What “Take Up Your Space” Really Means
You may have heard the expression, “take up your space”...
But what does it actually mean?
"Take up your space" gets to the heart of what better posture is, as the old approach of "straightening up" actually tightens and shrinks your space.
...but you do need to know what “your space” is if you’re going to take it up.
So does that mean? What would it feel like ?
The problem here with just saying to somebody “take up your space” is that most people don't actually sense what their space in their body is.
It’s a great idea, but without this additional knowledge, it’s not any more useful than “straighten up!”
And though the idea might be to take up your space in the world, that really starts with you literally sensing and taking up the space inside yourself.
To understand what "take up your space really means, it can be useful to understand what's happening when you don't take up our space.
One way that people don’t take up their space is by only being aware of what's in front of them, but not being aware of themselves -- or they might just be aware of the front of their body, which interfaces most directly with the world.
This can cause poor posture and a feeling of not being grounded.
You've probably heard the expression, being all "up in your head". This is another way that people don't take up their space.
It's like the body becomes the thing that just carries around your head, which has all the the information and the important stuff in it...like your head is "you"
On the other hand, a lot of people care how their bodies "look", but they doesn't mean they are present in their bodies. Looking in the mirror and making adjustments is different from BEING in your body.
When people actually start to take up their space it often feels like a new experience...like they're coming online fully in a way they haven't before.
It's like I oh I have a whole back and sides of my body!
My shoulders are slouching because of how I'm focusing my eyes and where I'm moving my head?
That's actually where my neck is?
That's where my hips bend?
I'm not talking about what you see in the mirror, but what you sense internally.
Something that often surprises people is the top of their head is very far above their eyes and in fact their back of their head is way behind their neck, for example!
Learning to sense, with clarity, how you take up space and move is a powerful skill
for staying centered (because you actually feel where your center is).
feeling grounded (because you're able to stay connected to the floor even when you're stressed)
and maintaining good posture (because you've learned to sense in the moment when your posture is off and you know how to make an adjustment that brings you back into balance).
I'll teaching you how to learn and hone this skill in my 8-week course for women, Interact with Impact: Take Up Your Space and Project Your Voice.
Learning these body-focused cues will help you:
Project a calm authority
Keep your cool in stressful situations
Maintain poise and confidence in the face of self-critical thoughts
Think on your feet
Be seen and heard if you often feel ignored or dismissed
Get rid of unnecessary tension that's draining your energy
You'll gain the tools to be at your best when you're talking with people, when you're giving a speech, when you're sitting at your desk working, or you're in a zoom meeting.
Here's an example: If somebody is talking to you and your default habit is to slouch or pull your shoulders up, lean back, stiffen, or hold your breath —
you might not notice when this is happening because your focus is all in front of you, on the other person.
I can teach you how to stay present with yourself and take up your space with very specific cues. You can use these cues in the moment when you’re interacting with other people without getting distracted or self-conscious. The more you take up your space, the more you can be in charge of how you react to situations and people.
-- And you can actually be more present with other people if we stay present in yourself.
Interested in Interact with Impact? The early bird rate (a 15% discount) is available through January 14.
Click here for details on the course. Enter the coupon code EARLYBIRDWINTER2025.