Bowen Competition Challenge

I'm not gonna lie. I felt like I wasn't an orange at an apple contest. Trying to compete with the fanciest apples that you could find. Being an orange at an apple festival, knowing that I am just as beneficial as an apple, is is what kept me going.

I was nervous two weeks prior prepping and propping, and

Practicing.

I had a 10x10 area to utilize, and here I am attempting to arrange two tables and attend to two people simultaneously in a 10x10 space?

Oh, my gosh, how am I gonna make this happen? Not gonna lie, it was very stressful, wondering, how am I going to get judged when what I do is completely different, then what anyone else is doing?

I'm not there to showcase fancy moves, or a dance routine. Yet, that seems to be what they tend to give points for and I knew that.

See, I've been thinking about this for a couple of years. And so I have attended competitions and even judged competitions to find out what they judge and how it works.

Finally the state I live in was having their competition and I said, I'm gonna do it. I signed up for 2 categories. Clinical and Wellness.

I chose clinical because I know Bowen Therapy can very clinical and very effective with quick results.

Wellness because Bowen works with all the systems in the body and creates a rest and repair environment for healing to happen.

Okay, so wait a minute, I'm going to set up 2 tables in a 10 x 10 space and work on two people in a 30 minute time slot assess, explain treat reassess and get tested on efficiency. Oh boy here we go.

They grade on presentation to ok How do you present a clinical 10 x 10 space with 2 tables at the same time. Bring in two people, ask them what's wrong with them and treat them using Bowen, only in 30 min?

Well when I think clinical I'm thinking white lab coat

Walking into a doctor's office or a physical therapy office. I wanted it to be clean looking and effortless. So I went with the white theme, but wait a minute, the class I took on competing said that they liked contrast. Ok not all white. So that night before I competed, I went to Walmart and but 2 black blankets in totes that I could stack things in for each client such as a water bottle, I mask cover extra pillowcase, and pillow. So I could adapt to whom ever I was gonna work on, I had no idea until they got there. And I was handed their chart.

ok now I am ready

10:00 AM day of clinical competition. There it is, the announcement, time to set up.

You have 30 minutes set up your space clinic round, start at time 10:3AM

Thankfully, I had already pre set the display table that clearly explained the power of the integrated pause during Bowen sessions and why I was pausing in between sets of Bowen Moves.

And I was able to prepack the client box.

Now all we had to do was carry out 2 tables. The rugs under the tables and the tote that had the plastic table cover, Head rest, sheet to go over the table, with my logo table cover as well.

OK that went a lot better than I planned, phew OK I'm ready.

10:30am I met my 2 people, sat them down at the small intake area table and chairs in the 10x10 space. Looked at their charts, talk to them, pain scale? how long? what have they tried etc... explain Bowen and the integrated pause and they both agree and understand what is gong to happen... great ok, I asked them both to lie on the table at the same time, clothes' on, empty pockets etc...I start with basic procedure on both, then focused my moves on them specifically to their pain areas. Face down then face up going back and forth with a small rest 60 to 90sec in between.

Here's what happened as soon as they rang a bell to get started.

I didn't care about anything else or any one else around me. I just stayed in my 10 / 10 zone and focused on that client. And made sure they clearly understood what was happening. The whole time I had maybe 10 to 15 minutes to work on each one then Reassess them and ask them how their pain level is and made my notes and helped them to get off the table, gave them each a drink of water while they were sitting at the table and give them suggestions to do at home afterwards. Ding Ding Ding the bell rings , stop talking and go into a waiting room to be asked by the judges about your clinical work.

Up the elevator I went to sit with all the other clinical competitors, and wait to be called in one by one. It felt like we were waiting outside the principals office.

Phew another deep breath ok I can do this, thankfully I was the first one to get called in, and 8 judges all had one question to ask me about what they saw.

I felt like I had the professional educated answer to each question.

Ok now wait till tomorrow. Next round is wellness the next day 9am ok first up good let's get it done I was ready.

I was able to leave my display table set up so that was helpful and stack all of my stuff, Nicely in a small area, back in the storage space that everyone else also had their stuff stacked up in. So now the wellness category 60 minutes. Two tables, two people at the same. I decided to go with props, suggesting a Valentines couples session, and show that can be done with just one therapists. The Display looked great. I'll make a few changes on the next competition as I see some of the photos don't display my name or scan code as often as I would like. But again, once they rang the bell to get started. I sat both my people down on their Valentine themed table and chairs to talk to them and explain Bowen, and the integrated pause This Time. I got one person up and put them on the table and started the basic procedure. And the I got the other person and put them on the table and did the basic procedure. Then, went back to table one I did a few moves table two etc...

I was in my zone again tuning everything else out around me, not looking at the judges or the people just focused on my clients and taking the time to sit in my the chair next to the clients giving them their intentional integrative pause.

I was quite amazed at how easily the time passed as I treated. Each person individually flowing back and forth and taking the pause. Before I knew it, sixty minutes was up. And I had enough time to get them up at the end of the session, check-in with them. Have them get up and sit in their Valentine themed chairs again. Have a sip of water and make sure they were feeling good and give them some follow up instructions to do at home. Ding ding ding 60 minute time is up.

At that point I just stood there and closed my eyes, and then I felt a wave of energy flow through my body, head tingling chills, goose bumps. The stress I had had for two weeks was just leaving my body.. And I knew that I got through it, and I did the best. I could. I was not expecting to win any awards. I just wanted to show that Bowen can be done in a massage industry. In this category there are no questions about the work, just on to the next round. Wait and see if I made finals, I did not make finals. I was done. I stayed and watched the rest of the competition. Then, waited for the awards to get handed out so that I could get my feedback from the judges.

At the end of the competition, I was glad I went through it. And I will be doing it again.

The feedback I got was

Michelle, Wellness,

Beautiful - Great Energy, nice technique application, flow in between people could use a little tightening up for showcasing, but overall a wow!

Great, they liked it; they just need to understand it better. So next time, I'm gonna hold up a sign that says, "This is what an integrative pause looks like," while I'm sitting in the corner of the space, giving them their integrative pause.

I believe this work is important. And that we need to show as many people as we can in any platform that we can how amazing this work can be. And how we can help people with Bowen Therapy. So I will keep on competing with Bowen work. And I challenge any other Bowen, therapist to join me and compete as well.