How We Hold our Body and Body Language
“By identifying with a persons bodily expression one can sense its meaning.”
~Alexander Lowen
Bioenergetics (1975, p.101)
Imagine you are at a costume party where everyone is silent. You are having fun dancing to the insane beat of the music, entrenched in an internal musical adventure. Suddenly someone knocks into you from the back. You whirl around to see who it is, and a smile comes to your face. It is your best friend, but how did you know? Your friend was in a costume and said nothing. Could the way that your friend held their body give away so much information that you were able to tell? In retrospect all you may be able to answer is that you just knew that it was your friend. I believe the reason you knew it was your friend was the way your friend was holding their body. Your friends posture gave off enough information for you to be able to identify them. There is a lot of information that we display about ourselves through how our bodies our held.
In this paper I plan on highlighting the importance of noticing and paying attention to the structure of how people hold their bodies. I am first going to give an overview of how we can develop patterns of how we hold our body, how the patterns can show up, and how to begin to gain the information displayed through bodies consciously.
Patterns of holding in our bodies can often times come into existence from repressions of emotions exiting for periods of time. For example, think of how you would hold yourself if you were sad or afraid, or felt unsafe. Act these out in your body, and notice how your body begins to take on a certain shape. From the specific shape your body took on other parts of your body might then need to compensate to hold the new alignment. For instance, if you hold your head down as if you are depressed it will add weight forward, and in turn to remain balanced you may need to pull your abdomen forward (Kurtz, & Prestera, 1976, p.10). If these emotions existed and were repressed you might continue to act out a version of it in your body until it was released. Sometimes the holding taken on can exist for such a long time that the emotion associated with the holding can leave consciousness. Although the feeling of the emotion may have left consciousness the holding of it in your body and unconscious will remain (Lowen, 1975, p.102). Over time several of these holding patterns regardless how large can begin to show up in how someone holds themselves as a fundamental part of how they exist and are seen in the world.
The patterns can also affect the person’s experience of the world. For example, if someone has chronically pulled their shoulders forward around their chest, this will add pressure to the neck that can be alleviated by pulling the head forward. In this way their experience in the world is shifted. Due to shifting their head forward their view of the world will literally be different. In addition, they will be using more energy than necessary to retain the altered posture. They may use terms like they are “sticking their neck out” or they may be “leading with their head rather than their heart”. Patterns of holding are shaped by experience and can in turn shape experience.
In looking for patterns there are certain chunks of information that are useful to focus on. The image of a person can be divided into five major areas: The face, the chest (including breath rate), the shoulders, the arms, the legs, and the abdomen. Within those areas, it is also useful to notice if there are any differences between the right and left half, and the upper and lower half dividing at the waist (Marrone, 1990, p.101). It is useful to do both to look at the person as a whole, and in relation to the areas focused on. Both can give useful information.
In reflecting on these areas it is useful to notice how the areas are held in relation to the question; if the individuals posture were perfect how would it be held? This way we can easily pick out the differences and quickly see the areas that may be where holding patterns are occurring. Once a difference is picked out it can often be useful to note the location and associated function of that location of the body. For instance in the example where the shoulders curl to protect the heart, we may note that the heart is often referred to as the seat of emotion. This may allude to the body acting out and the person protecting their emotions.
At this point it is very important to point out that any information we gain without consulting the experience of the individual we can only deem as a guess and the truth of our guess we should be completely willing to discard in the presence of the truth of the individuals experience. It is also important to not work from these assumptions without checking either the individuals willingness to proceed with our guess, or checking with the individuals available internal experience to verify the accuracy of your guess.
With that said another method where we can gain information is by using sequence: Take the scan of the person’s body and how it is held. Once this scan is complete place your body in the same posture with the same holding patterns. If you are in a scenario where a dramatic body shift on your part is difficult you can use your imagination. This can simply be done by vividly imagining your body in the other posture, see yourself as that person is. Notice yourself breathing at the same rate and imagine how it would be to go through experiences this way. Notice how you are interacting with the world differently. Notice how situations are different, and notice how different your experiences and body feels. Notice what may be causing these differences in relation to the different way you are holding yourself. Both ways are great methods to also gain rapport with the individual (Brooks, 1989, p.135-141). Both methods can be done as they may elucidate different pieces of information.
Research done by Nina Bull as described in Body of Knowledge (1990, p.71) supports the notion that putting our body in certain postures will encourage associated emotions to the postures to come forth. After some practice this whole technique can be done in about thirty seconds. Some ways to further your competency with the above methods is to practice the same time as you are walking down the street. Do the methods with each person you pass by. Another way to further your competency is while you are sitting in a place with other people you may find it fun to begin to practice holding yourself similarly as other people and to listen in on the way they express themselves. You may begin to notice correlations in the way they hold and verbally express themselves.
The information and techniques presented in this paper are useful when meeting someone initially to calibrate with their state, to gain initial information as to how they may be experiencing. In addition paying attention to the bodily information and having an initial baseline, it will then be easier to notice and pick up on shifts that may happen throughout an interaction.
References:
Brooks, Michael. (1989). Instant Rapport. New York, NY: Warner Books, Inc.
Kurtz, Ron & Prestera, Hector. (1976). The Body Reveals. New York, NY: Harper & Row/Quicksilver Books.
Lowen, Alexander. (1975). Bioenergetics. New York, NY: Coward, MC Cann & Geoghegan, Inc.
Marrone, Robert. (1990). Body of Knowledge an Introduction to Body/Mind Psychotherapy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Copyright - 2009 Kerry Goldstein, MA
Kerry Goldstein MA, is a counselor practicing in Portland Oregon
