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it's easier to detect shifts than to characterize them, for example, going from whining/complaining about an unexpected shitty thing I have to deal with to just deciding to deal with it. That one would kinda fit your thesis. Usually physical posture changes follow.
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I might frame this as: - in whiny mode, the idea that you might be able to just deal with it is outside your awareness (compressed). You are 'stuck' in whiny mode. - for some reason your awareness expands to include 'just doing it', which then becomes available to you as a choice
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Physical posture also follows this awareness state. Compressed awareness, e.g. not 'being able to notice' that there is space around you, leads to your body unconsciously shrinking as if to fill the smaller space. These two are the same thing, but manifest differently.
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I think this account leaves out simpler forms of noticing. For example, "whiny" is not hard to notice once you learn early in life what "whiny" sounds like. Even when in bad posture you are aware "I'm being whiny" but sometimes you choose to stop, other times you don't.
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even simpler. Somebody tells you "stop whining" and you decide they're right and... do it. ie, I think mental posture is both easier to program, and can be programmed in more ways than physical posture, and physical posture can follow rather than lead for the right personality.
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Possibly you're over-indexed on alexander technique/somatic awareness and cases like acting, public speaking, interpersonal interaction etc. I'm mostly overindexed on thinking inside your head with low external signs. Like writing or doing math.
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Possibly, but I'll counter that I am an energy consultant and STEM nerd first and foremost (though shifting) and I apply this to writing and doing math also. I guess I can but assert that the physical and mental are one process - at the very least it's something to play with.
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I mean I don't disagree. I'm not a dualist. But I buy that at a level that's unhelpfully tautological. Once you discretize that tautology into a rough operating distinction between mind and body, you get interesting questions/answers.
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Yes okay. It's useful to say that "this is mostly mental" and "this is mostly physical" (though never exclusively). Certainly if you want to improve your mental posture then starting with the mental makes more sense. "Power poses" be damned.
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Your point about envelop of "noticing" being central to diagnosing posture is great though, either mental or physical or both. A posture could even be defined as "things you are capable of noticing." A better posture generally, allows you to more of what's salient. Better filter.
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Yes exactly. 'Being able to notice more things' (what I call expanded awareness) -> greater capacity for bringing about change. And the fun thing is that being able to notice more things corresponds to a felt sense of spatial awareness.
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1] I have the week off work so I have arranged about 15 1:1 Zoom sessions with curious folks. The key thing I need people to *get* early on is what expanded awareness is like. It doesn't need to be strong, but there has to be a sense of "oh yeah, *that*." So here's a thread.
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