Body Language: Speak Volumes Without Saying a Word

Learn to let your body language convey relaxed authority and a centered focus on your students.

By Meghan Searles Gardner

"I don't know what it is about your voice—it just makes me feel so totally relaxed in Savasana I could fall asleep!" When a student said this to me recently, I took it as a slightly backhanded compliment. As a teacher, I know that Savasana (Corpse Pose) is not, technically, supposed to be nap time; but if I can help a student achieve a more relaxed frame of mind and body, I've done part of my job right.

The "yoga voice," as Boston-based teacher Bo Forbes calls it, is easy to identify. But what about the voice of a yoga teacher's body? We all know that body language sends signals in everyday situations—crossed arms signify closed-off or defensive feelings; hunched shoulders might indicate anxiety or cold or sickness. A teacher's body also communicates in the classroom by the way she stands, moves, and assists students.

So if your body talks, what are your students hearing? A few experts sound off on the importance of body-language consciousness.

Opening Lines

Everybody has a characteristic way they carry their body, says Tom Myers, author of the whole-body patterning Anatomy Trains series and director of the Kinesis mind-body training center in Maine. "You could probably recognize your husband or friends from a block away just by how they carry themselves," he says.

In the classroom setting, this means that, to a certain degree, your body language is just how you are. Some of that language can be changed, Myers says; but consider the posture and physical styles of Richard Freeman, John Friend, and Patricia Walden—all very different, though all are considered expert teachers.

Knowing that our bodies bear the stamp of our own physical habits, teachers have to realize that students will, unconsciously or consciously, mimic their teacher's posture. Forbes notes, "This is wired into our brains, to mirror others' emotions and patterns of movement. And our physical bodies mirror our emotions."

This issue of authenticity comes up again and again in the body-language discussion. Kim Valeri, director of YOGAspirit Studios, which train teachers across New England, notes that the "unspoken communication" of the body has a lot to do with how comfortable and secure a teacher feels in the role. "It's about feeling confident," she says. "In any good class, when you as the teacher are not overly concerned with your own self-critical evaluation but more concerned with service given to students, that unspoken message is communicated: I am doing my best to support my students."

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