Have you felt that you are worthless? It happened to me one time in my life. It was way back 2008 when i have a live in partner who is working. I feel ashamed of my self because both of us are living in my parents house while my partner is employed and working. I really feel bad to my self that one night at the height of the full moon, i go out and pray. I went to a vacant lot in front of our house where the tiger grass stand tall. I went inside the bushes, lie down on the ground and cry. As i look up to the moon, I pray to God and the stars and the moon are my witness: “What is my worth?” Then a voice comes up in my mind asking: “what do you know to do?”; “I am not a degree holder, but i only knew Hilot and Tawas.” then the voice said: “Use that to live.”
When i go back home i tell this vision to my partner and she encourage me to find job. So i decided to apply for a Job in a well known Spa in Quezon City but I have no success. That i think of applying work abroad. I search for an agency that offers Massage Therapy Job and I found one that sent people to Oman, but when i applied, i was rejected because they are looking for a licensed one specifically who have a National Certification. I went out of that agency very down. In my sadness, I just walk my way home. While walking, i am talking to the spirit ranting all the bad feelings that i had. And on the way, i saw a poster saying:
” Free TESDA Certification and Assessment.”
So i checked that post if there is an address and i see that this offer can be found at Tesda Office in Quezon City. So I went straight to Tesda Office and said that I want to Claim the Free Tesda Certification and Assessment. And the Officer who assist direct me to go to Human Care Training and Assessment Center and from there I received my Assessment and been rewarded my first National Certification for Massage Therapy. When the Assessment Center Manager saw my credentials, she recommend also that i should take the Certification to become an Assessor and Trainer and when i had completed that my Journey in Hilot Wellness have began. From there my path have changed, from being a Tambay (Jobless/ Home Body) i had a busy life of teaching Hilot and have established Philippine Certified Wellness Therapist Association which the members are all Nationally Certified and Assessed that almost reached to 100,000 members in Quezon City and Manila alone.
I never thought that my knowledge and skills in Hilot is valuable enough that could help other people not only in maintaining their life force but also to be employed locally and internationally. We have shared our knowledge not only to our fellow Filipino but also to foreign nationality who are curious about our Natural Healing Tradition, that we also have established the Philippine Japan Hilot Association which is also recognized by the Philippine Department of Tourism.
Now, we who are fully living in the 21st Century and currently struggling over the Pandemic of CoronaVirus 19, we are taking a very important role as Manghihilot in our Society in uplifting their mind and spirit that all of us will pass through this challenge of time like Hilot who was endangered to be eradicated due to the evolution of Health Care and Modern Medicine.
Let us not take Rejection to be a turning point in changing what we know, but let us use that as a challenge to embrace harder to the gifts that has been given to us by the Divine and use it that we may see life.
The Gift of God is not a trash to be ignored,like what we are making a stand now on the practice of tawas that some advocates make as a laughing stock. Traditional Chinese Medicine was one a Spiritual Methodology as they value the concept of Chi which is also applied in Fung Sui. In Hilot we value the Soul of Man which manifest the life force within us. People may laugh at us but when our Soul left our body then people will cry.
Hilot Academy of Binabaylan 