ANIMAL BOWEN™
The Touch Balancing™/Bowen for
Animals
As developed and taught by Carol Bennett
The Bowen Technique applied correctly to the anatomy of each species is as dynamic for the animal’s innate healing mechanisms as it is for humans’.
Animal Bowen™ has been documented as to its application and usefulness in animals since October of 1995. Its successes include use in animals large and small, domesticated and wild; those in competition, rehabilitation, or suffering from injury, abuse and/or disease; working animals and loved companions. It is currently in use in veterinary clinics in the U.S. and Canada, as well as rehabilitation facilities, sanctuaries, and homes across the U.S.
Animal Bowen™ adds many benefits to the health and well-being of all animals. Simple sequences of light strokes across muscle fibers, applied precisely in relationship to the structure and function of the muscles, can bring about similar results as massage, acupuncture, Trigger- Point Therapy, etc. A therapeutic treatment may consist of just a few moves or a complete series of moves. The use of the light touch, along with the effectiveness of performing even one or two moves makes Animal Bowen™ a minimally invasive, highly relaxing and low stress therapy that compliments conventional and alternative veterinary care. Pet owners can also easily learn to apply Animal Bowen™ moves to their own pets for timely treatment between veterinary visits or in a crisis when a veterinarian may not be immediately available.
This simple technique is unique in that it is work you do with the animal, not to the animal. Rather than using a pre-determined or prescribed course of action, the practitioner's observation of the animal’s physical and mental response to the moves are used to determine the course of action. This approach engages both the animals’ intelligence and its body’s innate healing mechanisms.
Known benefits of Animal Bowen™ include improvements in general health by increasing lymph and blood circulation and tissue metabolism, thereby enhancing elimination of toxins and decreasing inflammation; relieving muscle spasms; improving muscle tone, flexibility and range of motion; and speeding rehabilitation from over-exertion, mental or physical injury, and illness or surgery. Bringing balance to the structural elements of the body also improves posture, performance and stamina.
While this modality appears to help tremendously in the areas of injury and disease, the contribution it makes to improving negative emotional states and behavior is without exception. One simple move can reverse mistrust and fear in some animals; in others, it may take several full treatments to achieve the same result. Usually within several moves the animal grasps that this is beneficial to them and they relax into their treatments just as we might relax when treating ourselves to a luxurious day at a spa.
The work is so gentle and non-invasive it can be applied to animals in traumatic situations after they have been thoroughly checked out by a veterinarian. Animal Bowen™ is extremely effective at calming anxiety, fear, aggression and defensive behavior patterns. This allows the body to transition from a “fight or flight” state to one of calm and repair, and accept further assessment and/or treatment. The cat that finds insertion of an acupuncture needle distressing may readily accept an Animal Bowen™ treatment. This is an important advantage of Animal Bowen™, for any modality, no matter how effective, that cannot be administered to a patient is essentially useless. In contrast, an Animal Bowen™ move can be applied at the hair line level, quickly and easily, and be as effective as a deep move. This allows the work to progress even in animals that can tolerate only the most gentle contact. The results can be dramatic, impacting both the overall physiological and metal/emotional states as well as specific difficulties and traumas at the same time. Animals live in the same world we do. They suffer stress and stress-related diseases. They ingest toxins from the environment just as we do. Their food sources are suffering from the same depleted soils and many are living their entire lives on processed foods supplemented only with synthetic nutrients. I have written and could write several more books on the subject of how the animals are being stripped of their vitality and longevity. Suffice it to say their bodies need the same support our human bodies do. They need whole food nutrition. In this modern world, far removed from their natural life styles, they need and greatly benefit from what our alternative and complimentary therapies have to offer.
Since 1993, through my company, Spirit Symbols’ Animal Connection Network™ , I have worked towards one goal: to better the treatment of all living beings and so improve their experience of life. How does Animal Bowen™ compliment that goal? One has only to read Bowen Therapy by Raymond Augustyniak, PhD, RBI to see how the body functions, how Bowen Therapy contributes to its proper function and then realize that life – whether furred, feathered, scaled or skinned – functions basically the same way. The latissimus dorsi of a chicken attaches similarly to a cow’s or a cat’s, etc. The neuro-pathways, the lymphatic systems, the digestive system, the organs, the tissues and facia in relationship to how Bowen is applied and works, are basically the same. Yes, there are differences in size and shape and function of the muscles, systems and organs, but once again in relation to how the technique is applied and works, those differences are primarily relevant to locating the precise point at which to apply the move itself. My course is structured to teach this concept.
Animal Bowen™ is not taught as, or meant to be, a replacement for veterinary care, but rather as an adjunct to it. Throughout its history I have continued to engage many veterinarians in the development of the diagnostic feed back loop as well as having them document their experiences with it. Animal Bowen™ is emerging as a very effective therapy. Dr. Lynn Peck, a veterinarian with alternative medicine as well as clinical research experience, has now joined my instructors’ staff. In the year 2003 we will be co-teaching the course.
“A few clinical cases” by Dr. Peck
1. 12-year-old female Greyhound with old fracture below right hock. Difficulty moving around, irritable to other dogs in household. Runs with difficulty, using a short, humped-back stride. Owners want to avoid using NSAIDs. Treated with Animal Bowen™ only: 3 treatments 2 weeks apart, and basic modification of diet to higher quality and some raw foods. After 1st treatment, moving better, playing more, lots of energy which held till next treatment. Improved each time; by third treatment was running and playing “like a puppy” with the other dogs; and no longer irritable. Eight months later, with no other treatment, still maintaining. Owners noted that this was the first summer she was not afraid of thunderstorms.
2. 8 (?) year old Saddlebred mare, acute laminitis beginning 5 days previously. Very painful walking; on phenylbutazone (Bute). Animal Bowen™ treatment begun, with extremely light contact on each move. About halfway through the basic 4 procedures mare indicated she had had enough, so treatment was stopped. Next morning: bright, obviously more comfortable, on only half the previous day’s dose of Bute. After a second Animal Bowen™ treatment that day addressing her front feet, mare walked off almost normally.
3. 13 years old female domestic shorthair cat; left hip fractured in car accident so top of femur removed. As a result, left hind leg is shorter than right; cat walks with limp and back curved to left. Cat was feral until hit by car at 1 year of age; always skittish and fearful of people other than owner. Would not accept Animal Bowen™ treatment until done almost at “hairline” level. After first treatment last year, almost not trace of limping; back straight instead of curved. Has had several treatments since then; now has become very affectionate “lap cat” actively seeking to be petted and scratched. Braver with new people, especially children (used to hiss and run away on sight of them).