BodyTalk in Tacloban

ACCESS participants at the Redemptorist Church compound: priests, volunteers and healthworkers of Tacloban. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

I could not move my feet when I came, and now I can dance.”

“My back was so painful, but now it feels so much lighter.”

“I had a severe headache, but now it’s gone. I feel so sleepy instead. I love it.”

These were some of the remarks of the 20 health workers and priests who gathered for a class on BodyTalk Access techniques early this month at the Redemptorist Church in Tacloban, Leyte.

The church on Real Street had been kept wide open to 3,000 people in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” and more recently on Jan. 30, when howling winds and news of another storm pushed 160 families back there, and an army of nuns struggled to serve lugaw to the disoriented crowd.

The past week, the parish priest, Fr. Edwin Bacaltos, CsSR, who had been an amazing center of calm amid the chaos, again opened wide the doors of the convento for BodyTalk healing of traumatized Tacloban poor.

Energy-based medicine

BodyTalk as an energy-based medicine is relatively new to the Philippines but it is already in 49 countries around the world. This form of therapy, according to its founder, John Veltheim, “allows the body’s energy systems to be resynchronized so they can operate as nature intended.”

He explains, “When a body is operating at its optimal level, each system, cell and atom is in constant communication with each other at all times. Through exposure to the stresses of day-to-day life, these lines of communication can become compromised, which can lead to a decline in physical, emotional and mental health.”

Interestingly, a huge drug lobby in the United States has reacted  to the spread of BodyTalk by writing in blogs that “BodyTalk is the greatest scam of our time.” BodyTalk practitioners see this reaction as a tribute to the simple and effective system, which does not preclude other modalities but makes use of the thousands of years of wisdom of Eastern medicine, as well as the mathematical and quantum theories of the West.

Currently being taught in the Philippines is BodyTalk Access, which is a package drawn from the wider system of BodyTalk. Dorothy Friesen and Ben Manalo, long-time practitioners of BodyTalk from Canada and the United States, have taken time off from their busy global schedules to share their insights and skills with local communities.

They say that BodyTalk Access teaches the individual to open channels of internal communication within the body’s blood, nerves, lymph and qi (energy).

BODYTALK trainer and practitioner Dorothy Friesen tapping Davao project analyst Remy Guillena at the Sibulan, Mt. Apo indigenous people seminar on Access. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Prized than relief goods

In disaster-stricken areas like Leyte and Samar, Access techniques are being welcomed as precious, often more precious than the relief goods being distributed. It is easy to see why:  they lift the spirits as well as heal the body.

“Our emotions are frozen,” said one Tacloban health worker, “and we need a therapy that works on all dimensions.”

On the second day of the BodyTalk class, she said, “I did BodyTalk on my husband and he felt so good after the Access techniques that he said, ‘If this is what you learn from the Redemptorist church, you ought to go back for more!’ He had been wary of my staying out late at night.”

Concepcion Nicol, 68, from the shattered Barangay 57 in San Jose, took her two granddaughters to the next BodyTalk practice class. The girls breathed heavily, cooperating intensely with Julius the practitioner, and were soon relieved of their aches and fever.

Profuse with thanks

Was it faith? Was it the tapping and the breathing that helped them? It didn’t matter, for the grandmother was profuse with thanks, and there was a round of clapping and smiles.

It is no coincidence that release, relief and laughter combine, for this place is also the shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It was shielded from the harshness of Yolanda by the massive Protestant institution, Bethany Hospital, fronting it on Real Street. Nowhere has ecumenism been so praised as in this convento.

Another health worker, 49-year-old Marilou Fusilero of San Jose town, also expressed relief after her BodyTalk experience. Until recently a nurse with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the region, Fusilero said: “This BodyTalk therapy is so simple but comprehensive, it mends both body and spirit. Among the poor, there is no problem accepting such modality. In our situation, we cannot afford expensive medicine. Access techniques call for no drugs, no doctor. This therapy is very timely.”

These participants affirmed what Friesen often says in the course of training people: “We use no pills, no needles. There are no material costs. We use only our bodies, just as God created us.”

“We are glad we don’t need external help for this modality,” Mila Baoy, a former barangay official, said, “Aid comes too little and too late, anyway.”

Impassioned letter

She echoed the words of poet-artist Bro. Karl Gaspar, who leads a highly committed  Redemptorist lay mission team to the afflicted areas (Tacloban,  Palo, Tolosa, Tanauan and Dulag). Last week, Brother Karl wrote an impassioned letter to the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines in which he said:

“By Feb. 16, it would have been the 100th day since Yolanda struck. But as one goes around the city and the adjacent coastal areas, one is confronted with despair. One wonders where the billions raised by the international and local aid agencies has gone if one views the reality on the ground.

“Except for cash-for-work projects, temporary shelters and tents, distribution of housing materials as well as seeds and farm implements, very little has reached the survivors.”

So a health modality that requires no external assistance and no props other than human hands, is like a breath of fresh air.

The young Fr. Raimar Soliza, CsSR, has seamlessly incorporated BodyTalk Access techniques into his house blessings and rituals for Tacloban survivors. At Barangay 60, where people say there are still many unclaimed bodies under the debris, participants at a community blessing announce that their prayer is for “good health” for everyone and to be kept “safe from further calamities.”

So Father Soliza ends the session with everyone tapping, tapping, tapping their heads and their hearts. And letting the Spirit take over.

I could not move my feet when I came, and now I can dance.”

“My back was so painful, but now it feels so much lighter.”

“I had a severe headache, but now it’s gone. I feel so sleepy instead. I love it.”

These were some of the remarks of the 20 health workers and priests who gathered for a class on BodyTalk Access techniques early this month at the Redemptorist Church in Tacloban, Leyte. 

The church on Real Street had been kept wide open to 3,000 people in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” and more recently on Jan. 30, when howling winds and news of another storm pushed 160 families back there, and an army of nuns struggled to serve lugaw to the disoriented crowd.

The past week, the parish priest, Fr. Edwin Bacaltos, CsSR, who had been an amazing center of calm amid the chaos, again opened wide the doors of the convento for BodyTalk healing of traumatized Tacloban poor.

Energy-based medicine

BodyTalk as an energy-based medicine is relatively new to the Philippines but it is already in 49 countries around the world. This form of therapy, according to its founder, John Veltheim, “allows the body’s energy systems to be resynchronized so they can operate as nature intended.”

He explains, “When a body is operating at its optimal level, each system, cell and atom is in constant communication with each other at all times. Through exposure to the stresses of day-to-day life, these lines of communication can become compromised, which can lead to a decline in physical, emotional and mental health.”

Interestingly, a huge drug lobby in the United States has reacted  to the spread of BodyTalk by writing in blogs that “BodyTalk is the greatest scam of our time.” BodyTalk practitioners see this reaction as a tribute to the simple and effective system, which does not preclude other modalities but makes use of the thousands of years of wisdom of Eastern medicine, as well as the mathematical and quantum theories of the West.

Currently being taught in the Philippines is BodyTalk Access, which is a package drawn from the wider system of BodyTalk. Dorothy Friesen and Ben Manalo, long-time practitioners of BodyTalk from Canada and the United States, have taken time off from their busy global schedules to share their insights and skills with local communities.

They say that BodyTalk Access teaches the individual to open channels of internal communication within the body’s blood, nerves, lymph and qi (energy).

Prized than relief goods

In disaster-stricken areas like Leyte and Samar, Access techniques are being welcomed as precious, often more precious than the relief goods being distributed. It is easy to see why:  they lift the spirits as well as heal the body.

“Our emotions are frozen,” said one Tacloban health worker, “and we need a therapy that works on all dimensions.”

On the second day of the BodyTalk class, she said, “I did BodyTalk on my husband and he felt so good after the Access techniques that he said, ‘If this is what you learn from the Redemptorist church, you ought to go back for more!’ He had been wary of my staying out late at night.”

Concepcion Nicol, 68, from the shattered Barangay 57 in San Jose, took her two granddaughters to the next BodyTalk practice class. The girls breathed heavily, cooperating intensely with Julius the practitioner, and were soon relieved of their aches and fever.

Profuse with thanks

Was it faith? Was it the tapping and the breathing that helped them? It didn’t matter, for the grandmother was profuse with thanks, and there was a round of clapping and smiles.

It is no coincidence that release, relief and laughter combine, for this place is also the shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It was shielded from the harshness of Yolanda by the massive Protestant institution, Bethany Hospital, fronting it on Real Street. Nowhere has ecumenism been so praised as in this convento.

Another health worker, 49-year-old Marilou Fusilero of San Jose town, also expressed relief after her BodyTalk experience. Until recently a nurse with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the region, Fusilero said: “This BodyTalk therapy is so simple but comprehensive, it mends both body and spirit. Among the poor, there is no problem accepting such modality. In our situation, we cannot afford expensive medicine. Access techniques call for no drugs, no doctor. This therapy is very timely.”

These participants affirmed what Friesen often says in the course of training people: “We use no pills, no needles. There are no material costs. We use only our bodies, just as God created us.”

“We are glad we don’t need external help for this modality,” Mila Baoy, a former barangay official, said, “Aid comes too little and too late, anyway.”

Impassioned letter

She echoed the words of poet-artist Bro. Karl Gaspar, who leads a highly committed  Redemptorist lay mission team to the afflicted areas (Tacloban,  Palo, Tolosa, Tanauan and Dulag). Last week, Brother Karl wrote an impassioned letter to the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines in which he said:

“By Feb. 16, it would have been the 100th day since Yolanda struck. But as one goes around the city and the adjacent coastal areas, one is confronted with despair. One wonders where the billions raised by the international and local aid agencies has gone if one views the reality on the ground.

“Except for cash-for-work projects, temporary shelters and tents, distribution of housing materials as well as seeds and farm implements, very little has reached the survivors.”

So a health modality that requires no external assistance and no props other than human hands, is like a breath of fresh air.

The young Fr. Raimar Soliza, CsSR, has seamlessly incorporated BodyTalk Access techniques into his house blessings and rituals for Tacloban survivors. At Barangay 60, where people say there are still many unclaimed bodies under the debris, participants at a community blessing announce that their prayer is for “good health” for everyone and to be kept “safe from further calamities.”

So Father Soliza ends the session with everyone tapping, tapping, tapping their heads and their hearts. And letting the Spirit take over.