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Hey sister! Welcome back to another episode of a Taylored Adventure to Happiness. If you are new, welcome! If you’re a regular, I love ya, I love ya, I love ya!
Do you ever think about what your body posture is communicating? How do you pose your shoulders when talking to someone new? Do you hold your head up high when walking down the street, or do you keep your eyes on the ground? What do you do with your hands when you talk to someone?
Our body posture says A LOT about our energy and our ability to manifest abundance. It’s sending a message out to our families, our friends, strangers, and the Universe. While your mind might be thinking one thing, your body may be sending another message.
Sister, if you’ve been looking to upgrade your body posture so you can manifest your desires in your relationships, careers, and your life, then this episode is PERFECT for you. I’ve got Aaron Alexander — an expert on body posture and the body-mind connection — on the podcast today to share his wisdom!
Who Is Aaron Alexander?
Aaron is a pioneering manual therapist and movement coach, founder and creator of the Align Method, author of The Align Method book, and host of the Align Podcast, which has ranked #1 in Nutrition on iTunes.
Aaron has worked with some of the world’s greatest professional athletes, performers, celebrities, and everyone in between to relieve pain while creating greater strength, flexibility, and ease in their minds and bodies.
After working with thousands of clients and spending years backpacking around the world, being immersed in various cultures, he has come to the conclusion that the healthiest people are not gym rats. Instead, they naturally integrate the foundational principles outlined in The Align Method to strengthen their bodies, balance their minds, and activate their innate systems of healing in daily life.
Aaron has simplified ancient techniques for cultivating vitality and assimilated them into modernized, simplified, movement-based principles for you to easily integrate into any situation throughout the day. When you do, every moment becomes an opportunity to develop greater strength, flexibility, and confidence to truly step into your physical potential and drop the baggage of pain and limitation.
What if you viewed every moment as an opportunity to step into your higher self? Imagine the type of power and confidence you could access! In this episode, Aaron and I talked about how we can all live up to our soul’s purpose, recenter ourselves from distractions, and start using our body posture as a means of manifesting our desires.
There are TONS of juicy nuggets in this interview, sister. Let’s dive in!
Are You Living Up to Your Soul’s Purpose?
Before we dove into a conversation about body language and posture, I wanted to get at the heart of what Aaron’s purpose is all about — helping people connect their minds with their bodies. When I asked him if he’s fulfilled his purpose, he explained that it’s more of a process instead of a final destination.
“I think that I’m still in the process. I think I’m cultivating my soul, my soul’s purpose. And I think we have like the myriad of false summits, you know, and then you get into … your second mountain … maybe your third mountain. … It’s summit after summit.” – Aaron Alexander
Do you have moments in your life when you achieve a goal, but that goal just transforms into a new one? Or maybe, you work toward a goal, but then when you reach the top, you see that you’ve got a lot more work to do?
I know I’ve been there! For a long time, I thought fitness coaching and competitions were my future. I had always been very spiritually in tune with the Universe, but I thought I was supposed to go in another direction. Soon, my soul couldn’t take it any longer, and I transitioned into a space of spiritual coaching and awakening. A similar process happened with Aaron!
“[I started my journey] with adding as much muscle as I possibly could and shaving my body down and putting fake tanner and enter[ing] bodybuilding competitions. …. That was an interesting phase of life. And then from there, [my] body start[ed] to break down through imbalance, … but along the way, the thing that feels good is to be able to journey and gather lessons for self reintegration and then be able to shine that out to other people.” – Aaron Alexander
For a time, Aaron thought his soul’s purpose was bodybuilding, but that all changed when he experienced physical breakdown and disappointment. Have you ever been there, sister? You thought you were supposed to be someone or do something, but then you accomplished that only to feel completely empty?
If so, know that you have been given an opportunity to transform into your higher self! This is a process — not a destination — so don’t be surprised if you’re asked to transform again and again. Lean into the process and watch in awe how the Universe guides you to where you need to be. Here’s how Aaron described it:
“It’s like … you chop wood, you build a fire, you burn the fire, you go back, you chop more wood, you gather water, you drink the water, [and] you [give] it to your family. … That cycle feels really good.” – Aaron Alexander
Living up to your soul’s purpose is a process. It’s a journey that’s ever-changing and evolving. There’ll be times when you feel low and other times when you feel on top of the world. Just don’t forget to trust the Universe and keep stepping up into your higher self!
Three Ways You Can Recenter Your Soul
Along your journey to fulfilling your soul’s purpose, you may experience times you feel disconnected from yourself, others around you, and the Universe. In these moments, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters and focus on things that drain your energy instead of fill you up.
Aaron experienced this feeling a lot when he was healing from the physical imbalance caused by extensive bodybuilding, but he found three crucial ways to recenter himself during those difficult times.
#1: Fasting
“I think giving oneself spaciousness to allow the potentially parasitic patterns to wear themselves out through fasting of some sort … [is a great way to rebalance].” – Aaron Alexander
You can fast in a lot of different ways — food, information, work, entertainment, the list goes on! If you’re struggling with feeling decentered from your soul’s purpose, take some time to identify what’s keeping you from pursuing it. Is it food? Netflix? Toxic relationships?
Once you’ve identified what’s potentially distracting you, it’s time to start fasting, distancing yourself from that addiction one day at a time.
#2: Plant Medicine
Sister, you know I love talking about plant medicines! Aaron was the same way — in fact, he had just gotten back from a five-day plant medicine journey with ayahuasca and psilocybin!
“[It] was like a major pattern interrupt, you know? … I think that’s something that culturally we could use more of. … Ancestral cultures have been using various different forms of rites of passage, whether it’s putting your hands into a bag of ants, whether it’s some type of piercing ritual or some type of fasting ritual, or you’re dancing around a tree under the sun for days on end. There [are] all these different things to get you from that immature stage of fear into a mature stage of trust and acceptance.” – Aaron Alexander
I love the way he put that — a major pattern interrupt. That’s exactly what plant medicine does! It takes you out of the 3D world and takes you to the 5D realm of higher existence. Of course, when taking plant medicine, make sure that you’re in a safe space with professional guidance.
#3: Breathwork
Lastly, Aaron recommended breathwork as a way to break out of harmful patterns and recenter yourself.
“Wim Hoff’s [holotropic breathing] starts to wind your nervous system up more into that sympathetic state and can even blunt your sensation to pain because it’s kind of putting your nervous system into a place of like, ‘Oh, I’m about to go into a fight.’” – Aaron Alexander
If you haven’t heard of Wim Hof, definitely check out his website and breathing exercises! It’s amazing what power we can claim over our bodies and minds when we learn how to breathe correctly.
How We Can Manifest Our Desires Through Body Language
Breaking out of negative patterns is just one aspect of your soul’s journey — how do you continue to walk with confidence and purpose toward your goals? How do you manifest your desires and show the Universe what you want?
This is where the body-mind connection comes into play! When we experience something hard, we usually have a fight or flight response — we either give into fear, or we overcome it.
“Where do you get startled? Do you get startled in your prefrontal cortex or your cerebellum? … You get started in your body. There’s a physical translation for ‘I’m afraid.’” – Aaron Alexander
Maybe you hold one of your arms to the side when you’re afraid. Perhaps you look down at your cell phone to avoid a difficult conversation with an old friend at a gathering. Or maybe you’re constantly looking at your watch during a job interview. Through all of those movements, you are communicating FEAR.
In fact, through all body language, you’re communicating something — whether you mean to or not!
“There’s a fellow called Albert Mehrabian [who] came up with a thing called the 7-38-55 principle in the 60s. 55% of our communication comes from body language. … 38% is the tone of our language, … including how fast you’re speaking. And then there’s the 7%, which is the actual words coming out of our faces.” – Aaron Alexander
Since the majority of human communication comes via body language and not spoken language, why aren’t we more focused on becoming aware of our body movement and what it’s saying? It’s a missed opportunity for sure — imagine how much more accurately you could communicate your desires to the Universe and to people around you if you took advantage of your body language!
“So, if you can practice … truly being in what it is you want to create, and you can embody that, then your body essentially becomes like a tuning fork to receive that signal from other people because they see you. And they’re like, ‘Man, there’s something about you. Like, you feel confident. … I’d like to invest in your company. I trust you.’” – Aaron Alexander
People don’t trust people who communicate fear. Even if your mouth is saying that you’re confident, your body may communicate the opposite! We are constantly communicating information to ourselves, others, and the Universe through our body movement, so it’s time to understand how to communicate confidence, trust, and competence.
You’re probably thinking, that sounds GREAT, Taylor, but where do I start? It feels overwhelming to focus on all your body movements at one time, so Aaron recommended that you first focus on your posture.
“Start to guide your life by [engaging] your body and your postural patterns and your breathing patterns and the way you use your eyes [so you can] put your body into that state of whatever it is that you want. … Posture is visual — [it’s] the way we’re actually using the lenses of our eyes. … So even if you’re in a … cubicle, … you can just allow your vision to just kind of … take in the whole room. … And when you’re doing that, your visual muscles [are] tied into your central nervous system. … So when you change the way that you’re perceiving the world, it literally changes the function of your autonomic nervous system.” – Aaron Alexander
When you change your posture to be upright, with your eyes scanning everything around you, you’re communicating to yourself and to the world that you have nothing to fear. Do you see how powerful this is?
Whatever message you want to send to the world, don’t just focus on the words coming out of your mouth (after all, that’s just 7% of the communication). Instead, think of what your eyes, your head, your arms, your legs, and your core need to communicate.
Align Your Thoughts, Desires, and Emotions with Your Body Language Today!
Sister, this interview was FULL of so many gold nuggets that I couldn’t fit them all in this post, so make sure to listen to the full interview to learn more about using your body language to manifest abundance!
If you want to hear more from Aaron (and I know you do), be sure to check out his book The Align Method, where he goes into detail about body posture, language, and behavior. You can also listen to the Align Podcast, a place where he brings the world’s top thought leaders together on all things health and wellness to share their views on living optimally.
If you enjoyed this episode as much as I did, make sure to let us know on Instagram! You can tag Aaron, @alignpodcast, and me, @iamtaylorsimpson, with a screenshot of the episode and your greatest takeaways!
Remember, I love you. I see you. Cheers to overcoming our insecurities and owning our worthiness no matter what! And remember — always choose happiness because, well, why the fuck not?
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
- Playing like a child
- What is abundance
- How Aaron is cultivating his soul’s purpose
- Getting into alignment with your body and it’s physique
- Interrupting your mental patterns
- Showing up authentically in your life
- Realizing your body will adapt to your mind
- Picking up on the body patterns
- Tapping into you want to feel
- Tips to start embodying confidence
- The effects of your body’s posture
- Taking radical responsibility and pausing
- Behind Aaron’s book
- The importance of yoga and micromanaging your breath
Connect with Aaron: