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Body Language

Body language constitutes an important form of inter-personal communication, and an understanding of it can help you in the following two quite different situations:

1. where you are trying to make a particular impression, for example at an interview. If, for example, you wish to present yourself as an assertive person you should adopt an upright, well-balanced, posture and use open gestures and a direct, relaxed gaze.
2. where you are trying to interpret a person's body language so as to understand them better. Thus, for example, the folded arms and facial expression of the man in the above photograph (Larry David) communicate a pronounced feeling of dejection, resignation and sadness. Likewise, you might well pick up on a colleague's anxiety by noting such behavioural symptoms as covering the mouth, fidgeting and biting the fingernails.

From a Brainware perspective body language has an additional quite different significance, namely the way in which your own body language can communicate itself back to you and profoundly affect how you feel. There is, for example, the old adage about 'walking tall' and 'keeping your head up high', especially when things are getting difficult for you. Such advice is based on the idea that if you behave in a 'walk tall' kind of way you will indeed 'feel tall' and be empowered.

There is considerable evidence for such a mind-body resonance, i.e. that what happens in your body influences what happens in your mind, and vice versa. Take, for example, Yoga, a practice in which you work directly on the body through a range of physical disciplines, involving postures and breathing exercises. Although Yoga is considered to be good for one's general health and physique, a primary reason for taking it up is the beneficial effect that the physical disciplines can have on the mind. Thus, people report that their stresses are reduced and their minds become progressively clearer.

Recommendations

It is worthwhile learning about body language for the first two reasons given above, viz. being aware of how your own body language communicates to others and the help it gives you in understanding other people better. But it is also very valuable to explore your own mind-body resonance and achieve an improved state of mind and well-being through activities such as Yoga, physical exercise, diaphragmatic breathing and various relaxation methods.

Further Information

For further information on body language see:

SelfGrowth.com - Body Language Information
SelfGrowth.com - Top Ten Body Language Tips
Wikipedia on Body Language

 

	Page last modified: 6 January 2006