Power, Presence, Confidence and Vulnerability
What do these things have in common?
I have been thinking about this as I prepare for a workshop I’ll be co-presenting with my good friend psychotherapist Miriam Granthier during my visit to the UK this August. We’ll be exploring the body-mind connection through the lenses of both Alexander Technique and Gestalt Psychotherapy.
I find myself once more drawn to the work of social psychologist Amy Cuddy and the “high-power poses” which, when done for just two minutes, were shown to raise your testosterone (the “dominance” hormone) and lower your cortisol (the “stress” hormone). (The opposite happened if you did “low-power poses”….) In interactions after doing the high power poses (in this case a job interview), participants were perceived as having more presence, and were described as confident, passionate, authentic or comfortable. And that’s not all. It not only changed the way they were perceived by others, but also how they felt themselves.
Here I am experimenting with low- and high-power poses:
Low-Power Poses
High-Power Poses
Cuddy stated that there is already a body of evidence that our minds (how and what we think, our emotions) change our bodies. Her studies, however, clearly showed that our bodies also change our minds. As a practitioner and teacher of the Alexander Technique this is not news to me, although I am very pleased to see that we are now getting clear evidence of this. In fact, in the Alexander Technique we do not even speak so much of the mind-body connection – rather of mind-body unity. The two really cannot be separated.
Coming back to the “high-power poses,” it strikes me that these open, expansive postures actually display incredible vulnerability – exposure of the neck, the throat and the belly, for instance. By comparison the “low-power poses,” in which we contract and close ourselves in, can be thought of as a way to protect or armor ourselves. It is ironic perhaps that we experience power, confidence and presence by allowing ourselves to be more vulnerable.
In an Alexander Technique class students are invited to let go of unnecessary tension – contraction. For me this was a wonderfully novel experience, but one that, in the beginning, also brought on feelings of vulnerability and exposure. I persisted despite these feelings, as I was experiencing a great relief in my neck tension and pain, that I’d carried around for years. And the more I was able to open up, the more confidence I felt and the more able to be my true self.
From what I can glean from Cuddy’s study, it does not matter how you do the “high-power poses” to get a positive effect. I am interested in exploring how adding some Alexander Technique thinking and awareness to how the poses are executed might enhance them further. My guess is that the two together will be even more effective.
In the meantime, next time you have an important or stressful event coming up, try doing (in private) two minutes of “high-power poses” beforehand. You’ll likely go into it more confidently and with greater presence – in a way that feels comfortable and true to yourself.
If you’ve experimented with “high-power poses” I’d love to hear about your experiences. Of, if you’ve studied the Alexander Technique, has your confidence increased, for example? Any observations or questions would be most welcome. Please comment in the space below.
Nice article Imogen – I also had some very interesting changes in my habitual “psychological” outlook when I began studying the Alexander Technique. I think you workshop sounds wonderfully interesting. The interconnection between how our thinking impacts how our body moves and the ways in which our thinking is changed by how we move and hold our bodies. I look forward to future posts and hope you will share some of your insights from the workshop.
One thing I think to myself often: Who might I be without my tension patterns.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments, Laura. I certainly intend to write more on this, and any insights that arise from the workshop.
“Who might I be without my tension patterns?” – what a great question to ask ourselves often!
Thank you!
Hi Imogen, This is an extremely interesting article. Thank you. It’s got me thinking about the way I’ve held myself for many years (more like the low power poses) and the ways in which that is changing since doing inner work. I find it interesting that I often use the words “opening up” when I refer to the growth process that is happening within me. And these same words come to me when I view the high power poses you’ve posted. I am wondering something. Could it be that by practicing these opening, high-power poses, one can enhance the total opening growth process of self? (when I say self, I mean soul-self, higher-self, authentic-self, true-self… there are many words people use to express it.)
Hi Kathy, I’m glad you found the article interesting. I’ve been fascinated by this research. I think a lot of our language does express both what’s going on inside and out (actually I don’t think you can change one without the other). For instance “depressed” expresses both the inner state and the outward expression.
Re your question about the high-power poses, while I can’t speak from experience, my guess is that yes they would enhance the opening up process. I also speculate that the Alexander work, which offers a much more subtle way of opening up, could only enhance this process further still.
Absolutely Kathy –
My AT Mentor, Mio Morales, says ease anywhere is ease everywhere. So definitely opening you body, noticing your Use, allows more room for your soul-self, higher-self, authentic-self, true-self to breathe and function at its best capacity.
Enjoy your journey!
Hi Imogen,
Lovely article and the concepts are beautifully expressed. For me a large part of the Alexander work has been about opening up my posture and finding my Self, allowing it to shine out without fear. A high power posture is not about power over others, it is just for self-empowerment. Maybe now I’m finally addressing the question, Who might I be without my tension patterns?
Thank you so much, Sarah. I totally agree about Alexander helping to let our true selves “shine out without fear” – the fear is such a hard one, but that opening up sure helps with that! And, yes, self-empowerment is absolutely what we’re after!
That question, “Who might I be without my tension patterns” posed by Laura is great, isn’t it. I am now reminded how “unlike” myself I felt during my Alexander training, when in fact I was getting more in touch with my true self. It is an ongoing process, as you well know!
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