Jack Tips, 'naturopathic' doctor, wants to help the body heal itself

Jack Tips, 'naturopathic' doctor, wants to help the body heal itself
By Walter Ang
Jan. 31, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

"I don't want to work with conventional medicine, pharmacological drugs and insurance companies," says Jack Tips, a naturopathic doctor. "They have an agenda to keep people on drugs and dictate to doctors what treatments are supposedly right for the individual."

Tips is known for his work in the natural health field through his private consultations, lectures and books.

"From the natural health perspective, each person is biochemically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually individual; and must be treated accordingly," he says. "This is why natural health is a creative engagement with the individual's vitality, rather than a standardized process."

Tips advocates methods of health restoration by using the body's own capacity to express optimal health. He does this through a combination of homeopathy, nutritional and herbal supplements, and diet guidelines.

Eyes
Based in Austin, Texas, Tips recently visited Manila to give a talk on approaches to natural healing.

His lecture was organized the Comprehensive Iridology Practitioners Association of the Philippines, the members of whom include graduates of the advanced course on Comprehensive Iridology of the Int'l Iridology Practitioners Association based in the US.

A sclerologist himself, Tips explained that both sclerology and iridiology are methods of diagnosing a person's health by looking at patterns and colors of the sclera (white part of the eye) and iris (colored part of the eye).

Cells need energy
Tips' talk featured the topic of cellular healing and how to restore and improve health by addressing the causes (instead of just symptoms) on the cellular level.

Cells use ATP (adenosinetriphosphate), which is produced by the body, to transport chemical energy for metabolism. "Poor health is the result of diminished ATP production within the cells. The goal is to restore energy to the cells so the cells can perform optimally."

"When the cells have energy to spare, they repair their own genetic code and thus tissue function can improve dramatically.

"There are many supplements that help people daily ? ionic minerals, omega-three fatty acids, vitamin D, ubiquinol, etc.

"Supplementation is done to apply nutrients to address the key `points of leverage' that interfere with the body's desire to restore its health to the most optimal expression.

"In health, energy is everything, not vitamins, minerals, enzyme, anti-oxidants, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, or any other nutritional commodity, and certainly not any drug that causes side effects."

Homeopathy
Tips was sickly as a child. His mother brought him to homeopaths who helped cure his ailments. He started studying "the tools and principles of natural health including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and herbs."

He took formal studies with different experts in the fields of diet, naturopathy, tissue-mineral ratios, kinesiology, among others. He is a certified clinical nutritionist and has doctorates in clinical nutrition and naturopathy.

"The principle involved in homeopathy is 'like cures like,'" he says. "The law of similars states that a remedy can cure a disease if it produces in a healthy person symptoms similar to those of the disease."

"Symptoms that we experience are what our bodies' do to overcome perceived threats to its integrity. Thus it uses fever, diarrhea, coughs, vomiting, headaches, discharges, eruptions, etc. to help restore health.

"No one knows better than the body how to heal itself. Homeopathy elicits a pathway
for the body's own adaptive resources to correct its expressions of discomfort.

"The classical homeopath never `treats a disease' but only helps the person's innate vitality correct the cause, and thus the effects, of any discomfort; the homeopath is a specialist in how the body's `vital force' struggles to adapt and survive."

Cipap organizes talks on iridology and other natural health topics that are open to the public. Contact admin@cipap.org or 0920-907-3075. Visit www.cipap.org.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/32935/jack-tips-naturopathic-doctor-wants-to-help-the-body-heal-itself

Philippine Arts Festival holds nationwide theater fest 2012

Philippine Arts Festival holds nationwide theater fest
By Walter Ang
Jan. 30, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Theater workshop from last year's Tanghal festival.

This year’s Tanghal! National University and College Theater Festival will have events across the country, kicking off in the National Capital Region at University of Makati, Feb. 1-4.

Open to the public, the three main performances for NCR are Collective Arts of Students and Thespians’ (University of Makati) adaptation of Aurelio Tolentino’s “Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas;” Tanghalang Ateneo’s (Ateneo de Manila University) staging of Ron Capinding’s “Para los Jovenes,” a collection of Rizal’s stories for children; and Navotas Polytechnic College’s staging of “Sampung Hampas ni Mesiyas,” a production tackling current social issues.

“The festival, now on its sixth year, offers performances from university theater groups from all over the country, showcasing the harvest of Philippine theater,” says Roberto “Bobet” Mendoza, festival director.

There will be fringe productions by Molave Theater (Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila); UP Rep (University of the Philippines, Quezon City); Our Lady of Perpetual Help College, Las Piñas; Paaralan ng Bayan (Special Program for the Arts, Manila); and SuhayFil (Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila).

Organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ National Committee on Dramatic Arts, the festival is the committee’s flagship project for National Arts Month—held every February, as per Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed by President Corazon Aquino.

Part of the festival’s goals is aimed at strengthening a national network of college-based theater groups in the country and to facilitate collaborative work among theater groups and artists.

There will be a workshop conference, titled “D2 Na Me, Wer Na U?,” which will tackle university-based/student theater groups’ use of “theater language” for the stage.

“Theater language, meaning the signs, symbols and meanings that the groups have employed in their performances,” says Mendoza.

After the activities at University of Makati, the festival moves to Baguio City (Luzon), Feb. 9-11; General Santos City (Mindanao), Feb. 22-24; concluding in Dumaguete City (Visayas), Feb. 27-29.

Contact 0906-4911006, 0923-1318131, 0928-6256895 or tanghal62012@yahoo.com.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/32863/philippine-arts-festival-holds-nationwide-theater-fest

Lui Medina investigates intersections

Lui Medina investigates intersections
By Walter Ang
Jan. 30, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

"Untitled" by Lui Medina

"The concept of limits, both of experience and of self, is the main starting point in my current investigation," says Lui Medina of her upcoming exhibit titled "Ascetics (Unbound)."

To be held at Silverlens Gallery's intimate 20Square project space, Medina will showcase four pieces: two using oil, beeswax, and metal leaf on gesso panel, and two using oil, beeswax and gold leaf on plaster object.

"My practice seeks to place itself in that position between the boundaries of the visible and invisible as well as the dichotomies of emotion and reason. The tension and anxieties that this position creates is a recurring element in my work, as well as the driving force of my practice as a whole."

Medina took up painting at University of the Philippines and University College London's Slade School of Fine Art. She has been exhibiting since 2003 and has done solo and group exhibitions in Hangzhou, China, HK, the UK and Manila.

Though Medina has explored using other media, oil and beeswax have been a constant in the last few years.

"Oil paint, its processes and history, has become an interest for me, down to how it's made. There's something quite organic and tactile to it."

"Beeswax has been a choice material for about five to six years now. I find its `fleshiness' interesting."

"Somehow I feel both materials have a very strong connection to the whole idea of `process' and `making' that I'm interested in."

After selecting materials, Medina then considers hues and forms.

"I've always found the reds and blacks evocative. It's important to the ideas of transcendence. I've been using a lot white. I suppose I'm trying to investigate whether these concerns can be achieved by the flatness and emptiness of the color."

"This goes hand in hand with my use of ovals and circles for my paintings. I've been concentrated on the objectivity of the paintings and somehow these shapes allow me to be able to treat my paintings as objects, as opposed to the rectangular and square."

Visitors to the exhibit will see how these elements come together in Medina's output.

"Ascetics (Unbound)" opens Feb. 9, 2012 at Silverlens Gallery, YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City. Contact 816-0044, 0917-5874011, or manage@silverlensphoto.com. 

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/32885/lui-medina-investigates-intersections

New musical celebrates long-running Ateneo-La Salle rivalry

New musical celebrates long-running Ateneo-La Salle rivalry
By Walter Ang
Jan. 24, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Gatchalian and Del Mundo

Ed Gatchalian is producing, with 4th Wall Theatre Company, “Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle The Musical,” a musical with fictitious characters from De La Salle University and Ateneo De Manila University.

“‘Rivalry’ is unique, original and local, not just a remake of a Broadway hit,” said Gatchalian. “It may be about the fabled feud between La Salle and Ateneo in sports, academics, love and marriage, business, politics and the professions, but such competition, and the excitement it generates, is a universal theme.”

“It will be enjoyed by even those not associated with either of these two schools,” he said.

How it started

Gatchalian has had a long and successful career in advertising, creating scores of jingles that have become familiar to generations of Filipinos. He was the musical director for television shows like “Celeste Music Hour,” “Pilita and Jackie Lou,” and “Champoy.”

“Over 30 years ago, Noel Trinidad, actor, singer and a good friend of mine from our  ‘Champoy’ days, approached me with an idea for an original musical about Crispa and Toyota, then the stellar teams in the Philippine Basketball Association. But the idea never materialized,” he said.

“Last year, I was writing original music with director Jaime del Mundo on a commissioned musical, and it rekindled my desire to pursue Noel’s idea. Instead of Crispa and Toyota, I decided to zero in on Ateneo and La Salle.”

Gatchalian started composing music. He recruited Noel’s son Joel (artistic director of Upstart Productions) as the show’s lyricist. Del Mundo developed the book.

Collaboration
The collaboration has resulted in a plot set in 1968, revolving around two young men, both star basketball players of their respective schools who vie for the affections of a beautiful coed from a nearby girls’ school.

Gatchalian is musical director with Jaime del Mundo directing.

“I felt I would be the ideal person to direct,” said del Mundo. “I don’t have strong feelings of loyalty to either school. I can see and appreciate both the Ateneo and La Salle sides. My job is to find the commonality and right balance.”

Nancy Crowe will choreograph, Lex Marcos is set designer. Johnsy Reyes is lighting designer and Albert Figueras will handle costume design.

A total of 51 actors have been cast, including, of course, Noel Trinidad. Gatchalian wrote a part for his friend, and Joel wrote a vaudeville-inspired song especially for his father to perform.

Seating will not be segregated for Ateneans and Lasallians. “We’ll have free seating,” said Gatchalian.

“Rivalry” runs Jan. 27-March 11, 8 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday, with 3 p.m. shows on Saturday and Sunday at Meralco Theater. Call Ticketworld at 8919999.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/32069/new-musical-celebrates-long-running-ateneo-la-salle-rivalry

With face reader Dadhichi Toth, your future is in your face

Your future is in your face
By Walter Ang
Jan. 17, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dadhichi Toth

"In 2012, something amazing is happening in the Philippines," said Dadhichi Toth. "There is a spiritual shift that is going on that stems from the `mother energy.'

"The Philippines is traditionally a spiritual nation. With the movement of the solar system through high-energy sectors of our Milky Way galaxy, this spiritual or 'mother' energy will be quickened here.

"Many people from other nations will be drawn to these spiritual powers as well. This will, therefore, bring greater prosperity to this country.

"This is an intuitive and unconscious attraction much like the attraction of the west to India in the '60s and '70s."

He points out that, regardless of what the energies or qualities will be for the year, "where's there's a good heart, there's a good destiny. What you sow is what you reap."

We met up with Toth late last year to learn his forecasts for the year. When we sat down, he stared at our face and proceeded to say things about us that he couldn't possibly have known. "I always do that with media people to show them that I mean business."

Toth is a face reader. His skills are the result of studying different disciplines of face reading from China, India and other countries. "I'm also slightly clairsentient," he says. "I am sensitive to certain components of a person."

He partly got into face reading because his female astrology clients refused to reveal their age?a crucial piece of information for casting birth charts. Toth is an astrologer, too. He is adept at both Western and Eastern/Vedic astrology and has written annual astrology forecast books.

Forecasts
Toth is based in both Sydney and Manila. His father is a Hungarian gypsy with knowledge of palmistry and astrology. His mother, who was from Malta, read him Linda Goodman's "Sun Signs" at bedtime instead of the usual children's storybooks.

For fun, we showed Toth photos of some well-known "Filipino faces" to get his forecasts for them. He hardly knew any of them, save for Manny Pacquiao.

President Benigno Aquino III
"He has a high forehead, which means a great deal of intelligence. His eyebrows are not well-directed, which means he may rely too much on the experts around him. His lips show a strong appetite for pleasure or the finer things in life. He may have difficulties holding on to his post this year. If he does, it will be a rough ride, especially after August."

Lea Salonga
"Her eyes show that she has a high level of specialization. She has a charming smile and her eyebrows tell us that she thinks outside the box."

Manny Pacquiao
"His eyebrows show he'll be successful in political endeavors. The mark on his chin is almost like the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger has." (Toth didn't know that Pacquiao is already an elected government official.)

"He's the sort of guy who wants to win, but his speech may get him into trouble. The mole on his face is an indication that he should be more careful when he's helping others."

Charice Pempengco
"She's lighthearted, but balanced by a lot of endurance and stubbornness. Her chin is similar to Reese Witherspoon's chin; this shows that she's thrifty. She will have big decisions to make when she's around 40 to 44."

Toth will be giving lectures on face reading and/or astrology in 2012. Contact dadhichiastro@gmail.com.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/31363/your-future-is-in-your-face

Peta stages ‘King Lear’ in Filipino, opens Jan. 27, 2012

Peta stages ‘King Lear’ in Filipino
By Walter Ang
Jan. 16, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) wraps up its 2011-2012 season with a Filipino translation of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” that opens on Jan. 27, employing an all-male cast.

Felix “Nonon” Padilla directs, using National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera’s translation of the tale of King Lear, how he bequeaths his kingdom amongst his three daughters and is betrayed by two of them.

When Padilla was asked by Peta artistic director Maribel Legarda to stage a Shakespeare production, he immediately offered “King Lear.”

“It was suggested to me by Salvador Bernal because he’d always wanted to design it,” said Padilla, a longtime collaborator of National Artist for Theater Design Bernal, who passed away October 2011.

Post-apocalyptic setting
Production design duties are being handled by Gino Gonzales, one of Bernal’s protégés, who will build on Padilla’s post-apocalyptic setting.

“Originally, it’s set in prehistoric Britain,” says Padilla. “Shakespeare had very good reasons to set it in that time [instead of his own time] because he was trying to camouflage all of the touchy political issues about the [current] king.”

“I thought it would be interesting to go the opposite. To set it in the future, a future that is as bleak as it was in barbaric or primitive times.”

“It is one of the mature plays of Shakespeare. It’s emotional and riveting,” he says.

“The play is all about legacy. It’s about leaving something behind. It’s about somebody in the grips of mortality and facing mortality. What do you leave behind? You can leave your material wealth, or you can leave your soul, your compassion.”

“In ‘Lear,’ that’s what he learns. He learns to become human. It’s a running theme in Shakespeare, about how a man gets crushed by his own guilt, and ‘Lear’ is a prime example of that.”

Nod to Shakespeare’s text
The decision to use an all-male cast is Padilla’s nod to Shakespeare’s text and the way roles were cast and played during the Bard’s time. (In 2001, director Anton Juan cast Repertory Philippines founder Zeneida Amador as King Lear in his staging of the play.)

“In Elizabethan times, the young boys would always play the female roles,” says Padilla.

He also notes there are two characters in the play that were traditionally played by only one actor. “As written, in the scenes of Cordelia, the Fool is never there. When the Fool is onstage, Cordelia is gone. I think that’s crucial, and since Shakespeare designed it that way, I thought it was important to play around with that, to give it some focus or emphasis.”

Teroy Guzman plays the role of the aging monarch, Haring Lear. Lear’s daughters will be played by Gary Lim (Regan), Nor Domingo (Goneril) and Abner Delina (Cordelia).

“Haring Lear” runs Friday to Sunday, Jan. 27-Mar. 4, 2012 at Peta Theater Center, Quezon City. Contact 7256244, 4100821 to 22, 0917-5765400, or petatheater@gmail.com.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/31263/peta-stages-%E2%80%98king-lear%E2%80%99-in-filipino

Benefits and protection for artists

Benefits and protection for artists
By Walter Ang
Jan. 9, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Artists usually are not practical or business-minded. They don’t invest their money—most of the time they don’t have much money anyway—or have health or any kind of insurance,” says actor Fernando “Nanding” Josef, artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino.

Josef is referring not just to theater artists, but also painters, sculptors, television and film actors, voice talents, production and backstage staff, dancers, composers, playwrights, choreographers, costume and fashion designers, photographers. Basically, people working in creative fields who are “self-employed” or “freelancers.”

Fortunately, there are now growing options for them on availing certain government-issued benefits and other safeguards against emergencies. There are also groups they can join that can assist them with these kinds of needs.

Life Basics
Luigi Nacario, artistic director of Kids Act Philippines, had an epiphany when a fellow actor was hospitalized. His friend had no Social Security System nor Philhealth benefits and was left with a large bill to pay off.

Nacario founded Life Basics Personal Solutions Company to “assist professionals who don’t have time to personally apply for or update contributions for their income tax returns, Social Security Services, Philhealth (government health insurance), Pag-Ibig (home financing program, officially known as the Home Development Mutual Fund), and Community Tax Certificate (more commonly known as cedula).”

His company does all the tedious legwork of transacting the five basic government duties for a P300 monthly fee.

“You’d spend the same amount, maybe more, for transportation and other expenses like photocopying certain documents if you had to do it all by yourself.”

Life Basics accepts all kinds of clients including non-theater professionals. “OFWs, full-time bloggers, anyone can avail of our services.”

Call 7942465, 0915-4478959 or 0919-4338565, email life.basics@yahoo.com.ph.

Insurance
Aside from being actors, Buddy Caramat, a senior member of Philippine Educational Theater Association, and Abner Delina, a freelance actor for stage and TV, have both been advocating “financial planning” to their fellow artists. Both are financial advisers of Manulife, a company that offers insurance, pre-need plans, pension plans.

Delina got into insurance when he wanted to use his free days (“While waiting for shows or tapings.”) productively. “But more than just an additional source of income for me, I realized I could now educate people on financial planning. In the arts, like in a risky theater actor’s life, our protection is limited, if not having nothing at all.

“I strongly encourage artists to get insured, from whatever insurance agency they feel most comfortable with,” adds Caramat. “One thing unique about what we do in Manulife is that we analyze first people’s priorities or needs and we come up with solutions and present them accordingly, whether they need a financial vehicle for education, health, retirement, investment and fund accumulation, estate planning, income protection, or all of the above.”

Both are not exclusive to theater clients. “But my primary goal is to help fellow actors secure a financial plan either for health, retirement or investment or even for the education of their child,” says Delina.

AWPI
The Artists’ Welfare Project Inc. (AWPI) is an organization that provides financial, legal, and medical and hospitalization benefits to Filipino artists (theater or otherwise) who may be disabled or incapacitated by reason of age or physical or mental infirmity.

“Beyond meeting emergency needs, AWPI also hopes to assist artists achieve security in terms of having a place to live, providing education for their children, and having funds for their retirement,” says Josef, AWPI founder and president.

“We must support and help our artists, especially during their times of need.” Founded in 2006, the group is working towards becoming a foundation. “We can then apply for tax-exempt status so that donors can contribute tax-free.”

The group has had fundraising activities in the past few years. It plans, in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, to host a national conference on artists’ welfare in summer of 2012.
The Outreach Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines is assisting in coordinating with regional groups to put up AWPI branches nationwide.

Membership and annual membership dues apply. Call  8321125 loc 1620 to 21, e-mail artistswelfare@yahoo.com.

TAG
Newly formed Philippine Theater Actors Guild (TAG)  is specifically for actors. Founder and president Kalila Aguilos, freelance theater actress and costume designer, had been developing the group for the past few months and finally convened the group’s first First General Assembly and election of officers in early October.
“TAG is an association that protects and upholds the rights of professional theater actors,” she says. “We want to work towards getting artist-protection written into law.”

Among other goals, the group aims to provide its members with protection of their basic rights on artistic engagements both locally and abroad, and assisting with basic needs like legal obligations provided by the Philippine government such as health, security  and taxes.

Filipino artists have only much to gain by grouping together and helping one another. Aguilos is already in touch with Nacario on how his company can assist TAG, while Josef is in discussions with Aguilos on how AWPI and TAG can possibly work together on “the same goals and objectives for the Filipino artists.”

Membership and annual membership dues apply. E-mail memcom.tagphils@gmail.com.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/30415/benefits-and-protection-for-artists

Sleek, chic and convenient new way to make coffee: Dolce Gusto

Sleek, chic and convenient new way to make coffee 
By Walter Ang
Jan. 4, 2012
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Nescafe had launched its line of Dolce Gusto single-serve coffee machines and exclusive coffee capsules here in the country.

The machines have an innovative, easy-to-use system that allows users to make espresso-based drinks via capsules that have pre-measured ingredients, such as roasted and ground 100-percent Arabica coffee and whole milk.

The capsules, which are sealed airtight for maximum freshness, are popped in the machine; a lever is locked (to the red side for hot water and to the blue side for cold water); and coffee streams out of the machine in seconds.

"There's no mess, no fuss," said Nescafé Dolce Gusto consumer marketing manager Justin "Jiggy" Cruz. (Cruz is the nephew of President Aquino III.)

The capsules come in different flavors.

Caffé Lungo, intense full-bodied coffee with a rich aroma and velvety "crema" layer, can be had using just one capsule.

Other flavors can be made using two-capsule combinations: Cappuccino, a shot of espresso topped with sweet frothy milk; Mocha, coffee with chocolate; and Vanilla Latte Macchiato, coffee with a hint of vanilla.

Chococino is caffeine-free, creamy chocolate that even kids can enjoy. Capsules with flavors for cold drinks will be available next year.

Stylish Winner of the International Forum Design and Red Dot Design awards, the Circolo model has an industrial feel with its circular silhouette and chrome accents. It comes in anthracite and cool gray.

The Piccolo model has soft curved lines and two-tone shell. It comes in red and white designs and features an extendable spout that adjusts for different cup heights.

"It's shaped like a penguin," says Cruz. "It shows the kind of fun we equate with drinking good coffee."

Power In Italian, "espresso" means "pressed out" [of the bean]. Espresso is brewed by forcing a small amount of pressurized hot water through ground coffee.

These machines, despite their compact sizes, deliver 15-bar pressure unlike other single-cup home coffee machines that are capable of only one to three bars of pressure.

Strong pressure is key in extracting the full flavor and aroma of coffee as well as creating the foamy froth and rich crema which add dimensions of flavor to coffee drinks.

Fifteen bars of pressure refers to the barometric pressure that builds up inside the capsules, which are designed to contain this kind of pressure before the coffee is released. Fifteen bars is equivalent to the pressure of being 500 ft underwater?the kind of pressure created by professional coffee-house machines.

The machines are available in SM Supermarkets and Hypermarts (Makati, Mall of Asia, Megamall, Pasig Tiendesitas and The Block in North Edsa) and soon in other leading supermarkets in Metro Manila.

Visit www.dolce-gusto.com.ph and like "Nescafé Dolce Gusto Philippines" on Facebook.

Also published online: 
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/29705/sleek-chic-and-convenient-new-way-to- make-coffee