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About six years ago, Amber Korobinka did more than just throw out her back by lifting a keg of beer twice her size; as a client of the therapeutic technique of Bowen Therapy, her own route towards healing her chronic back pain, she had found a way to help others achieve pain-free living and wellness.
“I was helping a co-worker (at the restaurant) and lifted a keg of beer - 120lb girls are not supposed to lift 220 lb kegs of beer! That didn’t feel too good. I sat down and couldn’t get up after five minutes,” she explained.
And what was the pain like?
“I felt it right away and I just expected it to go away. Five minutes of excruciating pain is no fun, but totally manageable. Five months of excruciating pain is completely draining in every facet of your life: emotionally, mentally and financially,” she said of the incident that left damaged discs and pressed on the sciatic nerve, becoming a bit of a nightmare for Amber.
“The pain was getting worse and the duration was getting longer. I was depressed and extremely moody. I couldn’t cough, laugh or sneeze without head-to-toe pain, I always have that place in my mind and my memory, and when I see people in pain and they’re a bit rude to me, I always let it pass, like water off a duck’s back. You have to allow them that, because I’ve been there,” she said.
After visiting several different types of practitioners, Amber came across Bowen Therapy with miraculous results. At the time she was too busy trying to make ends meet to attempt going back to school, but she swore that some day she would learn this technique and help other people feel better and avoid surgery the way that she had avoided surgery.
Amber studied Bowen training under the guidance of Derek Murphy, a naturopathic doctor at The Bowen Institute in Mississauga, Ontario.
Today, Amber is one of 500 Bowen Therapy specialists in Canada. Bowen Therapy triggers the brain and nervous system hands-on, but it’s not exactly massage therapy. It lets the brain know that there are problems and the body figures the rest out itself.
Amber runs a natural health clinic, offering a wide range of services to enhance clients' health naturally.
“Our main focus is the unique practice of Bowen Therapy, which is used to correct serious physical complaints such as back pain, sciatica, whiplash frozen shoulder, asthma... even infertility. We also offer ionic detox footbaths, which are a great compliment to any type of body work, but are also becoming more and more popular for detoxification purposes,” said Amber.
One of her patient’s who had the most dramatic progress was a woman with MS who came into Amber’s clinic in a wheelchair and, after several treatments with Amber, she was able to miraculously get up and walk!
“Even now I still can just picture when she came into the office. With clients I always follow up, and with her it’s ‘have you had any increase in mobility?’ She eased her way out of her wheelchair, she had crutches supporting her, I just stood there with my jaw wide open as she took eight steps and then sat herself back down again. It’s great to see the hope happen like that. It’s just this miraculous Bowen technique that helped her get there.”
Amber is on a mission to demonstrate to people the miraculous results of Bowen therapy, as well as its cost-saving benefits.
“I look at the thousands of dollars that I had spent prior to finding Bowen, what you can do with Bowen therapy with a couple of hundred bucks exceeds the couple thousand dollars you’d be spending elsewhere,” she said.
Of course there are always setbacks in business, but Amber’s main setback has been the reluctance of insurance companies to cover Bowen Therapy under extended health plans.
Compared to the alternatives that they are providing coverage for, Bowen is much less expensive, with fewer treatments and more permanent results.
“I assumed it was a no-brainer, but I didn't realize what I was up against. My future business goals involve continued efforts to convince health plan administrators to cover Bowen Therapy. To do this, Bowen needs more exposure in the media and this is where I am focusing my efforts. Television interviews, newspaper write-ups, public speaking appearances... you name it, I will be doing my best to publicize it.”
When she first started practicing, Amber worked out of her home, but with two busy kids and a brand new baby, things got too hectic. By the time Alexandre was only 6 months old, she opened her first Let It Heal clinic in north Burlington.
Now there are more clinics opening in St. Catharines and Kitchener, with plans for additional locations in the future.
Written by: Irene Darra
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