In case you haven’t heard about it yet let me be the first to tell you….power posing works. This is a great way that I have personally found to reduce stress and increase my overall confidence and the best news is that it only takes 2 minutes! Also it’s free and you can do it anywhere.
I learned about this concept from what has become my favorite TED Talk “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are” by Amy Cuddy. Immediately after watching this talk I sent it to all of my friends, my wife , and her family. You can check it out below.
The science from power posing comes down to two hormones:
- Testosterone – the dominance hormone
- Cortisol – the stress hormone.
After two minutes of power posing, it was determined that testosterone levels increased by 20% and cortisol levels reduced by 25%. It was also found that when participants in the study adopted low-power poses for two minutes such as crossing their legs or ankles and crossing arms their testosterone levels reduced by 10% and cortisol levels increased by 15%.
I was so intrigued by this TED Talk that I purchased Presence:Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges
I found this book to be life changing. I have used power posing before giving a big presentation or before meeting with top level executives at my company and found it to significantly reduce my stress and anxiety to help me be my best self in these moments. I would consider myself an introvert and this book has really helped me with my social anxiety.
I would say you owe it to yourself to read this book or at least watch the video!
