Born in the Philippines in 1963, as a child he would often be found with paper and pencil in hand, drawing intently, while sitting on the floor beside his architect father who regularly worked at his desk. At the age of nine, Lino's family immigrated to the United States in Southern California. He graduated from Cal Poly, Pomona in 1989 with a Liberal Arts/Education degree. After college, he taught elementary school for several years. Then, a chance encounter with a spiritual teacher drew him to study some of India's traditional healing arts, including yoga. Since then he has been practicing meditation.