Get to Know Ray & Maggie!

Tom  Bowen (Thomas Ambrose Bowen) was born on April 18, 1916 in Brunswick,  Victoria. 

He was the third child and only son of William and Norah  Bowen, who emigrated in 1910 from the UK to Australia.  

Tom Bowen was a humble man who, in his lifetime and beyond, made an  incredible impact on humanity around the world after he developed this  unique therapeutic system, now practiced in more than 40 countries. The  results achieved seem to be miraculous, with children learning to walk  again after being crippled and in braces, lifelong health issues  resolved and many a client saved from the surgeon’s knife.  After  serving in World War II, Mr. Bowen became interested in new ways of  alleviating human suffering. He noticed that when he made certain moves  on a body, it had particular effects. Mr. Bowen developed and refined  the effectiveness of his observations without training in any particular  healthcare field to guide him. He always stated that the therapy was  simply a ‘Gift from God’.

 His  parents were originally from Wolverhampton and emigrated to Australia  in the early 1900s settling in Brunswick, Victoria.  

From a working  class family, Tom left school at the age of 14, taking various laboring  jobs, including milk carter and general hand 

at a woollen mill, before  going into the building trade where he took up his father’s trade of  carpenter, working as a general hand 

at Geelong Cement Works. 

He  was married in the early days of World War II to Jessie and they lived  with Tom’s parents in Geelong, Victoria. A keen Salvationist, 

Tom Bowen ran a Salvation Army Boys’ Club which was hugely popular and where he would coach youngsters in various sports, 

especially swimming, which was a favorite of his.  It was while he was working at the Cement Works that he started to treat people after work; coming home to wash and eat before commencing clinics  that would often go on well into the night.  

Two years later, with encouragement from friends Rene and Stan Horwood, he opened and operated  his first clinic in 1957.  

This 'clinic' was actually the front room  of friend- turned assistant- Rene Horwood's house in Geelong,  Victoria/Australia.  

Originally, this was in the evenings after they had  both finished 'day' work.  (Tom worked at the cement works and Rene had her own hairdressing salon). They frequently worked into the early hours  of the morning, Initially and often treating clients for free.  

Sometimes they would work right through the night, traveling to make house calls to sick children, then go back to their respective homes to get ready for the next 'day’s' work.  They  worked like this for many years before they started to accept donations  for their services.  Eventually they moved into a retired doctor’s clinic at 99 Latrobe Terrace and began to run their clinic full time.  

Typically, Tom would treat up to sixty-five people per day in the clinic  and then he and Rene would go out to do home visits. 

On more than one occasion, when Tom asked Rene not to close their logbook, instead showing 'all' who were treated:  kids at sports games, institutionalized children, nonpaying ones in need, so they could see how many they could treat.  It was in excess of 100 per day.  

In 1973, Tom was interviewed for registration (Australian version of an Alternative Health  Practitioner Licensing), which was later declined. He indicated that he was treating around 250 people per week.  Children were always treated for free.

Tom's own granddaughter suffered from a disability and died at an early age.   In her memory, Tom ran a free clinic for children with disabilities, twice a month on Saturday mornings.  Under his and assistant Renee's care and guidance, many children had an improved quality of life.  From asthmatics to disabled children, Tom devoted his life to the children,  who often called him ‘Uncle Tom’. 

Tom  also worked with many of the sports clubs in and around Geelong, often driving all over Geelong and the surrounding district on a  Saturday afternoon, attending to injured footballers. He would then  treat them and others on Saturday evenings back at Autumn Street when  further treatment was necessary. These treatments were also given  freely. He was known for attending the Geelong jail on many a Sunday morning to treat injured inmates.  He assisted the Victoria police,  treating them at all hours of the day and night. 

He was acknowledged for this work by being made an honorary member of the Geelong Crime Car Squad. He was only the second member of the public to be given such an  award. The list goes on of all the achievements in treatments that Tom  and assistant Rene attained together, from TV personalities and opera singers to a Melbourne Cup racehorse, he treated them all with amazing results. 

The  story of Tom Bowen is a remarkable one, even more so for knowing that in spite of being one of the busiest and most effective therapists of  his generation, he had no formal training or qualifications in any  therapeutic background. 

Having no therapeutic background, Tom Bowen was under no restrictions about how he should run his clinic and as such, appointments were vague to the point of non-existence.  Patients phoning for a time would be told to come either morning or afternoon, when they would arrive, they would take a number from a board and wait.  As the clinic times were only two hours long, and Bowen worked at a rate of something like 14 patients per hour, the wait would rarely be a long one.   

Talk  was minimal in Tom Bowen’s clinic, with patients being told not to see any other therapist and come back in 7 days. 

Tom Bowen was able to ‘see’  whether clients had indeed been treated by another therapist. In addition, the majority of patient treatments were first or second visits. Another reason for the minimizing of chat, was that Tom Bowen  was profoundly deaf and wore two hearing aids, often using a method of clicking his fingers to signify to his assistants when he had finished what he was doing.  

In addition to his deafness, Bowen had lost a leg  possibly through diabetes (although this was never diagnosed) and walked around his clinic either using a prosthesis or not depending on his  mood. He lost a second leg just prior to his death. 

According  to evidence that he gave to the Osteopathy, Chiropractic and  Naturopathic Committee Inquiry in 1973, he said that the only study he  had undertaken was from books that he found useful and that all he had  learned was self-taught.   

His  work with another therapist, Ernie Saunders, has been mentioned as  being a strong influence on Tom Bowen. It is possibly that his exposure  to various therapeutic approaches helped Tom develop his ‘seeing’  ability. It was often said of Bowen that he could take one look at an individual and ‘see’ what was wrong and where the problem stemmed from.  In addition, he only needed to do a few simple moves, allowing the body to rest for certain periods, before ‘seeing’ that the body had started  to change. Once he recognized this, his work was done and the patient  discharged, maybe to be brought back next week or maybe for gone for good. 

It  was common for the patient to walk out in the same pain as when they had walked in, a situation that many therapists would find uncomfortable and yet an excellent opportunity to see precisely what Bowen’s unique approach was. 

Tom Bowen’s work was not a systemized series of moves or techniques, but more a piece of music that would change according the mood of the orchestra and the temperament of the conductor. 

What  Tom Bowen could ‘see’ was not something that could be verbalized or classified in the strictest sense of diagnosis. 

He just ‘knew’ where  there was an imbalance and had the ability to ‘know’ when that imbalance  was changing. 

If you’re pushing a car towards a cliff and it starts rolling, know that it’s going.  Similarly, if the car is pointing  downhill already, 

it’s not going to take much to get it going. Once Bowen had gotten the process moving, that was enough for him 

and he then knew that through the week, the body would take over and do the rest.   Tom was rarely wrong. 

In  1975, a study was conducted by the Australian government which determined that Mr. Bowen treated 13,000 people yearly with a 80-90%  success rate.  Unfortunately for Tom, the physical action of what he did  was secondary to knowing what to do, hence the refusal 

in 1982 by the Osteopathic Council to admit him as a member. Quite simply he wasn’t an osteopath in the accepted sense of the word; 

he wasn’t diagnosing  structural abnormalities and using recognized techniques to address  specific problems.  

His disappointment with his rejection was great,  especially as it would have meant that his patients could have claimed  their fees back from medical insurance and eased any financial pressure.  Bowen was a selfless man in many respects. 

Over the years in practice,  Tom Bowen had many people who watched him work and who learned from him,  but six men are considered to be the main students, apprentices, with whom Bowen shared much of his understanding and who were regarded as  ‘Tom’s boys’.   

'His boys' were:  Keith Davis, Kevin Nevave, Nigel Love, Oswald Rentsch, Romney Smeeton, and Kevin Ryan.  All these men were  physical therapists in some regard, with 1 having an osteopathic and 4  having chiropractic training and background. 

It was this formal training  which gave them access to Bowen’s clinic and helped them to compare  methods but, paradoxically, may also have restricted their ability to  look beyond their individual rigid formats. 

Thus  when each came to interpret what they saw, each fitted Bowen’s work  into a pattern that would match the basis of a structural approach.  They  looked for indications for specific procedures and created the  ‘Structure governs function’ methods as stated by the founder of modern  osteopathy, Andrew Still.  So, were they wrong in this approach?  Not really, as these methods still offer validity as a mechanical and physical therapy and, for the most part, this is how those skills are taught and used around the world. 

It does however fall very short of the essence of bodywork if this is as far as it goes, especially when Bowen himself said 

that all he was showing them was 10% of what he knew.  It was to be up to them to go and find the rest.   

One  of the men, Oswald Rentsch, stated that Tom invited him to learn after a handshake at a conference.  He believed that it was due 

to Bowen’s ability to recognize the power of an individual’s touch.   

Tom had lower body amputations during his life, though not ever formally  diagnosed with diabetes.  He continued to work his clinic 

until shortly before his death.  Tom Bowen died on  October 28th, 1982, at the age of 66 years.  It is said that shortly before his death, 

Tom told Ossie that  he wanted him to carry on his work and teach it to the world.  

Ossie Rentsch started teaching his interpretation of Tom Bowen's work in 1986  and it is due to Ossie that the work did indeed 

become as widespread  around the world as it is today.  **(Modified from the 'Bowen Academy Europe' website)**

 "I  expect to pass through this world but once.  

Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now.  

Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"

(Tom Bowen's favorite saying, written by Etienne Grellet 1773-1855)

BowenWorks Magic - Phoenix was founded by husband and wife, Ray & Maggie Ralls in 2022. They are both Advanced Certified Practitioners who shared a vision for a more natural approach to healthcare. We work with your other healthcare modalities as requested, but certain limitations must apply.  Ray & Maggie had seen first hand the power of Bowenwork Therapy to promote healing and well being.