Zero scores

But the York University politics lecturer admits she didn't know what lay ahead when she walked into Gail's consultation room.

After an initial consultation, she lay fully clothed on Gail's massage couch. Then, through a session lasting 40 minutes, Gail touched her very gently on various parts of the body with one fingertip.

"And I could feel energy flowing in those parts of my body," says Allison, who is 48 and comes originally from New York. "It was quite dramatic, but very pleasant and relaxing. I was really quite stunned. Afterwards I stood up, and I could feel the energy was flowing all around my body in a way it had not done before."

She left that first session feeling exhilarated, even euphoric, and filled with energy. She's since been back for two more sessions, and plans to go as regularly as she can.

The euphoria, she says, lasts most of the afternoon then wears off. "But I feel there has been a certain benefit from those three sessions. I hope to do it regularly and I suspect that if I did they the benefits would be maintained."

So just what is zero balancing?

According to Gail, a 51-year-old former charity fund-raiser and professional sports therapist, it's an approach to health and well-being that attempts to marry a Western understanding of the structure of the body with Eastern approaches to the flow of energy, or what the Chinese call 'qi'.

Developed by Dr Fritz Smith, a Californian osteopath, doctor and acupuncturist, in 1975, it is a combination of acupressure, massage and gentle traction.

The patient, Gail says, lies down and does nothing for 40 minutes. The therapist uses a combination of finger pressure and held stretches to "invite the release of tension accumulated in the deep structures of the body".

The aim is to provide a "point of stillness around which the body can relax, giving an opportunity to let go of unease and pain, and experience a new level of integration".

Gail herself describes the sensation of undergoing zero balancing as a kind of 'rushing' feeling as the qi that has been blocked begins to flow in a free way.

That free flow of qi through the various channels in the body is important, she insists, not only for physical health, but for mental, emotional and spiritual well-being too.

Like most complementary therapies, it is not a substitute for orthodox medical care, but as a complement to more traditional medicine. That said, she says it is great for stress reduction, pain, improving flexibility and posture - and generally promoting well-being.

"Pain usually occurs in those areas where energy flow is blocked or weakened, commonly in areas of tension or overuse," she says.

"Zero balancing restores energy flow, so removing the causes of pain and improving body awareness. There is a corresponding increase in flexibility, range and performance."

But how did a high-powered former charity fund-raiser come to be working as a complementary therapist?

Gail loved her job in Bristol with the Safer World Foundation, but the pay was low, as is common with many charity jobs.

She attended a three-week massage course in Bath and found that she loved it. "My hands liked doing what they were doing," she says.

So she signed up for an 18-month, part time course with the Blackpool-based Northern College of Massage, then trained as a sports therapist with the International Institute of Sports Therapy. She did her training in Bath, where her teacher was the then physio for Somerset Cricket Club.

She built up a reputation, working with cycle racing teams (her son, William Bunday, was a semi-professional) then athletes and even rowing clubs. It is work she continues to this day.

But zero balancing is clearly her first love. She first stumbled across this treatment in 1990 while in Bath.

She met an acupuncturist, and was introduced to the world of Eastern medicine. She liked its holistic approach, the fact that body and mind were not seen as separate but as part of the wider world. "The flow of qi is everywhere, everywhere," she says.

Her acupuncturist mentioned zero balancing, she went along to a five day study group - and she was hooked. "It was the first time I was learning to feel qi," she says, "and brother, is that exciting."

She attended a series of workshops and wrote 50 essays before being certified by the Zero Balancing Association UK as a practitioner.

Now Gail, who is quite proud of the fact she is the first zero balancer in Yorkshire, often likes to combine deep massage with zero balancing. "Being able to work on not only the physical body but also, using zero balancing, the mental/emotional processes, can produce deep and lasting positive effects," she says.

Gail works from She Leisure, the women-only gym in Fetter Lane, though she is looking for premises where she could also treat men. For more information or to make an appointment, call Gail on 01904 639095.

Updated: 10:13 Tuesday, February 26, 2002