Holistic OT Practitioner Directory

Deanna Waggy, MSA, OTR, CZB is a Holistic OT with a private wellness practice in South Bend, IN to bridge traditional and complementary approaches to whole-being health (body, mind, emotions, soul). She is also a spiritual guide, retreat facilitator, teacher, mentor and consultant. She co-edited the book Empowering Whole-Being Health (90 acupressure case studies) and co-authored numerous articles on holistic practices and research in various peer reviewed journals. She is currently involved in acupressure research. Deanna and her husband Loren (also an OT) promote excellence in OT, Zero Balancing and Acupressure through public speaking, writing, mentoring and study groups.

Deanna has over 35 years of OT experience and program development in multiple OT settings including specialty areas of Work Hardening, Ergonomics, Hand Therapy, Mastectomy/Breast Reconstruction and Sensory Regulation. She is certified in Zero Balancing, Clinical Acupressure, Process Acupressure, Advanced Soul Lightening Acupressure. She has additional training in Five Element Acupressure, Spiritual Direction, Guided Imagery, Mindfulness, Meditation, Contemplative Spiritual Practices, Aromatherapy, BodyTalk Access, Healing Touch, Reiki, Craniosacral Therapy, Myofascial Release, Reflexology and other integrative health techniques to facilitate the healing process of the whole person.

In addition to facilitating self-care and contemplative retreats, Deanna teaches Seva Stress Release Acupressure, Good Points Self Care Series, Acupressure for Anyone classes, and a Basic Foundation Certificate (Clinical Acupressure 1 and Process Acupressure 1) for Soul Lightening International Acupressure. She is excited to add teaching Zero Balancing I & II in 2022 along with several new online webinars teaching acupressure, vagal toning and spiritual self-care practices for holistic practitioners experiencing burnout and stress. http://www.DWaggy.com/classes Deanna provides 1:1 mentoring for holistic practitioners interested in clinical skills development, building a holistic practice and teaching online. 

My experience includes working with survivors of domestic violence, trauma, terminal illness and disability, chronic and persistent mental illness, and neurodiversity. As a clinical adjunct instructor for graduate level occupational therapy students, I have nearly ten years of experience facilitating individual and group experiences at clinical and academic levels. My years as an occupational therapist have allowed me to work with individuals during the depths of life’s most challenging moments to create new pathways for living fully –  incorporating past pain and struggles rather than avoiding or denying them to create beauty through wholeness. This work has allowed me to be in constant exploration of how we transform our life’s greatest challenges into our deepest medicine for growth.

Through healing and integrating three places of frequent wounding – the body, relationship, and eros, we work together to create a new emergent way of being rooted in our untamed wholeness. Years of personal immersion in embodied and sensual movement showed me the importance of including all three of these key components. Through the body, we learn to recognize and tend to the unique language of our individual nervous systems; through relationship, we offer reparative opportunities for creating safety and nourishment through personal connection; and through eros, we dismantle the shame and conditioning that often prevents us from embodying our own personal life force.

In our work together, I support individuals in reclaiming their pleasure, purpose, and aliveness through honoring the art of modern day alchemy – transforming the lead of our challenges into the gold of who we are meant to be.

If you are interested in exploring opportunities to work together, please contact me at [email protected]. I offer individual sessions and group coaching programs.