Superhero (Power Pose)

Labeled for reuse on google images (zap2it.com)

Grey's Anatomy. Yes I watch it. I binge watched it a couple years ago.... Anyway, recent episode Season 11 episode 14 was certainly a grabber. This was a  Amelia Shepherd centric episode, as has been expected. SPOILER WARNING, for future reference I will probably neglect these warnings. If you are looking at episode articles, you should probably expect spoilers. If you don't, you are kidding yourself.  Please refrain from this.

I'm not actually going to sit here and write about the episode itself (there are plenty other bloggers who do this quite sufficiently). I want to write about something that I found quite interesting, and perhaps helpful. As Dr. Shepherd prepared to slice into the brain of Dr. Herman she talked about a "Superwoman pose". I'm not sure if those were her exact words... She told Stephanie that she'd read somewhere just doing this pose has the potential to improve your performance, to make you feel more confident. If I've hooked you this is the pose:

1. Stand up straight
2. Roll your shoulders back
3. Place both hands on your waist (making right-ish angles with your elbows)
4. Stand proud

In other words, the superhero pose. I tell you, if I could've have found a decent creative commons image that displayed this pose I would've have put it in. I couldn't, so you're stuck with my pathetic attempt at a description. If it really isn't sufficient you know which episode to watch. 

I am someone deeply fascinating with any new scientific research, so I jumped on this idea. Apparently this idea of body language is quite an important one, "Certain 'power poses' don't just change how other perceive you, Professor Cuddy says. They immediately change your body chemistry." Now you may be asking who is this Prof. Cuddy? Well. She is a social psychologist at Harvard Business School. I hope that helps. She describes this body language as, "This pose, in which the animal or person is 'opened up' is one of the most common high-power poses." We can see this posture quite a bit in the animal kingdom, anything from swans to the flaring of a cobra. The nature of the position is that you enlarge yourself, you stand straighter, taller, and more confidently. When you are feeling threatened, or uncomfortable you natural response is to clam up, like, well, a clam...You hunch in your shoulders, you may wrap your arms around the front of you, you try to make yourself as small as possible. 

In other words, if you want to be more confident use the Wonder Woman pose. Good luck to you.