Asanas and the Paradox of Power and Vulnerability

"Think of it this way, there are two men. One stands tall, looks straight ahead. Looks people in the eye when he speaks to them. Says what he thinks and is unconcerned with what others think of him. When he makes a mistake, he shrugs it off and maybe apologizes. When he sucks at something, he admits it. He’s unafraid to express his emotions, even if that means he gets rejected. He has no problem moving on to people who don’t reject him, but like him for who he is.

Now, the second man hunches over, eyes dart around and is unable to look someone in the eye without getting uncomfortable. He puts on a cool persona that is always aloof. He avoids saying things that may upset others, and sometimes even lies to avoid conflict. He’s always trying to impress people. When he makes a mistake, he tries to blame others or pretend like it didn’t happen. He hides his emotions and will smile and tell everyone he’s fine even when he’s not. He’s scared to death of rejection. And when he is rejected, it sends him reeling, angry, and desperate to find a way to win back the affection of the person who doesn’t like him.

Which one of these two men is more powerful? Which one is more vulnerable? Which one is more comfortable with himself?"

Mark Manson - Models

“make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” 
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

We Americans have a problem: we sit too much. It's so much of a problem that we've learned how not to sit, stand, walk or be uniquely human. We've forgotten posture.

The benefits of proper posture go without saying but I'll list them anyway:
Increased power - Taller, more open animals are interpreted as the most powerful. The bigger you are, the more powerful you are.
Higher levels of testosterone - As much as one minute per day of standing in an upright posture shows increased levels of testosterone. This is a hormonal correlate of the power that comes with posture.
Lower levels of cortisol - Along with higher testosterone comes lower stress. This translates as calmness and equanimity.
Reduced back pain - Sitting and standing in an upright posture allows for normal musculature in the lower back. It's no coincidence that back pain correlates with a sedentary lifestyle.
Better airflow - Correct breathing allows the diaphragm to extend downwards, pushing the belly out. Having a straight back allows a smooth and natural flow of oxygen throughout the body.
Better mood and cognition - Better posture comes with a better mood. Simply sitting or standing upright immediately improves emotional well-being and self-approval.
And this is just scratching the surface.

Just try it. Sit tall, as if a string is pulling your head upwards; allow a natural curve in your lower back, push the shoulder blades back and look straight ahead. This should produce immediate results. This is no new phenomenon. In fact, yoga practitioners have been applying posture to their practice for thousands of years in the form of asanas.

Asana means "seat". It goes back at least as far as Yoga Sutras where the legendary mystic Patanjali describes posture as "stable and comfortable". This is accompanied by "the relaxation of tension and the coinciding [of consciousness] with the infinite."*

It seems paradoxical that correct posture, which involves tension, creates a complete relaxation of tension. But what happens when asana is achieved is a complete synchronization of the body-mind. When the spine is elongated and hits that sweet spot of firmness and flexibility everything becomes one. Hence why Patanjali includes asanas as part of the 8-fold path to yoga and why it's a universal part of meditation.

Take for example the iconic Buddha from the east and the equally iconic Thinker from the west:

The Buddha is open, synchronized, powerful. The Thinker is closed off, disorganized, weak. But more importantly, the Buddha in his perfect asana is vulnerable and the Thinker with poor posture is protective. This is a visual example of the paradoxical relationship between vulnerability and power. In every instance, the more vulnerable you are, the more powerful.

This is a rule of law in nature. The tallest, calmest, most open and unflinching animals are the most powerful. The alpha males are the ones who don't give a shit, who aren't afraid to show themselves to their enemies, who are nonreactive. Thus an open and vulnerable body translates as a powerful individual.

It's important to point out here that the mind transcends and includes the body. That is, the mind builds upon the body, it adds something new; but it is also dependent on the body, without a body there would be no mind. What this means is that every function of the mind adds new features to already present features in the body. A relevant example is personal communication. According to Albert Mehrabian only 7% of communication is verbal, 38% is verbal intonation and 55% is body language. While these percentages are definitely up for debate there is no doubt that the vast majority of communication is non-verbal. The body talks infinitely more than words. This is because verbal communication, a function of the mind, is dependent on body communication, a function of the body; at least in face-to-face dialogue.**

This is the phenomenon of embodied cognition, where what one does with their body immediately affects what happens in the mind. Just like smiling even if you're not happy can make you feel happy, opening up your body even if you don't feel powerful can make you feel powerful. Because the body is fundamental to the mind, actions in the body fundamentally affect the mind. (The fancy cognitive science term for this is "fake it til' you make it").

Point being, if showing vulnerability through the body is an expression of power, so is showing emotional and social vulnerability through the mind. Just like wide feet, a tall straight back, retracted shoulder blades and an unflinching gaze demonstrate power of the body; honesty, straightforwardness, openness, and equanimity demonstrate power of the mind. In both cases vulnerability correlates directly with power and autonomy. 

It seems paradoxical, true. But perhaps this is because we live in a culture that prides itself on keeping things in, not showing fear, refusing to go against the grain of what we perceive to "normal" and being reactive. We also live in a society that is swamped with diseases of civilization, where low back pain and a sedentary lifestyle is the new norm. 

So the choice is yours. You can sit back, slouch, hide away in the safety of a society that is slowly killing itself. Or you can stand tall, be vulnerable, make mistakes, and put your neck on the line for whatever it is that your passionate about and whatever it is that you believe in. It's the road less traveled, true. It's more difficult and will lead to more suffering, obviously. But it will also provide more happiness, more security, more power and you can use that power to make the world a better place. 

The choice is yours and it's a choice you make every second of every day. How you sit, how you conduct yourself, how open you are, how you interact with others all comes down to how vulnerable you're willing to be in each and every moment. Changes don't happen overnight, they happen in small excruciatingly slow steps over months and years. If you want to be a powerful individual, if you want to change the world then just do it. Every moment is an opportunity to stand a little taller. 

Every moment is an opportunity to be more vulnerable. 

* Yoga sutras 2.46 and 2.47; translated by Georg Feuerstein
**A reason why instant messaging is full of miscommunication. How can you tell if I'm being sarcastic without body language or vocal intonations?
Edit, 160302: Added quote by Jon Krakauer at the intro