HILOT: The Healing Arts of Filipino Martial Arts
By Jay de Leon

Originally published in FMADigest, 2005

     I was writing to my friend Jake about Gat Puno (Chieftain) Abon Baet’s prowess as a hilot master, and wrote facetiously, “He is the only guy I know who can beat a guy to an inch of his life, and then restore him back to health.”

Gat Puno Abon Baet practicing hilot.

     I hasten to explain that my good friend and brother-in-arms Abon does not go around beating up people, except in full-contact stickfighting competition. But he does restore people back to health using hilot, the healing arts of the Philippines. And Jake was indeed looking for a hilot who could cure some recurring knee, shoulder and elbow problems.
     Just what is hilot and what is its connection with Filipino martial arts (FMA)?
     First of all, the term hilot refers both to the art and the practitioner of the art. The term itself is Tagalog, and for those of you fond of terminology, it has its equivalent in many of the dialects, including ablon in Ilocano, ilot or ilut in Zambal or Pampango, and agod in Maguindanao or Maranao.
     My late father was originally from the province of Pangasinan, and he had a ritual for my newborn siblings, massaging and gently pulling at their legs, saying that it helped strengthen and straighten their legs more quickly. He called it kemkem, and it is only recently that I have come to find out that he was referring to the art of hilot, not his particular ritual.

A Filipino” hilot” at work.

     Hilot is part of the Philippine traditional folk medicine that has survived the ages despite the omnipresence of modern technology. The hilot is just one of the various folk doctors (arbolario) in the community which include the herbalist, the bonesetter, the obstetrician , the snake- or animal-bite curers and shamans or spiritual healers. All of these practices have common roots with other healing arts in southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other outlying islands.
     On a metaphysical level, illness may be caused by spiritual and moral imbalances. Certain persons with extraordinary powers are thought to be able to cast spells which cause sickness. A person may become ill if someone, like a witch sorcerer, casts “the evil eye” upon them. Sickness may also be caused by several factors including bad spirits which may dwell in animate or inanimate objects. For example, you may offend a spirit dweller by cutting down a tree without asking permission and get sick.
     In this case, a hilot uses three forms of treatment: faith healing through prayer, herbal medicines, and massage and body manipulation to drive away the bad spirit that has lodged itself in the victim. Religion and prayer also play an important role in Filipino folk medicine.
     When we lived in the Philippines, my son Mitch, about three years old then, was diagnosed with an unknown stomach illness. Mitch could not hold down his food and was rapidly losing weight. I took him to a spiritual healer after going to several doctors who were unable to figure out what ailed him.
     The healer said Mitch had offended a spirit dweller in a tree by striking the tree with his (arnis) stick. She learned this by reading lighted candle droppings in a bowl of water. She instructed us to take the candle droppings, lay it by the tree that was struck, and offer prayers and apologies to the spirit dweller, which we did. Mitch was back to normal the following day.
     On a physical level, hilot is governed by the belief in spiritual energetic channels. These channels affect nerves, veins, tendons, arteries, sinews, ligaments, muscles, intestines, windpipes, and many others organs. This concept is reflected in many native scientific theories of neighboring countries. In the Ayurvedic and yogic traditions of India and in Thai massage, the channels carry prana or life force energy, as well as blood, air, food, water, plasma, sweat, lymph, etc. The concept of these physical and spiritual channels is also acknowledged in many outlying islands, such as Bali, Guam, Micronesia and the Polynesian islands.

“Ayurveda” massage

     Now, as I have alluded to initially, many hilot experts are also experts in native martial arts. My arnis instructor, Master Godofredo Fajardo, a practicing hilot, learned both arnis and hilot from his father. Much folklore attests to these hilot masters who can cause attackers to fall unconscious, collapse with temporary paralyses, or become disoriented, and cause internal hemorrhage or bleeding among other things. In the light of what we know now about channels and life force energy, we are simply looking at two arts which are two sides of the same coin. If you know which points to attack, you also know which body parts to heal.

Grandmaster Filemon “Momoy” Canete, known equally well for his healing powers and medicalskills as well as his eskrima prowess.

     In the Philippines today, in the rural areas as well as in some populated cities, traditional healing methods are still sought despite the presence of doctors, hospitals, and medical clinics. People seek hilots and other folk doctors not only because they are less expensive, but also because they get desired results. Some visit a folk doctor for certain ailments (such as sprains, dislocations, etc.) before going to a medical doctor, or vice versa, when one would go to a folk doctor after finding no relief from a medical doctor (like Mitch’s case.) Some are able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
     My former classmate and high school judo sparring partner, Dr. Juan Nanagas, at one time Undersecretary of Health in the Philippines, recently informed me that the Department of Health is initiating steps to institutionalize and recognize hilot as a medical science, on the same level as Ayurveda, Thai massage and Shiatsu, among others. Ayurveda which means “the science of life” offers rejuvenating, preventive and curative treatments through herbal oils, massages, diet plans and other ethnic health care techniques. Thai massage is a unique blend of deep tissue massage using pressure point and stretching techniques to reduce stress and muscle soreness.

Thai massage

An article in the March 14, 2005 issue of Time Magazine claims that “massage therapy is on a roll” and that 12% of adult Americans got a massage last year, a number predicted to increase as the population gets increasingly bone-weary.
     In the Philippines, in a district called Malate in the heart of Manila, an upscale spa opened last year that caters to women as well as what we now call the metrosexual men, or men who love to pamper themselves with beauty and fitness regimens. Named Sanctuario, it offers massages, body wraps, body scrubs, bath treatments, facials, hair and scalp treatments and fitness regimens like yoga, tai chi, Pilates and aqua aerobics. The massages include the traditional hilot with coconut oil treatment, as well as a coffee body scrub using Batangas coffee, the carabao milk bath, believed to make the skin baby-soft smooth, and a Turkish bath which includes a full body coco butter massage.
     The concept of mind-body medicine may be new to many in the Western world, but not to the folk doctors of the Philippines who were naturally holistic in their approach to life and healing—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Hilot, or the healing arts of the Philippines, is a testimony to the total wellness that many seek to achieve.