A Quick Introduction to Body Language
The first and most important aspect of improving your body language is to accept/believe that the way you look on the outside doesn’t always need to match how you feel on the inside. Before reading the remainder of this article, I would like you to reflect on the following question for a few minutes.
If you don’t buy into this fact, believing that certain strong emotions are always going to come out (“I couldn’t help it”) through your facial expressions and the rest of your body, then there is no point in moving on to some of the strategies below until you have worked out a way to prove yourself wrong.
Suppose you have no idea how, then hire an acting coach for a few hours and ask them to teach you. Alternatively, please email us to request to work with performance psychologist Brian Langsworth, an expert in this area due to his background in the performing arts. Alternatively, please scroll to the bottom of this blog, where I have added two of my favourite body language improvement videos from YouTube.
If you’ve been reading some of my colleague Madalyn’s excellent recent sport-specific articles, you’ll be aware that actions, thoughts and feelings are more separate (independent) than most people believe. Body Language movements are actions and actions alone. They are neither thoughts nor feelings.
But if you are already a believer, then read on …
Body Language is best broken down into three main areas.
First, we have the face (eyes and mouth), then the head, and finally the rest of the body (the parts below the neck). Generally, Body Language doesn’t incorporate other nonverbal forms of communication, such as tone of voice or grunts. However, this is undoubtedly another aspect that can be improved. Think about how important communication is in team sports and how little non-verbal communication is targeted for improvement in such teams (not the ones we work with, of course).
A nice, gentle introduction to improving your body language is to go through these three areas and mix them up. Many athletes and performers who take body language seriously (typically, the most successful ones … surprise, surprise) use a mirror or record themselves whilst doing this, but it’s not essential. Why not try right now? Make a happy face, then a sad one, then a calm one, followed by an angry one.
The Next Step …
The next step is to try and identify what you believe is the Optimal Body Language (face, head position and rest of body) for certain predictable situations that are common in your sport/performance area.
For example, you may be a tennis player and recognise that immediately after the conclusion of each point is a key opportunity to display a particular form of body language. It can also be helpful to identify destructive body language in these situations.
Remember, one of the most significant disadvantages of feeling that you have no control over your body language is that you are providing a considerable amount of unnecessary information to your opponent. If you and I are playing a competitive match against one another, I will want you to be as unaware as possible of how I’m travelling. From the outside (to my opponents), I would like to appear neutral.
The template for this would look something like this (which you can copy and paste):
In situation X, I would like my face to appear A, my head B, and my [replace with the name of body part] C.
Here is an example for a tennis player;
In a situation where my opponent is arguing with the umpire, ideally, my face would appear calm with a slight smile, my head upright, looking towards the crowd, and my hands behind my back. What would be counterproductive is to approach the chair and look frustrated by putting my hands on my hips and shaking my head.
🤫 Expert Tip: Neutral Body Language is almost always better than Positive Body Language.
Now It’s Your Turn …
Once you have established your Body Language preferences, it’s time to practice them. At this stage, using a full-length reflective surface or a recording device is highly recommended. How you think you look from inside your body might not be what you’re looking for, so you can adjust before the actions start to become second nature (via repetitions).
The final stage is to determine whether you can replicate the situations through more mentally demanding practice. In other words, in the above example, this tennis player would first practice Optimal Body Language in any setting and later conduct practice sessions in which, during a practice match, their hitting partner intentionally stops to argue with the umpire. And of course, any other situation previously identified in which displaying the appropriate body language may be challenging.
The final part is to embed this body-language practice in everyday training contexts. There is rarely a substitute for repetition, and, as explained in a previous blog, in the end, Practice Makes Permanent, not perfect.
Get In Touch
If you would like professional assistance with your Body Language for Sport and Performance or any other mental area, use the form below to get in touch. If you want to know more about our monthly options before contacting us, then watch this 13-minute video first.
