There’s a herbal doctor in the house

MANILA, Philippines - Alternative healing has significantly gained popularity in recent years. While in the past it was regarded with disbelief and disdain as the field of medical charlatans, it is now being combined with mainstream medical therapies. It has become such an accepted and popular healing modality, so that even the more progressive hospitals and medical centers operate alternative healing centers.  Thus, the combination of mainstream medicine and complementary medicine has a new name: integrative medicine.

There is a downside to alternative healing’s growing popularity, however.  The costs of treatment continue to grow as it gains wider acceptance. And while similar techniques (ventosa and acupressure, for example) and oils are used, the charges for treatment increase depending on how well-appointed the clinics are, how fragrant or rare the incense or oils used, or how glib the healer is. Training in overseas, hard-to-get-to centers counts a lot, and will justify the increment in charges, too. Like the premium hospitals, these alternative healing centers become too expensive for the common man. Which is a shame, really, since the majority of Filipinos earn only enough for their basic daily upkeep.

Thus, this accounts for the popularity of alternative healing centers like that owned by Fely Guy Ong. Her goal, she says, is to “make alternative healing accessible to the common man.” Since 1984, she has “committed herself to learning the various methods of natural healing.” These include immersion in herbal medication, crystal healing, reflexology, and pranic healing. Speaking in Filipino, she explains that continuous study is important because, “if you are a healer, your primary concern is that you will be able to help people get well.”             

“Healing can be achieved by balancing the yin and the yang,” she continues in the vernacular. She is convinced that the concept is not alien to Filipinos whose traditional healers in the provinces formulate herbal potions, poultices, and cures for patients depending on lamig and pasma.      

“Believing that you will get well comes first because a positive mindset does much to promote healing,” she says.  A deeply religious person, she is convinced that “faith is life and life is faith,” and that prayer counts for much to achieve healing and wellness. What differentiates her from your run-of-the-mill faith healer, however, is her belief that her type of healing does not have to run counter to the cures prescribed by physicians with medical degrees.

“Faith is important,” she says. “But sometimes it is good to be skeptical; to explore natural methods of healing; to ask questions if your doctor gives a tablet for even the most minor symptom of disease.” Her blind faith in the efficacy of the usual doctor’s prescriptions ended after a son’s childhood illnesses worsened as more medications were given to him. As she weaned him from these, she resolved to study methods of natural healing.           

She continues, “My healing philosophy is very simple. It is centered on the balancing of all external and internal elements affecting a person’s health. This includes the way he or she eats, drinks, lives, thinks, and feels.”

The advice she dishes out is similar to what the doctors will tell us. “If you have asthma, cut down on those peanuts and preserved foods. For example, citrus fruits (pomelos, oranges, lemons), too, may worsen asthmatic symptoms. What you eat will affect how you feel.”

Apart from radio shows featuring “free consultation on the air” on AM radio channels, Fely Guy Ong has put up the FGO Herbal Foundation to promote her healing philosophy. This is where free lectures on natural healing are held. And because these are located in areas of high pedestrian traffic, these no-frills clinics are where the common tao can learn about alternative healing.

”The principle of natural and practical balance, combined with common sense, is the true essence of natural healing,” stresses Ong.

To help her continue her advocacy and maintain her clinic-cum-lecture areas, she sells her Krystalle Herbal Oil used in reflexology and acupressure massage there.