How Posture Unlocks the Mind
One minute, three shifts, and twelve proven benefits.
“That the body affects the mind is, it’s fair to say, incontestable.”
— Amy Cuddy
Why is Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker so unnerving?
To answer that, we need to talk about superhero movies, which I love. Yes, even now — after two decades of having them crammed down our throats. For me, watching a character launch into the sky or shoot lasers out of their eyes will never get old.
What makes this genre so likable for many (and dislikable for others) is the tropes they follow.
A hero always has heroic traits. It’s the way they talk (slow, steady, even headed), the colors they wear (bright, primary & secondary colors [think rainbow palette]), and even the way they stand (tall, straight).
Villains have their own tropes. They speak fast, usually with some quality that makes them difficult to understand. They stick to dark, heavy colors (black, gray, or darker versions of the hero colors). Their posture feels untrustworthy — they slouch and lean and sway so that their never quite upright; they can never fully stand on their own two feet.
These symbolic gestures reinforce the character’s…well, character. We judge who they are by how they present themselves.
Which brings us back to Joaquin Phoenix. His Joker breaks every rule.
He wears bright yellows and greens, speaks at a measured pace, and fills the screen with his body. This last one is key. Every time we see him in full makeup, his body composition does a full one-eighty. He stands up straight, arms wide, chin high. He’s not afraid to take up space.
It makes people uncomfortable. It makes us confused.
In any other context, this guy would be the hero. He “looks” the part. Which is exactly why the movie made such a splash. You couldn’t help but root for him. His posture communicated power. It made him magnetic.
So, what does ours do for us?
How the Body Helps the Brain
The quote I began this article with comes from Amy Cuddy’s book, Presence.
About 2/3rd of the way through the book, there’s a chapter dedicated to explaining the studies and subsequent benefits of posture’s impact on the brain. For context, the chapter is 47 pages long. Or approximately 13,800 words.
What I’m trying to say is there’s a damn good reason she uses the word “incontestable.” The evidence is mountain-sized.
But instead of boring you with the details of a few dozen academic studies, let’s play a quick highlight reel of what you get when you posture better:1
Increased risk tolerance (+26%)
Increased testosterone hormone levels (+19%)
Decreased cortisol (stress hormone) (-25%)
Increased assertiveness and self-advocacy (+44%)
Higher aptitude for problem-solving
Faster access to abstract thinking & creativity
Increased pain tolerance
Reduced acclimation time to difficult circumstances (i.e., emotional resilience)
Increased persistence under pressure
More positive memory recall
Negative feedback becomes less sticky
Higher baseline energy levels (<- this one even carries over to the bedroom – ok, now I have your attention)
If your initial reaction was holy shit, that’s a lot — that was mine too. And I’ll do you one better: most of these benefits are accessible in as little as 1 minute of altering your posture.
Out of all the body-mind topics we’ll cover, this one may very well give you the biggest bang for your buck.
All of You
Ok, I know it’s time to give you the practical applications but every time I tried to write that part first, it felt like I was doing it out of order.
The reason this stuff matters — getting enough sleep, dressing confidently, posturing correctly — every bit of our body-mind series — is not because it’ll create a new you. That’s not the point at all.
The threadline we borrow from F-Words and will string through this series is that you are enough now. You are a gift. Important. Unique. Valuable. More men need to hear these things. You need to hear these things — outside of work and apart from your role as a provider.
So many of us have let life squish us into versions of ourselves we hardly recognize. Small, wound-up, shadows of who we used to be. Of who we could be. Of who we still are.
And so, that’s why these practices matter. Reconnecting with your body “doesn’t change who you are; it allows you to be who you are.”2 Fully. Unapologetically. Powerfully.
Your Body's S.O.S.
Good posture is expansive.
By that, we mean three things:
Good posture takes up space.
Good posture remains open.
Good posture follows straight lines.
Space is how you inhabit the area around you. Keeping your head up, draping an arm over the chair beside you, making large gestures — all of these are examples of taking up space in a good way. It’s less about making yourself bigger and more about intentionally not making yourself smaller (i.e., slouching).
Openness primarily concerns what you do with your arms and legs. Open posture uncrosses them, keeping your hands available and visible and your feet spread and planted. There’s a readiness that comes with openness that’s attractive, trust-inducing. Open bodies lead to present minds.
Straight lines are exactly what they sound like. Think of this factor as physical commitments. If you’re going to stand, stand all the way up. If you’re going to point, stretch your arm out confidently. When you’re sitting, imagine the invisible string pulling you up through your spine, with your legs parallel to the floor, and your feet firmly on the ground.
And that’s it. Seriously.
Most of the benefits of posture come from simply paying more attention to what our bodies are doing at any given moment. Small adjustments, over time, produce big results.
Just like life.
Related:
Inhabit
“What I most want you to understand is that your body is continuously and convincingly sending messages to your brain, and you get to control the content of those messages.” — Amy Cuddy
I wasn’t sure I was going to include this last bit, but it felt like the perfect bookend to our Joker opening.
Above, we touched on the physical and psychological benefits better posture offers. All of those are things you feel. Most of them are literally tangible advantages you can measure. But there’s one more benefit worth mentioning. A belief shift.
Expansive posture sends the message to your brain that you belong.3 That you’re on the right track. That you deserve your wins. That you are exactly where you need to be.
Inhabiting your body empowers you to inhabit your life.
I think that's why we couldn't take our eyes off Phoenix's Joker. He believed that he belonged. His body proved it. And that belief transformed his world.
You have that same power. Use it.
Presence by Amy Cuddy. Pages 198-219.
Page 198.
Pages 87-109.
Standing up straight as I write this!
This article re-postured posture for me. Whenever I heard about posture, it was always about how others perceive you and the benefits you get from that.
You positioned posture as what it does for YOU!
To borrow another theme from the F-series, Posture is the physical act of self-belief. And that self-belief leads to the benefits you describe in this article.
Old paradigm:
Posture --> Other people's perception --> Benefits
Your new paradigm:
Posture --> Self-perception (Self-belief) --> Benefits
This re-posturing is EVERYTHING!