How to develop a commanding presence?

[Slade]

Do any of you have experience in developing a commanding presence? The kind of presence where you walk into a room and everyone looks. Some call it executive presence or leadership presence. I know David Deida refers to it as masculine presence. 

Are there any specific exercises to practice this and develop it? 

[Sahil Pandit]

@Slade I would say being grounded in the now, having an intent, standing up tall, spine erect. Walking with a purpose, longer than average strides, as if you were going somewhere and doing something important. 

Those are some of the tips I would give to you if you were doing pick up as well 

[-Rowan]

@Slade Not blowing my own trumpet or anything but I’ve noticed I’ve started to have that effect when I walk in a room. I think it comes down to a few things:

1) You obviously wanna smile and be friendly to all in the room, don’t do a hard nosed stone cold executive style entrance or you’ll just look uptight. But I think I remember reading some of your posts and because of your Life Purpose I don’t think you’ll struggle with that

2) Putting effort into physical appearance (might sound shallow but I still do it), just helps to catch peoples eyes initially and also helps that confidence. Try say/do something if you notice you’ve got a lot of people’s eyes suddenly, not sure if you’re in England but we do a weird little head nod, smile and ‘hey’ ? I guess small body language rules change from culture to culture, I’m at a uni and I think all the Chinese students don’t really get the whole head nod thing, or quickly saying ‘alright’ whilst passing by someone you know, again, probably just an English thing ?

3) I’ve found meditation has gotten rid of a lot of my nerves and fear of embarrassment and the like, so I can walk in a room tall, energetic, light hearted and ready to embarrass myself if i need. If you’re not prepared to laugh at yourself in any given situation I think you’ll just be too uptight and people will think you’re a bit odd.

If you’re doing some group activity don’t be shy, bring all your energy to it and again embarrass yourself if you need to. At this point I can ‘embarass’ Myself without really feeling embarrassed. 

I think what it comes down to is energy, if you’re groggy and didn’t have breakfast one day you’ll probably just float through a crowd, whereas if you’re full of energy (and different kinds of energy) then I think people will naturally be drawn to you and you’ll have that prescense. 

Sorry if this was a bit long

Best of luck,

Rowan