Have you ever paid attention to how your body moves when you are feeling confident or nervous? How about when you are feeling emotions such as jealousy, happiness or disgust? If you are like most people, you are probably unaware of your body movement and habitual patterns when experiencing emotions throughout your day.
Body Language is a Powerful Tool that Communicates Your Emotions, Character and Story.
For example, have you ever walked into a room to join someone, and they turn their back on you to put away the dishes only to say “Go ahead I’m listening.” OR sat across from someone on a first date and find yourself nervously playing with an imaginary strand of hair, doing a very poor job of concealing your attraction towards this person? This my friend… is the power of body language.
Body language is HOW you use your body to communicate through your posture, body position, facial expressions and gestures. Body language is a physical language that you use and understand within a specific culture.
Today I am going to provide you with a few basic examples of body language positions that I share with all of my clients. By becoming mindful of your body you will have the ability to improve your overall communication.
7 Basic Body Positions
- Neutral: hands and arms hanging at sides. This is a non-aggressive relaxed stance. Think about when you are waiting in line with nothing to do.
- Hands in fists on hips: anger, power, authority, etc. Think about the stance Super Man or Peter Pan takes. What does a parent do to a small child or dog when telling them to do or not do something while using authority over them?
- Hands on hips with hands relaxed or in front: comfort, openness. It opens you up instead of having the pent up energy in the fists.
- Crossing arms in front of body: coldness, closed off, not listening. This shuts out who you are speaking with. Think about when you are speaking with someone you don’t trust.
- Hands behind back: hiding something, ashamed.
- Hands by head: thinking (or thinking through problem), tired. Think of a time you were in a long meeting, class or a situation that required critical thinking.
- Hands by heart or chest area: emotion, love. When we feel something deeply, we bring our hands into our core because that is where our honest emotion can be felt.
Try it out for yourself and utilize these basic positions to observe others emotions or to simply take notice of your own.
Originally published at www.maishadyson.com Follow on social media @MaishaDyson