Inspired by Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk
As a health care professional, I have always been innately responsive to non-verbal cues and to the nuances of therapeutic communication. I am acutely empathetic and often I am able to interpret the emotions and the experiences of others. I am intrinsically interested in social behaviors, patterns and the dynamics in relationships. Because of these qualities, I am authentically motivated to ease suffering and be an agent of healing. Recently, I have been on my own journey of channeling these attributes into alignment with a higher good. Approximately one year ago, I began to incorporate body language strategies to increase my confidence and presence in the classroom and in my personal life as a means to elevate my affect. For example, practicing the posture of a strong back and soft front, lifting my chin and my eyes and being fully present in any moment. I recognize that in order to perform and be in optimal service to others, I need to be aware of my own energy and be fully rooted in each moment. I also need to safeguard my energy. This has been an integral progression in my journey from a healer to an instrument in supporting others on a similar path. ‘Every new level will require a new version of you.’ I am on version 3.0.
It is in this mindset, that I fully embraced Amy Cuddy’s message. She even mentioned ego, which has been vital to release in my own experiences. In scientific terms, body language is an element in a feedback loop as Cuddy explains in her talk. Our mind and bodies respond to our subtle mannerisms, postures and physical expressions biochemically through the release or inhibition of powerful hormones, namely cortisol, testosterone, oxytocin and estrogen. Cuddy focuses on the stress hormone cortisol and the hormone testosterone to support her claims. I am aware of additional interactions due to my background in the nursing. I would like to share a relevant interaction to illustrate this point.
As a labor and delivery nurse, I had the opportunity to observe numerous physicians in their interactions with patients, while performing surgery, in collaborating with the healthcare team and in one on one interactions. I admired many for their ability to perform under high stress circumstances and claim leadership in the midst of chaos. One physician in particular inspired me. She had a full practice of faithful patients. She performed with competence, compassion and confidence. In one conversation with her, she stated that she had extra testosterone, or the confidence hormone, which enabled her to assume a leader role. This was obvious in her postures. She always claimed her space physically, intellectually and emotionally. It was then I was able to fully comprehend that our hormones are oftentimes dictating our experiences. My version 2.0 unfolded. While estrogen (the female hormone) and oxytocin foster nurturing and intimacy, testosterone (the typical male hormone) facilitates confidence and assertiveness. Cuddy explains these influences in the classroom setting as females exhibiting low power in their body language and males often assuming power poses, comfortably exerting their dominance despite no difference in qualifications.
Cuddy proclaims that our body language does influence our mind through hormonal responses. In fact, she states assuming a power pose (expanding your space) for two minutes has been proven to increase our testosterone levels and decrease our cortisol levels. With a decrease in cortisol, I would add, heart beat and breathing steadies, there is a decrease in blood pressure and the fight or flight response is potentially avoided. Cuddy is also an agent of meaningful change. While these facts in themselves are empowering, she urges each of us to utilize them to “fake it until you become it.” By making relatively minor, consistent adjustments in posture, we are able to reconfigure our brains and possibly the course of our lives. It was in this spirit that I sought to unveil how to nurture positive change in my students lives.
Day one of my experiment was dedicated to observation and determining how to develop meaningful interventions. My initial objective was obvious; my students are challenged to incorporate the skills mastered in the safety of our skills lab to a clinical setting and eventually to a co-operative position in their senior year. My students are summoned to progressively develop the autonomy to safely and competently perform skills mastered under the careful supervision and support of their committed instructors. They have the power to positively or negatively affect human lives through these interactions. How could I provide the additional guidance through this body language challenge to further facilitate this evolution?
I was faced with an early obstacle in implementing this challenge, consistency. I began this experiment at the end of the week with juniors and began the following week with the sophomores and seniors. I struggled to determine how to control as many variables as possible given I would not be with the same students for the full duration of the challenge. On Friday, day two, I developed the strategies I intended to implement with the goal to meaningfully impact a student’s life as Cuddy had done with the graduate student she identified at the end of her talk. I began to reflect on my students individually and who would most benefit from this challenge with the understanding that I would continue to implement it throughout the year with all my students.
Monday, day five, after thoughtful consideration I determined two students I anticipated would benefit the most from this individualized guidance and support. One student, student A, is a sophomore. Student A has touched my heartstrings, for lack of a better expression. She is shy to the extent of being diagnosed with selective mutism, but her energy is kind and gentle. I have been working closely with her incorporating other strategies to assist her and she has been making improvements and we have made an authentic, productive connection. I have shared with her my faith in her abilities and the benefits of her gentle nature. One recent afternoon, I reassured her that I envisioned her non-intimating presence working amazing with children. She responded immediately with a slight smile, lifting her downward gaze to me and stating, “That is what I want to do.” Bingo. She belongs here.
Student B is a senior. I have had the pleasure of working with her for three years. She is also shy and consistently exhibits low power poses in shop and when at clinical. Most notably, her gaze is often lowered, her posture contracting and her voice meek. She, too, is extremely shy but has been able to connect with me and speaks with me comfortably. She is self-aware about her lack of confidence, her hesitation, and her “awkwardness” when in social or challenging situations. This is an opportunity to in effect change the course of her life before she graduates. I have faith in that fact.
On Monday, day five, I spoke with each student privately and gained permission to begin this journey with them. I ensured that each of them trusted me and was comfortable about this decision with the stipulation that it was not at all mandatory and they could decide to stop at any time. In order to be therapeutic, it was imperative to me that they felt no pressure from me in accepting this invitation and understood it would not affect their grade for the week. They both watched Amy Cuddy’s video that night in the privacy of their homes.
I instructed them to complete an online wellness survey, https://www.heartmath.org/resources/personal-well-being-survey/?sq=i, to establish a baseline of their levels of stress, confidence and overall well-being. This survey addresses a broad range of qualities from resiliency to adaptability and emotional well-being. In addition, always in an RN mode, I requested that they each rate their level of confidence from 1-10 with ten representing the highest level of confidence. As I predicted, their scores were very low. Student A reported a confidence level of two and student B reported a confidence level of 2-3. In addition, student A’s total well- being score was a 41%, her stress management score was a 28% and he emotional vitality score was a 48%. Student B, the senior, had even lower scores on her assessment. Her total well-being score was an 8%, her stress management score was 16% and her emotional vitality score was a 16%. I surmised that her lack of confidence influenced her responses exponentially on this particular survey.
On the following days, days six through nine, I formulated a creative means for them to implement progressively more confident body postures. Each morning, I would provide a pseudo prescription with the body posture for that day. Not only, where they offered instructions on body postures, but medical terminology was reinforced. Other students became inquisitive and supportive of these students in their challenge. Examples of these pseudo prescriptions are as follows: (I have pictures if you would like to see the actual ones)
“Keep your eyes forward TID (three times a day) for 15 minutes.”
“Sit at your desk with back straight and shoulders back for 10 minutes BID (twice a day).”
“Assume a power pose for two minutes @ HS (bedtime).”
“Assume a confident posture for 5 minutes while at clinical today.” – We discussed what this would look like before Student B left for clinical. I already noted an improvement in her attitude at this point.
Student B was absent on Thursday and had difficulty with the instructions to keep her eyes forward (she reported) on Tuesday, so I adapted her progression to only work on this for the duration of the week. Day ten to twelve was a holiday weekend. On day thirteen, both students returned to academics for the week. I arranged to meet student B during one of her breaks as she was the most interested in completing this experiment. Her prescription for the day was to assume a posture while at her desk that expanded her space for at least 10 minutes. Again, we discussed what these positions would involve. When student B left me, I could sense her increased well-being. She smiled, steadily met my eyes, and her shoulders were back. I swore I noted a twinkle in her eyes. We agreed to meet again on day fourteen to debrief and for her to complete the wellness survey post challenge.
Day thirteen, Wednesday, I met with student B to complete the challenge and debrief on the effects. I instructed her to maintain a high -power pose for 2 minutes, specifically the posture of crossing the finish line, before completing the wellness survey post challenge. She preferred to, rather than retreat to a private area for the two minutes, perform the challenge in shop amidst the exploratory students and juniors. She was definitely experiencing more confidence to perform this pose in public among her peers. It was advantageous for the other students to witness because it initiated a discussion on the purpose of her pose.
The results were in and they were overwhelmingly positive. Student B’s total well- being score increased from an 8% to a 34%, her stress management score increased from a 16% to a 62% and her emotional vitality score increased from a 16% to a 43%! Her confidence score increased from a 2-3 to a 5-6. I encouraged her to continue to implement these small tweaks in her daily life. She concluded that through this experience, she “felt happy” and that she “had fun.” In fact, we both had fun collaborating with one another. I anticipate we will continue to do so, perhaps by creating a visual graph of the results. Would she be willing to present these findings, assuming a power pose in the front of the room, to her classmates? My bet is…yes!
This challenge was incredibly rewarding, especially because it was so successful for student B. I will continue to nurture confidence in student A. I have faith that this quality will be one she will be able to generate throughout the next three years with the support, patience and guidance of her dedicated instructors. Student B radiated happiness today, her skin glowing and her eyes bright. I am fulfilled. I was able to nurture their version 2.0 by being attentive to their subtle body language cues and by providing this unique opportunity to them for meaningful growth.
Be Inspired 