• When you feel sad or inadequate; do you collapse, loose energy and get still?
• When you are irritated or angry, do raise your shoulders, clench your jaw and hold in the pressure of your emotion?
• When you feel threatened or intimidated do you: collapse and get smaller than everyone else? Do you freeze and go rigid and try to appear perfect? Do you puff up and act bigger than everyone else so no one messes with you?

Then, as you become more and more aware of your body’s emotional postures, see if you can find any patterns, or tendency to live automatically in a particular “Bodymind Posture”.

Notice what this posture is doing to help you.

• Is it a way to feel safer in interactions with others? Does it help you hide?
• Is it an attempt to prevent people from treating you a certain way?
• How does it help you?

And how does this posture feel in your body?

• How does your energy change?
• What feels better, what hurts?
• Where do you notice more vitality? When do you feel fatigued?

What are the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) costs to remaining unconsciously in this Bodymind Posture?

Notice your Bodymind Postures with compassion! They are not bad or wrong, nor do they mean you an insecure mess! We ALL do them! It’s part of being human. They are actually resourceful and creative systems, summoned by your unconscious psyche and nervous systems to help you get through. Making them conscious offers you more freedom to actually live in your body and the world with more choice and authenticity.

When you are tuned in to your Bodymind Postures, you can make the choice to stop for a moment, release the tension, open the breath and attend consciously to the emotions you may be feeling underneath this automatic reaction.

Read more about Bodymind Postures, why we have them and how to work with them.