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Posture perfect
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lilli Cloud was giving a presentation
on how to give a presentation, and one of the first things she brought
up was posture. I don’t know about you, but I have a few negative connotations
for that word. As I was growing up, good posture was all about a ramrod-straight
standing position that was miserably uncomfortable. I remember classes
in deportment, walking around with books on our heads, at which I failed
miserably. In adulthood, when ergonomic chairs were becoming quite the
fad, I got the pamphlets on good seated posture — which made no sense because
they showed one “correct” position and then said to change positions often.
To what? According to the pamphlet, there was only one correct way to sit.
In my experience, good posture was all about being nagged to stand up
straight, sitting in the same perfectly uncomfortable position for hours
on end, and a heck of a lot of work. Still, one of the primary keys to
making a presentation — or proclamation, in this case — with calm confidence
is indeed good posture. When we hunch over the ambo, we send the message
that we have no confidence in what we’re reading, much less in ourselves.
I have perfect faith that the word of God can and will get through a bad
proclamation. In fact, I depend on that because I know the Holy Spirit
is bigger than I am, and I know all too well how imperfect I am. But I
am sick and tired of people using that as an excuse not to improve their
presentation. If you are genuinely doing the best that you can, then I
am confident that God will bless you and that you will be heard. But doing
your best includes trying to do better. It includes using all the tools
at your disposal, including the loving critique of your community, reading
about lectoring, and working at it. One of the best lectors I ever knew
had a cleft palate and the speech defects that go along with it. But she
was terrific because she worked at it and was a remarkable witness as a
result.
End of rant.
So we all know that standing up straight and carrying yourself with
confidence makes you look better. We know that projecting confidence with
good posture, even when you don’t particularly feel it, reverses any feelings
of doubt and gives you the confidence you thought you lacked. I know it
works for me, but I understand if you’re skeptical. My friend also pointed
out in her talk that good posture makes your brain more alert. It doesn’t
just make you look more energetic; it actually gives you more energy. The
reason is very simple: When your body is aligned correctly, it’s easier
to get good, deep breaths and infuse your body with energy-producing oxygen.
More good news is that our understanding of good posture has evolved a
little from those days of hissed reminders not to slouch. Good posture
is as much about movement as it is about sitting or standing up straight.
Ramrod stiff is not good posture — it’s just stiff and can be equally as
strangulating as slouching.
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What you want to do is start from perfectly aligned and move back to
it. You can start by finding some clear wall space and standing with your
back to that wall space, making sure that your heels, backside, shoulders,
and the back of your head all touch the wall. Then scrunch your shoulders
to your ears and roll your shoulders back and down. Or as Karon Karter,
the instructor on Pilates from the Inside Out (Veria network) puts
it, “pits to hips.”
Are you going to stay in this one position the whole time you’re proclaiming?
Of course not, but that’s your starting point, and you rotate from there
and get back to it as soon as you’ve made that gesture or nod or whatever.
The goal is fluidity, making it easier to move rather than stiffening up.
It will take some practice. If you get a chance, take a Pilates class
(you’re usually better off taking one class with a live person before trying
a DVD or internet video). Or try taking a yoga class. (Please note that
his holiness John Paul II did not say that you can’t take yoga. He said
yoga does not bring us to salvation — only Jesus does. No conflicts there,
trust me.) Both of these disciplines will help you develop good posture
in a way that is fluid and movement-oriented. They also help with your
breath work, which is also critical to the proclaiming process. Ultimately,
whether or not you try Pilates or yoga (you certainly don’t have to), work
on your posture as a regular practice so that graceful movement becomes
natural to you. ML
Anne Louise Bannon has received
certificaton as a master lector through the archdiocese of Los Angeles
and has been lectoring for more than 20 years. She holds a master's degree
in oral interpretation, the art of reading aloud.
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