How your thinking can affect your body structure
I was a kinesiologist and trained in psychotherapy in my former working life, and from that knowledge I’m interested in how psychology affects our physiology and therefore how our body shape can change in response to our psychology changing.
This has been my experience of myself. When I ventured into therapy over 30 years ago, my body shape was different. I was more angular and less rounded. Psychologically I was led more by my thoughts than by my feelings. In the study of the ‘somatic body’ my body was more ‘ectomorphic’ than ‘endomorphic’.
Somatic body, related to body type, is not a term which is usually associated with assessing the body type in style analysis and clothing personality. However, I think it is very relevant.
The term somatic body refers to the whole of your physical body, including all tissues, bones, muscles, and organs, as opposed to the mind or consciousness. It is the part of you which can be perceived through the five senses.
The somatic body definition has three body types, ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph, each with distinct characteristics. However, it’s important to note that these body types are not definitive and physicality can be influenced by other factors such as genetics, diet, and exercise. It is also normal and expected for a person to have a mixture of traits. I am predominantly endomorphic but can go into my more ectomorphic character when under stress and then get in touch with my mesomorphic self when I need to take action.
The psychological aspects of the somatic body are a multi-faceted subject popularised by American psychologist W.H. Sheldon in the 1940s and 1950s. I am focussing on a limited aspect for the purpose of this article.
Physically:
An ectomorph usually has a thin body with little body fat or muscle definition. Because of their fast metabolism, they find it difficult to put on weight.
An endomorph has a rounder shape, tends to have more body fat and a slower metabolism which means they gain weight more easily.
The third type, the mesomorph, has an athletic body with a muscular build. They have a balanced metabolism and are able to manage their weight.
Psychologically:
An ectomorph will be a ‘thinker’ and is likely to answer a question with ‘I think I would …’, the endomorph is more likely to answer ‘I feel I would …’ and a mesomorph is an action-orientated person and would be more likely to answer ‘What I would do is …’
Can your body shape really be affected by your emotions?
If you think about it this can be illustrated with an everyday example. Stress can cause physical changes in the body, such as increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and muscle tension. Depression can cause a person to not stand up straight — to walk stooped over.
How your psychology, your thinking, affects you physically can be very easily illustrated by imagining you are sucking a lemon. If you concentrate and focus on the colour, texture and how the lemon feels in your mouth, your body will experience the same response as if you were really sucking an actual lemon – your mouth will water. So, yes emotions and thoughts can cause a physical response. In a sense, these examples are quite advanced ways in which the body can show emotions, there is a scale of impact from very noticeable to subtle.
So how does this fit in with your body shape and hence your clothing personality?
Body shape is an aspect of clothing personality. The idea that the somatic body plays a role isn’t taught as part of style analysis or talked about by style consultants but it is my general view and experience that it plays a part.
Clothing personality is the identification of personality traits and the authentic and accurate portrayal of those traits. When you dress to your clothing personality you appear congruent which is the general objective of dressing to your personal style. It’s not just about wearing clothes that suit your body shape it is also about wearing clothes which suit your personality.
My background is in bodywork and psychotherapy, which is how I learned about this stuff. I learnt it as part of my humanistic psychotherapy training and experienced a change in my body shape as a result of my personal therapeutic work.
Before therapy, I was quite rigid in my thinking and my body shape was thin and straight. I wore the same size on my top half as my lower half.
I had not noticed the change in my physical self until someone who had known me over the years mentioned it to me in a workshop. My face and body had changed over the time I had been in therapy and as I had become more in tune and comfortable with my feelings, my body had become softer and less angular. My lower half was a size larger than my upper half. I had not gained weight but my shape had changed.
How did this change my clothing personality?
When I first saw a style consultant I was in my early 20s. She defined my colour palette as Winter and my clothing personality as Dramatic Classic. Which means strong colours and angular shapes. I am now a Spring/Natural Classic which is bright and splashy colours but not so strong and my shape is softer and more rounded.
I was given ‘dramatic classic’ as my definer. I went with it. I felt comfortable. I was working in the City of London and looking to progress and it meant I could wear black well, thank heavens! Can’t everyone — uh, no they can’t.
At around 40 I had a second colour analysis and although the initial shock of finding out that black was not in my palette floored me because 80% of my clothes were black, I was actually strangely excited about the wonderful spring colours I could now explore and it felt right somehow, even though it was a huge challenge.
Shortly after that I met another colour consultant and asked for a refresh — she updated my colour palette with a gorgeous spring green and told me I could wear caramel and cream — oh wow! I had seen a Ralph Lauren coat in camel with a simulated fur collar and I had fallen in love but as a Winter it wasn’t for me. Then she told me I am a ‘natural classic’ – I could have kissed her — I so loved Betty Barclay and wanted to be able to wear that style — and now I could! Strangley, when I had tried on the Ralph Lauren coat I felt I looked great in it and so this analysis confirmed what I knew. It is important to trust yourself, we can change over time and not all professionals get it right all the time.
So what had happened?
Have you heard the expression ‘to grow into yourself’? Well, I believe that’s what happened to me. The natural classic personality is a combination of the seven-year-old running in the fields and the Head Girl at school. That’s me. I love the outdoors, and natural fabrics, I am structured and like a rule. I was finally living my life true to who I am and that is now expressed through my clothes.
Initially, I thought my consultant had read me wrong all those years ago but I have come to realise that it is more to do with my change within myself and the outward expression of my true character as I have become more comfortable with expressing who I truly am.
Style analysis is all about dressing true to your style and personality. It’s not about wearing stylish things just because they are considered stylish.
It’s about your clothes enhancing your personality, your outside being congruent with your inside. It’s about dressing your truth and being seen.
When I was talking about this once, someone objected and said that some people don’t want to be seen. It’s true, some people don’t want to be seen, don’t want to be noticed and want to fade into the background. Whatever their reason that is their ‘style’ and they will dress so that happens. My question is are they happy in the background? If they are then great. But if they are fading because they are hiding then the therapist in me would wonder if it was congruent with who they are – why hide?
And here’s the thing, whether you want to be or not, you are seen, you can’t avoid it. So why not be seen for who you really are? Let’s not hide. Let’s be proud of who we are and express ourselves proudly in how we carry ourselves and by what we wear.
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