What happens in a
Canine Bowen Technique session ?
Using fingers and thumbs on precise points on the dog’s body, a Canine Bowen Technique therapist applies gentle rolling movements over soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons, fascia, and skin). The move is not a flick, but done slowly and with very gentle pressure so as to just disturb the underlying tissue and create a focus for the brain to work on.
There is no hard manipulation, no pulling or cracking of joints, no insertion of needles, no massaging with oils.
Although a typical consultation will last up to about an hour, while the therapist gets to know more about you and your dog, and your dog can get accustomed to and relaxed with the therapist, the actual hands-on part of the session will usually last no more than about 20 minutes. Over the following 3-4 days the dog may experience reactions as its body continues to assimilate the effects of the Canine Bowen Technique moves and realigns/rebalances itself. This healing process continues for about 7 days until treatment is continued. The average number of treatments required to obtain noticeable change is one or two.
During the treatment session, there are short intervals - determined either by the dog or by the therapist - which allow the dog to absorb the information given by the gentle moves, and allow fine adjustments to take place. Dogs are much more in tune with their bodies than humans, and generally know for themselves when to “take a break”, and when to come back for more. Often, after just a few moves, they will wander off and just stare blankly into space, or go somewhere for a short lie-down.
Therapy is never forced on the dog - this will only serve to make the dog less receptive and will be counter-productive to the outcome. So an important part of Canine Bowen Technique is recognising and respecting when the dog indicates it has received what it needs.
At the start of a Canine Bowen Technique session, there will need to be time to allow the dog to accept and trust the therapist. For very nervous dogs, most of the time of a first Canine Bowen Technique session may well be spent solely on developing this relationship and very little Bowen work may be done. However, after getting accustomed to Canine Bowen Technique, most dogs will want it more and more, and many will come over and position themselves to indicate where they’d like the work doing.
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