Bill Ramos, MDBill Ramos, MD
Cebu City, Philippines

Bill Ramos is a medical oncologist, teacher and artist who has traveled a great distance to attend three of the Center’s professional trainings. Read how the trainings have helped change his life, and led to a blossoming of support for cancer survivors and non-cancer groups such as battered women and abused children in the Philippines.

When I got to know the people of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, I realized that I’ve finally found the group where I belong.

Challenges with distance and finance didn’t stop me from joining the CancerGuides, Mind-Body Medicine and Advanced Mind-Body Medicine trainings. I’ve applied the tools I’ve learned to myself first until I gained enough confidence to share them with others. Together with another oncologist who also trained with CMBM, Dr. Betty Talaver, we formed a network of the different cancer support groups in our city, Cebu, and we called it KAHAYAG, which is the local term for light, brightness or brilliance. The group’s vision is meaningful lives for cancer patients and caregivers. We started sharing the things we learned from the Center through this group. We held Meditation classes, Guided Imagery sessions and a lot of group sharing. We invited people who can lead them to do yoga and tai chi. We partnered with 2 popular gyms in the city for the Movement Therapy sessions. The members of the network are given free classes on belly dancing, latin and hip hop dance on 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month by these gyms. I’ve developed workshop modules on Self Awareness called “Unconditional Love”, since we first gave it on Valentine’s Day. Other workshop modules that followed were on death and dying, called “Transitions”, on music and drumming therapy called “Soul Sounds” and on forgiveness called “Forgive and Be Healed”. And while we originally needed to hold our support group activities outside our base hospital, since October 2008 the hospital has invited us to hold workshops onsite.

Soul Sounds
Forgive and Be Healed
Go Inward. Conquer Yourself and Be Healed.
Click the thumbnail image to view these beautiful posters!


Every so often, I would lead the group in meditative dance sessions that I call “Soul Dance”. Since we started sharing these Mind Body Spirit Medicine techniques, I’ve been invited to talk on CAM, Integrative Medicine and specifically Mind Body Spirit Medicine at several post-graduate courses, symposiums, local and national conventions. Together with 2 friends from the nation’s capital city, Manila, I’ve formed a company called “One World Of Music And Light”. This company focuses on Music as a medium to promote self-awareness, enlightenment and healing in an entertaining way. We’ve done opening events of conventions and conferences, making sure that we get a positive message across, every time. Our most recent event was for the opening of the International Conference of the Asian Clinical Oncology Society held in Manila last year. The group was also invited to hold a music and movement therapy workshop for the national gathering of breast cancer survivors last year, where we had an overwhelming attendance and response from the attendees. Together with Betty, I’ve given a number of workshops to non-cancer groups nationwide, which we call “Healing The Healers”. The groups were counselors for battered women, abused children and even some government officials, people from the military, and fishermen. Our next big project is coming on July 24 th and 25 th of this year, a mix of the workshops and retreats that we gave, and the musical shows, and we call this BELIEVE, the pop musical. It is an excellent mix of the entertainment and energy of a musical concert, the drama of theater and the inspirational messages of a retreat. It will premiere in our city but we will bring it to Manila and other cities nationwide. 

For the past 2 years, we’ve been holding small group sessions with the resident physicians on training at our hospital and we call these “Light and Life Rounds” with the theme; heal your self, heal another.

The Center has opened my eyes to this whole new world of inspiration and promise, which started with the self-awareness, acceptance and unconditional love that I’ve found through the instruments and tools that the Center shared. I am forever grateful for the people and the power behind the Center of Mind-Body Medicine.

We are grateful for the light you and Betty bring to the world, Bill.

Videos:

‘Let Go and Let God’ – for the workshop Forgive and Be Healed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CZ0XJqWRr4

BELIEVE! The Pop Musical
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJubfvEE0ZM
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BELIEVE-the-pop-musical/61927178881
Experience it on July 24th and 25th, 2009 at ONSTAGE Cinema One, Ayala Center, Cebu City