TRUST the ancients. They knew how to make the time spent above the earth, if not longer, no more wretched than that of other living creatures.
Prehistoric Filipinos had a rite called pag-uli to coax a soul to return to its corporeal shell before making the final ascent or descent. But long before one had to take to one’s bed, the ancients tapped into the natural and spiritual world to cleanse and renew the sodden self.
Even early Christians still regarded the Creator as Mamarikpik (the Potter). The 17th-century lexicographer Matheo Snchez said this arose because the word pikpik or pakpak is the sound a potter makes with his paddle as he slaps the clay into shape on top of an anvil.
Fortunately for begrimed souls in the 21st century, such healing is still transmitted through the ages at the Amuma Spa.
Meaning “to comfort and to care,” the term affirms that the Visayan tradition of wellness continues in the spa located at the Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort.
Whether one has taken an hour’s drive from Cebu City across the Mactan Channel or just disembarked from a flight at nearby Mactan Cebu International Airport, Amuma Spa takes one to a world where to be alive is simply to be present, whether to citrus bursts of lemon grass and ginger wafted from a corner urn of essential oils; the swirl of lilac and ivory vanishing into a palao cone, uncommon grandeur yielded by a humble root crop; or the symphonies of texture and tone conducted by slabs of recycled hardwood that, cantilevered, hug the pinkish wall of Indian slate that connect the spa foyer to the treatment rooms.
A sense of the earthy and the eternal soothe the jaded under the ministrations of Lovely Quinawayan.
Lovely is one of the Amuma hilots (therapists) trained by Massage for Life consultant Katherine Moynihan-Rodrigo in techniques distilled from village practices culled by the Department of Health, Department of Tourism and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care.
While members can avail of a range of therapies, from Swedish to Namikoshi Shiatsu (finger-pressure massage), hot stone and Watsu (fusion of water and Shiatsu body massage), one of the signature packages at Amuma is the “Hilot Journey.”
Lovely begins with space cleansing through pausok (heating a bowl of kamangyan or medicinal herbs, roots, leaves, tawas and minerals), dasal (prayer) and orasyon (chants and invocations). These rites drive away negative energy and invoke blessings.
In padampi, Lovely gently places on tense limbs a palm-wide piece of banana leaf, coated with virgin coconut oil, which has been found by scientists as remarkable for its antimicrobial and dietary properties. Banana leaves act as a hot compress to relieve aches, soften tense muscles and regulate body temperature.
Partly from training and partly from practices passed down the generations in her family, Lovely performs a variety of maneuvers: pahaplos (deep stroking to warm up muscles and improve blood circulation); papisil (kneading to soften muscles); patulak (massaging muscles and joints to improve blood flow); papiga (easing the person at the deepest point of the massage); and payugyug (stimulating nerve endings, settling the muscles and awakening the person through the natural chimes of shells and crystals).
Should a person wish, therapies can be conducted al fresco at the Amuma Hilot Pavilion, amidst Antipolo boulders, giant ferns and colonial trusses and railings.
For those inclined to go deeper into wellness and heritage, Amuma spa manager Remedona “Em-Em” Ravina recommends the “Pikpik Kawayan,” where the hilot applies a warming foot masque of rice flour and purple yams.
After setting, the mold is broken through gentle taps of bamboo sticks.
This is Amuma’s version of the age-old northern practice of children tapping the mud to relieve the feet of their parents after a whole day of planting rice in the paddies. While today’s travelers have gone far beyond the land, the present search still resounds with the timeless pikpik or pakpak.
In the Amuma journey lives on the invocations of ancient Visayans, as Father Sanchez recorded more than four centuries ago: “Kanino pikpik inin kalibutan, dile kanan Dios? (Who made this world if not God?) An Dios in mamarappak sinin nga tanan mga yada (God made everything there is).”
