Something I learnt and discovered in recent years is the power of good posture, not just in your back and neck and reducing back pain, but also how effective it can be in helping with our happiness, success and self esteem too. There have been interesting studies on how having good posture can improve results for example in stressful job interviews, and those who succeed are more likely to have had good posture before the interview and just in life and work, career in general.
In this interesting Ted Talk by Psychologist Amy Cuddy, she shows and talks about the differences in two groups in the study, one group adopted a power pose (good posture), such as a wonder woman type pose for 2 minutes, others adopted a slouched (more miserable, not so good posture) prior to the interview. Those who had the better posture were more successful. It’s all so interesting. You can watch the Ted talk here:
She talks a lot about body language and asks questions like,
how are you sitting or standing right now?
Think of a runner winning a running race, they put their arms up in a V shape in the air as they run across the finishing line when they’ve won the race.
When you’re happy and celebrating something, you might throw your arms up in the air or you naturally will adopt a better posture. When you feel not so good, your posture might become smaller, slumped. You never see someone crying and upset with good posture. So the fantastic winning posture makes you feel more powerful and happier.
Ever since graduating from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sports Science, (a very long time ago now!!),
I’ve always had a fascination in research and how this can help you in your life, work, body and mind, have always found Psychology very interesting.
In the wonderful book I love me ‘the science of self love’ by David Hamilton, it states that research studies have been carried out on how posture affects how we feel. In the book it states in a 2014 study by scientists at the University of Auckland (I lived there for a while!), they got the participants to sit in either a slumped or upright good posture, Those who sat upright reported higher self esteem than those who were slumping, they had more positive moods and lower fear. They even used more positive words and more effective.
How interesting is that? So perhaps give it a go, join in todays little video of combining all of these power pose good posture movements which I’ve put into a mindfulness pilates improve your posture sequence for you. Enjoy it for 2 full minutes to get the full benefits.
I love enjoying it out on a daily walk, even better add in the positive affirmation I am enough. Do this daily or anytime before a stressful situation to boost your confidence, simply feel happier or become more successful, you might be glad you did!.
Because ‘you are enough’
Love to hear how you get on
Love Bev
Beverley Densham BSc (Hons)
Pilates teacher of 22 years
Reduce back pain and feel good with mindfulness pilates
Www.mindfulnesspilates.com