GAUYAFIT is a VALUES-driven company making waves for positive change from the individual on out to ever expanding community circles.

My Vision, Mission, and Brand (GAUYAFIT) are all focused on helping Active Agers (60-85 y.o.a.) live fit-, full- and free lives with endless possibilities and positivity throughout their entire life. My goal is to scale my business in order to help 1,000s of people via taking my offerings online (going virtual and digitizing my content and programs).

DeAnne Gauya, MS, CPT, E-RYT 500, LMT, has been helping people reach their full, holistic fitness potential since 1986. Over her 40-year career, she has worked with people of all fitness levels and 'walks of life,' from Hollywood movie stars (Lily Tomlin and Alfre Woodard) to White House staffers, and people with chronic illnesses and physical handicaps. Her passion to serve and help as many people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s turn back their biological clocks, age optimally, and become more adaptable, resilient, holistically fit, and confident in their abilities knows no limits. Her passion is palpable.

DeAnne is the Creative, Energetic Orchestrator (CEO) of her business and brand, GAUYAFIT, and the creator of the revolutionary Beyond Aging Gracefully with the S.U.R.F.E.R.S. Method online course and small-group mentoring program. This unique method is the culmination of her 40+ year career as a holistic fitness coach, stress-reduction expert, yoga teacher, and therapeutic bodyworker/healer. Beyond Aging Gracefully combines the most effective practices from the ancient wisdom traditions of yoga and Buddhism with cutting-edge advances in neuroscience, holistic fitness, and resilience. "Life Surfers" cultivate the mind~body~spirit to ‘surf any wave’ life brings them with grace, ease, and joy.

DeAnne helps people live with the freedom that comes with improved holistic fitness and resilience, regardless of age.

“Fitness = Freedom” is her motto

Graduating from high school, I wanted to become a doctor.  In hindsight, I think that I wanted to prevent people from dying like my mom.  I enrolled as a Pre-med. student at Bucknell University with high hopes.  I thought that if I applied the same discipline and work ethic that I had throughout high school, I would succeed, but I was wrong.  At the end of my first semester, I was on Academic Probation with a 2.0 GPA.  I was told that I must be one of the “experimental candidates”/ “a weed” (i.e., someone they accepted into the program and most likely would fail).  One of my fellow Pre-med. students actually said this to me.  My family was expressly disappointed in me. “What’s wrong with you?” For the first time in my life, I felt like a failure and the strategies that had always worked for me in the past were not working.  

In December 1981, I decided that my “Jan Plan” would be to go on Outward Bound in the Mahoosuc Mountains of Maine for a 10-day cross country skiing and snowshoeing expedition.  This 10-day experience challenged me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to a degree that I had never been challenged before.  The temperature never got about 0 degrees and with the windchill factor, it was -10 to -30 degrees.  Several of the men in our group were helicoptered out due to frostbite. Everyday, we got up at sunrise and navigated our way through the mountains for 6 to 8  hours a day.  It was brutal and there were times when I just wanted to give up and go home, but I didn’t.  I made it through and my Outward Bound experience became a transformative Inward Bound experience.

I returned to Bucknell with a ”I’ll show you” attitude.  I switched my major to Biology and Psychology (Psychobiology was not an option) and decided that I would do what I could to keep people healthy and prevent disease.  I graduated in 1985 with a 3.5 GPA as one of two students to graduate from Bucknell with a triple major (Biology~Psychology~German).

Back in the mid-80s, I knew that exercise, nutrition, and stress reduction were keys to longevity and increased ‘health span’.  I went on to Teachers’ College at Columbia University and got a master’s degree in Nutrition Education with a concentration in Applied Physiology.

One of my ‘gifts’ has always been my insatiable curiosity and desire to be a life-long student; always learning, growing, and evolving both personally and professionally at the cutting edge of Mind/Body Medicine and Holistic Fitness.

In the late 80s, I became a student of Buddhism and yoga following the deaths of my first love and brother (both died in their early 20s) completely unexpectedly.  Once again, I was hit with ‘life waves’ that I was ill-equipped to surf.  My Catholic faith did not work for me.

At age 30, I was introduced to the concept, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf” while doing my first MBSR-training for health professionals with Jon Kabat Zinn and Saki Santorelli at The Omega Institute.  This concept deeply resonated and influenced the evolution of my business and brand.

In 2018, The GAUYAFIT S.U.R.F.E.R.S. Method  was born out of 30+ years of life experience and continued education. I am currently on a mission to help Active Agers become confident, resilient, adaptable, stress-resistant, and holistically fit “Life Surfers” living with freedom, joy, and vitality into their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond.