The Power of Power Pose

   Have you noticed the reaction of the person who has triumped? Let it be Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps or Virat Kohli or whoever it might be (not just constrained to sports person). If you had noticed them carefully, you would have seen one thing common among everyone who has won  or achieved something. They would simply raise or spread both their hands in the air away from the body. Each and every part of their body seems to have spread outside. When you see them, you will understand that they are pretty confident and are having indomitable spirit. This is what I mean by the term "POWER POSE". The following are some of the images that depicts power pose.

Michael Schumachar, the popular F1 racer

The world's fastest man, USAIN BOLT

Ajinkya Rahane, Indian Cricketer

AR RAHMAN, the most popular music director

When someone spreads their body outside like this, it gives them the feeling of power, the feeling of authority over the situation and the feeling of pride. Generally people exhibit this kind of poses only after they have won  or achieved something. But when they are feeling afraid or anxious or dismayed, etc, they look consternated and their body pose will be resemble something like this.

This article isn't about why we exhibit powerful poses when are victorious or why we exhibit powerless poses when we are anxious or afraid. But it is about how you can change your confident-less mind into a mind full of confident by just changing your body language or simply your poses. Body languages are not only the way other people see us. But it's also the way we see ourselves.

Amy Cuddy

Amy Cuddy, an American psychologist, who works at the Harvard Business School, is known for her research in non-verbal behaviour. I was lucky to listen to her TED talk on "Power poses". I never knew at that time that it was one of the most important lecturer that I have ever listened. She says that our body language shapes who we are. Her principle is this. "FAKE IT UNTIL YOU BECOME IT". What you should fake? Let me explain this with an example. 

When you are waiting for the interviewer to call you at the waiting room, you will be really anxious. Automatically, when you are anxious, your body will wrap itself up. It will occupy less space and you feel really powerless. It's at this time. Yes, it's at this time, you should open yourself up. How?  Just go to some private place, most probably rest room, where no one can see you. Open your selfie camera (because mirror might not be available there) and place it comfortably somewhere so that you can see yourself clearly. Now fake your body language from a powerless pose to powerful pose as you can see above in the first four images of this post. When you fake your pose, initially you might not feel the confidence. But keep trying. Try different ways of power poses. Keep faking your body pose till you become confident. This is the principle behind "FAKE IT UNTIL YOU BECOME IT". Make sure that you fake your poses at some private place because doing this in front of people makes them think something else of you. 

powerful pose vs powerless pose

This way of faking the body pose has proven to be the best stratergy to overcome fear, anxiousness or consternation. Whatever might be the situation which makes you feel anxious or dreadful. Just take two minutes of private time and you are all done. Your mind now feels more confident than before. Please don't believe me and try it for yourself. This is a wonderful way to bypass your powerlessness. You will never feel powerless again. Situations can make you feel powerless. Not only mind (good thoughts) can influence your behaviour, but also your behaviour can change your mind. There is a lot to write about this. But this is the concept.

HAVE A WONDERFUL SORRY HAVE A POWERFUL DAY :)

Reference : Amy Cuddy's TED Talk

Image courtesy:
1. preservedstories.com
2. cineblitz.in
3. beliefnet.com
4. fullsailblog.com