Power Pose

Length: 5 minutes (Ideally after waking up and/or before going to bed)

Goal: To increase self-esteem (e.g.: in preparation of a challenging meeting)

Source: Amy Cuddy, Rapid Eye Movement (REM), Louise Hay, and Neuro-Language Programming (NLP) 

Exercise:

Step 1

Check-in:

On a scale 1-10, how do you feel?

Step 2

Pose in front of a mirror 

Position your arms in victory V

Smile

Smile!

Smile!!!

Step 3

Say out loud to yourself (if possible) how you want to feel

(e.g.: I am self-confident!  I am respected! I am beautiful! I am intelligent! I am powerful! I am amazing!)

Looking into the mirror, confidently tell yourself “I love you!”

Step 4

Alternately look to your left and right sides, 12 times each, for 12 seconds.

Take a deep breath.

Step 5

Check-in:

On a scale 1-10, how do you feel? 

My explanation

Power Pose

Source: Amy Cuddy, Louise Hay, David Servan Schreiber, and Neuro-Language Programming (NLP)

In 2018, when I was feeling exhausted and drained, I knew that I had lost a piece of myself. “Is it my self-confidence?”, I asked myself. “Nah… I know that I am good at solving problems and facing challenges. That’s not it!” I followed my gut feeling and continued my search for the missing piece.

Interesting how life is. As I am writing this text 2 years later, I just came across the following sentence from Ackerman:

“Self-confidence is about your trust in yourself and your ability to deal with challenges, solve problems, and engage successfully with the world” (Burton, 2015). ( https://positivepsychology.com/self-esteem/, 2020). 

I was feeling small when in a crowd or in a meeting. I felt that I did not have a voice nor the motivation to speak up. I was feeling disrespected. I was living in anger as a result of those feelings. But I knew I had to continue to move on. To do the right thing. Something in me did not want to stop or quit. 

Continuing my research, I found an amazing presentation from Amy Cuddy in a TED Talk about how our body language may shape who we are. 20 minutes of scientific experiments explained how a daily, 2-minute exercise can change our perception of ourselves. We are what we believe we are. And since what we believe influences what we get, and become in life, I decided to give it a try. I just wanted to get out of the turmoil I was in… “So, a 2-minute exercise? Wow… I just found another golden key to change my life!” 

The thing is, a belief had been ingrained in my mind that I was not able, nor competent, to carry out certain tasks. As David and Daniela explain, “Beliefs are generally formed in two ways: by our experiences, inferences and deductions, or by accepting what others tell us to be true.” 

My Self-esteem! That’s it! I lost my self-esteem…Damn it…

“Self-esteem refers to a person’s overall sense of his or her value or worth. It can be considered a sort of measure of how much a person “values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself” (Adler & Stewart, 2004). (https://positivepsychology.com/self-esteem/, 2020). 

As Amy said, “Fake it ‘til you become it!” So, I integrated the 2-minute exercise into my life routine, twice a day. Once just before leaving home for work, and once just before going to bed. I even did the exercise before facing a challenging meeting. After one week, I could feel already something different in me. I was feeling my body moving lighter and more freely. My back was now straight as I walked, and my eyes no longer focused on the floor. My muscles were no longer tense when meeting with specific people. And I was no longer triggered by old, stressful events. I had just reprogrammed my mind and body to operate like I was Super Woman! 

“Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation,” (NCBI, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2015). 

At the time, I had already been immersed in the amazing work of Louise Hay. I already knew the power of affirmations and how simple and positive sentences could shift my brain. Literally. I knew how speaking positive to myself would create new neuro pathways in my brain, shifting my goals, desires, and habits. If I wanted to improve my life, that internal dialogue needed to be affirmative and positive. Et voilá! The affirmations enhanced the exercise for me. 

By the way, according to some research papers, smiling makes people feel happier. When we feel happy, we produce serotonin and endorphin. And that is good. Definitely good for our body and soul.   

For me, Amy’s “Power Pose” exercise was already an amazing tool. However, my mind started wondering what if… 

What if… I smile while doing Power Pose?

What if… I say my favorite affirmations from Louise Hay out loud while doing the Power Pose?

What if… I apply the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) after saying the affirmations, as a “save button” just like my dad taught me?

And BANG! I felt an energy boost after applying my new version of the “Power Pose” exercise as I HAD NEVER FELT BEFORE!

The feeling of recovering my self-esteem was only recognized a couple of months after I started doing my version of the “Power Pose”. As many mentors have mentioned, rebuilding self-esteem is a process. When we are on the path of creating a new self, we don’t recognize it as a such. We just continue to carry on with our life, simply thinking that “Something good must be happening within me/my brain,” and feeling an overwhelmingly good physical sensation after the exercise. That good physical sensation is a result of several hormones being produced, like serotonin and endorphin. If we practice the art of keeping our mind in such a good and positive mood, we enable ourselves to continuously produce the previously mentioned hormones, known by some as “The Hormones of Happiness”. Therefore, persistence and discipline are required to build a new self. I can tell you that the effort really pays off! 

As my father says, “Try to put your rational mind on a break and just apply the tool!”

What a great advise, by the way. Thanks, dad!