What if you could interview your doctors before paying them to treat you? What if you could choose your course of treatment based on which practitioners —their personalities and philosophies—resonated most with you. What if you could sample their treatments (for under $30) before whipping out the checkbook to cover much larger fees?

The Awaken Wellness Fair—a holistic healer and vendor's bonanza—held Sunday at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, allowed locals to meet and sample a number of holistic healers and remedies, without the pressure of committing to any one approach or practitioner.

Fair Founder and Director Paula Caracappa is herself an energy healer—working as a Reiki master and polarity practitioner—but her overall goal for the fair is to make holistic practices more available to the general public…even skeptics who might not independently seek out alternative medicine.

"My mission is to make holistic wellness available to everyone," Caracappa said. "Part of the reason I hold the fair in a hotel is that it is more familiar to people."

Defining holistic wellness, Caracappa said she believes anyone who "helps you find health—whether physical, emotional or a combination of the two—is a healer. I'm all for helping people who provide wellness services and products succeed."

Beverly Shipko, a visitor at Sunday's fair who practices Quantum Biofeedback out of her home in Ardsley, said the wellness fair is a great opportunity for healers and potential clients to expand their horizons and add more pieces to the enigmatic puzzle that is health.

"I've come to the fair the past three years, and every time I walk away with another practitioner's name in my pocket," Shipko said. "When I got here today, I was very stressed: I was running late and then couldn't find parking."

Shipko then attended the fair's first lecture/presentation, Tibetan Singing Bowl Sound Healing Experience with Beth Mullin.  According to Shipko, Mullin had an array of metal bowls of all different depths; when touched, each bowl made a different sound or vibration, making everyone present slip into a semi-meditative state. "By the time I came out, I felt fabulous," she said. "I was in a totally different place."

For someone new to holistic medicine, though, being faced with so many options can be overwhelming. Below is a list of some of the vendors and healers at Sunday's fair, with descriptions of how, they say, their practices and products can help.

Universal Biomat

Easily draped over a chair or laid out on a bed, the Universal Biomat supposedly "warms the body with radiant heat." The mat itself is filled with crystals, which, vendor Agnes Dion said, "work on the principal of infrared waves and negative ions. The amethyst crystals help with relaxation and balancing."

According to Dion, last week she sprained her ankle. "That same night, I slept on the biomat," she said. "The next morning, I woke-up pain free." 

Spiritual Healing/ Chakra Diagnosing

Alicia "Spiritual Healer" represents a program called "The Healer's Preparation Program." Student India Barkley is currently in the program, practicing as a Reiki II practitioner, energy healer, and chakra reader.

"Chakra deals with physical and emotional information coming from a person's body," Barkley said. "Everyone comes off of everyone, and based on how a pendulum swings when held over a person, we can determine how to help people heal."  According to Barkley, the first step to healing is awareness. "By learning where exactly the problems are, you immediately start to heal.

Acuhyphonotherapy

Olga Ivashkov has devised a unique practice in which she combines acupuncture and hypnotherapy. Originally a medical doctor in Russia, Ivashkov began working as a hypnotherapist in her home country and continued after moving here. She then enrolled in acupuncture school to add Chinese medicine to her approach. "When you do the two together, the results are really great," she said.

According to Ivashkov, she can help people stop smoking, overcome alcohol or cocaine addictions, treat pain and improve their skin, among many other things. 

"The Bars"

'The Bars" is a method in which practitioners lightly touch 32 points on a person's head to dissipate the thoughts and emotions related to those points.

"Our thoughts, feelings and emotions can be constricting," said practitioner Christine DiDomenico. "We help clients let go of the significance of these thoughts, choosing the ones that work for them and rejecting the ones that keep us from being our true selves."

"Shift Happens: Energy Healing"

Energy healer Elise Krentzel has created a program which helps people "shift into the selves they were meant to be." According to Krentzel, she has been an empath as long as she can remember. "I have always been able to see the truth about people, especially my mom's friends when I was growing up," she said.

When reading a person's energy, Krentzel said she is tapping into a person's inner self or true being. "People are trained not to believe in things when they sense them," she said. "I believe that I am a just a channel for that energy because I am open to it."

Jewelry with Intension

Beaded bracelets of Swarovski crystals, Intentions Jewelry is more than just an accessory. "This jewelry is infused with Reiki energy," said Shareane Baff, the healer/designer who makes the jewelry.

"The jewelry remove negative energy from a person's energy field and brings more being into life," she said.

(*Editor's note: I tried on one of the "pain management" bracelets while taking notes on Baff's explanation.  Just as she predicted, the tension in my shoulder dropped even though I hadn't changed my position at all.  It was very eerie and very impressive.)

Financial Planning for your Health

John Belluardo, a Tarrytown resident whose office is in Dobbs Ferry, started a company called Stewardship Financial Services Inc. "It's no secret that financial stress can affect a person's physical well being," Belluardo said. "I will work with anyone at any income level to help them get their finances in order."

Though his company is for-profit, Belluardo said his overall goal is to succeed while helping people. "The best people can do is spend as little money as possible on financial planning without sacrificing quality. That's what I do." 

Integrative Medicine and Nutrition

Integrative Medicine and Nutrition offers comprehensive diagnostic testing for patients, and then a regimen of herbs, vitamins, food or IV nutrition to help patients reach optimal health. Representative Sunny Seward said, "Our testing is much more detailed and comprehensive than most practices."

Herbal Therapy

Master Herbalist Andrea Candee specializes in treating chronic Lyme disease. "In my lab, I analyze a patient's saliva to find the underlying pathogens and then offer herbal remedies to get the person well," she said. 

In addition to treating Lyme, Candee specializes in children's health, working with ADHD, ear infections, Asthma and digestive problems. Her book, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child offers a number of home remedies parents can use to help their children get well.

Here's one trick: to remove a splinter or tick head, Candee said to cut a dark spot off a ripe banana peel and tape it over the affected area before going to bed. "By the morning, whatever you wanted to remove will have come to the surface."

Let us know if it works!