ILKLEY was home to the fourth Animal Energy World Conference this month.

Over 80 people gathered at The Craiglands Hotel, with 20 dogs as companions, to welcome speakers and delegates from around the world, who were all experts in one or more aspect of the energies of animals and of the special healing that can be linked with animals.

Delegates watched a film of a sperm whale who decided to swim over repeatedly to investigate the researcher of whale behaviour and migration, Madeleine Walker. There were also presentations on Rupert Isaacson’s Horse Boy story, which tells how horse-back riding has been found to soothe the extremes of people who have autism. Further presentations explored the Emotional Freedom Technique with animals and other ways of using the vibrational energy of plants and their energies for healing and supporting animals.

This was the fourth annual conference, created by Marie Holliday, a practitioner of the Emotional Freedom Technique, particularly for animals. She is based in Spain, and has developed a world-wide network of animal owners, therapists and researchers who all work with animals.

Local company, Yorkshire Flower Essences, based in Nelson Road, Ilkley, was invited to launch its new range, ‘Scintilla Essences for Animals’ during the conference. These essences have been developed as combinations of Bach Essences, Bailey Essences and Verbeia Essences. All three ranges are made by hand by Yorkshire Flower Essences, in Ilkley. The Verbeia range was created by Jenny Howarth, with the energies of plants and the environment of Ilkley Moor. The Bach range includes all the 38 essences made originally by Dr Edward Bach, but these were created by the late Dr Arthur Bailey and are being produced in Ilkley

Jenny Howarth, also a homeopath at Ilkley Complementary Therapies and co-founder of the new, Nelson Road Flower Essence Company, said: "It is a delight to know that these essences are offering emotional comfort to many animals who may have been suffering for many years, as a result, for example, of being taken from their mother too young, or of being re-homed after spending time in an animal shelter, or being in a place as a young animal where they were unable to go through the normal socialisation processes. There is a Scintilla Essence that has been developed specifically for each of these and other emotional states, which give rise to many of the behavioural patterns that can pose difficulties for the animal and owner alike."

Caroline Thomas’s book ‘The Power of Bailey, Bach and Verbeia Essences for Animals’ was also launched at the conference. It is the result of over five years of work, research and trials of essences. The book examines the essences in these three ranges and analyses their role, guiding the reader into confident use of flower essences in the support of their pets.