E The Holistic View 149
How well do you sleep the night before a big trip? How about
the night before the first day of a new job? This energy affects
posture more than facial expression. I can look like hell in the face
from lack of sleep, but move around as though I am myself and
appear to be fine.
The energy I am talking about here is not the bubbly little kid
kind, which I do cover in the section on movement. This is energy to
the joints that gives you the impression the person’s back is strong
and under control versus sloppy and sagging. Depression and a sense
of failure manifest themselves in lack of energy to the joints. The
back is similar to a suspension bridge and all of those cables need
energy to stay taut. When the energy subsides, the posture droops.
As you learn about baselining in Chapter 7, you will see how
important this criterion becomes in reading an individual’s body lan-
guage. Even if a person’s normal posture is not up to Old Guard
standards, you can tell when his energy level changes, and move
toward conclusions about his emotional and mental state.
Flexibility
Any personal trainer or physical therapist will harp on the ben-
efits of flexibility, but my definition is a little different from theirs.
By flexibility I refer to rounded movements—swivels, slumps, bends
at the joints, and so on—as opposed to movements with a degree of
rigidity. Posture with square corners—shoulders back, feet planted
firmly beneath—is a more male, and less flexible, posture. Rounded
shoulders and feet that shift weight from one side to another is
typically more female and seen as feminine. The gender differences