Lisa Rizzo demonstrates a power posture we learned at the AROHO Retreat during a talk by Jane Hammons. Read Lisa’s blog post, “Open the Door,” about an exercise Bhanu Khapil led. Photo by Marlene Samuels.

Janet Fitch said that she “writes from the neck down,” staying connected to her senses. We spend so much time in our heads when we write, but we filter our experiences through our bodies. Janet showed us how we can use sense impressions to build characters and landscapes.

Jane Hammons told us that when she writes she does physical movements “to find the verb” in her body. Sometimes by getting physical—for instance, standing up and making a slashing motion with our arms—we can release our resistance and see and hear our stories. It helps me to take a break from my computer every half an hour, to work while standing or dancing, and to go out for a walk or a run.

Jane told us about a Ted Talk she’d recently viewed, in which Harvard researcher Amy Cuddy shows how holding a power posture for two minutes a day can increase your confidence, so some of us spent the week walking around with our hands raised above our heads in the universal V for victory.

Cuddy’s research shows that we can change the way we feel and the way we’re perceived simply by changing our posture. Here’s her 20-minute Ted Talk, “Your body language shapes who you are.” I think you’re going to like it!

After I watched this video, it occurred to me that too much sitting at the computer is a physical caving in on myself, so now when I take my short break every half hour, I sometimes do a power posture … and when I stand up at my computer, I sometimes do a power posture … and when I finish writing a blog post I sometimes do a power posture….

I’m happy to report that power postures have been working well for me! Let me know how they work for you.

• Read “Liza Donnelly on the Life of Our Bodies.”
• Read my other posts about the 2013 AROHO Retreat.

Comments