The Curve

Several years ago, I was leading a communication workshop and met a woman from Peru. She was a highly accomplished young executive in a top software and media company. When she did her first talk, on which she could choose the topic, she spoke of her difficult childhood.

I was breathless as she spoke of her beginnings. Her home had no real floor and no electricity. She and her family had to walk many miles for water. She rarely felt safe, and studied by candlelight. And study she did. Teresa attended two of the top ranked universities in the USA, attending one on a full scholarship.

When she spoke, I noticed an ever so slight curve in her back, and a small slump in the upper chest. On one hand, my training as a movement therapist told me this posture could be a structural issue. On the other hand, I learned that our posture, form, and mobility can also recount our emotional history. Our thoughts and emotions are intimately connected to our muscular gestures. Teresa spoke proudly of conquering her past, and vocally sounded convincing, but physically she did not. It appeared as if she had “the weight of the world on her shoulders”, and thus her words were incongruent.

I worked with her suggesting some basic postural changes such as aligning her stance, balancing her weight, relaxing the shoulders, and slightly lifting the chest. The next day, to my surprise, she had worked on the adjustments. Before she started to talk, she said to the group, holding a more slumped posture, “This is who I was”. She then made the postural adjustment, declaring proudly, “And this is who I am now”, with the most sincere presence.

We were all moved. In a class of ten men and women, there was not a dry eye.