Summoning an Empowered State

POWER TOOLS · MINDSET · STATE

By Daniela Fukumothi · May 2026

Empowerment can be summoned. I know that might sound like a big claim, but bear with me — because it's actually simpler, quicker, and more fun than you think. This is one of my favourite power tools, and I call it that because the result is empowerment in your actual life — not just a feeling, but a shift in how you show up and how you act next.

How do I recognise being empowered?

For me, it's that feeling of being most capable, grounded, ready, and energised — all at once. As always, it will feel different for each person, because we are unique. No two people feel things in the same complexity and intensity. But most people recognise it when they're in it.

The question is: can you get there intentionally, without waiting for the stars to align?

Yes. And the place to start is your body.

The superhero pose — and why it works

In Grey's Anatomy, Season 11, there's a scene I love. Before one of the most complex surgeries of her career, neurosurgeon Amelia Shepherd is found in the scrub room standing in what she simply calls "the superhero pose": hands on hips, chin up, chest out, legs hip-width apart. Her colleague Dr. Edwards walks in, baffled. Amelia explains the science — and Dr. Edwards joins her. Two superheroes, ready to operate.

Then there's Rebecca in Ted Lasso, Season 2, teaching the anxious Nate how to hold his own in a room full of people who don't take him seriously. She reveals her secret: before walking into any intimidating meeting, she makes herself physically big — arms wide, standing tall, filling the space — and lets out what can only be described as a magnificent big-cat sound. Keeley watches with absolute awe. It works because Rebecca doesn't just do a pose. She inhabits it.

By placing your body in an empowering position, you make it easier to place your mind there too. This is what NLP calls an anchor — a conditioned trigger that links a physical action to a state. The superhero pose is one of the most accessible anchors there is.

Mind, body, and the mud metaphor

An empowered state is a resourceful state — it's when you have clarity to access your best thinking, your memories, your abilities, and bring them all to bear on the moment in front of you. To get that clarity, you need to leave the unnecessary stuff out.

Here's how I think about it: imagine a glass of clear water. You add mud — a past failure, a looping worry, someone's old criticism of you — and suddenly everything is murky. You could try to fish the mud out, but that takes forever and you'll still have particles. The simpler solution? Pour more clear water in. Keep adding it until the mud is replaced. You're not fighting what's there. You're rinsing it out with what you actually want.

The muddy parts in our mindset often come from focusing on what already happened (unchangeable), or asking "why" questions that keep us circling in victim mode. Sometimes they show up as an internal voice dragging up old memories to keep us small, or as a heavy weight on the shoulders, or that familiar knot in the stomach. These are real — and they're your mind's way of trying to protect you. But when you want to feel capable and strong in this moment, they need to step aside.

This is why the think-feel-act combination matters so much. Positive affirmations alone don't work — not because the words are wrong, but because words without the right tone, the right body, and the right mood don't reach the deeper level. Your unconscious mind simply doesn't believe them. But when you think, feel, and act empowered together — they positively feed on each other. That's when it lands.

One more thing worth saying: no one else can do this for you. You might have people in your corner saying wonderful things — and that matters, it really does — but the belief that you can has to be yours. It has to live in both your conscious and unconscious mind. That's not a burden. That's actually very good news. It means you're not waiting for anyone.

So: superhero pose now, hands on hips, chin up. What's the situation in your life right now that deserves your most empowered self?

With love,

Daniela

Enjoyed this? Next up: The SPA Methodology — the toolkit for a happier, more intentional life.