Not everyone acknowledges the benefits of complementary medicine including KATE O'Connor's friend - until the two of them decided to join the crowds visiting the Spring Complementary Medicine Festival in Ilkley. Here, Kate reports on what led to his change of heart.

This month saw the Spring Complementary Medicine Festival come to the Winter Gardens and Kings Hall in Ilkley. I went along with a friend who, for the sake of this article, I will call 'the cynic'.

I have been interested in alternative medicine and therapies for some years now so decided that the festival would be right up my street.

I thought it would be interesting to see what my friend, a complete novice, thought of the event.

On entering the King's Hall, we were pleasantly surprised to see so many stalls selling everything from crystals to food supplements.

The first stand that we came across was the Amethyst Complementary Health stand where we watched a lady having Thermal Auricular Canadian Ear Candling.

Therapist Bruce Walker explained that the treatment, which involves having a special candle placed in the ear and then lit, originated with the Hopi Indians who used them to get into a religious meditative state.

As the therapy came to the West, the more physical advantages of ear candling became apparent and it is now used to treat a wide variety of ailments such as sinusitis, tinitus and even snoring!

When asked about the festival, Bruce said: "It is fabulous, a truly excellent festival which gives us a great opportunity to promote our therapies and also to meet like minded people."

We moved on around the marvellous array of stalls, stopping to buy a magnetic bracelet for the cynic's bad wrist and then we stumbled across the stand belonging to Therapies for All, a York-based practice specialising in the Bowen Technique.

Although I have an interest in alternative therapies, I have to admit that I had no idea what this therapy involved.

Sam Andrews, practice manager, admitted it is probably one of the least known therapies.

She explained how the practitioners use slight manipulation to rebalance and re-align.

The gentle rolling movement stimulates the area and then the brain detects the area of instability and sends messages to heal the pain.

Sam said Therapies for All had visited the twice yearly festival before and that last year's festival had proved very successful - they had treated 63 people over the two days.

She added: "The festival is just buzzing! It definitely helps our business and it is really good to be able to promote the Bowen Technique to so many people. We will definitely be returning in Autumn."

We wandered around and came across a very relaxed looking group of individuals receiving spiritual healing from volunteers of the Leeds Healing Centres.

The patients looked to be in a complete state of bliss and I was keen to find out more. However, the cynic, typical to form, was not too sure.

Eventually, after much coaxing, we both decided to have a session of hands on healing.

My healer introduced himself and explained how the aim of the healing is to bring body, mind and spirit into harmony and balance.

I was sat down in a room full of people all receiving the healing, I admit that I was a little dubious as to how relaxed I would become with all the noise from the other stalls and people milling about.

My healer told me to take a few deep breaths and try to relax. He then laid his hands on my head and, placing his hands just above me, intermittently began to move around my body.

I could feel a definite heat coming from him and I was very aware of my shoulder which I had damaged in a car accident three years previously.

It began to tingle and there was an intense, soothing heat penetrating it. I felt very relaxed, almost as if I were sleeping, then he laid a hand on my shoulder and told me to open my eyes.

It took me a good few minutes and a drink of water to come round.

My healer said I had been very deeply under and I could feel the effects of the healing, including a huge sense of wellbeing, for the rest of the day.

When I met up with the cynic again, he had a relaxed smile arching across his face. He said it was the weirdest thing that he'd ever done but added that he really enjoyed it.

He said he could really feel it in his back, which he injured on an Army training exercise, and his back has been fine ever since. A definite convert!

On a high, we then visited Kam Tunningley's stand. Otley woman Kam recently set up her business, Mirrors to the Soul, which provides classes, groups and workshops in self development and meditation from beginners to advanced. She says she also teaches people to connect with angels and can provide a 'toolbox' to connect with spiritual guidance. She explained to me that she also does 'soul path readings' which have proved to be very popular at the festival.

This is where she can tell a person what their true purpose in life is.

Pamela Corin, therapist from the New Light Unitive Kinesiology Practice, said the festival was "very well done.

"It is very nice being able to come here and keep up with what's new in the world of alternative therapies. There is a great atmosphere here.

It is very useful to us as our therapy is very difficult to explain. It is so much easier to show people although the huge amount of interest means that we don't have as much time as we would like for trying out some of the other therapies."

The festival seemed to be a huge success, enjoyed by visitors and stallholders alike. Let's hope the next one, which is scheduled to be held on Saturday and Sunday November 1 and 2, will prove as popular.