Standing like a Superhero
"If you aren't willing to keep looking for light in the darkest of places without stopping, even when it seems impossible, you will never succeed." - Amelia Shepard
One of Amelia's main character traits was that she was impulsive and often neglected to look before she leaped.
Amelia Frances Shepherd, M.D. is a fictional character on the ABC American television medical drama Private Practice, and the spinoff series' progenitor show, Grey's Anatomy, portrayed by Caterina Scorsone. In her debut appearance in season three, Amelia visited her former sister-in-law, Addison Montgomery, and became a partner at the Oceanside Wellness Group. In July 2010, it was reported that she was promoted to series regular for the fourth season, after appearing in the final five episodes of season three. She remained in the series until the final episode.
Scorsone crossed over as a special guest in one episode each of the seventh (2010–11) and eighth seasons (2011–12) of Grey's Anatomy, which ran concurrently with the fourth (2010–11) and fifth seasons (2011–12) of Private Practice, in both 2010 and 2012. After Private Practice ended its six season run in January 2013, Scorsone returned to the Grey's Anatomy universe in its parent show, recurring in the final four episodes of the tenth season in 2014. She was then promoted to series regular for season eleven (2014–15), and has appeared as a main cast member for all of its subsequent seven seasons.
Amelia is the youngest sibling of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey)'s family, and a recovering drug addict. Her storylines in both shows revolve around her struggle with sobriety, recklessness and her ambition as a neurosurgeon. Scorsone has been a part of the Grey's universe for over ten years and has appeared in a total of nine seasons as a series regular. She has also appeared as a guest star in the second spin-off, Station 19. The actress has been lauded by critics and fans alike.
Scorsone describes her character's “hero” journey as showing the “full Phoenix-ing of a woman who was so broken and traumatized by loss and addiction”.[1]
There's a scientific study that shows that if you stand like this, in superhero pose, for just five minutes before a job interview or a big presentation or a really hard task, you will not only feel more confident, you will perform measurably better.-Amelia Shepherd
Again, the answer was “yes.” In as little time as two (2) minutes, the superhero stance elevates confidence. It alters hormone production; lifting the power hormone and reducing the stress hormone. ... According to science, if you pose like a super-hero, you'll think like a super-hero, and act like a super-hero.
The Super Hero Pose, a high power pose, consists of standing tall, feet apart, chin up, and hands on your hips with elbows bent. Power Posing was first introduced by Amy Cuddy in 2010 when she suggested that standing in “high power” produces power by increasing testosterone and decreasing cortisol levels.
Does standing like a superhero help?
Standing like a super hero lowers the levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in our blood and increase levels of testosterone (which elevates confidence). Her study also showed the opposite to be true, a 'defeated posture' had the inverse effect on these hormones raising the cortisol and lowering testosterone.
She briefly explained that its been proven that if people simply stand in a superhero position for 2 minutes before a big “performance”, they will perform better at this event. I was immediately intrigued and had to find out more.
Upon my search I came across a Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.” Her talk discusses the studies that have shown how your body language can affect how others treat you, but she found she was more interested in knowing if your body language effects how you feel about yourself. She conducted studies with individuals in different “power” poses and then tested their saliva for physiological indicators of change. They found interesting results, the power posers showed an 8% increase in testosterone (dominance hormone), those who had done closed off, small poses had a 10% decrease in the hormone. Also, the inverse relationship happened with cortisol, the stress hormone. While the power posers experienced a 25% decrease in cortisol levels, the closed off posers had a 15% increase in their stress levels.
Now, knowing there are chemical reactions happening in your body when striking a power pose Amy Cuddy had half her study participants practice a power pose for 2 minutes while the other half didn’t do the power pose, before a stressful interview. Videos were taken of the interviews and unbiased individuals analyzed them and decided who’d they would choose to hire. All of the “power posers” where chosen as hires.
Amy ends her talk with a powerful personal story of “faking it” until you, not just be it, but become it. She encourages individuals to spend just 2 minutes in the mirror or elsewhere striking their favorite superhero pose to prepare for an important presentation, interview, talk, etc.
This simple act of just becoming Superman for 2 minutes before my next presentation is worth trying. I can’t wait to give it a go.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been binge watching Grey’s Anatomy, a show loved by many across America. I just recently got all caught up to the new season, but I can count the most memorable episodes of the 14 seasons on one hand. Of course, on that list is Derek’s death, the dreadful plane crash, and George’s death, but after all the loss, Amelia Shepherd surprised me with some life wisdom…the superhero pose.
In episode 14 of season 11, before a huge surgery, Dr. Stephanie Edwards walks into the scrub room to Amelia standing like a superhero: chin up, chest out, hands on hips, legs hip length apart on the ground. Edwards asks Shepherd what she is doing and Shepherd responds “I’m being a superhero. There’s a scientific study that shows that if you stand like this in superhero pose for just five minutes before a job interview or a big presentation or a really hard task, you will not only feel more confident, you will perform immeasurably better.” This idea carries through the seasons after it, and every now and again Shonda Rhimes shows Amelia standing with interns or nurses or other doctors using this pose before a new surgery.
via https://tvsourcemagazine.com/2015/03/greys-anatomy-recap-the-distance/
I was intrigued by this so-called “superhero pose,” so I went on google and it is, in fact, a real study Amelia is citing which was done at Harvard in 2012. Turns out, if you stand in superhero pose for five minutes before a hard task you will perform better.
So, with that information, I decided to try it out. It turned out the following week I had two interviews for leadership positions around campus and I figured that morning was the perfect time to try out the superhero pose hypothesis. That Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early and with 5 minutes to spare after I got ready. I stood in the center of dorm room staring out of the window over-looking the Mass Pike and stood like Amelia Shepherd.
I went about my interviews that day and did walk out of them both with a smile; I’m still waiting for responses but I definitely felt like I did my best. Now, I don’t know if my success is to be placed all on meditating for five minutes that morning, but the superhero pose did help boost my confidence and put a pep in my step that day.
