The Therapist's Blind Spot: What aren't you looking for?

How familiar treatment patterns can quietly narrow our curiosity.

You Know Where to Treat. But Where Have You NOT Looked?

Sometimes the most important clue isn't hidden- it's simply somewhere we never thought to look.

The longer we work as therapists, the more we recognise.

A familiar presentation walks through the door and possibilities immediately appear.

We’ve seen this before.

We know where to look.

We know what has worked before.

Experience is valuable.

But there’s a potential trap:

The more we know where to look, the easier it becomes to stop looking.

Protocols aren’t the problem

When I began learning Bowen, I relied on protocols.

And I believe students need them.

Protocols are the recipe book. They help us learn what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how different parts of the body may respond.

But eventually we need to move beyond the recipe.

For me, that happened in stages.

First I learned the protocols.

Then I became fascinated by connections: pelvis and TMJ, diaphragm and breathing, foot and hip.

But I’ve realised even our favourite connections can become another kind of protocol.

Hip? Check the foot.

Pelvis? Check the jaw.

We’ve made the map bigger…

but we’re still following a map.

So these days I’m increasingly interested in a different question:

Where did this story begin?

Imagine someone comes in with persistent hip pain.

Of course I’ll look at the hip and pelvis.

But I also want to know:

Was there an old ankle injury?

Has that big toe lost movement?

Was there surgery years ago?

When did their walking pattern change?

What was happening before the hip began to complain?

Is there something in their history that they haven’t mentioned because they don’t think it’s relevant?

Suddenly we’re not searching for the hip protocol.

We’re investigating a story.

And sometimes a seemingly insignificant detail gives us a reason to look somewhere we hadn’t considered.

But here’s the important bit

An old ankle injury doesn’t prove why someone’s hip hurts.

A jaw problem doesn’t explain every pelvic problem.

And an interesting fascial or neurological connection isn’t automatically the answer.

Health history gives us hypotheses, not answers.

It gives us clues.

And a clue should make us ask another question - not rush to a conclusion.

That’s why one of the most useful questions I think we can ask ourselves when something appears to make perfect sense is:

WHAT ELSE?

What else happened?

What else am I seeing?

What else haven’t I looked at?

And perhaps the most revealing one:

What am I seeing that DOESN’T fit my current idea?

Because that may be the clue that takes us somewhere completely different.

There’s one more kind of flexibility we rarely talk about

As bodyworkers, we’re constantly asking the body to adapt.

To let go of protection.

To find another movement strategy.

To have more options.

To become more flexible.

Perhaps we need to ask the same of ourselves.

If we’re asking our clients’ bodies to become more flexible, we need to remain flexible about what we think their body is telling us.

We don’t have to abandon what we know.

We simply need to remain willing to question it.

The body leaves clues.

Stay curious longer than you stay certain.

Want to keep looking beyond the obvious?

My free Listening Body ebook explores some of the less-obvious connections within the body and the clues we can easily overlook.

If this article has made you wonder:

“What else might I be missing?”

you’ll probably enjoy it.

→ GET THE FREE LISTENING BODY EBOOK - www.jacquihoitingh.com/listening

Jacqui Hoitingh

Bowtech Senior Instructor & Bowen Therapist

The Listening Body