Wonder woman Pose: How you stand affects how you feel                       By Nutritionist Honor Tremain

Our posture can actually chemically affect how we feel about ourselves and even how others view us by triggering the release of either testosterone to make us feel strong, calm and confident or cortisol- the stress hormone- which makes us feel anxious, shy and easily intimidated. This is a new and exciting finding discussed by Professor Amy Cuddy of Harvard business school who states that ‘changing “your posture for two minutes a day could.. significantly change how your life unfolds”.  How we use or hold our body is a language, a non-verbal communication that tells others who we are, shaping not only our thoughts, feelings and physiology but life events too such as being hired for a job or who dates us! Through clinical experiments it was found that the strength hormone testosterone is increased within the body when a “power pose” is held for 2 minutes by 20%, and interestingly the stress hormone cortisol was decreased by 25% at the same time. So what does this look like? When we feel powerful we open up, stretch out, and take up more space, when we feel powerless we shrink ourselves down, fold ourselves up and try to almost hide. People that feel powerful are more confident, optimistic, assertive, feel they are going to win, and think more abstractly. When they speak it was noticed that they are more passionate, enthusiastic, comfortable, and captivating. Professor Cuddy suggests to “fake it until you become it”, so stand or sit in a power pose for 2 minutes a day in order to gradually change how you feel about yourself, how others see you and even what life events unfold for you. One of the tested power poses has been dubbed the “wonder woman” or superman pose which is where a person stands with feet slightly apart and hands on hips. Another is to sit in a chair, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, with hands behind your head. Why not try it and see what happens?         Reference- Cuddy A Proff, Your body language shapes who you are, TED talks, File found online- http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html