It was September of 2019 when Jeremy Pascal and his wife Gerone of Grenoble, France became our Student here in the Academy. As they spent days of training with us, it is through Jeremy that we have received and important gift that we still enjoy today or even on the days to come and it is the water Kefir Grains.
What is water kefir grains?
Water kefir grains are clusters of good bacteria and yeasts living in a symbiotic relationship. They are held together by a polysaccharide (dextran) that produce Lactobacillus Hilgardii. These clusters of bacteria, yeast and polysaccharide look like crystals or grains of jelly that makes the kefir water work as probiotic drink. Water Kefir Grains is also known as Tibicos, Japanese Water Crystals, and California Bees. There is a speculation that Water Kefir Grains originated in Mexico, however, there are stories that it originates in Tibet, the Caucasus Mountians, and the southern peninsula of Ukraine.
What are the Health benefits of drinking Water Kefir?
Water Kefir is a probiotic beverage linked to various health benefit including improved immunity and even protection against cancer.
Probiotic are a type of beneficial bacteria found in your gut or microorganism that lives in our intestine. It plays an integral role in almost every aspect of health, from cancer prevention to immune function and beyond.
In this time of Pandemic of the Coronavirus Disease, everyone of us must have a strong immune system because it is our body’s natural defense system. It’s an intricate network of cells, tissues, and organs that bands together to defend our body against invaders. Those invaders can include bacteria, viruses, parasites, even a fungus, all with the potentials that can make us sick.
Aside from drinking Probiotic Drinks as Immune Booster food supplement, there are other natural ways we could strengthen our Immunity and they are the following:
Get enough sleep.
Eating Green Leafy Vegetables
Eating more healthy fats
Eat more fermented foods or take a probiotic supplements.
Limit added sugars
Engage in moderate exercise
Stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water
Manage our stress level
Take food supplement wisely
By taking this steps in maintaining your immune system strong may prevent you from having illness.
I remember as a kid when we have cough and fever, my mother will pick up some lagundi leaves, oregano and ginger. She will pound it together and extract the juice of the combined herbs and make us drink the juice. She will add little amount of sugar so that it may taste good.
Lagundi aka Vitex Negudo
Lagundi or Vitex Negudo was known in English as the 5 leaves chaste tree. It is one of the 10 Herbs that the Philippine Department of Health approved to be known as Herbal Medicine. Though there are lot herbs can be found in the Philippines that shows potency as medicine but only 10 were approved to be classified as medicine and one of it is Lagundi.
Lagundi has been tested clinically to be effective in treatments of cold, flu, bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and pharyngitis. With the rise of Coronavirus Disease we have seen Caloocan City is distributing Paracetamol and Lagundi as part of their help to the citizen in battling Covid 19. Though there is no record that it has been used to treat the disease but it plays role in the prevention of the spread of the virus. As a herbal medicine that been recognized to treat respiratory problem, this might be a promising herb that also has a potential relief or even cure to the Coronavirus Disease.
Though at this moment, the role of Hilot in the Philippines works on preventive and promotive health care, taking lagundi as tea will protect an individual from having the symptoms of the disease as long as the guidelines on social distancing, hand washing and physical fitness is observed. Healthcare professionals can also consider administering this herbs to treat the symptoms as it is used to treat colds, fever, flu, chronic bronchitis, pharyngitis, rheumatism, dyspepsia, boils, diarrhea and certain skin and digestive complaints.
Below are the list of traditional use of Lagundi:
Expectorant/Cough Remedy
Sore throat relief
Anti-asthma/Bronchodilator
Antioxidant
Anti-inflammatory
Diuretic
Antinociceptive/Analgesic
Anti-allergy
Antihyperglycemic
Antimicrobial
Anthelmintic /Antiparasitic
Promotes wound healing
Hepatoprotective
Improves digestion
Carminative
Relieves anxiety
Promotes relaxation
Insecticidal
Reduces risk of cancer
As Traditional Medicine Practitioner, we recommend you to see your healthcare professional or Certified Manghihilot before taking any herbal remedy. It is good to identify the symptoms first in order to have a proper treatment that will result to a successful cure of any ailments. Self Medication is discouraged and right procedure of herbal administration is required.
For more information on Philippine Traditional Hilot and Healthcare, you may contact me at +639952467040 or connect with me at Facebook at Rolando Gomez Comon.
Aloe Vera or Sabila is my very first herb that i like most. It actually is my favorite and for me i called this as my personal sacred Plant. I grew it as a child and even filled the wall of our fence with it. I thought it was just an ornamental plant but when i grow up I learn it has a powerful medicine within it. I also have seen its flower. Yes! Through time it gives flower and it smells sweet. Though i rarely see it blooming in pots and i don’t know when it will give flower once again. I’m so sad that i was not able to capture it flowers through film because that time i don’t have camera nor mobile phone that has camera. Yeah! I’m very old school that only knows soil and its healing herbs.
Aloe Vera or Aloe Barbadensis Miller has been known for its medicinal and cosmetic purposes. I have read that this plant was used to embalm ancient Pharaohs of Egypt as well as Jesus Christ. The word Aloe has an arabic origin which means Shinning Bitter substance while Vera is a Latin word meaning True. In my old notes on healing herbs, i found that this herb can endure extreme stress such as i test it hanging on the air without soil and water for about a year but still it is alive and didn’t dried up. It taught me spiritually to become patient, tolerant and humble. As i work on it, i found its power to be amazing. I apply it to open wounds, burns and even on skin infection. Our Elders have taught that this plant is a good hair grower and can heal all kinds of skin disease. And later on i found out that we can scrape of the white gel on it and eat it directly.
In making Herbal Healing Oil i add 1/4 cup of aloe vera gel in distilling coconut oil with mix herbs and when i put my finger in it while boiling i didn’t get burn.
It is found out that Aloe Vera has many active potential constituents such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes, sugar, lignin, saponins, salicylic acid and amino acids.
Vitamins: It contains vitamins A (beta-carotene), C and E, which are antioxidants. It also contains vitamin B12, folic acid, and choline. Antioxidant neutralizes free radicals.
Enzymes: It contains 8 enzymes: aliiase, alkaline phosphatase, amylase, bradykinase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, lipase, and peroxidase. Bradykinase helps to reduce excessive inflammation when applied to the skin topically, while others help in the breakdown of sugars and fats.
Minerals: It provides calcium, chromium, copper, selenium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium and zinc. They are essential for the proper functioning of various enzyme systems in different metabolic pathways and few are antioxidants.
Sugars: It provides monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) and polysaccharides: (glucomannans/polymannose). These are derived from the mucilage layer of the plant and are known as mucopolysaccharides. The most prominent monosaccharide is mannose-6-phosphate, and the most common polysaccharides are called glucomannans [beta-(1,4)-acetylated mannan]. Acemannan, a prominent glucomannan has also been found. Recently, a glycoprotein with antiallergic properties, called alprogen and novel anti-inflammatory compound, C-glucosyl chromone, has been isolated from Aloe vera gel.
Anthraquinones: It provides 12 anthraquinones, which are phenolic compounds traditionally known as laxatives. Aloin and emodin act as analgesics, antibacterials and antivirals.
Fatty acids: It provides 4 plant steroids; cholesterol, campesterol, β-sisosterol and lupeol. All these have anti-inflammatory action and lupeol also possesses antiseptic and analgesic properties.
Hormones: Auxins and gibberellins that help in wound healing and have anti-inflammatory action.
Others: It provides 20 of the 22 human required amino acids and 7 of the 8 essential amino acids. It also contains salicylic acid that possesses anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Lignin, an inert substance, when included in topical preparations, enhances penetrative effect of the other ingredients into the skin. Saponins that are the soapy substances form about 3% of the gel and have cleansing and antiseptic properties.
On basic uses of Aloe Vera, it is effective on wound or burn healing. I remember my nephew when he was 3 years old playing around my kitchen on our Canteen and he accidentally placed his whole hands on a boiling pot of soup. It was too hot because we boil it continually in low fire using fire wood for our Mami Soup and thankfully i have my aloe vera around and apply it directly, and amazingly no trace of burn can be found on my nephew.
Another testimony on the effectiveness of Aloe Vera is when my younger sister accidentally hammered her little finger. We brought her to the hospital and the doctor said she need to undergo surgery removal of her finger or stem cell treatment. We do not have enough money for the surgery so we just went back home and apply aloe vera on her finger. With patience and faith in God her finger was cured and no trace of being hammered can be seen.
Aloe Vera Gel can also be taken internally to treat stomach ulcer. It is also used to clean up our intestine and give us good bowel movement. It is said that Aloe Vera can also use to lower blood sugar and it has antioxidant to boost our immunity.
Plant aloe vera in your home it may be handy and helpful for you someday as it will heal you from your illness or it may be your living companion in your house that will listen to your prayers.
My Tita call this as Tahebo but when i conduct close study to this tree i learn that it is a Mulberry. I get this when it was still young at Cupang, Muntinlupa to the old place where Tita Edith lives. And now i see it bearing many berries.
I have utilized the leaves to make tea and have administered it to nanay to lower down her blood pressure as well as to relieve her constipation. Tatay made a joke that when nanay poop it will be like silk because Mulberry Leaf are used to feed the silk worm.
I use also the dried powdered leave of mulberry in making herbal tablet which i call as Amulaser.
Mulberry leaves are highly nutritious as it contains polyphenol anti oxidants, vitamins c, zinc, iron, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium.
There are study that says that Mulberry leaves can help lower blood sugar, cholesterol and inflammation. These attributes are useful in fighting heart disease and diabetes.
I believe that this leaf can do more when it comes to our health. As member of Luntiang Aghama that advocates Philippine Traditional Medicine through Hilot Academy, Mulberry Leaf can help improve our healthcare delivery by making it affordable and within easy reach.
Angelica Kai journey to Hilot Binabaylan started February 25- March 3, 2020. She was the last student that becomes Hilot Binabaylan before the Quarantine. And here is her story:
Since I was young, I have always been drawn to the spirit world, strange phenomenon, the supernatural, gods and goddesses, numerology, ESP, astrology, runes, you name it. In elementary school my favorite books were The Guinness Book of World Records, The Encyclopedia (for the pictures and bird drawings, etc. 😋), A book of the Planets, and book on ESP. Over the years since then, I have studied and learned from teachers from many different lineages. I have read and researched tons of books, but there was always something missing for me. I kinda just did my own thing and followed my own book while incorporating things that worked for me. Long story longer, I decided to embark on another spirit journey, after traveling many countries and meeting shamans, curanderas, yogis, medicine people, channelers, etc. etc.I decided to go back to my roots here in the Philippines to learn about who we were before we were colonized, mostly by the Spanish, Japanese and Americans. Each invasion causing slaughter, rape, destruction and erasure of language, spiritual beliefs, culture, indigenous alphabets, history, and knowledge of self. I came back to learn back the pieces that went missing. Let me tell you, there is a lot, so now it’s up to myself and others to use our own intuition and knowledge to carry on the traditions. So I am here, tapping into the land, myself, lineage and learning from traditional healers who are dedicated to the preservation of our culture pre-colonization. At Hilot Academy if Binibaylan (Those who walk the path of the Babaylan) (Babaylan is a shaman/healer…there’s much more, but look it up), I learned about herbs native to the Philippines, how to read them and create medicine. We learned to create herbal baths for pregnant women, ailing people, etc. Hilot, which is a form of healing body work using the four elements to balance the body. Hilot can also be used for bone setting and fertility. I learned how to read situations and divination from the spirit using traditional ways and also using Baybayin, the ancient script to read, literally, and to read your future I learned bentusa (cupping) to get dead circulation moving again using the element of fire 🔥. I learned about our ancestors, nature spirits, and goddesses/gods. Anitos, encantos, diwatas. So much. Too much. I have a long road ahead, but so far this has been part of my journey and I am honored to have been part of this. So now, it’s official, I didn’t need a diploma for it, but it’s official, I’m a certified Filipina witch 😋. Thank you to
Even before the Christian Era, our ancestors already know how to pray. It is documented that since the late Neolithic or before 2000 BC. the Ancient Filipino already know how to pray. This is evidenced through the cave wall writing in Angono, Province of Rizal through the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyph.
The engravings are mostly symbolic representations and are associated with healing and sympathetic magic.
This natural monument in the Province of Rizal shows that we as Filipino believe that there is a Higher Power than us that could provide us healing when we are sick. And in search for that Higher power we have learned how to pray. And for us we believe that Prayer has an amazing power to heal us in time of illness.
But how can Prayer Heal?
People recognize that they are sick when they feel it as secondary reaction to the main disorder of their internal system. It is through our feelings that we describe our illness. When we assess people when they are sick, we ask them how they feel. We usually measure their pain as well as the limitations it gives when we are sick.
Prayer can help people get well and have healing since it works towards the mind and emotion. Prayer is a form of Divine Communication that we express our thoughts, and our thoughts describe through prayer what we feel; and our feelings/ emotions as a reaction to the stimulus that been made. Prayer is a form of voicing out what is within us such as in a distressful situation we call out for Help.
In praying for Healing, we recognize that we are in need; that something is not going right within us that make us ill. By recognizing that something that is not right, we are given counsel by our higher selves the thing we need to do so that we may feel better and restore wellness back into our life.
Lana at Liwanag, our Tools in moving prayer
Hilot is a form of Prayer in Action. Action is needed when we pray as we have taught it in the Shrine.
Prayer in Action
Every action that we do in Hilot, whether in Pulse Reading Analysis, Tawas Spiritual Diagnosis, Suob/ Palina Ritual, Kilubansa, Dagdagay, Bentusa and Masahe are all form of Prayer and communication of the manghihilot to the Divine Self of the Patient we are healing. Thus as Manghihilot, our Orasyon or Prayer is not useless but it has direct effect of healing to relieve the person from illness and dis Ease.
Through out our writings and teachings here at Hilot Academy, we have taught that the medicine for our illness can be found within our yard. The herbs that grows within our community is our best medicine for our illness. But the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease that originates in China and now have spread world wide that it is declared as Pandemic, where can we find its cure?
We might not be able to help out our brothers and sisters in the Medical and Scientific Field, but the Wisdom of our Ancestors can be handy in preventing the spread of this disease.
As Manghihilot according to the principles of herbalism that we practice, we do not deal with the disease but rather we deal with the strengthening the body of man in order to heal our selves. The First Principle of Traditional and Alternative Healthcare is that we believe that man has own ability to heal our selves. That is why when we are sick complete bed rest and taking a lot of fluids are advised until the symptoms are gone.
The next thing we ensure is that the place where we live is thoroughly clean and sanitize so that re infection will not happen. Cleanliness and personal hygiene is necessary. We also have taught that in order to benefit from Healing, it is not only the body of the person we need to treat but also the environment. Remember our Gold Fish analogy?
When one of the Gold Fish is sick, we remove them from their aquarium and clean the aquarium, and the sick gold fish is separated to the healthy one so that it will not contaminate and infect the healthy one.
Sponge bathing is one treatment we do to maintain body temperature when the person is having a high fever. We place cold wet towel on the forehead to cool down and protect the brain from being cooked due to the rise of temperature.
Hypocrates also have mentioned that creating artificial fever would help in healing any kinds of illness. Thus the practice of Suob/Luop/Palina aka Steam Bath are advised to artificially raise up the temperature within the body to fight pathogens and free radicals that comes in to our system that cause illness.
Keeping our body warm and hydration is the best practice we provide in treating illnesses. In the practice of suob, we also prepare glass of drinking water so that from time to time we let the patient drink water as s/he will perspire a lot during the treatment. Giving a drink will hydrate the patient and replenish the loss of water in his system.
In keeping our body warm when we are sick, our parents cover us with blanket at wear us socks in our feet. There is a traditional practice also in making out feet warm is by clipping a clove of garlic or slice of ginger to the in between of our toes. And to some they also place a round slice of onion to the soles of their feet while wearing socks at bed time.
Hilot Masahe is also provided in giving warmth to the body as well as in aligning nerves or bone structure into position. Sometimes disalignment is also cause of pain and imflamation.
It’s an broken egg with its yolk on the base of the glass while the albumen floats and create images.
This is an Egg Tawas. Our Mexican #Kapwa Curanderos does this too in their Limpia Ritual. So as in Italy they do this once a Year at the Eve of the Feast of Saint Peter.
Aside from Tawas, Hilot Academy also teach how to remove sick energies using the Egg. So we invite you to learn this technique by enrolling to our Hilot ng Aghamang Binabaylan Training which is an 8 day stay in training at Hilot Academy.
Last September 24, 2019 i accept the case of Tatay Ricardo who suffered from CVA or stroke. It’s been already a year when the Family met me and try my service. Before me tatay rick had undergone Physical Therapy sessions and have acquired services from massage therapist who do home service. He even got burn when one of the therapist they hire give him a hot stone massage to awaken his nerves and blood vessels. Instead of getting well he got injury. I assessed his condition by asking some question. He could speak up well and the words he utters are understandable. He describe and demonstrated that he could not move his left part of the body from the upper arms and lower leg but his right side of the body are working well. After knowing every details i need to know, i started calling back the lost soul of tatay ricardo to be one with his body again. I apply the Binabaylan Healing oil and do the 5 elemental hilot manipulation to awaken his nerves and blood vessels. I also touch the healthy part of his body in order to assist the flow of life force in his body to create balance. At first there is so much radiating pain as a response to every healing touch i made. This signifies that his body is alive and responding to every touch i made. After a few stroke i ask tatay rick to describe the severity of the pain and thankfully in every movement the pain lessen until there was none.
In healing with Hilot, there must be 3 elements always present in every session:
Faith in God
Faith in the Healing of Hilot
Faith in your Self.
We acknowledge God in every healing session we make in Hilot as we believe that God is the ultimate source of Healing as he is also the source of Life. Secondly we believe that as Manghihilot, we are the channel of the Divine Blessings of God to heal all illnesses known to mankind and to maintain the Life Force Flowing through all creation; and lastly, the individual must also believe and trust their own ability to be healed and they must also be willing to participate in God’s power to Re Create life within us. The Patient and the Manghihilot acts as God’s Co Creator in Re Creating Life within the patient. The healing of hilot does not always take effect instantaneously. It also requires the element of time in order to create the artwork of life beautifully in our life.
As Manghihilot we call our recipient as Patient because it really require patience on both side in order for the healing effect take place. And here we can see that as Manghihilot, we just don’t give massage for relaxation because we do not pamper our patients but instead we teach them to be responsible in their own health. Now let us take a look at Tatay Ricardo as he progress with our Hilot Session for 3 months.
A friend of mine has a friend whom she want to help. This person is a woman abroad that has a good heart but suffers from great pain from her kidney stone. My heart is moved that i pray for her and send her some herbal tablets that i made which is Amulaser. After two weeks of taking the tablet, she private message me with a testimony.
” Good Evening Apu, Indeed i feel great as i wake up and there was time before for a whole day i could not climb the stairs in our house but today i can even lift 60 kilos of things. I am very thankful and hoping for my complete healing.”
A friend forwarded this message to me telling the amazing wonder of what Amulaser have made to her life.
“Good evening how are you? I already taken the herbal and i feel extra strong. My pain due to Rheumatism have gone and i can jog and run. I even have managed to lift towels with these extra strength i have after taking the herbs (Amulaser). ”
I am very happy to see this positive feedback that we gain after people taking our Herbal Food Supplement. It is my goal to help people improve their lives by simply removing their pain so that they could move and do again enjoy living their life. At the same time we give back the Glory to our Creator as she provide her blessings through Nature.
It’s an broken egg with its yolk on the base of the glass while the albumen floats and create images.
Hilot Academy of Binabaylan 
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