How to Read Body Language

Body Language How to Read Body Language Body language is often termed to the non-verbal movements or actions which we make while communicating with others. It can be from waving hands, raising eyebrows to twitching of facial muscles involuntarily. It is a defined way through which people can communicate with each other with the use of gestures, postures and non-verbal facial expressions. Learning how to read body language can help you determine if someone truly means what they are saying to you. It is an art in human psychology which can be very helpful while judging a person though his actions and expressions. This is a skill to find out if a person is trying to lie, getting attracted to you or hiding some feelings from you. Interpreting a body language and to understand what actually an expression means is not always an easy task. You need to have great sense of observation and attentiveness which is something that cannot be acquired overnight.

Observing the signals or expression that an individual reveals in his body language and understanding the same can be a very effective social skill. A few have developed it quite naturally while others might need personal attention and practice to read a gesture which is often expressed nonverbally. Below mentioned are some of the ways and approaches through which an individual can read a body language effectively. These points are described in brief under the following subheads: -

Formulate a Baseline

Start observing a person when they are behaving normally or acting in a relaxed mood. Note attentively the features of a body like the eyes, arms, legs, eyebrows, chin and fingers. Try to understand the movements or the gestures that these parts of a body do even when the person is speaking. Such an approach can be made more effective if the individual is your friend or a known person. This is because gazing towards the bodily expressions of a stranger might end up your learning process into a hot altercation.

Evaluating an Expression

It is not always easy to evaluate or judge an expression correctly especially when they are made without speaking. But there are still some postures and gestures which offer a definite meaning for an individual. A sign like resting the arms of an individual behind his head or neck often means that the person is willing to take part in a discussion or listen to what you are speaking. Instead, if he is impatient or waiting eagerly for some news, then he will be showing signs like putting his hands on his hips or unsteadily walking to and fro. Similarly, if an individual is rubbing his chin or scratching his cheeks softly, it indicates that the person is either thinking or a little confused over a particular matter. Expression like popping of eyes or raising the eyebrows and holding them for sometime often indicates that the person is either surprised or little astonished. Expressions of anger can be judged from an individual if he is barring his teeth in a snarl or even clenching his fist very strongly. If someone is curling his fingers tightly we can access such a gesture to be pleading or requesting for some thing.

All these are a few of the common postures and gestures that we notice almost everyday. An individual with keen attention and minute observations can read such a language which is expressed without any words spoken in a communication. Learning to read body language also improves the skill to incur true emotions through the process of interpretation between two persons.