Didi von Deck

Mercedes (Didi) von Deck, MD is devoted to helping people reach their full potential.  She has spent much of her life studying the human body from different viewpoints through her career as an orthopaedic surgeon as well as as a dancer, yoga teacher and Feldenkrais practitioner.  Movement has always interested her, and she uses her knowledge and skills to help people of all ages and backgrounds function and feel better. Her love of movement and dance contributed to her decision to become an orthopaedic surgeon.  She found orthopaedics to be a satisfying way to help people recover from injuries and regain lost function.  However, in some cases, surgery, medications and standard exercise didn’t seem to be enough to relieve pain.

Early in her medical practice, Didi realized that a patient’s attitude and resiliency is important to the success of medical treatment or surgery.  Sometimes patients need to learn they can go beyond self-imposed limitations. Sometimes patients have developed habits of tightening muscles to help decrease the pain of an injury and they are unable to let go of these habits after they have healed. Didi finds that yoga and the Feldenkrais Method can help.   These practices create a concrete experience of how to change muscular patterns that are hindering function.  And when the body changes, the mind follows to enable people to find their optimal health and become their optimum selves. Using the Feldenkrais Method and/or yoga, Didi can help people feel better in their bodies, help people recovering from injuries or living with disabilities, help relieve chronic pain and anxiety, and enhance performance in athletics, yoga, art, music and dance.

Didi can be contacted at connectingbodyandmind@gmail.com.  She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, cat, and two bunnies.  She is the proud mom of three creative and capable daughters who are passionate about what they believe in.  Didi hopes she has been successful instilling in them the belief that anything and everything is possible if you follow your heart.

Episode Notes:

• Didi’s pull toward exploring movement through modern dance and switching between competitive ballroom dance and school during her med school years
• How a burgeoning love of dance and movement led Didi to a career in orthopedic surgery
• Finding Ashtanga yoga after her 3rd child and feeling an instant connection to the practice
• The shift away from needing a guru in modern yoga culture and seeing ourselves as our own best teacher
• The incredible healing power of Feldenkrais and “somatic re-education” 
• Didi leads us through a 7 minute Feldenkrais exercise (at around the 32 minute mark)

https://www.downunderyoga.com/boston-yoga-teacher/didi-von-deck