Sometimes you become acutely aware of your body: you suddenly notice your raised shoulders, tight chest, rounded back – all without conscious decision. At other times, you breathe more deeply, straighten up, take up more space – and a feeling of inner peace arises within you. These shifts are not random back and forth. They demonstrate that body and emotions are not isolated entities, but are deeply interconnected. Our posture sends signals to the brain, which in turn influence our feelings – and vice versa.
This very interaction was explored by neuroscientist Dr. Nazareth Castellanos in an interview with La Nación. Her approach focuses primarily on one point: we possess not just the classic five senses, but seven – and the two perhaps most "invisible" among them, interoception and proprioception, have an enormous influence on our emotional experience.
Here are five surprising ways your daily posture directly impacts your inner well-being:
1. Posture as a stabilizer for your emotional balance
Dr. Castellanos explains that our brain constantly evaluates information from our body – not only what we see or hear, but also how we stand, breathe, or how open our chest is.
When we sit or stand upright, we breathe more deeply. This deeper breathing calms the autonomic nervous system and reduces the activity of stress-related circuits. Studies on emotional regulation show that a clear, open body space strengthens the ability to deal with challenges more calmly (for example, through increased interoceptive sensitivity – a term that describes how well we can perceive the signals from within).
2. Stress is "translated" through your posture.
Under pressure, we tend to instinctively adopt certain postures: a collapsed chest, slumped shoulders, shallow breathing. This means more than just physical tension – according to Castellanos, our brain receives these signals and can interpret them as stress or insecurity.
3. Emotional imprints are stored physically.
Emotions leave traces not only in our memory, but literally in our body tissue: fascia, respiratory muscles, physical protective reactions – all of this stores how we felt. In the interview, Castellanos says that our brain constantly reacts to bodily signals, often even before we can consciously name them. Therefore, it's possible that we unconsciously revert to "protective postures" in everyday life without immediately realizing why.
4. Yoga & Pilates create new “emotional spaces” in the body
Yoga or Pilates not only change our external posture, but also how we perceive our inner selves. Through conscious movement, breathwork, and stability, we enhance our interoceptive awareness—the ability to feel and interpret signals from within the body (heartbeat, breathing, organ functions). This inner sensitivity is a key to emotional self-regulation, as neuroscience research shows. At the same time, we train our proprioceptive awareness—the tactile knowledge of how our body is positioned in space. This strengthens our sense of inner centeredness and stability.
5. Attitude strengthens self-efficacy and emotional resilience
When you consciously align your posture—long spine, open chest, relaxed shoulders—you not only change your outward appearance but also your "inner voice." Your brain receives feedback that you are "present," that you are aligning yourself—and this strengthens the feeling of being capable of action. Castellanos emphasizes that our body not only reacts but actively shapes how we feel and perceive ourselves. This embodiment effect is not a short-lived "power pose" effect but is based on real physiological changes—in muscles, breath, and bodily signals.
When body and feelings start talking to each other again
Castellanos beautifully sums it up in the interview: We understand emotions better when we are more in tune with our bodies. Posture is a dialogue – between breath and nervous system, between muscle tone and feeling, between inner world and outer alignment.
At Purajana, we witness this every day: when people experience their bodies more consciously, not only their posture changes, but also their emotional foundation. Our Purajana community, with its presence, openness, and willingness to engage in mindful movement, enables us to do what we love – to accompany them on their path to inner balance and physical ease.
Inspired by the neuroscientific findings of Dr. Nazareth Castellanos.
Further resources
Those who wish to explore the background further will find here the essential studies and sources that Dr. Nazareth Castellanos mentions in the interview.
Marco Catani, A little man of some importance, Brain, Volume 140, Issue 11, November 2017, Pages 3055–3061
Strack, Fritz & Martin, Leonard & Stepper, S.. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: a nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 54. 768–777. 10.1037//0022-3514.54.5.768.
Michalak J, Mischnat J, Teismann T. Sitting posture makes a difference-embodiment effects on depressive memory bias. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2014 Nov-Dec;21(6):519-24. doi: 10.1002/cpp.1890. Epub 2014 Feb 27. PMID: 24577937.
Damasio AR. The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1996 Oct 29;351(1346):1413-20. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1996.0125. PMID: 8941953.
Diez GG, Anitua E, Castellanos N, Vázquez C, Galindo-Villardón P, Alkhraisat MH (2022) The effect of mindfulness on the inflammatory, psychological and biomechanical domains of adult patients with low back pain: A randomized controlled clinical trial. PLoS ONE 17(11): e0276734.
