'I asked him if my legs were getting shorter. "Yes," he said. "But don't worry, it's only a temporary effect" '

Body Stress Release was developed in South Africa 15 years ago and was introduced here in 1993. It works on the principle that long accumulated tensions in the body lead to stiffness, postural distortion, headaches, backache and indigestion. The practitioner carries out a series of of touch tests to locate the sites of stress and then specific pressure is applied to encourage the body to release the stored tension, alleviating physical symptoms. I went to see Peter Van Minnen, a forty something South African with a greying pony tail who pioneered the technique here. "Body Stress Release is really catching on in the UK," he informed me, in his elegant practice in Westerham, Kent. "I can hardly meet the demand." Clients are not massaged or manipulated, nor are they required to remove their clothes. They simply lie on the couch while the practitioner locates the site of stored stress and tension using a series of light, flicking touches. "I simply apply gentle pressure to the various muscle groups and observe the bio-feedback - that's the body's response," Mr Van Minnen explained as he set to work.

A successful response includes the visible contraction of the legs. "It's quite fascinating," he said, as he began to lightly prod and flick. "You can actually see the legs shorten." He did my back first, and I lay there my eyes closed while his hands went to work - a quick pinch here, a prod in the buttock there, a gentle swipe across the back of the neck followed by a sudden poke in the ribs. Every so often he would wriggle my feet and I could hear him clicking his fingers. "That's so I don't get arthritis from my clients," he joked, as his fingers brushed my right shoulder blade with a feathery touch. "It can jump from patient into my joints."

I asked him if my legs were getting shorter. "Yes," he said with satisfaction. "They're really responding well - but don't worry, it's only a temporary reaction." Mr Van Minnen then carried out the same process to my front. "The root of the problem is the stress in your neck and ribcage," he said. "That's what's causing your backache - it also means that your not getting enough oxygen. You have circulatory problems, don't you?" "No," I said, unhelpfully. When I suggested that perhaps the bones in my lower back were simply misaligned, he declared this to be an impossibility. "There is no such thing as bones going out of alignment," he said. "That is a heresy which is being put about by the chiropractic community."

At the conclusion of the half hour session Mr Van Minnen told me he'd released "an awful lot of stress". But I didn't feel less stresses. I wrote out my cheque for £28 for the session. Mr Van Minnen suggested I sign up for four further sessions in order to benefit. "You'll probably do quite a lot of emotional release," he said as I reached for my coat. "You'll feel quite tearful, in fact."

The Sunday Telegraph Journalist ~ Isobel Wolff