Gino Giglio, From Broadway to Bodyworker
So who’s this guy with the cool name who refers all sorts of new members our way? Gino Giglio (pronounced “Gee-leo”) would be the character I’ve been hearing about from Teri for quite some time.
You’d think that Gino and Teri were lifetime friends, the way they chat on the phone sometimes. Teri usually makes others laugh. Gino makes Teri laugh too.
And, he nags our IT guy, as he is one of those devoted WebTV guys with special interface needs.
Gino also seems to have a fairly wide mailing list of his own and is a frequent flier of sorts when it comes to sending emails.
Cindy learned about one of his favorite nature conservation organizations (the Natural Resources Defense Council’s BioGems site) after reading one of his emails.
There’s long been discussion of interviewing Gino, so when I saw the following email from Gino, I “had my people talk to his people” and we set a time to chat:
“Friends, Romans, Therapists,
If you buy supplements, this is a company you should know about. Just print out their PRODUCTS list and be dazzled. High quality too.
They do this by NOT advertising, having NO retail store and NO printed catalog. Internet and phone sales only.
They just made up their first PRINTED brochure, which signals the beginning of the end. It would be sad to see this great marketing ”idea” ending.
I sense that their regular buyers are too hip to need a brochure and buy exactly what they KNOW they need. Maybe the brochure is for new pilgrims, shoppers who need education –which is available ELSEWHERE.”
Okay, so it took a few years to finally make the connection, but it was worth it once I got Gino on the line.
So I started right in on the humor stuff saying, “I read your note about our brochures and the ‘beginning of the end.’ I also hear you’re funny.”
Gino replied, “I spent 35 years working on Broadway shows, with all sorts of creative types. I’m used to having fun and love the goofy elements of the Co-op.”
With a background in Broadway and the arts, I wondered where Gino’s interest in science and medicine came from.
Gino said, “I was pre-med at Yale for a couple of years, but I smelled a rat and didn’t want to learn the pharmaceutical approach. Instead, I made medicine and health a hobby, subscribing to eight or nine health newsletters and studying the work of Dr. Matthias Rath, Dr. Otto Warburg, Dr. Price, Dr. Pottenger, Dr. Johanna Budwig, Dr. Fred Klenner, and Amelia Kinkada. I never lost my interest in how the body works and how it heals itself naturally if you give it the right support.”
Gino continued, “After leaving pre-med, I graduated from Yale with a B.S. in Psychology. After military service, I attended three drama schools, at Yale, NYU, and Columbia for stage directing. In my career, I was a house or company manager for a few dozen Broadway shows.”
“At some point, I started coaching actors on how to use their bodies to convey their characters better. While directing a scene at the Actor’s Studio in New York City, an actor I was working with couldn’t freely fling his arm onto the back of couch to indicate ease.”
“I did some manipulation of his deltoids, so he could fling his arm around with ease, and the prospect of a new line of work, with no committee meetings, dawned on me. These actors needed help.”
So, before we moved into all that, I wanted at least one good story from Gino’s show days. He was more than happy to share.
Gino recalled, “I once hid a live elephant for Shirley MacLaine’s 50th birthday celebration. She was obliging us with an outdoor photo op, so her back was to the loading door decorated with a big ‘Happy Birthday’ and she was facing a noisy sidewalk full of all sorts of media.”
“On the other side of that door, I waited quietly in the company of several clowns and handlers, all of us cramped around a very poised elephant lent to us by Ringling Brothers’ Circus. I pushed the button and the door rolled up behind a completely unsuspecting and media-preoccupied Shirley.”
“The gasps coming from the media got her to turn around. She screamed as the sweet-spirited elephant walked toward her, but she settled as the handlers put her upon the elephant, which she then rode down the sidewalk of 51st Street. Needless to say, cars stopped, heads turned, and Shirley smiled.”
No business like show business, eh? I then asked Gino to talk about how he got into doing massage and bodywork professionally.
Gino shared at length about his journey, saying, “It was only in the 1990s that I started training as a massage therapist, studying all sorts of specialized modalities, including cranial sacral and other types of energy and meridian work, the Feldenkrais method, visceral manipulation, lymphatic drainage, etc.”
“I’ve naturally oriented to holistic models, working with cause and effect rather than managing symptoms. For example, I will offer a smoker an initial session, and ask them to come back only after they’ve quit smoking. When pushed, I ask, ‘Why should I be on your side when you’re not?’”
Gino continued, “I hold a ferocious intention for wellness in my clients. I don’t want any more ‘sick’ people. ‘Being sick’ is more of a mindset than a reality. I like to think of ‘interruptions in wellness’ instead, which is a more dynamic view, in contrast to labeling people as being ‘sick’. To me, everything short of an amputation is reversible, but it takes work.”
Gino’s always involved in some new line of study. He’s a life member of the American Society of Dowsers, and learned more at the Ozark Research Institute (ORI) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Gino explained, “The founder of the ORI is a retired military intelligence officer who believes in the power of a ‘focused mind’ in creating healing and positive change. The Institute is chartered by the State of Arkansas to research ‘healing with the power of thought.’”
“Only those with a track record for healing with the power of thought can teach at the Institute. If you’re a shopper for value, like most Co-op members are, this training provides some of the best bang for your buck.”
“Many of my clients can tell that I’m trained in energy work. Sometimes they will ask, ‘Are you psychic?’ My straight-faced answer when I worked in NYC and FL clinics is usually, ‘This is a medical facility. We don’t do that stuff here.”
Gino added, “Another thing I’m fascinated with is technology. I’m a gadget freak. There’s a cold laser that emits different frequencies and helps cells regenerate from acupressure points and within tissues that are damaged or inflamed.”
“The VIBE machine is an example of technology being used to return our little cells to balanced frequencies so they can go about their business keeping our bodies healthy.”
Gino went on, “Machines can enhance cellular frequencies and provide energy, but they can’t create calcium or vitamin D, so I always ask my clients’ about their eating habits. As one teacher told us, ‘If you want to build a brick wall, get some bricks.’”
So, I asked about the supplements Gino regularly recommends.
He said, “I’m a big believer in Linus Pauling’s work. The body doesn’t make vitamin C or l-lysine and makes very little l-proline, nor are these occurring in great quantities in most diets. I make sure my clients learn about the Co-op’s Heart Plus and how it can help strengthen connective tissue in the body.”
Gino said, “I also tell a lot of clients to print out the products page from Our Health Co-op and take it with them when they’re shopping. I tell them to compare the prices and prepare to be amazed!”
Gino went on to say he wants the Co-op to carry more products in veg capsules and keep on doing what it has been doing for the last five years, saying, “I swear, I hope this company stays the same!”
Meanwhile, Gino currently treats clients in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and also in Greenwich Village in New York (he flies back and forth monthly). He treated some opera teachers in FL who now refer their students to him.
According to the teachers, their students sing, dance, and act better after their “hands-on Gino Sessions.”
If you are interested in dropping Gino a line, you can write to him at: ginogiglio@webtv.net