Kalipimu: Move with Spirit

By Katrina A. Holigores
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 16:33:00 03/28/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Stuck. Trapped. Blocked. Disconnected. These are words that formed part of my daily dictionary. Active as I was on the outside, inside I was feeling lethargic, and going through the motions of life on automatic pilot. I had tried meditation to clear my head of a thousand voices—but they just wouldn’t shut up. Even my outward movements felt mechanic, truth be told, finding quiet time was a skill I did not possess. An inner desperation led me to an old acquaintance (on recommendation of a mutual nephew) to Kalipimu. Kali what? Kalipimu, without delving into details (since you can Google it or go to www.innerdance.multiply.com) it was explained to me as an ancient healing ritual indigenous to pre-colonial Philippines—practiced by tribal shamans, the baylan (male) and the babaylan (female). They were the soul “doctors” before Christianity was brought (some say ‘forced’) upon us with the arrival of the Spaniards.

Feel it to believe it

But describing the power of this healing ritual in words is unjust. Experiencing it is the only way to go, or in this case, flow. I was simply asked to sit down and close my eyes. I felt light touches on various parts of my body and later on was slowly and seemingly stretched with gentle pushes and pulls. Part of me thought, “Ok, feels nice, but … ” and my mind started to drift off, to the usual traffic of what I did that day, what I was going to do later … etc., etc. The being moved around continued and at some point I found myself lying down on my back, eyes still closed taking in the music that was being played and trying desperately not to think about anything else but stay in the moment. I decided to just let my friend finish his work and I would politely just lie still until the session was over.

The tipping point

My friend stopped physical contact with me and moved a short distance away. My hands started to tremble, and jerk—to an irregular beat all on their own. My arms, planted firmly on the floor, started to sway, in no fixed direction left, right, round, up, down. At this point I should have freaked out, but I didn’t, I was mesmerized, transfixed (even with my eyes still closed) by the flow, by the loss of control which was still, weirdly enough, controlled. I felt little snaps of electricity traveling from my elbows to the tips of my fingers, as if something was slowly being released into the world and beyond. The trembling and shaking continued and this time, the voices in my head did shut up and my mind flew free. There was a lightness I felt, although I was still very connected to my body. All I could comprehend in this in-between state was that something had opened up within that allowed me to see into another dimension of myself, one that acknowledged an inner life force that had long been dormant. My body continued to move on its own and as I turned my head to one side my eyelids opened slightly and I ‘saw’ standing over me a woman, dressed in what seemed to be native American garb, her expression was one of observation. There was nothing sinister about her presence, she just seemed to belong there. Minutes later I heard a voice in my ear welcoming me back to the present. I left that night feeling like I had definitely found something. “This practice is a guru-less one,” my friend explained, “all you need is to find spirit and you can continue this on your own.” That night, alone and lying in my bed, I plugged in my iPod, closed my eyes and was taken over by movement once more.

Level Up

A month passes and I find myself on a plane to Davao, and greeted in the airport by Pi Villaraza—who I will identify basically as the moving force behind the awareness and expansion of Kalipimu and its benefits. I was going to spend the Easter weekend at his base, in the Don Bosco Youth Camp in Makilala, North Cotobato. For the next three days, I was going to immerse myself in all the healing qualities that this inner dance had to offer. First was release, the blocks, past life traumas, issues, hurts that were contained in my subconscious. The movements that took over my body were sometimes violent in their force and speed, but they never once caused any injury nor any fear in me, it was almost like I welcomed the spasms, the coughs that escaped from my throat and, on one occasion, tears. In the midst of one of my almost cathartic states, I had images of all the people in my present life who had hurt me and as tears flowed I heard myself addressing each of them saying, “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry,” Yes, it was a reverse, instead of forgiving I was the one asking for it instead. That particular session left me with a rather deep sense of emptiness, and as it was performed on a rock overlooking a beautiful flowing river, I curled up into a fetal position and allowed the Universe to cradle me once more, so vulnerable, and yet open to what was around me. The key was, I was no longer caught up in the past, it was a giant, giant leap for me as I came to understand later on during my stay. We are emptied out, so that we may change what fills us, what makes us, and what moves us.

Part of this immersion was also reconnection to the purity of nature. Our party hiked, swam, took in the icy cold and warm waters offered by the mountains, natural heated pools and the cleansing benefits of breathing clean air and drinking fresh, flowing water. I felt like a child again, there were no “no’s” involved in anything I did as I explored what surrounded me and what was within me. By the end of the weekend, I had even learned the healing art of massage through Kalipimu. During this heightened state of connectivity to spirit you can activate another’s own life force to remove pains, both physical and emotional by touch. You become so sensitive to energy that sometimes you don’t even need to look where to place your hand, you are guided to it intuitively.

Everyone Can Heal

To think that Kalipimu is an instant fix is a huge mistake, it is part of a process, one that is designed for you to dig deeper and deeper, and you realize how much you may have repressed when the rigidity of adulthood took over the free spirit you possessed as a child. We all have aches and pains, but the ones we repress are the most difficult to bear. Kalipimu is like a much needed hug to a bruised heart or a broken soul. There is an almost instant soothing that takes place, but it doesn’t make all that pain or past issues go away. It takes practice, and sincerity. When it is later combined with an intention to heal, it may be used to free others from their own issues. It has been known to ease physical ailments, enhance creativity and more importantly (as in my case) feel connected again. Visualization ( if you’ve been on the recent law of attraction bandwagon) is energized when in a state of inner dance release. This could possibly take you one step closer to the person you were meant to become.

No one experience is the same; to resonate with spirit at this level is different for everyone, and is definitely for everyone.

A three-day Inner Dance convergence in Makilala, North Cotabato will occur on May 8-12. For more details call or text: 0919-2358153 and 0916-4748496

Special thanks to Betsy Gamela of the Don Bosco Foundation for Sustainable Development and her staff.

London Calling

It's been over 10 years since I got my M.A. from the UK ( wow that rhymes) and more or less 10 years since I last set foot in London. This was to be the last leg of a 6 day (crazy) work assignment and I had already shelved the idea of having enough time to go around and see a city that held a lot of wonderful memories. I was hoping to see my classmates ( or at least one) from my school before, have some typical pub fare and catch a show at the West End. After taking a look at the itinerary given to me by the DOT I decided not to expect anything since the 3 days we were going to be there would have us occupied from early morning til evening. In fact, it got to a point that I had to ask my friend and her husband to make an allocation to just meet me in my hotel for drinks since I didn't think I would be able to step out and see her! But, on a very happy note, things turned out much, much better than expected. Apologetic for our 'blitz' like stay in Berlin the DOT informed us that 1) Our first afternoon in London would be spent at our leisure and 2) that they were going to get tickets for two West End performances.Namely Lord of the Rings and Wicked. My heart leapt-I had been DYING to watch Wicked ever since I read the book and heard from my friends who had seen it in New York that the music was terrific. I wasn't too keen on Lord of the Rings since I wanted to spend an evening with my friends, and I hadn't heard any reviews about it-at least about the music, it was heralded to be a feast for the eyes in terms of visual effects and stage design. So, when the clock hit 4pm I got a phone call from my former classmate, Natasha, and we met in my hotel lobby to hit the streets of London. The sun had decided to come out that day so walking around was still cold but definitely more bearable than Berlin PLUS you could see around you for miles with the sun beating happily down. After walking around and taking photos in South Kensington and Knightsbridge ( the photos will be posted soon) we went for typical pub fare in the Soho district. I couldn't decide between fish and chips or a heartier bangers and mash...so I just asked the waitress who laughed and said "The bangers and mash of course! It's so much healthier!" her cheery sarcasm was appreciated and I went with the 'healthier' option.
I was able to reconnect with Natasha and her husband, Gavin, who I never met since they were wed about 7 years ago ( I was unfortunately not able to make it to her wedding) and as luck would have it Ulrike another classmate of mine was able to join us! She was someone I hadn't seen since we had our graduation ceremonies down in Kent. Although I was pretty tired ( our night ended around 10 pm) I thoroughly enjoyed myself and felt so happy that my friends could join me at a last moment's notice! Plus, I had Wicked to look forward to the next night, this trip could have already ended with that thought since I hadn't expected much in terms of personal activities.
Again, the luck of the Irish was radiating strong in Londonium because the next morning during breakfast of warm brown toast and jam we were told that we could have the morning free since the DOT activities were going to begin in the afternoon. That was GREAT news our hotel was within walking distance of two museums, The Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum ( the V&A) I sms'd Tash just to see if she was free to meet up with me at museum's opening at 10am and she was! We spent a great remainder of the morning visiting them both and I caught a great exhibit at the V&A that dealt with costume design and set design (in miniature) and we popped down to the coffee shop where I had my absolute favorite, scones with clotted cream and tea! Yum!
The afternoon was spent at the Excel Center where the International Dive Show was taking place and I must say that the Philippines' booth was practically the only destination exhibit booth there. So many people came and went especially when Filipino food was served for as well as drinks towards the end of the evening- we even had a band playing and some San Miguel beer accompanying the mixed cocktails! At night, it was off to Wicked, which was marvelous, I loved every moment of it and the theater was packed-literally from first row all the way to the back. It had a lot of funny moments-great delivery from the actress who played Glinda and the music was powerful- gotta get my hands on the soundtrack!
After the play it was off for some comfort eating of Asian fare at Bugis Street Resto at the Millennium Hotel in South Ken, again walking distance from our hotel (Grange Strathmore).
Even if that night ended in some rain and quite late ( not much sleep for the wicked watchers) I don't think I could have asked for a better way to bulldoze through 72 hours in London the way we did. God Save the Queen ;-) Photos coming soon!

Amsterdam Airport

I have been Schipoll'd! I don't think I have been to an airport as many times in as many days. KLM is the only carrier that has flights direct from Manila to Europe and because of this it was our stopover de rigeur on my recent trip to Berlin and London. My travel companions and I had the unfortunate experience of having our flight cancelled, literally at the 11th hour ( inside the plane and already taxing) on our first night. So, instead of landing in Berlin to enjoy a full day of touring the next day we were transported to the Holiday Inn around midnight-or 1am. I was so exhausted from the MNL-AMS trip plus all the waiting that I kind of lost track of time. After gorging (fatigue=hunger) on the hotel's buffet ( it was hot food, not great but it was hot and filled a need) I schlepped off to bed. Really cute hotel room though, and I slept like the dead. We had to check out at noon and spent the next 6 or so hours back at Schipoll since KLM could only rebook us an evening flight to Berlin. Sad. Schipoll isn't the most happening airport I'm afraid, at least not the terminal we were in. The other people travelling with me made a joke on how they had walked the length of the airport and had pretty much memorized the placement and prices of every product. Thing is, every leg we had from thereon had a stop in Schipoll so, I can even include myself in the "memory" game. I don't want to complain too much though as rumor has it that KLM is also going to pull out of the Philippines (as Lufthansa is about to end of March) and it's a good airline-movies and TV on demand. Schipoll-ing all the way may be a bit of a pain ( no free wifi internet like in Singapore or HKG airports) but with a good magazine, book or company is bearable-for as long as there are no more cancellations last minute. As you can see from the first photo, we would have actually done that on the runway just to get off the ground. ha ha ha! Anyway, til next time Schipoll!

Abuhan Dos in Cebu

Dinner with the FTV peeps ( Jia flew in from Singapore ) and our friends from Marketing and Creatives at Abuhan Dos was an experience in itself. Abuhan-the original on Ramos Street I remember from way back in 2001 when I first ventured out to Cebu. It was known for it's pochero-sort of like bulalo which was really good and quite cheap. Perfect after partying fare. This time around almost 7 years later I find myself in Abuhan Dos which is also on Ramos Street but in what could possibly have been an old house. It's got two floors and even an outdoor karaoke section (shudder). Thank goodness we just went there to eat and not to exercise and torture our vocal chords. Filipino comfort food (read: not healthy) as the group ordered pochero (the house specialty-what we Manileños would call bulalo) and sizzling pochero. There was also callos, lengua, grilled taningue, kangkong and chicken salad. The area of Ramos street is not the nicest with a lot of homeless and "women/ trannies" of the night abound. We did have an interesting experience when a woman holding a cellphone approached us and asked if she could be our friend. We waved her away since we had no idea who she was and she proceeded to the bar and eventually sat down with a man (who looked like he hadn't eaten or showered in days) on the other side of the restaurant. After they ate the man left right away and she even went back to us and said "See you later". We thought, 'Ok, weirdo, but a friendly one' her companion was more sketchy looking to be honest, but we were glad that he left without paying us any attention. After she left, we asked the waiter what was going on and apparently this was part of the woman's M.O. she comes in, approaches a big group and pretends to befriend them. She then sits with her companion (or perhaps someone else) and proceeds to order food, then they leave and she tells the waiters that she's part of the big group and to just add her orders to THEIR bill. Thankfully, the watiers and the staff had had experiences with her before so they actually asked her to pay BEFORE she ordered and when she had a receipt they served her her food.
I must say that the whole incident made everyone uncomfortable and I could tell that there was tension even when we were digging into the food. (Which was very tasty by the way, but how can you go wrong with fatty pork). I don't know if Abuhan Dos can "control" something like that since it's not in a great area and they shouldn't really discriminate ( after all the woman did pay for her meal ) but it did bring down the dining mood. Perhaps if we had stayed on the 2nd floor the whole situation would have not come to pass.
Moving forward, I can say that the group enjoyed the get together and despite the threats about hitting the gym the next day or moans about not wanting to eat another bite ever, we still proceeded to La Marea for dessert. Dietary hypocrites we are indeed.

Earth Rat Welcome!

The last time I formally celebrated Chinese New Year was a good 9 years ago. I remember specifically that we had to dress in either white, silver or red and that we had to follow an auspicious "route" recommended by the late Paul Lao of the Mandarin Hotel. It seemed like a fun thing to do, from what I can recall we all had to be inside a white, silver or red car and we had to pass through certain parts of Metro Manila ( and Old Manila)-in some parts we had to circle a landmark three times! We were a big group of friends and even my mom was game enough to participate. The last "stop" was at the Mandarin Hotel ( surprise surprise) and there was a dragon dance and a buffet ( that you had to pay for) and a gazillion people. In fact, just the people on the road doing the route was already a lot. Not sure if that year turned out to be particularly lucky but I had fun and my friends had fun and that's enough happy energy to make any year good right?

This year though is "my" year, being born in the year of the Rat. I had been invited by Joy Lim, proprietor of Charms and Crystals to her condo to celebrate the Eve of Chinese New Year. Apparently she only invites certain clients, family and friends to partake of a specially prepared selection of food ( each have their own meaning) and rituals to welcome in 2008. We started out writing our wishes on wishing paper and folding 8 pieces of lucky money. These would all be burned in a big fire in front of the altar of dieties on the roofdeck of the condo. As we started throwing our wishes and money into the fire (lit by three sticks of sandalwood incense that were also later placed in front of the altar) the fireworks started at the stroke of midnight Joy explained would "open" up the heavens since the next step was to write our wishes on red balloons that would be released (all at the same time) and would now "enter" the opened heavens. Pretty cool huh? Almost everyone was in red and the wishing writing was pretty much a frenzy but you could tell that everyone had hope in their hearts and were really praying for a much better new year.

"About 80% of wishes come true" winked Joy to her guests and she started handing out lucky money in red ampao envelopes "You keep this in your wallet so you will attract wealth" were her instructions. I now have a bright red and gold envelope sticking out of my wallet, who knows right? Am not going to complain if my bank statements reveal more $$$ in the coming months.

So to everyone who believes in Feng Shui or thinks this is all Feng-phooey, I would like to wish you all a very, very Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Learning for Living

As part of the work I do for my family's foundation I took a trip recently to visit two of the projects that we have been funding. One of them I've taken a personal interest in and it's one that we have been giving money too for the last five years. In fact, for my birthday about 3 years ago I actually spent it there with the kids and had friends and colleagues donate what they wanted to the kids and a clown act donated their services to entertain the kids for the day. There was food and some toys and of course money that was given that day and since then I've been getting regular reports of the progress and status of the Living for Learning Foundation. Last week when I went I was happy to see that the overall environment was still very clean and that the children were all very well-groomed, clean and eating a healthy diet. Patricia MacAuliffe, a Canadian lady who has been in charge of the foundation for many years makes sure that their diets consist mainly of vegetables and fish while meat and fast food are kept to a strict minimum-which is rare for most filipino diets.

She reported that they have been increasing their enrollment and are getting more and more children by the year and now the foundation is sadly lacking in funds. They do get donations but because of the growth in their classrooms they are going to have to make a hard choice of turning away kids, or even parents ( who attend vocational seminars to have a sustainable livelihood) or even worse, cut down their much needed staff (teachers, caretakers etc) When I asked her for a breakdown she said that they need a minimum of Php 2M a year in order to just stay afloat. If they could get more than that in a year then they could add more vocational programs for the parents ( mostly the mothers) and perhaps have more food for the feeding program or even teachers. This broke my heart because they currently have Nursery, Kindergarten and Prep classes, plus they try and have a sustainable 'Alumni Kids Program' for the older kids who can no longer participate in the classes-and without additional funds they will have to pare down many things. Living Learning doesn't make any profit for itself it just stays afloat from year to year. Right now they are taking care of about 200 children, and are hoping to still be able to maintain that or increase it ( with more funding in the coming years).

To give a quick breakdown, to keep ONE kid in school costs Php 10,000 a YEAR which is Php 833 a month! So this blog is a quick shout out to anyone and everyone who would like to make slight difference in a kid's ( and his or her parent's) life. Plus, you can be sure that you will get regular reports of where your money is going ( I have decided to donate a minimum amount on a monthly basis) as Learning for Living can issue receipts and you can always go and visit the facility in San Jose, Rodriguez in Rizal.

Donations can be made via their peso account: Living for Learning Foundation Inc. BPI Family Bank, acct # 5843-1609-31 or through their dollar account BPI Family Bank # 687-400-5191. I know everyone must have their own charities of choice but this is a chance to also contribute to the growth of a small community month after month so giving is a consistent regular thing, rather than just giving and forgetting. I do hope that even spreading the word about this program to other interested parties will help, as money is something that they are in dire need of for the near and far off future.

Learning for Living Foundation is located at the Tipanan Hose, Camia St. San Jose, Rodriguez, Rizal, Philippines. their email is learningforlivingph@yahoo.ca and tel. 948-4415.

A Road with A View

(published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Nov. 17, 2007)

Text and photos by Katrina A. Holigores


It was almost like a rite of passage. An escapade up north that started in the dead of night. The end point was Baguio, one day before the end of February three years ago. My professional career had hit a speed bump and I was dating a guy who could best be described as a dead end. Going nowhere it seemed, I was then asked by an indie-hero to come along to shoot a “roadtrip” travelshow. The invitation was like a kiss from an angel, and at a red-eyed hour we set off for the NLEX and up, up and away we drove to the city of Pines. The plan was to cover the floral festival known as Panagbenga, but before that, indie-hero intimated, he wanted to show me a road he had discovered. It looked deserted and abandoned at ungodly hours but was traffic jammed virtually impassable as soon as the sun came up. “You have to see it right before the sun rises, it’s magnificent.” Having been nursed on National Geographic fodder I held my breath and kept my cynicism inside my camera bag. Four, five, six hours passed and I was amazed that the darkness did not intimidate our driver as I couldn’t even make out a single street sign. It was an endless black snake of asphalt but eventually we came to a clearing and all traces of sleepiness left me in a single breath-which was just as quickly taken away by what I saw. It was as if the skies were smoldering, rich with the colors of rising flames and framed against thick white smoke. For the next ten minutes all we could do was watch in silent awe as the sun slowly waded through the clouds as if coming out of a rich foamy bath. Once sunlight streamed in from all directions, the glamour of the surroundings disappeared and the road was revealed as nothing extraordinary, just a means to get from one end to the other and so we continued on our journey. I look back on that trip as a turning point in my life. Soon after, my career shifted gears and I found a detour out of Mr. Dead End. Funny, all this from an unremarkable road with an unforgettable view.