Power pose is a controversial self-improvement technique. When you feel confident, it is shown by your body language. Picture of an athlete raising their arms in a V shape and thinking of a Wonder Woman with her hands on her hips, feet apart, and chest lifted. These expansive postures are not just for the show. They have been shown to influence our brain chemistry and behavior.
Research by social psychologist Amy Cuddy and her colleagues has demonstrated that holding a power pose for just 2 minutes can lead to significant changes in our body and mind.
What is power posing?
The origins and initial findings of power posing and it’s theory:
The idea behind power posing was originally popularized by a social psychologist Amy Cuddy and her colleagues in 2010. In their research, they claimed that practicing power posing increases testosterone level and decrease cortisol, a stress hormone.
5 power poses to practice:
Power poses can be more beneficial on practicing them rather than reading them somewhere and you can only see it’s effects when you practice it.
Here are 5 power poses to boost your confidence and to gain better awareness about your body:
- “The Victory Pose”
This is the pose which is often referred as “V” for Victory, is a powerful and expansive body posture associated with success, victory and celebration. This pose can be practiced by raising the both hands in V shape typically in overhead.
Imagine an participant participating in racing reaches the finish line first. As they break the tape they might instinctively throw their arms up signaling the happiness and triumph, reinforcing a positive mindset about their own accomplishment. - “The Wonder Woman Pose”
Imagine you have a big presentation at work. Before entering the conference room, you found a private space and you stand in a Wonder Woman pose visualizing the presentation for two minutes. This brief moment helps you to calm your nerves and make you ready to present with authority and full confidence.
This is also a wonderful power pose that works like magic. This pose is practiced by keeping both of your hands in your hip area facing upward/forward because hands facing downwards make you look like you are supporting your back. In this way you can practice this pose before any presentation, meetings and serious event that you are serious about. - “Leading pose”
This pose is used to present ourselves fully while in presentations. In this pose you can take support of the table that is kept behind you to make you look like powerful and confident facing your palms downward the table, standing straight. While you can also put your one hand in your hip and one in the presentation board while crossing your legs by maintaining a steady gaze with your audience. This pose will also give you power and make you more presentable. This pose will take more space, and the more space you take while presenting, shows more power to audience. - “Masculine pose”
In this pose imagine or try yourself sitting on a sofa, while opening both of your arms away from your upper body keeping your chin up and shoulders wide, putting one leg on top of another. Many people consider this as a power pose and practice it as well.
Being powerful makes you feel confident and beautiful, with this article I want every readers to touch their height which they doubted till yesterday. Practice these power poses just for 2 minutes to gain that confident which you never had before.
It has been proven that, those who practice these power poses, have seen with increased testosterone, and decreased cortisol. While, those who doesn’t practice power poses, who sit by hunching their back, closing their shoulders, facing their chin down have seen with decreased testosterones and increased cortisol, a stress hormone.
Tips for maintaining confidence with non-verbal communication.
- Enter their space:
Charismatic and confident people meet others in their space. It is necessary to focus while meeting someone, specially with clients, step forward first to shake their hand before they do it. - Stay physically still:
One of the major way to look more confident and more commanding is to move less. While talking to other people we often move our head and body too much, but when we move slowly it reveals that whoever speaking is serious and confident. - Exude confidence:
Be mindful of other’s and the situation you are in, then determine the appropriate level of confidence and act. The way you act with your friends and parents vs when you are in a meeting vary differently. With these tiny concise choices you can differ how other perceive you. By modifying your act, you can appear more confident then you actually feel.
Q. How long should I hold a power pose?
You should hold a power pose for about 2 minutes in the beginning because holding a power pose for too long if you are not familiar earlier may result in back pain. So, start small and gradually increase this to make it a habit.
Q. Can power pose benefits people?
Benefiting from power poses may vary on different person. While it differ according to person’s own experience, anyone looking to boost their confident and be more presentable behind others, regardless of their personality and their current confident level, power pose will help to gain confidence up to certain extent considering everyone have their own style and discipline to practice it.