The Power of Posture

Music Gerhart Shwatna: Hi, my name is Gerhart Shwatna phonetic, and welcome to Selling Past phonetic Daily Report. Today we continue with Peter Kay and Amora ph and we talk about posture. Peter, why is posture important? Peter Kay: The power of posture. That's what you've gotta remember. Because of pain, low self-esteem -- believe it or not -- and it's an external perception. Gerhart Shwatna: So Peter, what types of postures are we looking at? Peter Kay: We're looking at two types: a passive posture and an active posture. I want you to get into a slouched position, the way we typically sit, unfortunately. So scoot your butt forward -- you know this position -- cross your legs. Gerhart Shwatna: Watching TV. Peter Kay: Watching TV, reading, on the cell phone, on the laptop, on the train -- wherever it is -- on the airplane. Passively, she's hurting herself. She doesn't even know it. Gerhart Shwatna: Why? Peter Kay: She's straining her neck, because her neck is forward. All these muscles are getting overstretched. She's straining her low back, because her back is getting overstretched again. There's a lot of stress going straight down through the spine. And forget about the pain, which is enough to improve your posture; she's ruining her self-esteem and she's ruining her external perception of herself. Okay, so what Amora's doing differently now, Gerhart, is she's got a little bit of an arch in her spine. There's a little bit of an arch in her neck, and she's sitting tall, her legs are underneath her, they're not crossed. Not to mean -- not to say that you can't get into and out of positions, 'cause you should change, but this is the predominant posture you should be in. Gerhart Shwatna: So that's the active posture. Peter Kay: That's the active posture. Gerhart Shwatna: Peter, what about a trade show? How do you assume the active posture and what does the passive posture look like? And what are the consequences? Peter Kay: Great questions. Stand up please, Amora; let's get rid of this chair. And I want you to assume a passive posture. And that's the hanging out on one leg, on the hip, head is down and Gerhart, you're in that position right now, too. So are you approachable this way? Maybe. You're not threatening. That's for sure. But are you confident? If you're selling something, if you're ready to tell people what important message you have, it's gonna send a perception to me. And it's gonna cause you pain. So here's an active posture. You guys already assume that. 'Cause you hate being -- I know you hate being passive.

Amora: It doesn't feel right. Peter Kay: You both went into an active posture, but unfortunately, the everyday person doesn't know about the active posture. Gerhart Shwatna: It's like a question of balance. You know, if your legs a little bit apart, you're much more balanced and you can move in any direction. Peter Kay: So basically what you're saying is, you're more active. You're ready for action, right? 'Cause whatever happens, you're ready to move towards that. So let's analyze the active posture. So the head is up nice and tall, there's always a curve in the spine, the core is gently tightened, and there's a confidence and there's a radiance about Amora. Let's go back into the passive posture just temporarily. And you can just see instantly the energy changes. And you know about energy, Gerhart. You know about balance. So back into the active posture. And that's where you wanna be all the time. Gerhart Shwatna: Peter, a lot of executives have to give presentations. They have to go on a stage. They have to stand in front of a lot of people. How can you get sort of switched on so your active, postitive and passionate? Peter Kay: Absolutely. And one of the ways we already spoke about, active posture. You turn that switch on literally. Emotion comes from motion. And one thing we didn't talk about was breathing. When you're in a passive posture, besides the lousy message and the pain that you're getting, you cannot take a full breath. There isn't full circulation throughout the body. There isn't an energy, because the energy comes from the breath partially, and it comes from the position. So you turn yourself on with those three things. Gerhart Shwatna: What about the breathing? From the chest or from the belly? Peter Kay: Breathing should come from the belly because the diaphragm is the core of the breathing apparatus. So here's your diaphragm, right about here. You wanna take in a full, deep breath and you wanna exhale fully as much as possible.

Amora: Another way of doing it is by inhaling, counting one through five, and then exhaling five through one. And make sure that you get a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Gerhart Shwatna: Well, here you have it. We all have a passive posture and an active posture, and we need to make a choice. If you wanna go through the day in an energetic way, in a positive way, we need to carry the positive posture. Thank you, Peter. Peter Kay: You're welcome. Gerhart Shwatna: Thank you, Amora.

Amora: Thank you. Gerhart Shwatna: Tune in tomorrow. Selling Past Daily Report.

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