Do you have a power pose?
During a TED talk, social psychologist and Harvard lecturer, Amy Cuddy, spoke about her research "which indicated that when people assume an open or expansive stance (make themselves appear taller and wider), they subsequently feel more powerful."
Cuddy's research has "found that after adopting an expansive pose, study participants felt more powerful, took more risk in a gambling task and performed better in a mock interview than those who had adopted contracted poses." (Forbes, 2020)
And although power posing has been widely debated in the academic community—The Empowered Women's Circle decided to test the theory at the launch of our summer season this past Thursday.
We started by watching this clip from the popular tv show, Ted Lasso, where Rebecca demonstrates how she taps into her power before going into a room.
I invite your to try your own power pose now! Full disclosure, I did a power pose in the bathroom before my Thursday presentation in Toronto!
You can try one of these:
The Wonder Woman - hands on hips, chest up & feet wide apart
The Performer - named after Mick Jagger, plant your feet widely and stretch your arms overhead in a V shape
The CEO - named after Oprah, relax, recline in your chair and place your hands behind your head (transform it in The Obama power pose by placing your feet up on your desk!)
Try holding the pose for 2 minutes—time yourself on your phone if you need to!
What did you feel like when you did the pose? What did you notice?
Many EWC members reported feeling powerful, open and energized after holding the pose for just 2 minutes.
I invite you to use this practice in your daily life—maybe before a job interview or a presentation you're giving to colleagues!
And if you're looking to explore more practices like power posing, there's still time to join us for the summer season of the Empowered Women’s Circle.
We will practice more of these embodied experiences, embedded into your powerful and productive lives so that you can open up to greater ease, flow, joy & replenishment.
Membership will close on Thursday May 26th, so now is your chance to join us for a soul nourishing summer alongside the EWC Community.