“Stand up straight!” my mother frequently nagged me (I attained my adult height of 5’8” at age 12 and slouched to minimize my height). Poor posture is not something only tall teen girls deal with. It is pandemic, especially since so many of us hunch over phones or other devices, giving us “forward head” posture, which not only can lead to health problems, but can also make us look and feel less confident when speaking.
5 Benefits of Good Posture When Speaking:
- Good posture increases your confidence. The open, “powerful pose” of head up and shoulders back, releases chemicals in the body that result in a greater feeling of power and confidence. Testosterone, a hormone associated with feeling more dominant, increases, while cortisol, a hormone associate with stress, decreases. Watch Amy Cuddy’s TEDTalk, Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are.
- Good posture makes you appear more confident, like a leader. In nature, submissive animals make themselves look smaller and dominant animals expand and make themselves look bigger.
- Good posture makes you more attractive (which also boosts your self-image). Try a little experiment and take a picture of yourself slouching and then take a picture with good posture. Don’t you look better with good posture? Good posture is a quick way to look slimmer, too!
- Good posture makes you look more alert, engaged and interested. No audience member wants to feel like you don’t care.
- Good posture gives your voice better breath support. Good posture will open up the chest cavity and lungs, allowing you to breathe more deeply to both project and sustain vocalization.
Posture Exercise: Posture Puppet
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, placing one foot slightly ahead of the other.
- Roll your shoulders up and backwards, pulling your elbows back as you do, to open your chest.
- Imagine you have strings attached to the top of your head, your chest and your hip bones, and that a puppet master above you is pulling the strings, causing your height to increase, your chin to lift slightly, your chest to raise and your pelvis to rotate in just a bit. Head over torso over pelvis.
- Exaggerate the stance (it will feel unnatural)
- Take a few breaths, relaxing into a natural good posture. Your posture should feel relaxed, but more open and tall than when you started
- Relax your knees until they are straight, but not locked
- Stand with your weight evenly distributed over both feet, from heel to toe (many people stand with too much weight on their heels). You can have a slight forward lean if you need to put more weight on the balls of your feet (a slight forward lean conveys caring, also). Let’s talk about shoes for a moment. Avoid shoes that alter your natural good posture. Yes, this may mean swapping high heels for a shoe with a more moderate rise.
- Let your arms hang naturally by your sides, with your fingers relaxed.
Make this good posture exercise a part of your presentation practice sessions, and let your body feel that good posture is part of your presentation.
Learn to be a Confident Speaker! Take Diane’s Online Course, No Fear Public Speaking: Look, Sound and Feel Confident!