Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna Dzybon.
Hi Deanna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story…hmmmm. I am not sure where to begin. My story is far from linear with each shift taking me in a whole new direction leading me to where I am today even though I had no idea where those shifts where taking me at the time.
I grew up in westtern NY, closer to Canada then NYC, with large fields and forest behind my house. Iwas outside playing and exploring nature as much as my parents allowed, which was a lot. I grew up fishing and hunting with my father. Spent my childhood summers on one of the Finger Lakes not too far from where I grew up.My connection to trees and nature is strongly rooted in my being. That connection is a thread that continues to weave throughout all areas of my life.
Playing sports and being an athlete throughout my teen years and into college was a big part of my identity and my connection to my father. I was the point guard, the pitcher, the setter and the hurdler. Over the years, those team sports morphed into other athletic endeavors such as weightlifting, sprint triathlons, and eventually rock climbing.
I began working with at-risk youth in my early 20s while studying for a degree in Psychology. I continued in this line of work for the next 20 years in different capacities, from working as a TA in a vocational school for troubled youth to running an all-boys group home funded by the Juvenile Courts to being a therapist in a program conducting supervised visits with sexual offenders and their children. Throughout those years, I worked part-time as a fitness trainer and was also a lead facilitator on ropes courses in the area working with the top-dogs of Kodak and Xerox.
I moved to Winston-Salem in 1999 after visiting a friend in the month of February. I was wearing shorts and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground back home. I thought to myself… I could get used to this!! I deceided to look for jobs out of curiousuty. I landed a job with Forsyth County running a summer camp program. I moved to Winston Salem in May of ’99 and thought, if I don’t like it I can move back to NY when the job is over at the end of the summer. That was 25 years ago and I am still here. I contiuniued working with youth as the sports and teen director at the YMCA, running a program for the Urban League, managing an emergency shelter for youth, and then investigating child abuse in the Crisis Response Unit of Forsyth County DSS. Throughout all of this, working in the fitness industry and the outdoor industry remained passions of mine, from working at local gyms, the YMCA and coaching running programs to being a part-time facilitator on several local ropes courses.
During my years at DSS, I ran my own dog rescue, was on the board of the Greensboro Human Society, on the community to get WS’s first dog park, and advocated for more human-animal laws/city ordinances to be changed. From that and my Siberian Husky Akoya getting sick from being in a kennel and almost dying, I started my own pet-sitting business.
Let me back up… while I was in college, I landed in the hospital for a week with a severe kidney infection, and then while there, I had what the doctors called a ‘gall bladder attack’. One of the most painful experiences to this date. I had what they called ‘sludge’ the stage before stones. I was like really?? sludge?? The medical world has all of these hard to pronounce and 13 lettered medical terms for things and I get sludge. LOL Luckily, the doctors were able to treat the gall bladder with medication vs. surgery. After I was dicharged, I was placed on a ‘bland’ diet. I was also told I needed to alleviate stress and could either go back to work or go back to school. I wasn’t to do both. I was living off campus at the time and had rent to pay so, school had to put on hold for a while.
Up to this point I had concidered myselfto be healthy. I didn’t eat a lot of junk, rarely ate fast food, and I worked out all the time. So, this gall bladder episode was a slap in the face and something I thought only happened to old people. This experience led me down the path of self-discovery and researching what being healthy really means. I have been self-studied in these areas every sense.
Heart disease runs in both sides of my family with both of my grandfather’s dying from heart attacks in their 50’s. Knowing this coupled with my hospital stay in college was what led me down the path of studying and researching what being healthy really meant.
Fast forward to 2010. I was working full-time at DSS and also working part-time at a local running store. The owners of the running store company offered me a full-time job. After a little back and forth, I left DSS and went to work full-time for the company. After 6 months, I was let go – that’s another story in itself. The important takeaway is after being angry for a couple days, I decided to see what other doors would open. I went on unemployment while I updated a couple outdoor education certifications and enrolled a Wilderness First Responder Course. I applied for outdoor industry jobs all over the country. After a handful of interviews, I took a manager position at the Nanatahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in western NC.
I set my intentions for this new chapter of my life – no expectations & enjoy each moment – and I have to say, my time at the NOC was life-changing in so many ways. My position at the NOC was seasonal, like most, and opened the winter months up to so much potential. Opportunities that had never crossed my mind. Little did I know at the time of leaving DSS would I have the experiences I had.
My 2 seasons at the NOC went as follows: work crazy hours and paddle, hike, mountain bike, trail run, rock climb as much as possible from April to September. October was spend mostly in Kentucky climbing, camping, and hiking at The Red River Gorge. I sold Christmas Trees in Atlanta from Thanksgiving to Christmas, then visited friends and family until my plane ride out of the country. The first winter I spent 3 months in Southeast Asia, backpacking, climbing, exploring Thailand. Backpacking, surfing, and exploring Bali, where I also taught yoga in a bamboo hut on Nusa Lembongan Island. There was also an unplanned week-long visit to Malaysia backpacking, climbing, surfing, and exploring. The 3rd month was a month-long immersion certification course in yoga, meditation and Ayurveda on small island in the Gulf of Thailand.
The second year at the NOC looked about the same, with 2 months in the winter spent backpacking, surfing, hiking, and exploring the magnificent country of Sri Lanka. There, I spent a week engaged in Ayurveda practices and therapies.
After returning from my travels, I was no longer working at the NOC (yes, that is another story in itself). I was living in Sylva and managing a health food store. During this time, I was finishing up my Integrative Holistic Health Coaching certification through IIN.
The place I was living in was a sub-lease, and it was coming to an end at the end of the summer. I was unable to find a place I could afford that allowed dogs. My mom and stepdad were living outside of Winston-Salem and said I could stay with them while I decided if I was going to stay in WS or move elsewhere. I came back to WS kicking and screaming LOL. On the one hand, I was questioning being 40-something and living with my mom, and on the other hand, I was extremely grateful to have that option and the love and support from them both. Plus, I didn’t really want to be back in Winston.
After fighting being back in WS as a completely different person than I was before I left, I realized that I was here for a reason, and I owed it to myself to find out what that was.
I began training at a friend’s gym and focusing on building my nutritional coaching practice. During that time, I was teaching yoga at a couple different studios in the area. Oh, let me just add that being a yoga teacher was NEVER on my radar and NEVER something I strived to be. I soon realized that I didn’t really vibe with the energy in most yoga studios. My beliefs around yoga (the physical practice and beyond) is that if more people practiced yoga, more people would learn to love themselves and, in turn, love their neighbors and the planet leading to a healthy, loving, thriving world.
I wanted to make yoga more accessible and appealing for people to give it a try. I also wanted to build community, cultivate wellness and support local businesses. 8 years ago, this past October, I walked into Foothills Tasting Room to ask the manager, whom I did not know, what he thought about offering a weekly yoga class. He loved the idea, and Yoga(mmunity) = yoga + community was born.
We started with a 6-week series, Saturdays 11 am $5 for yoga + a drink. After the 6 weeks, all was going well, so we kept it going, and within 4 months class was 60 people a week. The first time I had 60 people in the class, I was in tears, overwhelmed, and freaking out a little. However, this experience became an important lesson for me. I was still finding my teacher voice, although I had coached sports and taught classes in other areas for many years. The two main concerns I had was 1. finding my teacher voice and 2. creating a truly all-levels class that would benefit not only beginners but also seasoned yogis. I knew I didn’t have the brain capacity for both. I decided that I was just going to be me. Who you get on the teacher stage and who you get off that stage are one and the same. I had to be ok with knowing that being me on and off the stage would resonate with some and not with others. The more important part of teaching yoga(mmunity – a community-based class – was to make it accessible, safe, and enjoyable for beginners and all participants.
Up to this point, I hadn’t really been putting too much energy into being a yoga teacher. When Yoga(immunity) began growing organically, I decided it was time to shift gears. For a few years class was 70-90 people week. We never missed a week until the pandemic shut everything down. I offered online classes during that time, but 2/3 of my income was gone just like that.
During the last several years, I have partnered with coffee shops, wineries, breweries, and with non-profits for fundraising purposes. I have also had the privilege of teaching at UNSCA, WFU as an adjunct facility, The Budd Group, Baptist Hospital, WFU School of Medicine, StudySync, and more. One summer, I was hired as the Wellness Coordinator for the UNCSA School of Dance summer intensive program. I have volunteered my time with Forsyth County School providing tools to 4th and 5th graders to assist them during EGOs, offering a short yoga class during Family Fitness events, and partnering with a science teacher using yoga to review fulcrums, levers, and other science stuff.
Over the years, my teaching style has shifted, and I have created my own style. I study mobility, body mechanics, and anatomy, as well as how neurology plays a role in the mobility of our bodies. When asked, I tell people my style is a variety of Vinyasa, Hatha, and mobility work coupled with breath awareness and inner stillness. There are additional moments of connection and community in most classes.
Throughout the last few years, I have received my Reiki master’s certification and have been working in private practice with Encompassed Wellbeing. I chose that name for my business because I believe that wellness comes from healing and thriving on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic. My business focuses on 3 pillars of wellness: Awareness. Movement. Nature. with those areas being intertwined on multiple levels. Yoga(mmunity) is a part of Encompassed Wellbeing.
My intention is to inspire, educate, and facilitate healing through living a holistic detoxified life rooted in love, connected to the natural world, and allowing emotions to be the messengers they are meant to be.
Alongside of my wellness and yoga business, I run my own pet-sitting business (again) called Dizzi Dawgs Pet Care. Part of Dizzi Dawgs is educationg pet owners on training and holistic pet care.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha! No, not all, and I would be curious to learn if it’s been a smooth road for anyone. I mean isn’t in the challenges and setbacks where we learn and grow the most??
I think one of the biggest struggles for me has been in my own healing process and, within that, finding who I am and who I want to be. Being intentional with how I show up in the world and with what message. It is an ongoing process of going inward, expanding and learning. I feel that if anyone doing the self/inner work isn’t constantly changing and growing as a person, then they aren’t really doing the work.
The 2nd struggle currently is losing 2/3 of my income when the pandemic hit, and most of it is stil not back. That has been challenging and creating internal questions of ‘what am I doing?’ What’s next? Where do I go from here?
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have come to realize that I am creative and maybe even an artist in some ways in the way I teach – I make up every class on the fly as I teach and no 2 classes are the same. I like to think I am one who thinks outside the box in my personal life as well as professionally. Most of what I offer and speak about in classes and with clients come from my own thoughts, words, and experiences.
I feel I am known for my community-focused offerings and authentic connections. I hold community-based events in nature, plant medicine, movement and self-awareness as well as see clients privately. I do my best to meet each individual client were they are so no two client’s private sessions and process are the same. I include nutrition, movement, detox, emotinal processing, trauma awareness, energy work, etc based on each client’s needs and intentions.
I like that WS has some bigger city offerings with small-city vibes. There are pockets of authentic connections and like-minded conscious people. Also, the location and its proximity to the mountains and the coast.
On the same note, I feel there is still a large disconnect throughout the city fueled by separation and competition, even in the yoga community. It’s frustrating. I feel I have attempted to bridge this gap by inviting other teachers and leaders to co-create community classes but it lead no where. Maybe there is more I could be doing, I am just not sure what that is.
Pricing:
- All Yoga(mmunity) classes are $12 for an hour-long all levels class + a drink (non-alcoholic available)
- Private session rates vary based on needs and intention.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.
encompassedwellbeing.com - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ encompasedwellbeing and www. facebook.com/yogammunitytribe - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/ encompassedwellbeing/ - Other: https://www.instagram.
com/encompassed.wellbeing - personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/
deanna.dzybon - Pet Sitting IG: https://www.instagram.com/izze
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