Lesson 8: The Physical Body
Language is a more recent technology. Your body language, your eyes, your energy will come through to your audience before you even start speaking.
– Peter Guber
This is an area that may not be so obvious when we think of communicating well.
But there are people in the world who get paid millions of dollars and who are trained to move their physical body to ensure they come across with conviction. I’m talking about actors and actresses, as they step into a role and communicate their lines. One of the things they are trained to do is adjust the body.
The way we hold our body greatly impacts our ability to communicate confidently and with conviction. As with speaking, how we hold our body impacts how others see us, but it also impacts how we see and feel about ourselves.
The body is an easy area to forget about – yet its also one of the easiest to shift.
Watch the video for a demonstration of how your body language impacts the way you communicate.
Our body language governs how we think and feel about ourselves, and thus, how we hold our bodies can have an impact on our minds. In other words, by commanding a powerful stance, we can make ourselves actually feel more powerful.’
– Social Psychologist, Amy Cuddy, in her 700m+ views TED Talk
Strategy – Body
- Breathe – this is always the first step, the simple act of taking even one conscious breath can increase your awareness of what is happening in all 4 domains.
- Check your body, particularly if you are not feeling confident or you need to speak with conviction.
- Sit or stand up straight, shoulders strong, jaw relaxed and have your feet firmly on the ground.
- Notice – In the example I used previously about not knowing what to say – I gave a tip of noticing your own listening, this will be easier if you first shift your body and take a breath, this will calm the brain and allow you to better notice.