Posture and energy

[paralleloscope]

(I'm sure there's a topic that talks about something similar but couldn't find it )
It relates to M. Gladwell's report in Blink, which talks about the mirrored relationship between muscles and feelings, how they can be changed from either having a mood make a grimace or stimulating the facial grimace normally coded to a mood, and attaing that feeling.

In the Ted talk below, Harvard professor Amy Cuddy talks about posture defining our energy (as well as others perception), and how it can be stimulated 'backwards' just like the facial muscles.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

 

[Gawan]

I also thought at times about it, especially the smiling thing that it can change your mood. Eventually it depends on the context, if there are real underlying (psychological) problems going on and doing the smiling thing would only be helpful for a short time and imo a quick fix.

Eventually it goes in the direction of Wilhelm Reich (body postures) and also Alexander Lowen (relates to bioenergetic breathing) and with that therapy forms that are recommended : like rolfing/body work.

It is interesting nonetheless, what postures can or even facial muscles can do. The question could also be, what causes the posture, that we are in? Like what was first chicken or egg? ;)

 

[paralleloscope]

It is interesting nonetheless, what postures can or even facial muscles can do. The question could also be, what causes the posture, that we are in? Like what was first chicken or egg? ;)

Or simultaneous; A child mirrors an attack and shrinks, which becomes a habitual imprinted posture. The emotional energy drama is perhaps already there in some sense, the expression of posture and impression on muscle<chemicals is the same, just flipsides?

 

[loreta]

This is very interesting, thank you very much for sharing it.

My grand-mother used to say to me: keep your back straight! For her, the posture of a straight back was very important to give energy and a good feeling for yourself and the others. I can see in myself when I am depress that I tend to walk on the street with my back a little curbed. So I remember the words of my dear grand-mother. Also, she told me: you can see when people are depress because they don't look the sky when walking but they look their shoes. Also, I can see it in my body language these savior words.

 

[Chu]

I also thought at times about it, especially the smiling thing that it can change your mood. Eventually it depends on the context, if there are real underlying (psychological) problems going on and doing the smiling thing would only be helpful for a short time and imo a quick fix.

Eventually it goes in the direction of Wilhelm Reich (body postures) and also Alexander Lowen (relates to bioenergetic breathing) and with that therapy forms that are recommended : like rolfing/body work.

It is interesting nonetheless, what postures can or even facial muscles can do. The question could also be, what causes the posture, that we are in? Like what was first chicken or egg? ;)

I think that a lot here has to do with the "smart vagus nerve", since many of its branches are located in the face.

So, it stands to reason that it can work in both directions, from the brain to our bodies and viceversa. OSIT.

 

[dugdeep]

(I'm sure there's a topic that talks about something similar but couldn't find it )
It relates to M. Gladwell's report in Blink, which talks about the mirrored relationship between muscles and feelings, how they can be changed from either having a mood make a grimace or stimulating the facial grimace normally coded to a mood, and attaing that feeling.

In the Ted talk below, Harvard professor Amy Cuddy talks about posture defining our energy (as well as others perception), and how it can be stimulated 'backwards' just like the facial muscles.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

The video at the above link doesn't seem to be working (unless it's something on my end) so I found it on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc
It's a great talk!

This is a fascinating topic, and I have seen echoes of the 'posture changes outlook/mood' myself in going through the rolfing series. Since beginning the body work my entire posture, how I walk, stand or sit, has completely changed. I've noticed myself feeling more empowered, more confident, tending to internally consider less (in some situations at least). Others have made comments to me about it as well. They can't always tell what it is, but people will say "something is different about you..." One person even said I looked taller! The "fake it until you become it" idea definitely has some validity, in my experience.

 

[pstott]

This reminds me of the time I was studying the Gurdjieffian "movements" or as they are sometimes called - "sacred gymnastics" - about 35 years ago.

The class was told to assume various postures during the course of a movement, and we were instructed to attempt to be sensitive to the emotional feelings generated by these movements, and to try to amplify them.

 

[obyvatel]

Some threads where posture is discussed

Posture and Emotions in Peter Levine's "In An Unspoken Voice" ,

Pat Ogden's "Trauma and the Body" ,

Affective Neuroscience


Gurdjieff highlighted the importance of posture.

[quote author=ISOTM]
You must understand that the three principal centers, the thinking, the emotional, and the moving, are connected together and, In a normal man, they are always working in unison. This unison is what presents the chief difficulty in work on oneself. What is meant by this unison? It means that a definite work of the thinking center is connected with a definite work of the emotional and moving centers—that is to say, that a certain kind of thought is inevitably connected with a certain kind of emotion (or mental state) and with a certain kind of movement (or posture); and one evokes the other, that is, a certain kind of emotion (or mental state) evokes certain movements or postures and certain thoughts, and a certain kind of movement or posture evokes certain emotions or mental states, and so forth. Everything is connected and one thing cannot exist without another thing.
.............................................................

"Every race," he said, "every nation, every epoch, every country, every class, every profession, has its own definite number of postures and movements. These movements and postures, as things which are the most permanent and unchangeable in man, control his form of thought and his form of feeling. But a man never makes use of even all the postures and movements possible for him. In accordance with his individuality a man takes only a certain number of the postures and movements possible for him. So that each individual man's repertory of postures and movements is very limited.


The character of the movements and postures in every epoch, in every race, and in every class is indissolubly connected with definite forms of thinking and feeling. A man is unable to change the form of his thinking or his feeling until he has changed his repertory of postures and movements. The forms of thinking and feeling can be called the postures and movements of thinking and feeling. Every man has a definite number of thinking and feeling postures and movements. Moreover moving, thinking, and feeling postures are connected with one another in man and he can never move out of his repertory of thinking and feeling postures unless he changes his moving postures. An analysis of man's thoughts and feelings and a study of his moving functions, arranged in a certain way, show that every one of our movements, voluntary or involuntary, is an unconscious transition from one posture to another, both equally mechanical.


It is illusion to say our movements are voluntary. All our movements are automatic. Our thoughts and feelings are just as automatic. The automatism of thought and feeling is definitely connected with the automatism of movement. One cannot be changed without the other. So that if a man's attention is concentrated, let us say, on changing automatic thoughts, then habitual movements and habitual postures will interfere with this new course of thought by attaching to it old habitual associations.

In ordinary conditions we have no conception how much our thinking, feeling, and moving functions depend upon one another, although we know, at the same time, how much our moods and our emotional states can depend upon our movements and postures. If a man takes a posture which with him corresponds to a feeling of sadness or despondency, then within a short time he is sure to feel sad or despondent. Fear, disgust, nervous agitation, or, on the other hand, calm, can be created by an intentional change of posture."
[/quote]

 

[Graalsword]

Something I noticed, for instance, is if I am sat with a stoop, and then I straighten my back, energy and mood change a lot. Even slightly more mental clarity, though very slight as there are other factors who must have more "weight".

 

[Gaby]

Aragorn posted some postures in Notes from my course in Bioenergetics. I'm the "Oral – the collapsed character structure". I remember being in school and looking at my profile in the mirror, it looked like the sketch portrayed here.

The interesting thing is that when I was younger, I didn't had that posture. I used to walk straight as a stick. Now, the collapsed posture is my default posture, but resistance training does seem to be changing that.

 

[TheLostBoy]

This is all very interesting for a couple reasons.

First of all, I think that the Vagus Nerve idea might be a big factor. In the EE program we work with the breathing exercises exactly for that purpose of stimulating the vagus nerve, and look at all the results that can be obtained from EE!

For me personally, I've been battling with poor posture for a few years now. At first I thought that perhaps it was simply the result of about a year and halfs time working in an office chair with nasty posture. But after a few years of correcting my posture everywhere I go as often as I can recognize it, it is still difficult to sit straight up for even a full class period. You'd think after long enough time correcting it constantly those muscles would stop being so darned sore! But no. I have to wonder if maybe something about my energy not quite being where/how it should yet has had an effect of keeping my postural muscles/posture as it is? Perhaps a sign from my body in some way that I've missed until recently? Maybe those muscles just need some exercising! Who knows?!? Interesting in any case. For me at least..

Also, regarding postures and energy, has anybody here read anything about Ecstatic Trance postures? Belinda Gore and Felicitas Goodman have done quite a bit of research regarding cave paintings and statues that they claim are postures that our ancient shaman ancestors used to connect with the spirit/other realms. They assume the posture, drum or rattle at (I believe) 220 beats per minute (to distract or occupy the usual perception/attention of our brains), setting a 15 minute time limit. It seems they have visions/experiences of other realms, and they say they can choose which type of experience to have based on common experiences depending on which posture is assumed. They have a few categories like Healing postures, Divination, Lower and Upper World Journeys, etc.
Anyone read anything on this? I've got 3 books on the topic from a while ago (oddly I never actually tried it yet).
If anyone wants, later tonight I can pull those books off the shelf and give a little better synopsis of their work for everyone?

 

[Uperios]

How Postural Restoration Can Help Restore Your Health

How Postural Restoration Can Help Restore Your Health - Interview with Aleena Kanner

Story at a glance:
+ Your body is naturally asymmetrical. Balance is maintained through the integration of these system imbalances. When balanced integration fails, structural weaknesses and pain can develop
+ While walking barefoot outdoors on uneven terrain is a great way to ground, walking barefoot on hard, flat surfaces, such as tile or concrete, can cause problems, including bunions
+ Things like eyeglasses, LASIK surgery, dental implants and root canals can affect your sensory experience, and hence your gait and posture, which in turn can result in pain syndromes
+ Dental work can affect your bite, which affects your cranial and cervical posture. If teeth are pulled and not replaced with an implant, your brain may not be able to determine where your center of gravity is, causing your body to overcompensate to one side or the other
+ LASIK eye surgery can trigger unexpected problems. One of the main problems is that if it fixes you into a set prescription that is wrong, it can lock in dysfunction. With glasses, you’re not locked into one prescription. You can change it and get new glasses if it turns
out that your symmetry was off

 

[loreta]

This is a fascinating topic, and I have seen echoes of the 'posture changes outlook/mood' myself in going through the rolfing series. Since beginning the body work my entire posture, how I walk, stand or sit, has completely changed. I've noticed myself feeling more empowered, more confident, tending to internally consider less (in some situations at least). Others have made comments to me about it as well. They can't always tell what it is, but people will say "something is different about you..." One person even said I looked taller! The "fake it until you become it" idea definitely has some validity, in my experience.

You are right.

Strangely enough, yesterday my yoga teacher pointed out that certain postures help us to feel more happy, more positive, more in a good mood, for example if we're sad or depressed there are yoga postures that will give us courage and energy. He said that yesterday's exercises would give us energy, and he was right.

Opening postures, twists, postures where the back is straight, these postures get us out of the depression of the moment, or the sadness, or simply those moments when we feel that everything is too heavy to bear.

It sounds simple, but it's not. Walking upright, even if you're tired, makes you feel better. Sometimes you have to make an effort to walk straight, sometimes it's too hard, but it's a good exercise that helps.

In my class, we're a group of senior women. Our bodies have lost their elasticity, incredible! Our backs (there are a lot of women around 75 or more) have endured a lot.

The postures are like a recognition of our emotions to heal them.

My teacher is a candy. He says very often: be proud! Walk proud!

 

[Jones]

Stanley Rosenberg addresses posture in his book Accessing the healing power of the vagus nerve. He makes comparison with how the trapezius muscle is used in toddlers who crawl and how that changes as adults when we walk upright - we don't use all of that muscle as much. So his full salamander exercise, which stretches and engages the vagus nerve, is performed on all fours in order to work the trapezius.

I've found his exercises super helpful. I include them as part of my posture exercise routine and as a neural exercise for vagal tone. I've been doing them once or twice a day along with other exercises I do for back issues.

 

[Mililea]

Opening postures, twists, postures where the back is straight, these postures get us out of the depression of the moment, or the sadness, or simply those moments when we feel that everything is too heavy to bear.

It sounds simple, but it's not. Walking upright, even if you're tired, makes you feel better. Sometimes you have to make an effort to walk straight, sometimes it's too hard, but it's a good exercise that helps.

Oh yes, I know that feeling very well. I was VERY shy as a child and sometimes it seems like I still am at times. Even though I don't have to be. And I'm sure that I then also strike a crooked pose and supposedly "protect" myself.
But if you manage to overcome your inner bastard and consciously adopt a different pose and open up, then the people around you will also change and be more open. It's not always easy and requires effort, especially when there are more people around who already have this presence, but it is possible.

I think it happens in our heads that we make ourselves small even though it's not necessary. Because each of us has something inside ourselves that makes us special. Our essence. But sometimes it is the comparison with others or simply "a bad day" to make us forget about it.

Either way, it definitely helps to be aware of your own posture to make us feel better and this is definitely easier on some days than others. It helps to be aware of the things you have experienced and achieved in life. These thoughts combined with the exercises you described or generally doing sport, dancing or simply going for a walk and becoming aware of your posture can be very helpful.