Authors & Lecturers

John Wilks

After studying music at Oxford, John developed a strong interest in body-orientated psychotherapy and meditation. He has been practising the Bowen Technique and Craniosacral Therapy full time since 1995, and works at a physiotherapy and integrated healthcare practice in the west of England.

He is a former chairman of the Bowen Association of the UK, the Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK and the Cranial Forum, the lead body established to oversee the implementation of national standards of practice for the profession in the UK. He is a former examiner for the University of Oxford examinations board and is advisor on education and training for the Bowen Forum under the Prince of Wales' Foundation for Integrated Health.

He was accredited by the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia to teach the Bowen Technique in 1999 and has since then, taught in many countries throughout the world including Denmark, Norway, Israel, USA, Australia, Kuwait, El Salvador, Sweden, Ireland, Austria and Germany. He was awarded a lifetime membership of the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia in 2004.

He is author of 3 books - Understanding The Bowen Technique and Understanding Craniosacral Therapy both published by First Stone Publishing and his new book The Bowen Technique - the inside story published in November 2007.

In 2005 he set up a 2 year practitioner training for midwives in Craniosacral Therapy at Poole Hospital NHS Trust, the first of its kind to be accredtited with the Royal College of Midwives.

He has been involved in a number of charitable projects organising therapeutic work overseas, including after the war in Bosnia and currently El Salvador. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Music, regularly plays in concerts in the south west and in 2005 was awarded a prestigious fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for his contribution to society.

In June 2007 he was featured in Tatler's guide to Britain's 250 best private doctors

Liz Koch

Liz Koch is an international teacher & author with 30 years experience working with and specializing in the iliopsoas muscle. Educating both lay and professionals around the world, she is recognized by colleagues in the movement, wellness and fitness professions as an authority on the core muscle of the human body.

Her writing is featured in Yoga Journal, Positive Health, Massage & Bodywork, Vegetarian Time, Yoga & Health, Midwifery Today, and Massage Magazine as well as numerous small health & wellness publications.

A health correspondent for the Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper Liz writes twice a month for the Health & Fitness Section. Articles maybe found by searching Liz Koch in the archives at The Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Liz is the author of The Psoas Book, Core Awareness: Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise & Dance, Unraveling Scoliosis CD

and the creator of Core Awareness™

, a somatic approach to deepening the experience of the human core.

Beginning with the core muscle, the iliopsoas, Core Awareness™ focuses attention on sensation as a means of maturing and developing the proprioceptive nervous system (responsible for skeletal alignment, balance and orientation).

Liz is approved by the Florida Department of Health and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB), as an approved continuing education provider. She is a member of the International Movement Educators Association (IMA) and the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)

Rick Minnery

Rick is a senior Bowtech Instructor, Bowen Therapist and practicing midwife and is married with 4 children and two grand-children.

After a brief fling at professional golf, Rick has been a health care professional for 38 years. He has worked for the National Health Service in UK for most of that time as a psychiatric and general nurse and for the last 20 years has been practicing midwifery at Royal Lancaster Infirmary in the North West of England, close to the English Lakes District.

After graduating in midwifery and developing an interest in complementary therapies, he studied the Bowen Technique in 1994 and intended it to be an adjunct to his midwifery practice. However, in addition to his maternity clients, he found he was treating people who were neither pregnant nor female!

Rick is hoping to start work on a research project at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary on "Posterior Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy", for which ethical approval has been obtained but as yet not funding.

He has taught many Bowen classes throughout Europe, particularly in Scotland and counts amongst his former students a number of midwives, doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors. In addition to teaching basic practitioner courses, he also teaches on request "Bowen for Mother and Baby" seminars.

Oswald Rentsch

Ossie Rentsch was a massage therapist when he first met Tom Bowen in Adelaide at a December 1974 conference of naturopaths and natural therapists. As they shook hands, Ossie told Bowen, 'I would like to learn from you.' Ossie was surprised at his own words, since he didn't know anything about Bowen at the time. He was even more surprised when Bowen organised straight away with Rene for Ossie to observe at the clinic on the following Wednesday morning.

The trip between Ossie's home in Byaduk and the clinic in Geelong took over two hours in each direction, so Ossie didn't expect to observe Bowen more than the one time. That's not how it turned out, however: Ossie's wife Elaine, who had suffered a severe neck injury as a young child, became Bowen's client, and events spiralled from there.

People came from all over Australia to be treated by Tom Bowen; a large number of practitioners were eager to learn from him as well. Many came to observe him at his clinic, but no more often than once per week and with a maximum of one observer on any given day. Bowen’s teaching style consisted of answering an observer's questions in brief, non-technical terms, including a simple 'yes' or 'no' that would leave much to the imagination. Some observers lasted only one day, others a little longer, before leaving in confusion or being asked by Bowen not to return.

In all the years he 'taught' in this way, Bowen trained only six students in his methods. He referred affectionately to these six as his Boys. Oswald Rentsch, one of the founders of Bowtech, was the first or second of Tom's Boys, beginning in early 1974.

Ossie, as he is known to all who meet him, spent time regularly with Tom Bowen until Bowen's death in 1982. As Bowen made no notes or charts, at Tom's request, Ossie took on the task of documenting Bowen's work. This involved writing and drawing what he had observed Tom Bowen do, and then returning the notes to Bowen for approval and/or correction.

Rene Horwood was very helpful during this process, having worked with Bowen for some 16 years by the time Ossie made his first visit to the clinic. Over the course of several years, Ossie produced a set of notes that is considered by many of Tom's boys to be an accurate representation of many aspects of Tom Bowen's work.

In 1976, Ossie and his wife, Elaine, opened a clinic of their own in Hamilton, Victoria, where they practised the Bowen Technique exclusively. Their clinic was patterned after Bowen's own, and they followed his advice to never advertise.

Until Bowen's death in 1982, he visited their clinic from time to time and fine-tuned their moves. In his turn, and like the rest of Tom's Boys, Ossie and Elaine regularly visited Bowen's clinic to to keep up with the latest refinements. Two days before Bowen’s death, Ossie promised him that he would make Bowen’s name known around the world. In carrying out this promise, he began to transmit the technique to others a few years later.

A class in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia, was the first of many. By 1990, Ossie and Elaine were teaching full time and they leased their clinic in Hamilton. They now travel ten months out of the year, teaching in many countries around the world. Over 20,000 students have learnt the Bowen Technique through the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia (or Bowtech, which is the company name). Ninety instructors trained by Ossie and Elaine have taught Bowtech seminars in many countries and in multiple languages.

To see more about Ossie and Elaine, please go to www.bowtech.com

Please note that due to demand Ossie and Elaine's post-conference workshop is now full. However, if you are interested in registering your interest for an additional workshop on the thursday and friday after the conference please click here

Alexia Monroe

Alexia Monroe, BA, LMT, has been involved in holistic health for 35 years. Since learning Bowtech in 1993, she has devoted herself to its practice.

She lives in Prescott, Arizona, a beautiful mountain town with a colorful Wild West history. She has spent the last two years developing a lovely holistic facility, Creekside Center, which draws Bowen students from around the country.

Alexia first spoke of Neuroscience and Bowen at the 2000 Conference in Surfer's Paradise. She developed it further at the 2001 Cyprus Conference, and also introduced the topic of Water Research. Today she mixes these ingredients together in a pot of Quantum Soup, to present what she hopes is a tasty dish.