Body language and movement is understood as the non-verbal communication that individuals portray when they are talking or presenting to others. It is the process of expressing emotions, conveying attitudes, demonstrating personality traits and supporting our overall meaning through non-verbal means. You will find that each individual will use their body language to communicate with other people in their everyday lives.
There are many different non-verbal behaviors that vary across cultures, such as the thumbs up to signify “way to go” or “good job”. However, the different six primary emotions of happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust are common throughout all cultures. You will find that these six come from our own instincts and can be taught to us, as they will naturally appear when we speak and communicate with others. When you have a conversation with another person you will have an expression coming from within you that will come from your sub consciousness. And, because this comes from the subconscious, it can tell others a great deal about how you are as a person.
Fear is a natural human emotion and serves a purpose related to our safety and security. But let us imagine a person who has witnessed a serious auto mobile accident, but rather than running to the aid of the injured; they run franticly in the opposite direction. This frantic running away is body expression that certainly infers some kind of fear. Specifically what that fears might be we cannot know without talking to the person. But it is obvious that the fear has nothing to do with immediate safety. Through this example you should be able to see how we can read another’s personality through the lens of his body language.
There is one experiment that you could try at home – see how much information people give you about themselves through their body communication. When you are talking with someone, you should observe their body language as they talk. After a couple of minute’s observation, close your eyes and continually listen to them. You will not be able to see their hands moving, facial expressions, or other bodily movements. You will, however, notice how much information is not available to you because your eyes are closed. This process becomes difficult to read and understand without actually seeing the person’s body expression accompanying them speaking.
One sure-fire way to learn how to read someone’s body talk is to observe and get to know your own. Remember, we all have six common kinds of instinctual body language. Of course they vary in degree of expression, but we all have them. There are also non-verbal communications that are common among certain cultures, societies and families. Because of this fact two different people can have very similar behaviors that are expressed through similar kinds of body communication. By knowing your own body language you can read similar ones in others, and therefore give you insight into another person’s personality and who they are.
As you learn your own body language try to relate those behaviors to your subconscious thinking. Try to regulate or over analyze your subconscious thought though. The only goal here is to match those thoughts with the body language you use to express those thoughts. This not about judging yourself, but it’s about learning to read your body language so you can read the body language of others. You can use this information to improve your understanding of the many different interactions you will become involved with.
Once you recognize some of your own body language movements and what they mean, you will be able to begin to read other people with more accuracy. When you are having a conversation with someone, you will be able to identify different things such as mixed messages. These mixed messages will be identified when an individual says one thing, yet their body communications something else.
You will find that a good example of this is when someone lies to you. They may tell you, “I didn’t do it!”, but the tone of voice, then they look away, and having a slight nervousness indicates that there is something not quite right about what they are telling you. The specific conflict here is between verbal and body language, and could signal deception. When you received mixed messages they are almost certainly related to insincerity and point to the individual having something to hide.