Does good posture make us more confident and effective?

A recent TED talk by Professor Amy Cuddy  presents evidence that how we hold our bodies impacts not only how others perceive us, but the way we do our jobs and interact with others.  

Some of Amy's findings were later questioned because of small sample sizes and difficulty replicating results.  But it's intuitive that our posture and physical presentation are one way that other people form opinions of us.  If we project physical openness and confidence, other people respond in ways that re-enforce that for us.

Unfortunately sometimes people find it physically difficult to get themselves into a more "open" or "confident" posture - you know you should "sit up straight" and "put your shoulders back and head up"  but it just isn't comfortable.  Manual & movement therapy like Rolfing can help - it's not about forcing you to sit up straight but increasing the comfort and ease of doing so to make it feel natural.