Sunday, January 13, 2008

The art of bodywork

Tim's mom is a massage therapist/Bowen practitioner. She has routinely done bodywork on me... She always tells me how much she loves to do it and of course, I happily oblige to let her practice on me.

Mostly she has done Bowen on me which is a form of energy work. I actually really, really love Bowen. I like the whole mind-body connection thing though so it always works really well for me. I don't know that it would always affect people this same way. Not meaning that it wouldn't be effective, but I think that the more intuitive you are, the better it works. It's kind of a more holistic approach to healing the body with the thought that the body is capable of healing itself, especially when it's given movements that redirect energy to allow it to align in the way that it wants to and is supposed to. It's not like massage or acupuncture or any sort of body work that uses pressure or manipulation. It's just gentle, subtle moves that affect your body surprisingly more than any massage I've ever gotten. It's pretty astounding.

The other night instead of Bowen, Liz opted to give me a massage. I will say right now that I like Bowen better but the massage was amazing. I would not say something if I didn't mean it and hands down, it was the best massage I've ever gotten. Along with the massage and Bowen nights always come really good, candid conversations. This night was no different. After finishing a pretty phenomenal dinner (stuffed peppers) I got the benefits of bodywork, Liz got to practice on me for an hour and a half and we had great conversations.

I would highly recommend that anyone having problems with their body- whether it's physical pain or something deeper or even nothing at all- take the time to get some bodywork done. I am truly a believer in taking care of your body from what goes in (nutrition), what is exerted (exercise, yoga), and how you take care of it (bodywork, staying away from artificial things that can harm it, etc). I think that getting a massage, acupuncture, and especially Bowen can really benefit everyone.

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