The Power of Effective Body Language

Mark Spillane?

What is Body Language and why is it Important?

Most of the time, we are simply unaware of what our bodies are doing, this is because we tend to step into auto pilot during our day to day lives-you could say the same about travelling into work every day, driving a car or riding a bike. We don’t tend to think about what we are doing, as it has become a familiar experience.

Our bodies follow the habitual programming that we have become accustomed to whether we are walking, talking, or sitting etc.…

Our bodies have the power equally to communicate the wrong messages too! you may think that you are consciously listening and responding positively to someone talking to you. When in fact your body could be easily saying the complete opposite without you even realizing it, whereby you appear closed off, uninterested and negative.

This can have a massive knock on effect in the work place, especially if you find yourself chairing a meeting, leading a presentation, pitching to a new client or attending a prospective job interview for a new job or promotion.

Communication, on a face-to-face basis, consists of three separate elements:

• Words (what we say) 7%
• Tone of voice (how we say those words) 38%
• Body Language (positive or negative) 55%

When we are in sync and connected to our bodies-it can be magnetic to others and in-turn create genuine ‘presence’ whereby making a positive ‘impact’ on others that is long lasting and remembered. This can be highly rewarding when it comes to networking or promoting a product to a potential new client.

The Power in Body Language

There are many experts who have researched the connection of power and body language one being Amy Cuddy (a Social Psychologist and Associate Professor at Harvard University) Cuddy supports the theory that, not only does our non-verbal communication influence the way others perceive us, it also affects the way we think and feel about ourselves.

Cuddy introduced the concept of ‘power posing’ which essentially is the idea of adopting a strong physical posture for a few moments, before attending an interview or making a presentation.

Cuddy felt that by doing this you would become more effective vocally and physically, as opposed to individuals who adopted a weaker stance for a few moments.

When we feel powerful, our bodies naturally expand and opens. If you feel powerless, your body closes, and you make yourself as small as you can to protect yourself-this is human nature.

As a teacher of body language, I agree with Cuddy’s practical ideas, body language is a powerful tool that can be manipulated by the individual-whether they are confident or not. You might not be feeling confident at the thought of presenting yourself in front of others, but the only person who knows this is you. So long as you can control your breathing and non-verbal communication, the audience will have no idea.

Stress Release through the body

In everyday life we are subjected to different kinds of stress: mental and emotional- forms of mental strain such as anxiety, depression, and work pressure.

To cope with the overload of stress, our body stores the stress in the muscles, this is what we call ‘body stress’. This can lead to a range of things eventually happening such as physical pain, anxiety and fatigue which, affect our physical body and prevent it from functioning effectively. 

Tension in the muscles can cause pressure to build up on the nerves which disturbs the body’s communication system.

Body stress release uses information provided by the body to determine where stored tension may be undermining the efficiency, undermining the nervous system, disturbing the body’s ability to co-ordinate its functions and perform at its full potential.

When the body is fully present, there is a constant undermining of our well-being-both physically, mentally and emotionally.

Professional tips to help YOU!

• Walk with purpose: for 30 seconds-head lifted-allow energy to pass through you, if you are feeling tense and rigid? stop, take a breath and go again.
• Be as relaxed as possible and keep you head lifted always. 
• Release the Tension: Squeeze your whole body into a tight ball as you possibly can and then consciously release the tension. Each time you become aware of tension building take a grip on it. Squeeze it–release it by shaking it out of your system.
• Maintaining Eye Contact: Our eyes convey everything; eye contact connects us literally and figuratively with one another. It is a critical technique that will help you break unconscious behaviours that send the wrong signs to your audience.
• Make Gestures Purposeful: Gestures help you effectively tell the story or detract from what you are saying. In any presentation, all gestures must be purposeful, not random.

*For further support and workshops contact Mark via 

www.takeabreath.productions

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