A revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s The King and I<\/i> opened recently at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.<\/p>\n

Yul Brynner, the great actor who devoted much of his career to The King and I,<\/i> was known to prepare<\/a> for each performance by trying to push down the brick wall at the back of the theater.<\/p>\n

If you ever saw one of his performances, you may remember his first entrance. \u00a0He burst into sight in a cloud of energy in silk pantaloons and tight white stockings, came to stop in the middle of the stage with his hands on his hips and his feet apart, and stood with his legs radiating power and purpose.<\/p>\n

Yul Brynner was no pushover. \u00a0He was a physical force on stage. \u00a0He projected a formidable will, and a fierce confidence<\/a>. \u00a0And he had not yet spoken a word.<\/p>\n

Ninety percent of emotional communication is nonverbal. \u00a0Gestures are an unconscious language that we use to express not only our feelings but to generate them as well. \u00a0By making a gesture, we help produce an internal state.<\/p>\n

Amy Cuddy<\/a>, a faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, has conducted an experiment<\/a> with her graduate students demonstrating that holding an assertive body posture for as little as 2 minutes increases the amount of testosterone in the body, in men and women.<\/p>\n

Few people know that Yul Brynner was exposed to the teachings of Michael Chekhov, one of the greatest Russian actors of the early 20th century, and the nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov.<\/p>\n

Michael Chekhov\u2019s techniques for stimulating inner states were what he called \u201cpsycho-physical\u201d in nature, an approach that differed from that of his own teacher, Constantin Stanislavski, the founder of the so-called \u201cMethod\u201d school of acting.<\/p>\n

If Amy Cuddy and Yul Brynner are right, and I believe they are, then what can we do to increase our executive presence and ignite our speeches and presentations? \u00a0What can we do to infect our audience with our energy? \u00a0What can we do to kindle a positive inner state that will be strong enough to move the mountain that stands between the audience and what we need them to do?<\/p>\n

The answer is simple: \u00a0we need to get our act together. \u00a0Quite literally, we need to integrate, or synthesize our knowledge, our feelings, our purpose, and our imagination, and we need to ensure that our bodies express all that we are, all that we think, feel, want, and imagine.<\/p>\n

In essence, the high stakes presenters, the men and women who move mountains, embody the full spectrum of human potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s The King and I opened recently at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Yul Brynner, the great actor who devoted much of his career to The King and I, was known to prepare for each performance by trying to push down the brick wall at the back of the theater. If… Read More »Get Your Act Together<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[960,144,24],"tags":[548,107,291,618,167],"yoast_head":"\n