We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dina Giugliano. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dina below.
What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you? Give us the backstory so we can fully appreciate the context, circumstances and what you must have felt like at the moment and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you.
Years ago, a mentor had asked me “How are you doing” after my defensive response of “I am fine,” everything changed! He sat me in the mirror and told me I was the solution and problem to my life. He told me our mind is the most powerful tool we have “now use it young lady” My world changed!! This individual drove me to the supermarket to read nutritional labels, showed me the true value of being human, the value and no value of money, how important self-care is etc.
I have another individual who has been by my side during a crisis I am still in for over 6 years now and how this beautiful inside and out individual speaks life into my world and supports me mentally, emotionally, spiritually to stay the course for mine and my family’s wellbeing. I aspire to be her. It is imperative to have a healthy nonjudgmental support team who can hold space for us to vent, ask questions and receive guidance. I have learned so much in these past 6 years. It feels like I have received 30 years of wisdom in 3 years under pressure. Life struggles are real, it takes a clear, clean conscious effort to maintain self-care and surround ourselves with the right people. We attain this lifestyle when we truly do the inner work to see the habits that keep us stuck and then we can change ourselves to supersede our struggles and live in peace Especially when life throws us hardships that we feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The light is within us, and when we can keep our embers lit inside us , we are able to fire up our souls again.
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc,
I am 41 years of age now; I will look 25 forever HA HA and a happy single mother to a beautiful 5 ½ aged girl. She is my world! I love being a mother. We have so much fun together and blessed to share she was born 5 days after my birthday in May. I grew up in Long Island, New York. Six years ago, I moved to North Carolina and now reside in South Carolina. The rest of my family and friends are still in New York although I made a nice quaint family here and one cousin has moved down here. The rest are said to be moving here soon enough.
I have noticed being on the journey to the self since I can remember. I always felt faith with my higher power. I enrolled into community college finding my way dabbling into child psychology then photography although I couldn’t seem to find my fitting. I knew I wanted to help people. I committed myself into receiving a 2-year associates degree while I explored school and waitressed. I’ve always had a deep passion for helping women through pregnancy, birth and parenting.
Then, at a friend’s gathering, my female friend was standing there holding her newborn son with her boyfriend, the father of the child. She seemed so happy as she was swinging her son side to side, the swinging when we lay their tummies on the inside of our forearm and swing them side to side. I had asked her what do you do for a living, you seem so happy? She said “Yes, I love my life, I can create my own hours, make money and raise my son. I am a massage therapist” Once I heard all of that, my whole body felt as if I just received and massage, relaxed and clear. That following week I went to the New York College of Health Professions in Syosset and enrolled. I started school to become an Licensed Massage Therapist. Our first class was anatomy and physiology, my jaw hit the ground and its history from there. I become a Yoga instructor and certified Birth Doula during my 2 years of trade school. I am in love with the reproductive system. It all lined up and happened so naturally. Such is life, if we can stay connected to the peace within. My thoughts were to have my own business and serve women in the prenatal and postnatal world.
what type of products/services/creative works you provide:
I offer Massage therapy specialized in prenatal and deep tissue. I instruct Mindfulness meditation, Yoga instruction and hypnotherapy privately, in group settings and virtually. Inside my holistic massage boutique, I sell the best soaps and massage therapy essentials.
I am an approved provider for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork offering courses and continuing education to licensed professionals to learn how to conserve their energy performing deep tissue massage, learn prenatal-postnatal therapy and raindrop therapy.
I have a program to see client in settings to reduce any anxiety and increase their confidence by giving the tools and knowledge they need during their life experiences so they can have a better life for themselves and their children
what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others;
I absolutely love what I do therefore each client who receives services from me feels my passion. I customize every single treatment and or program to tailor their needs and wants. I work empathically listening to their complaints, concerns, desires and design a program to either alleviate their body discomforts, help them create new healthier habits to attain what they are looking for emotionally or physically. I offer them self-care tools to reassure them they are ok especially after traumatizing life experiencing.
We tend to take on stories in our minds we think are reality. At times we need help/services from people like myself who practice what I serve giving people a nonjudgmental space to be free about the struggles and truths they are encountering. This allows them to see what is going on at their root cause and we can work from there. For example, after listening to clients, I can easily discern what emotion makes them react, often they are not aware of their emotions to see their reaction can be a habit that does not help them feel better.
In my massage practice, I am confident, thorough, strategic and use the exact pressure the client needs. The client and I communicate during the treatment, we work together. I am excellent at structural deep tissue massage therapy without hurting the client. I use a rhythm and pressure that gives the client the opportunity to completely relax. In my prenatal-postnatal massage, these women receive the same therapeutic treatment although the pressure is adjusted as we are mindful to a deeper pressure. I work on their abdomen as it is a talent to perform abdominal massage. It is amazing when we can find a massage therapist who loves the practice and can relate with the clients.
I include all modalities inside my treatments IE: essential oils, hot stones, guided meditation and warm towels, if desired. It is a peaceful experience I like to call “A Mini Vacation from Life.”
In addition, I am involved in continuing education to learn more and serve it. I work with people who deal with all levels of anxiety, people who doubt themselves or question themselves. I help woman have a healthy pregnancy and prepare for childbirth in all settings. I offer childbirth education giving the parents the opportunity to know their choices. Most importantly I offer the teachings to help people stay in tune with their happiness and inner peace.
What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc. Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as brand/organization/etc
I am proud of how I can live in self-care and consciously work these tools whether I like it or not and see how it allows me to live a lifestyle with inner peace no matter what yucky or wonderful life experience I encounter. It is an accomplishment. I can deeply relate to most forms of pain that people deal with. I have a solid empathic connection to most people and offer them a safe space to help them. When I discovered our mind is our most powerful weapon, I learned everything I possible can in understanding how this work and it works. At first the work it is not easy, it is not pretty, it’s quite sickening, feels lonely, scary although I am a determined and patient woman with profound faith. With that being said, I can soften the work experience for my clients so the process does not feel as bad as it could be doing it alone. I believe if our ancestors, wise ones, and successors were able to overcome their struggles, then so can I. After my experiences, failure and success, my clients receive the benefits in my services to help them before their circumstance may get worse.
Since I was 24 years of age, I knew I wanted children, to be a mother. After 12 years of trying through 2 marriages, the last marriage I naturally conceived. Having the experience in massage, yoga, meditation, being a birth doula and mindfulness, it helped me sustain a healthy pregnancy and amazing homebirth experience. During my pregnancy and being a new mother, I was involved in a struggle and an environment I did not want to be in and still had a healthy pregnancy and childbirth experience. Then being a new mother in these circumstances I gave myself no choice but to stay in faith, stay positive, stay healthy, trust the process that one day it will change for all of our good. It is not easy to physically remove yourself from an unfortunate environment when you feel you have no resources to help you. What we do have is our minds, exercise, breathing and nutrition.
If you’re are woman trying to conceive, pregnant or a new parent and living in an environment you do not feel comfortable in or living with people you feel guarded around or wanting to be healthy whether you are pregnant or not and need someone to hear you, your fears, your addictions and pains then let’s talk. If you are a person who is on the journey to the self, taking the steps to heal and feel as if you just can’t pinpoint that “thing” that is holding you back in life to get to the next level of what you are looking for then let’s talk about it.
We live with daily life stressors although the stress does not captivate me into anxiety on a visceral level anymore where I feel stuck and hopeless. When I encounter the challenges, I immediately find happy and healthy opportunities so I can stay positive through the storms and maintain my sense of self, peace and clarity.
A story time in your life you had to pivot in business career or life?
Oh Lord. This was an excruciating painful experience. I give gratitude to my higher power, my resilience, my strength and all the amazing habits I practiced into skills. I thank my support team.
Most recently, in May 2018, I had encountered an excruciating struggle. The pain of that I cannot describe. My faith kept me to stay the course. During this time, I had become a Car Salesman for 6 grueling months of my life. I never sold a car before, I did not know anything about these machines. I had to take the online training course to become a certified salesman and I did it. I sold cars! I literally hated it. My body screamed every second I was inside that dealership. The hours are unheard and unnatural for someone like me. I had to dress up and wear makeup every day! I worked with men, all types of men, from kind to narcissistic, to horny to rude. It was truly uncomfortable for me. I give credit to all the car salespeople out there because it is a hard job for men and women. Once I left, I never looked back.
There are so many reasons why this was so painful for me. I entered a struggle that ripped my soul apart. I was massaging very part time during the two years prior because I was pregnant and then a new mother in a new living environment away from my entire family and friends in New York. I was selling cars to families who brought their children to the dealership. I had to keep a smile on my face to the customers all day long. When I saw families with their young children my insides would rip apart, my heart would burn, I would sweat. Thankfully, my inner strength, mindfulness, faith, and a positive mindset, were my lifelines to keep me together and health. All the while I wanted to scream and cry! I did not want to be there. This professional was not my innate nature. It felt as if I was selling cars against all I was in my spirit.
I always knew and believed that no matter what we encounter in life, we just need to use what we have, push through it and trust the process. I keep the analogy of a diamond in my heart. A diamond is born under extreme pressure. I knew the pressure I was enduring at that time was creating me into what I am today. Also, the way a lotus flower grows from deep dark muddy oceanic waters and grows towards the light in the sky above the sea level, they become these beautiful strong stemmed flowers. I held onto these analogies for my life and the life of my family. I succeeded! As I endured this dreadful experience selling cars, I met some profound God given people that changed my life! I am so faithful and grateful to the spirit within that I was experiencing blessings and peace during the most horrific times of my life.
Towards the end of the 6 months selling cars, I was getting stronger within. It felt as if I was coming back into Love with myself again. I decided to figure out how to get back into my massage career and I did. I was scared that the transition into my massage career would lose me money and perhaps be homeless. As we know, in business, we technically need to give our 2 weeks’ notice to resign from our jobs and have a job lined up for security. I decided to leave, take the risk and trust that my massage schedule would fill up. Guess what? It did. It filled it so much into a waiting list. Clients were waiting over 3 months+ to receive a massage from me.
To all the folks, who hear me. Whatever pain, demoralizing, betraying, persecuting, unjust feelings you may be feeling, just know that you are going to be ok. We always come out ok if we want too. We must take our circumstances and dig deep inside ourselves to find our strength, clarity, and inner peace. It is our birthright.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
This is a deep question. A woman shared with me “You don’t have to share your empathy and compassion with everyone.” All my life I felt as if I lived seeing the good in all people. This includes the abusive ones. I would connect to their potential of who they can be rather than seeing their actions that were not so nice. Which led me to be nice, loving and caring to these types of people who would hurt me so badly emotionally and mentally. I would extend myself to these types of people and give my time, money and energy to them. In return, I would leave feeling abandoned.
Today, I realize that depending on the lifestyle we came from in our early years, a lot of us tend to minimalize circumstances. There are a lot of people that stay in abusive relationships because they minimalize the experience as if that is what they deserve. In fact, this is a voluminous example of how a lot of us need to do the work in understanding how to set healthy boundaries so we can be happy and remove ourselves from anything abusive fast.
When I heard “You don’t have to share your empathy and compassion with everyone.” I laughed because I thought we had to be nice and giving to everyone. This advice allowed me to see people with love, conserve my energy and gave me more energy to give to myself in taking better care. It changed my perspective in finding quality time with myself. It can be seen as “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kashmirhands.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twoemeraldhands/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KashmirHands/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dina-michelle-giugliano-308a5b116/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dinamichelle5007
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kashmir-hands-charlotte-2
Image Credits
https://www.josephmichael.com/
Rebecca Stone Photography, Charlotte NC