... zen roshi sr. sonia punzalan and the bahay dalangin zen community ... (philippines, life coach, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

after a long hiatus due to work commitments, i am finally back doing zazen (seated meditation) at the zendo. i arrived early to make sure that i get to have dokusan (private interview) with sr. sonia shuni-an punzalan who is the zen roshi (master) of the bahay dalangin zen community. Aside from being a zen roshi, she is also a catholic religious sister of the cenacle.

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what is zen all about?

the zen poems below give you a taste:

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everything just as it is,

as it is,

as is.

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flowers in bloom.

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nothing to add.

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- robert aitken, roshi -

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if you understand zen,

things are just as they are.

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if you do not understand zen,

things are just as they are.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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learning zen is a phenomenon

of gold and dung.

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before you understand it, it's like gold;

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after you understand it, it's like dung.

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... qigong healing workshop with medical studes ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

this morning, i facilitated a mini-workshop with a group of u.p medical students.

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we started off with therapeutic drumming to the tune of earth and water rhythms.

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i taught them how to be sensitive to the body's qi energy.

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they learned how to emit healing qi energy using hand postures.

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we "beat the mat" to rid the liver of anger energy.

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and the mini-workshop was capped off with "dry crying" to rid the lungs of grief energy.

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mini-workshop but jam-packed with activities. hope they had fun as they learned!

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... relationship counseling in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

woman today magazine's opening salvo for the year was held at the trinoma activity center. entitled "hataw sa 2010!" the event featured cooking demonstrations, entertainment numbers, and a fashion show.
.ms. rhia diomampo-grana, managing editor of woman today, invited me to talk on the following relationship issues: (1) reigniting passion in a stale relationship and (2) common causes of infidelity and how to avoid it.
.the hosts of the event, former mutya ng pilipinas zara aldana, singer-model lance raymundo, and nestle enlivened the show by asking me questions based on their own love lives.
.as soon as i got down from the stage, people approached me by the droves, wanting me to counsel them on their relationship problems. after sharing to them some words of wisdom, their faces light up and eagerly ask for pictures to be taken.
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... on inter-facial relationships ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

the pretty lady cai subijano, associate editor of mega magazine, interviewed me on the phenomenon of inter-facial relationships.
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certainly, you've come across romantic or married couples whom you thought were mismatched because one partner looked better in appearance than the other. now that's an inter-facial relationship for you. if a hunky guy for instance were seen walking hand-in-hand with an "exotic"-looking girl, people automatically think that the babe's a skanky "ho." on the other hand, if a hot babe is seen with a shrek-faced man, people are quick to presume that it's probably the guy's dough that got the girl.

well, i don't want to pre-empt cai's article. i'll post excerpts on this blog once her article's out. til then, may God bless all relationships, inter-facial or otherwise. 

... tuning fork therapy in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan of the Philippine General Hospital sent over this distinguished group of students from his Traditional Chinese Medicine Class.
.It was a pleasure teaching them about the use of tuning forks to bring about holistic healing. For those who are queasy about acupuncture needles, vibrating tuning forks can serve as a gentle and non-invasive alternative for the stimulation of acupuncture points.
.Tuning fork therapy is known to relieve stress, provide a deep state of relaxation, improve mental clarity, bring the nervous system into balance, and integrate the left and right brains. The sound vibration from tuning forks can also enhance the immune system, lower blood pressure, and stimulate the body to heal itself.
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... lalaking mujer ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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macoy infante, segment producer of QTV True Stories, passed by my clinic to interview me regarding their "lalaking mujer" segment.
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to give you a brief background of their story, it's about an aggressively homophobic man, a family man with 2 children, who formerly a worked as a construction worker, house boy, and kargador. surprisingly, he took on a job as a comedian in drag at a comedy bar. nevertheless, despite his effeminate behavior onstage and his gay sexual encounters offstage, he insists that he's straight and still lusts after women.
.in the interview, I basically told them that while sexual orientation (sense of one's maleness or femaleness) remains pretty stable throughout life, our preferences for that which sexually gratifies us may change or diversify over time. after all sex is pleasurable wherever its from (e.g. humans, reptiles, arachnids, fruits, etc.- hehe!) as long as the mind isn't picky.

... "pinoys are an ugly brown race," ads imply ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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TV5's alagang kapatid sent dr. alistair bilas, better known as "doc ali" to interview me on the pinoy's penchant for white skin and tall noses. at least four things i remember telling him:

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(1) the cosmetic industry has sure done a darn good job of making us brown-skinned people insecure about our skin color.
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(2) pinoys, to start with, must really have low self-esteem to fall for ad campaigns which persuade us to think that "brown is ugly."
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(3) this lowly perception of self can probably be traced to the way our western colonizers made us think they were superior to us not only in appearance but in pretty much everything else.
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(4) even the religion which our colonizers imposed on us helped was used to reinforce stereotypes on skin color. for instance, angels and other heavenly beings are pictured as "white' while satan and his minions are "black."
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it's about time for us pinoys to discard our colonial mentality. let's love ourselves for being the brown-skinned people that we are. "brown is in" and chat silayan and miriam quiambao have proved to the world that filipinas don't need to be fair-skinned tall-nosed mestizas to stand out in an international pool of beauties. on that day that we start using cosmetic products to enhance our brown skin, then we know that we've finally become a proud brown race.

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... a cutting edge activity for the summer: oplan circumcision/ libre tuli .. (philippines, life coach, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

as a filipino physician, i am neither for nor against circumcision.
.medically speaking, when done correctly, the surgical procedure poses no physical harm on the patient except, of course, for the wound it creates. barring infection, the wound generally heals fully within 2 weeks.
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psychologically speaking, if the patient is emotionally prepared and supported, the patient shouldn't experience any short- or long-term psychological trauma. any anxiety or fear (the usual fear of pain, needles, or blood) is limited to the period immediately before, during, and after the 20-minute surgical procedure.
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culturally speaking, circumcision is a rite of manhood which generally all filipino children are expected to undergo. it is a source of confidence for filipino children to courageously go through the "ordeal" because to shirk away from this rite of passage is a sign of cowardice and inferiority. for filipinos, it is not circumcision which causes long-term psychological trauma. it is in not being circumcised that filipino males become the object of ridicule and derision, thus creating in them a deep shame that can mar their sense of manhood and over-all sense of self for life.
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... fun and humor in psychotherapy ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, philippines)

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many people have the mistaken notion that psychotherapy is a dark, gloomy, or heart-wrenching experience meant only for the psychologically frail or mentally ill.

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modern psychotherapists however don't only deal with life problems, they also help people live life fully, joyfully, and meaningfully. among the modalities used by modern shrinks are the creative and expressive psychotherapies such as dance/ movement therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, poetry therapy, and sound/ music therapy.

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as my young friends from holy angel university, pampagga discover, psychotherapy can change people's lives through fun, humor, and laughter.

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be amazed by the facial transformations of abby, airee, camille, gretch, irma, joy, kim, krisan, patrick, and thea. some of them actually look like "taong grasa," don't they? i just hope that none of them become make-up artists in the future.

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... arnell ignacio and post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) treatment/ therapy ... (philippines, life coach, psychotherapist,psychologist, psychiatrist)

Arnell Ignacio Traumatized by ‘Extortion’ Incident

by Alex Valentin Brosas

May 4, 2011, 4:16 am (excerpts/inserts)

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MANILA, Philippines – “Malaking-malaking trauma ang nangyari sa akin," comedian-host Arnell Ignacio told "Showbiz News Ngayon" on May 3.

Arnell alleged that three police officers from the PNP-HPG apprehended him while he was driving his Porsche on March 26 and asked him for money under the threat of having his car impounded. He came up with the money but, by early April, decided to file extortion charges against the officers involved.

Psychologist Dr. Randy Dellosa explains that Arnell’s case could be “something like [acute stress disorder] or post traumatic [stress] disorder. [Nandoon ‘yung nerbiyos. Nakalipas na ang panahon pero nandoon pa rin ang symptoms" he said.]

But according to the doctor, this can be cured “through sharing the story. Kailangan talaga ng counselling or therapy,” Dr. Dellosa said. “Isa ring makakatulong is medication [especially kung affected yung tulog o appetite niya].

interview with mj of abs-cbn's SNN (Showbiz News Now)