How Does Body Posture Affect Your Emotional State? What Experts Say?

Our body postures greatly influence how we feel and correcting it, even if only slightly, can help reduce stress, and anxiety and increase our happiness.

How does it impact?

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A hunched posture, closed on itself, with legs and arms crossed, favours the appearance of negative thoughts. To build confidence and look happy is just kind of good posture.

The best and worst postures for our mood

Generally, the most comfortable and balanced body postures are those in which the back maintains its natural body. Keep your shoulders straight, head upright and muscles relaxed is usually beneficial for your mood. When you stretch your muscles, you feel more relaxed and calm.

Rigid body postures, excessively curved back, shoulders and head fall forward and stiffed muscles can affect emotions and make a person feel sadder, unmotivated or distressed, transmitting a negative message to the brain and generating negative thoughts and emotions.

Keys to Good Posture

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Playing a sport and self-observation are key to maintaining a correct body posture. The brain continuously scans the signals sent by the body and reacts by focusing attention on the well-being or discomfort expressed, which can reinforce that feeling over time. Sometimes a simple change of posture or a simple movement can make us feel much better emotionally. Here are some useful tips to help you improve your posture:

Be Aware: Paying attention to the position of your shoulders while walking or the tension of your muscles at each moment of the day can help you correct the details you want to change while becoming more aware of the inner message your body reflects.
Train in Front of the Mirror: Body posture can be trained to correct movements or positions that convey a negative message. An excellent exercise is to stand in front of a mirror and practice how you want your posture to be. With patience and training, you will eventually automate it.
Practice More Physical Activity: Sport is not only good for your physical health but also for your emotional stability. It also helps you improve your posture and provide your body with greater flexibility. Opt for disciplines such as yoga, tai chi, or pilates as they help you relax, although a simple daily walk can also be very useful.

Tips to Lift Your Spirits

There are techniques used in coaching to enhance emotional states through body posture. For example, Rafa Nadal’s pre-serve rituals might seem like mechanical movements, but they lead him to an emotional state of control, confidence, and self-assurance.

Exercises practised by politicians or actors before going on stage generate a state of mind of fullness and security that helps them in their tasks. An external state can provoke certain emotions that the brain ends up recreating mentally. Find a gesture or posture that transmits security and use it to your advantage. If our body transmits a certain emotion, our brain will end up assimilating it.

One simple tip is the pencil technique. Put a pencil between your teeth for 5 minutes. Your face will adopt the same shape as when you smile, and the mood associated with smiling will appear.

Another well-known posture to decrease sadness is to get into the fetal position, curling up while hugging yourself. It's been proven that these 'self-hugs' really work, so don't be shy to try it. The important thing is to know ourselves and learn which posture makes us feel which way, voluntarily and consciously.