Body Language: Speak Volumes Without Saying a Word

"I don't know what it is about your voiceit just makes me feel so totally relaxed in Savasana I could fall asleep!" When a student said this to me recently, I took it as a slightly backhanded compliment. As a teacher, I know that Savasana (Corpse Pose) is not, technically, supposed to be nap time; but if I can help a student achieve a more relaxed frame of mind and body, I've done part of my job right. The "yoga voice," as Boston-based teacher Bo Forbes calls it, is easy to identify. But what about the voice of a yoga teacher's body? We all know that body language sends signals in everyday situationscrossed arms signify closed-off or defensive feelings; hunched shoulders might indicate anxiety or cold or sickness. A teacher's body also communicates in the classroom by the way she stands, moves, and assists students. So if your body talks, what are your students hearing? A few experts sound off on the importance of body-language consciousness.
Opening Lines

Everybody has a characteristic way they carry their body, says Tom Myers, author of the wholebody patterning Anatomy Trains series and director of the Kinesis mind-body training center in Maine. "You could probably recognize your husband or friends from a block away just by how they carry themselves," he says. In the classroom setting, this means that, to a certain degree, your body language is just how you are. Some of that language can be changed, Myers says; but consider the posture and physical styles of Richard Freeman, John Friend, and Patricia Waldenall very different, though all are considered expert teachers. Knowing that our bodies bear the stamp of our own physical habits, teachers have to realize that students will, unconsciously or consciously, mimic their teacher's posture. Forbes notes, "This is wired into our brains, to mirror others' emotions and patterns of movement. And our physical bodies mirror our emotions." This issue of authenticity comes up again and again in the body-language discussion. Kim Valeri, director of YOGAspirit Studios, which train teachers across New England, notes that the "unspoken communication" of the body has a lot to do with how comfortable and secure a teacher feels in the role. "It's about feeling confident," she says. "In any good class, when you as the teacher are not overly concerned with your own self-critical evaluation but more concerned with service given to students, that unspoken message is communicated: I am doing my best to support my students."
Forbes draws on the Yoga Sutra to further illustrate this point. "By standing tall as a teacher and cultivating the seeds of good posture, we convey what Yoga Sutra II.46 says: sthira sukham asanam comfort (in our bodies) as well as a sense of stability and grounding."

Standing Savasana

According to Elisabeth Halfpapp, vice president of movement programming and workshops for the Exhale mind/body spas and a master teacher of that spa chain's Core Fusion classes, a teacher's entire posture and stride should convey a sensitivity to the student's needs. Halfpapp calls this unforced authoritativeness a "standing Savasana," where the teacher is relaxed but ready, calm but focused. "There's an openness, with the shoulders back and down and eyes lifted to make contact with students so we communicate we're ready to move forward together," she says. Denise Crowe, the mind/body class coordinator for Exhale in Boston, adds, "There's a thin line between openness and aggressiveness [in one's stance]. Thrusting forward through the face, neck, and chest conveys aggression, while standing tall with broad shoulders and collarbones conveys a comfortable centeredness." Forbes explains further, "It's about being relaxed and not forcing things. For example, a teacher who tries too hard to stand up straight might actually hold more tension her body, which will transmit itself to students. And at the same time, slumping can lower a teacher's energy, make it harder to breathe and take in prana or energy, and this also can transmit to the students." Both Forbes and Myers point to the breath as an essential part of a teacher's posture. A teacher who slouches, for example, points the sternum down, which indicates he is "stuck on the exhalation," says Myers. He observes that avoiding this can be especially challenging for newer teachers, who may not feel confident in their abilities and can convey that unease through their breathing and stance. Valeri considers body language not just in a physical context but also in the context of interacting with a student's subtle energy bodies. Teachers who are aware of both physical and energetic body language offer students "an outpouring of energy that is palpable," she says.
Assists: The Conversation of Touch

If posture and stance are the vocabulary of body language, then assisting is speaking through the body of fluency. When teachers initiate contact with a student through an assist, they open a direct line of dialogue where actions really can speak louder than words. The simple act of walking around the classroom, observing and preparing to assist students during a class, is a form of body language that can set the tone for the one-to-one conversations you will have when you assist an individual student. As Halfpapp observes, "This is not a New Yorker's walk." "You're usually in bare feet when you're teaching, and especially when students have their heads on the flooras in Savasana or Sirsasana (Headstand)you want to be really careful about how hard you are walking," explains Myers. He also notes that a teacher's overall body alignment relaxed lower back, pelvis over the ankles rather than the toes, and eyes dropping back into the head rather than peering out, all help to make students feel more secure.

Once you've begun observing a class, these teachers all agree, it's generally not a good idea to stop near a student and just watch, waiting to see how a pose unfolds before you decide to offer an assist. According to Forbes, "Stopping and watching a student can make them feel selfconscious, as though something is 'wrong' with their pose and they're about to find out what. "When we learn to see, and take in, more information about a pose," Forbes continues, "an assist is something we'll be able to formulate from across the room, or from a few mats over, because we've 'read' the language of a student's pose." As all teachers know, deciding which students to assist requires fast thinking. "You've got to see who needs to be assisted for safety first, then who didn't get the instruction and needs to be helped, and then decide who can be taken further in pose," Valeri explains. But once you've made the commitment to provide an assist, how should your body speak to a student's? The hands speak volumes about an assist, the experts agree. "When I observe teachers in training, I can see [their body language] in their hands," Valeri continues. "There are teachers who are sensitive and tuned into a student's subtle bodies. When they assist, they are not just touching and leaving; the palm is cupped to contain energy and the fingertips have backed off slightly from the student so that when the hands leave, they send a double message: 'I'm going to contain you and guide you; I'm going to hold you tight but back off.'" Assists should be delivered mostly from the palms, rather than the fingers, which give a more sensual touch and can imply inappropriate intimacy. Similarly, say Halfpapp and Crowe, body positioning can communicate messages that teachers should generally avoida pelvic tilt performed very close to a student of the opposite sex, for example, or showing a pose at a particular angle, might cause students to feel uncomfortable.
Learning the Language

Learning how to read students' bodies takes time and practice, says Valeri. "When students come into the classroom, 50 percent of what they are looking for will be for what you know as a teacher; the other half is the energy you create in the room. You have to be sensitive to how you create that space." In her training programs, Forbes calls this the "art of assisting," and she says that many teacher training programs overlook the amount of practice it takes to become confident in assisting. A lack of confidence translates into body language that can seem tentative or unsettling to a student. Ultimately, she says, body language is about being awake and present in each moment. Teaching the body to speak with equal parts strength and support may take practice, but it's far from impossible. Here are some key ways you can bring yogic fluency to your own body language:

Trust yourself. "Authority is inherent" in yoga teaching, says Forbes. In other words, you've already earned your students' permission to teach them, so let that confidence speak through your voice and your posture. Let your palmsnot your fingersdo the talking. In general, using the palms of the hands rather than the fingertips establishes a more professional and less intimate kind of body language from teacher to student. "Trailing fingers" along the body, says Valeri, is an inappropriately sensual touch. Know when to let the body be silent. "Sometimes the best assist is none at allwhen you speak rather than physically adjust a student," says Crowe. In that split second between seeing a student's pose and reaching out to help, ask yourself whether a verbal cue, rather than a hands-on adjustment, might be more effective. Practice, get feedback, and practice some more. Myers suggests videotaping yourself so you can observe your physical habits. It is, he says, "awful to watch, but it will be the greatest learning tool you'll ever getwatch yourself from outside, shake your head, and go back to see what you can change."
Meghan Searles Gardner is a freelance writer and yoga teacher in Boston. You can email her at meghansearles@yahoo.com.

Body language & misunderstanding blindness

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Kate

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. Mother Teresa. A simple and lovely quote from a simple and lovely lady. But, is it true? We could answer it with another quote, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Shakespeare expressed a similar sentiment in Loves Labours Lost - Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye. The meaning of both these last two quotes is that different people have different opinions about what is good/beautiful/valuable. However, another aspect of this may not so readily occur to most people; what about those who have visual impairments who cannot judge with their eyes? I have been looking at research on body language and blind people as my husband, Rob, is blind. Here is a quote I found (not sure which government report it was):

It has been accepted by many experts that 93% of communication is nonverbal, 55% through facial expression, posture and gesture and 38% through tone of voice. These are seldom used consciously, but are a natural way of communicating with others. We are taught not to touch people unless we are really familiar with them and these gestures help us not to offend people by touching them unnecessarily. The 55% section of these figures refers to what are grouped together as body language .

Mona Lisa - possibly the most famous enigmatic smile ever? This whole subject of body language, of which a smile is an obvious one, has a different slant when viewed in respect to a person for whom visual hints are unreadable. Many people have hearing as well as sight loss, which means in the most profoundly affected cases, they may only receive 7% of the full meaning of a conversation. From a personal point of view, this was brought to my attention through meeting and marrying a man who is blind. With other friends, I would make eye contact, through facial expressions and body language, we could each convey our emotions, attitudes and quite complicated messages, without uttering a word. The difference between visual and non-visual forms of communication are brought sharply into focus (no pun intended) when, like me, even after 8 years of marriage to him, you find yourself waving to a blind man across a room to attract his attention! We have many friends with varying degrees of sight loss, from the relatively slight to total, lifelong, blindness. Rob, my husband has gradually lost all his sight and does miss not being able to read body language any more. But even though we have instinctively found ways to at least restore some of the balance in our communications together, it can still lead to misunderstanding. The most obvious example of this is where I began this post, with a smile. If I make a remark that sounds serious or condemning but is not meant that way I would show my intention by adding a smile. Rob would miss the smile and maybe think I was being rather negative. For example, was I to say to a sighted friend, You are a nuisance! and smiled at them they would

know the message was not unkind. But if I said that to Rob he may think I was rather unhappy with him. We can simply avoid these misunderstandings by a trick I learnt when training long ago as a telephonist by putting an audible smile in your voice! This sounds obvious, but try speaking to someone on the phone and understanding every nuance of their conversation, not so easy as talking face to face, is it? When I met Rob 9 years ago, I had never known anyone with sight problems before. I did not know how to help him feel part of whatever was happening around us in company. This is why we wrote the 12 Myths of Blindness for the Echurch website. (We no longer have the website but I have added our (updated) Twelve Myths to this blog. These Myths have since been borrowed by other organisations online. We used them as the base for the talks we have given on Living with Blindness to many groups. I can tell you from a sighted persons point of view it is really hard to remember that Rob cant see when folk nod, smile, or wave to him. I still do it, after 8 years of marriage! One sad aspect of this whole body language problem for blind people is when they are at a gathering for a meeting, party, church, club etc. They can come away feeling hurt that their presence has been ignored by others there. When, in reality, several people have smiled, nodded, or waved to them! When you meet a visually impaired person, go up to them, introduce yourself by name. If you know their name use it, then they will know that you are speaking to them and not someone else. This is particularly important if there are other people about. To further attract their attention, gently touch their upper arm with your hand. When you are leaving, say you are going away. Nobody likes to find that they have been speaking to an empty space! It all sounds very simple but what is blindingly obvious (pun intended, people dont lose their sense of humour along with their sight) once it is explained to you, can be the cause of much hilarity or much hurt. An example of the former was when I was trying to talk to the receptionist at the doctors and guide Rob to his seat in the waiting room at the same time. He turned in the wrong direction and the man whose lap he was about to sit on waved him away in embarrassment, at the last second he realised Robs problem and shot out of his chair, ran out of the doctors surgery and missed his own appointment everyone else tried to stifle their laughter till I explained to Rob what had just happened, he roared with laughter and everyone else now felt free to join in! As I said, blind people do have the usual portion of humour, just that it can be dented when folk dont include them in what is going on in a way that they can appreciate.

Rob and Catherine enjoy walking wherever we go. So now you have a little bit more information by the way, many, many people and businesses seem to assume that Rob cant use stairs, most people understand the difficulties faced by people with mobility problems, but forget that most visually impaired people are reasonably fit apart from their sight. In fact a friend who is looking for work has been told he cant go to the upper floor of the Job Centre, though he has now fought a battle over that and won! Our favourite occupation is walking, especially in the Northumbrian Hills near us, though many people seem bemused as they meet us on craggy moors, miles from anywhere, I reply to friendy comments with - Rob is fully fit, only his eyes dont work!. In fact our local branch of a supermarket giant has so-called disabled toilets with a coloured light door-lock system, when I pointed out Robs problem they said they would change them, a year later and they are still inaccessible to visually impaired people, I did tell them that only 8% of folk registered disabled in the UK use a wheelchair, a simple lock would serve everyone, whatever their issues. What works for both visually and mobility impaired people are solutions that are well thought out and sensible, then we can all enjoy life on more equal terms, and enjoy a few laughs along the way! P.S. Is Rob the only blind person who has gone home from the pub on a mates arm and only remembered part-way home that he had gone there with his guide-dog? She was still curled up asleep under his table at the pub when they rushed back! This was before I knew him. He does not need or have a dog now.