The traditional Filipino massage hilot is one of the hottest trends in spa today.  
Hilot was, in fact, nominated as the "Spa Treatment of the Year" during the 2005 Baccarat Inaugural Awards in Hong Kong. Soon, the art of Filipino healing and massage will also be available in Europe. A Philippine non-governmental organization and a company in Germany recently signed a memorandum of understanding for the transfer of technology and introduce hilot in Europe.

In the Philippines, all the Department of Tourism-accredited spas are now required to incorporate hilot in their massage therapies. Out of some 90 spas in the country, some 37 DOT- accredited spas are now offering hilot to their local and foreign guests. 

Leading the pack in Metro Manila is the luxurious Oriental Spa of the five-star Mandarin Hotel in Makati City. Run by Swedish spa consultant Ronald Decter, the Oriental Spa is now offering five types of hilot massage therapies, with prices ranging from P1,800 to P3,200 for a 30 to 90-minute session. Other Manila hotels offering hilot massage are Westin, Oakwood, Manila Peninsula, Holiday Inn and Hyatt.

Posh resorts in the provinces that operate spas also include hilot in their menu of services. These include the Chi Spa of Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu, Dos Palmas in Palawan, Norture in Tagaytay, San Benito in Batangas, Ilang- Ilang in Tagaytay, and Punta Fuego in Batangas.  

Shangri-La Hotels in Mandaluyong, Makati and Boracay will soon have their own spas that will carry hilot services, according to Marjorie Lopingco, who is joining the hotel chain as its spa consultant. Lopingco, who is treasurer of the Spa Association of the Philippines, Inc. (SAPI), has been into spas, health and wellness business for six years now. She runs her own spas in Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City and the Bellevue Hotel in Alabang.

"Hilot is a deep tissue massage and in my spas, the Bellevue Spa Club and the Total Image day spa, we use banana leaves and virgin coconut oil," explains Lopingco.
Using warm banana leaves, which have antiseptic qualities, and virgin coconut oil, the hilot therapist can detect possible problem areas caused by some imbalance and disturbed flow of energy in the body, according to Lopingco. The therapist then can focus on the problem area until balance and harmony are restored and there’s a feeling of relief, she says.

SAPI is on the forefront of campaigning and pushing for the promotion of hilot. Its efforts in convincing the country’s tourism officials of the potentials and attraction of hilot, particularly to foreigners, have obviously paid off.
"What do we have to offer?” asks Lopingco. “Not the Thai massage. If we don’t have our own, we can’t compete globally in this kind of business."

"When SAPI launched hilot as a major platform to showcase the Filipino healing modalities," she says, "we could only hope that we can gather enough attention to our health and wellness program in this country."

Atho de la Cruz, hed of the membership committee of SAPI, adds: "We have also chosen hilot massage because it is something that can be explained scientifically." 
"The government has responded very well," Lopingco says. "Now health and wellness is one of the major thrusts of government." Philippine booths in health and wellness trade shows abroad offer a taste of hilot massage to stressed westerners.

On May 20, the DOT is holding a Hilot Festival in Quezon City. The DOT is also conducting training of hilot therapists in the Dagdagan traditional foot massage of the Mt. Province.
  
Hilot as an art of healing

"Wala pa ang mga Spanish sa Pilipinas, 500 years ago, ay may mga hilot na tayo," says Bibiano Fajardo, president of Association of Traditional Health Aid Givers Inc. or ATHAG. Bibiano, a chemical engineer and businessman, has spent 40 years on what he calls the "industry of healing." He is one of the founding trustees of the Philippine Institute for Traditional Health Care.

Hilots, Bibiano says, are Filipino traditional healers based in the communities who deliver health services. Historians and scholars had associated the Filipino traditional hilot therapy with the traditional Chinese medicine and the Ayuverdic or Indian traditional medicine. Somehow, under the Spaniards and Americans, this Filipino traditional medicine was largely ignored and suppressed.
"Hilot is a science, not all intuitive," insists Bibiano.

There are several types of hilots in the community, he explains. There’s the comadrona who is an expert in post-natal massage; the hilot, who is a bone setter; the acupressurist who aligns ugat (nerves) and balance electrical energy into the body; the reflexologist, who drains excess energy; and the herbalist, who uses herbs in healing.

In addition, Bibiano says hilots provide value redirection and spiritual formation. Our hilot healing practices are unique, he adds, because they give impart honesty, sincerity, respect, humility, understanding, discipline, and service to community and nature.

Hilot training for spa personnel lasts from three to six months. First, aspiring hilot therapists are taught to scan the back. “Malamig ba ito o mainit, and that tells the story,” Bibiano says. “Sunod ay sa paa, alamin kung ano ang balanse.”
ATHAG provides hilot training in the community too. In Batangas, they have a "Call a Hilot Center," which is part of the "Hilot at Herbal sa Barangay Program."

"We’re teaching barangay health workers the healing process -- kapa sa likod, the nerve points, confirming this through reflexes in the foot,” Bibiano says. “We teach them the natural format of diagnosis using the shape of face, color of the skin, or iridology. We teach them to gather herbs, we give them sambong, lagundi, tanglad, mansanilla to plant and propagate.

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