to get it right again. Remember, we are peeling off the layers of bumps, bruises, sprains, strains, stresses, surgery, accidents, etc., not necessarily trying to take off huge chunks. It takes a bit of time, in most cases, to affect the deeper levels of the body. Concern your self with the progress that is happening and focus on the key that something good is happening.
If and when your body begins to detoxify or unwind, celebrate the fact that something is happening. Understand that your body may continue to change for 3-5 days after the session. Each day your body will often make significant physiological (structural), mental and emotional changes as it releases years or even decades of trauma and stress and the body’s relationship to these factors of the past.
Some people feel they are slipping backwards a few days after their treatment.
On rare occasions, old traumas or injuries that have a long established pattern in the body can momentarily flare up. The body has held the pattern for some time and the old pattern is still the familiar –status quo- one it can first readily relate to. It also shows that Bowen did do something and that Bowen will work for you. Keep going, you are doing just fine!