Julian Baker – CBS Founder and Principal Instructor

Julian Baker introduced the technique to the UK in 1992 on his return from Australia where he had learned Bowen.  He is the author of two best selling books on Bowen and has taught thousands of students and is the creator of the comprehensive CBS Teacher Training Programme, the most thorough of its kind.

Since 2007 he has been leading human dissection classes at Oxford University, St Andrews School of Medicine, Imperial College London and many others, aimed at bringing a new understanding of anatomy to manual and movement therapists. He is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on Fascia, Functional Movement and Anatomical application and writes regularly for professional journals.

His vision, passion, innovation and insight into Bowen and the wider world of manual therapy, together with his remarkable new approach to human anatomy is unparalleled in the field of anatomical science and complementary medicine.  Renowned as an exceptional group leader and a  dynamic and entertaining presenter, Julian is a sought after public speaker and regularly appears at conferences, gatherings and pod-casts around the globe.

His understanding of the human body has on many occasions been described as encyclopaedic, whilst simultaneously possessing the gift of explaining even the most complex of subjects in a simple and engaging manner, citing Mark Twain, who once said, “The mark of a good teacher is the ability to explain the difficult in simple terms.”

He strives to bridge the gap between established medical science and complementary medicine and has undertaken extensive study in both fields, with a specialist interest in neurobiology. An expert member of  The Federation of Holistic Therapists, he has served on the council of the Institute of Anatomical Sciences and the British Complementary Medicine Association.

Not afraid of controversy or rocking the boat, Julian challenges many of the established principles of anatomical understanding as well as the unscientific claims of the complementary therapy community where they arise, striving to spark conversation and debate wherever possible.

Julian views Bowen as a system of bodywork that engages the nervous system, eschewing the tired obsession with fascia as a therapeutic interface, whilst supporting this approach with sound science and physiology.

He proposes that Bowen is a system of bodywork more than a series of procedures to be learned, aiming to develop students into rounded bodyworkers reacting to an individual client’s needs, rather than creating automatons performing procedures repetitively, without understanding why.