Can Your Body Send Messages?
Is there such a thing as "body language?"
Kinesics is the study of body language. However, Ray Birdwhistell considered the founder of this field, never used body language and considered it inappropriate. He argued that the body's movements don't meet the linguist's definition of language but concluded that only 30 % to 35% of communication comes from speaking.
Body language is a type of communication where physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. This behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movements, touching, and the use of space. Most of it occurs without our thinking about it. How we move our head and shoulder, or how close we stand to another person, conveys different cultural messages. Sometimes, a friendly gesture in one culture becomes an insulting gesture in others.
For example, the thumbs-up gesture could show everything is OK in countries like the United States, South Africa, Europe, and parts of the Middle East. But this gesture is insulting in other countries like Iran, Bangladesh, and Thailand, where a thumbs up is the equivalent of showing the middle finger in the US.
If this is true, how can we communicate as well as we do on the telephone?
I asked myself this question before training to become a Life Coach. Life Coaching is conducted on the telephone; all body movements are missing from these interactions. Training gives Life Coaches listening tips. We learn to pay attention to what our clients are saying.
Ironically, I encountered my Essential Tremor while taking my final exam to become a certified coach. My hand started violently shaking as I began this paper and pencil test. It was uncontrollable and triggered by the emotional background of test-taking. So, movement and emotions were tied together. I completed the test by clamping my left hand over my right. As I wrote, I calmed down, and the shaking stopped.
Years later, in my acting classes, I learned that one could use body movements to convey emotions to an audience, sometimes even without words.
During one of my acting class assignments, my teacher asked me to play the part of a paralyzed person, removing all movement, head to toe, with no speech. I couldn't even move my head except for my eyes and face. I had to communicate to the audience (my classmates) that a snake came into my room and slithers closer and closer to me. I progressed from fear to terror as the imaginary snake got nearer.
However, I engaged the body parts I could still use. As I watched the snake, my mouth grimaced, my forehead contracted, my cheeks tightened, my eyes widened, and most of all, my respiration changed. I breathed faster and faster with short and shorter breaths. My teacher chose the length of this exercise as he watched the audience react to my intensity. Soon, my classmates began to feel the presence of that snake. They, too, felt fear.
By the time he ended this exercise, I was out of breath and had to allow my body parts to become functional again, and as I stood up, I noticed my knees were shaking. The audience applauded my effort.
I would still be studying acting, but Covid removed that option. Now, I participate in classes in the Feldenkrais Method on Zoom, a physical way to keep my body moving without Covid exposure.
Feldenkrais's lessons start with effortless movements, sometimes lying on the floor, sitting in a chair, or less often standing. The classes progress from simple to more and more complex maneuvers and variations. Certain poses create emotions such as arrogance, fear, power, or joy.
Oddly, I identify my emotions after moving my body into a particular shape. It's not my intention to do something to make me feel that emotion. It's that the actual body pose suggests the matching sentiment. e.g., Many people believe that smiling will make you feel happier. Maybe these movements have a way of touching parts of our history that we're trying to keep hidden.
Dr. Ralph Strauch is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner and wrote an article entitled Featured, Recovery, Stress on February 6, 2020, by Ralph Strauch, Ph.D. GCFP from the blog Achieving Excellence. He talks about how a traumatic experience causes a storm of emotions to erupt, and we bury as much of that emotional state as we can to go on with our lives. The suppression of emotion can have physical ramifications, such as body pain and stiffness later in life. He says it takes much psychic energy to keep that suppression in place.
When a person experiences trauma, their body naturally responds by amplifying whatever feelings the trauma produces. This trauma can be physical or emotional. We fight to limit its effect on us by shutting down as much emotion as possible, and the part we don't allow ourselves to feel stays hidden in our subconscious. But often, it's these same feelings that cause us problems. The Feldenkrais Method attempts to release its ancient hold on us through gentle movements done slowly and thoughtfully. And it works.
So, how we move impacts our lives in many ways, from the obvious to the subconscious. The crucial thing to remember is that we must keep moving — maybe not as fast as we once could, but at least bring consciousness to the amount of activity we have every day. Today, for example, I've been sitting at my computer writing. So far, I've reached 9% of my goal. GRRR!