Maybe it's just an echo of bygone times, this tip. I hear him again and again. And he immediately reminds me of those times when sitting upright at the school desk still influenced the behavior grade. And that the best way to achieve it was to stretch your arms behind the backrest. Those times when "Chest out, belly in!" ensured the parade in rank and file during physical education.
Wrong advice often lasts surprisingly long. He has also remained alive, even if there has long been a different tone at school. It is as harmful as standing at attention for too long.
What is fatal about recommendations like this quickly becomes clear when you take a closer look at how the voice works. As is well known, the pitch comes from the larynx. This is where the sensitive vocal folds vibrate (which can be easily felt by those who put their hand to their neck while speaking). And there is a whole series of small fine muscles at work, responsible for pitch and timbre.
These vocal muscles, figuratively speaking, are "online" with a hundred muscles throughout the body, from head to toe. Wherever in the body it tightens, the larynx notices it - and the voice sounds different. This is – not least – the explanation for why even the finest emotional impulses always become audible in the voice so quickly, even if you want to avoid it.
Memorize the mnemonic phrase: "The voice is the audible part of body language!" However you stand or sit, that's how you sound. Voice is vibration. And what you hold on to cannot vibrate freely. That's why you tense your large glutes wherever you want. But not if you want to cut a good figure when talking. Your voice will thank you.
Photo credit: "Nobby" Norbert Höller / pixelio.de
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