Body Language & Boudoir

"Fake it till you believe it" ~Amy Cuddy

I woke up yesterday morning and was immediately greeted by a message from a friend informing me of a particularly interesting TedTalk. Oh, am I a sucker for a good TedTalk. But the best part (or maybe the worst - haha) is that after watching one TedTalk you are immediately confronted with other talks that you might fancy. So, I found myself in a web of amazing messages from impactful speakers.

One of the TedTalks made me take immediate notice. It was by Amy Cuddy and titled, “Body Language Shapes Who You Are”. I know, I know, another body language study. But, this one was different. At first, I was intrigued out of my own issues as a woman. Hey, what girl couldn't use a good dose of confidence, right? But as I continued listening, I realized this was a body language study presented in a way I hadn't really heard before and I saw it's benefit more concretely than the body language happiness studies, for example. But more importantly, I saw it's benefits for my boudoir clients, not just my own silly insecurities. Knowing how nervous boudoir clients are upon coming in to their sessions, I realized these techniques could be incredibly useful in a boudoir situation - by simply adopting a certain posture beforehand, it could possibly lessen the insecurities before coming in to their shoots. Okay Amy, you reeled me right in!

My Boudoir sessions always include what I have referred to for years as Power Poses. I talk about these in my posing classes for photographers, along with how women come in to their sessions trying to make themselves small, just like Amy mentions. That's just what we do when we are nervous. But, as a boudoir photographer, I want to counteract that. According to Amy, a power pose will not only open you up to feeling more confident, it will also lessen cortisol and strengthen testosterone. How cool is that? For a couple of hours, a boudoir client is literally holding themselves in positions of power and confidence. Could that possibly be a reason they feel so smoking hot and confident immediately afterwards and for days, if not months to follow? Sure! That's a small part of it for sure (along with many other aspects during the shoot). But the cool part is boudoir subjects don’t only get the benefit from feeling the confidence during their sessions but also from seeing it in their photos afterwards.

Here is where the idea from the TedTalk became really interesting (to me anyway) - what would happen if you adopted this idea of a Power Pose for 2 minutes, like Amy suggests, before your actual boudoir session? Or before anything that makes you feel less than confident??? Let’s try it out together, shall we? For 2 minutes before we do anything that makes us nervous or unsure of ourselves, let’s position our bodies in a pose of pride, accomplishment and confidence, like Amy suggests in the video below. Let's see if this technique works like I have seen it work in my boudoir sessions! I know I, for one, could use less cortisol in my life! How about you? Report back here (in the comments for this post) with your findings, please.

Watch Amy Cuddy's TedTalk below for motivation to take on the World in a more powerful way through something as simple as your body language:

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