Unlike nearby major clinics and hospitals surrounding the St. Francis Natural Health Center in Panay Avenue, Quezon City, this teaching clinic, known for promoting traditional Chinese medicine, has walls lined with pictures of healthy, beautiful babies instead of the usual medical charts and clinical paraphernalia.
These pictures, displayed by the dozen in every cubicle, are proof that healing happens in the modest center. The babies were not healed by traditional Chinese medicine, particularly acupuncture, which the center is famous for. Instead, the photos tell the stories of their mothers—those who reached out because they couldn’t get pregnant.
Through the help of the center, particularly by Sister Shengrong Liu, or more famous for her Western name Sister Regina, is regarded as one of the country’s best and most famous acupuncturists and herbalists, these women would go back months after their acupuncture sessions as new moms, bringing with them their bundle of joy for Sister Regina to meet.
Healer of women
Sister Regina’s reputation as a healer grew because she has been known to heal women suffering from infertility with the help of acupuncture and traditional medicine.
She shared cases where some of her patients who have suffered from cancer and can’t conceive because of previous treatments, would suddenly get pregnant three times in a row—all in a month after giving birth. Then there are women who have been childless a decade after marriage, who would give birth to a beautiful set of triplets. All these babies now have their photos displayed on the walls of their clinic, and Sister Regina shows them all lovingly like a proud aunt.
These cases have earned sister Regina the description of “miracle worker,” a title she refuses to acknowledge.
“I’m not very comfortable to be called a miracle worker but I am confident to say that I am one of the instruments of God or try to be one of the hands of God to heal or to help people.”
Her hand works miracles
Sister Regina comes from a long line of Chinese medicine doctors from Mainland China, and is already part of the sixth generation of doctors in her family who practices Eastern Medicine.
She loves what she was doing—healing people and helping those in misery though Eastern medicine, but she wanted to do more. When Shengrong Liu was introduced to the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (SMIC), she knew that she found her calling.
“I knew that I knocked on the right door. Before I entered the congregation, I was already a Chinese medicine doctor in China, but now I know I was called to help more people. When I was in China, I was helping only one family and that is enough, here, there were so much more people to heal. My calling is to not just be a Chinese medicine practitioner, but to be a Missionary sister.”
In 2005, after making her first vows, Sister Regina was assigned to study in California to further expand her knowledge in Chinese Medicine. It was here that she earned her masteral and doctorate in the field.
She used this knowledge to help those seeking comfort in the missionary. “I discovered that my practice is connected to my faith because in the Church, like in Chinese medicine, the body, mind, and spirit are related. If the body is affected by pain, how will you have a good mood? So we practice Eastern Spirituality, where the body and mind work as one, not just the spiritual part but also the body, because we believe that a whole person should be praising God,” she said.
How it works
Sister Regina’s acupuncture practice relieved the pain and suffering of many of her patients. Through this 3,000-year-old tradition that uses sterile needles to improve the body’s functions and promote the natural self-healing process by stimulating specific acupuncture points, or acupoints. Pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation may further enhance the effects.
According to Sister Regina, correct pressure on acupoints help the blood and the chi or white energy to regulate freely and help the body to heal itself. Sister Regina was able to address many individuals suffering from different maladies like joint and muscle pain syndromes, insomnia, cancer, and even depression.
The sister was quick to point out, however, that their center does not promise a cure, especially those who are suffering already from a terminal illness. She simply helps them improve their quality of life.
“I help specially those who are tired of taking pharmaceutical medicines, and they just want the quality of life where there’s not much suffering.”
This could mean a number of things to different people: Less pain, better sleep, and in most cases, a better disposition in life. Sister Regina does this through syndrome differentiation. Unlike in Western medicine where a same diagnosis is given the same treatment, Chinese medicine uses syndrome differentiation to signify a specific cause for an ailment and treats it accordingly. Each concern is treated differently, making each of sister Regina’s patients unique—and, surprisingly, each case ends with successful outcome.
“We first determine which part of the body is affected—we see each individual as a unique case. Some ailments could be caused by a chi and blood deficiency, while other concerns like depression could be caused by the liver fire, too much anger, so we try to soothe that with liver tea. It all depends on what’s happening to a patient.”
School for Chinese Medicine
Today, Sister Regina doesn’t only see patients every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. She has also started teaching at the SMIC’s recently-established school for acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (Chinese herbs and acupuncture)—the SMIC Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Launched only last year, the school opened to individuals with Science or Medical backgrounds who wish to study acupuncture, or the more comprehensive Chinese traditional medicine practice, including Chinese herbology and other traditional healing techniques.
“I only have two hands, I could only do so much with what I know, so now we have this school where I can impart my knowledge, so they, too, can help others. Most of our students here are medical doctors who are open to the idea of combining Western and Eastern medicine to their practice,” she said.
The training (they have just started with their first batch) could take as long as a year to finish. It’s a combination of extensive lectures and practical applications. There are two courses being offered: the Comprehensive Acupuncture Training Program, which fulfills the requirement for becoming a Certified Acupuncturist by the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC); and the Comprehensive Training Program on Traditional Chinese Medicine.
“We are dealing with real people here. So we want them to take the practice seriously. People just can’t learn acupuncture in as short as five days,” says Sister Regina.
The application process is easy, but one needs at least 90 units of undergraduate studies, or the equivalent to at least two years of General Education studies to qualify. The courses are set with three trimesters to complete a chosen course.
Aside from lectures (conducted by sister Regina and other TCM doctors like Juan Liu, as well as Western medicine physician and practitioner of TCM, Dr. Edilberto Concepcion), hands on application is done inside their teaching clinic, and an extensive library on TCM is also made available for the students.
The SMIC Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered the first to offer a comprehensive course on TCM in the country that is equal to the international standards of a post-graduate degree course. The course includes Chinese herbology, nutrition, qi gong, and taiji.
The school also holds special seminars once in awhile, teaching participants of various TCM topics such as identifying common Chinese Herbs at home.
The St. Francis Natural Health Care and SMIC Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine is located at #17 Panay Ave., Quezon City. E-mail smictcmmanila@gmail.com or call 02 374-0000 for more information.