Is Body Language fading out of the human skill set?

I was listening to a conversation about how many people have head-down interactions. A couple of hours later, I saw several posts and articles on the sensitivity of the younger generations. Yes, at almost 59 years old, I am becoming one of those elders. 

The growing number of people who find it hard to emotionally, physically, and mentally self-regulate can lead to extreme behaviours, acting out verbally and physically or holding themselves back from social interactions. This creates isolation and traps them in a small world without new information. It is like a pond cut off from life-giving fresh water. When the pond is cut off, it becomes stagnant, and life is more about survival and existence than living and thriving.

I observed the interactions in my social, professional, friend, and family circles with conscious intent. I listened to conversations and watched with a new lens what was being missed and the confusion and misdirection caused. Observing and absorbing different perspectives used to be a pleasant activity without conscious action. 

But like many of us, COVID came to town and the world and shrunk as did my interactions and observations. My social and emotional muscles became flaccid, and my reaction time was off. 

Zoom became a boon. It was good for me as I watched Face/Body Language in the confined space of the screen, which was filled with many faces close together, which made it easier to read without much else to interact with. But Face Reading on a screen without having the body to reference takes training and skills, as it is very two-dimensional and needs lots of experience for reference, which I have in spades with over 28 years. 

Catching gross experience is relatively easy, but the micro-expressions flash fast and can be easily missed; those expressions relate to emotions in flow and suppression and our interactions in life. The speed at which they move across our features in conjunction with hand and body positioning in a chair or standing, can influence how I craft questions with those I want or need to engage with. When to stay quiet and still and when to cut, interject, or break into a story or thread with passion or compassion and understanding. 

But what I missed and got slack at was body language and picking up micro-expressions—the energy exuded, the emotion expressed by the stance, the muscle tension, and which part of the body desired attention or was shrinking away. The body is speaking, gossiping about your inner world, what is hidden sometimes even from ourselves, sharing our triggers and our outer world interactions.

Every body part represents different areas in life and shows how energy flows between each area: from support and safety to creation, sensuality, relationships and sustenance, foundational identity and personality expression and influences, heart-giving and receiving, speaking-executive functions, and mental engagement and management and our connection to source. 

Psychosomatic Body Language is understanding the representations, interactions, and how individuals manage the flow with or without conscious awareness. Without awareness, our past shows up in the triggers we experience through interactions, and our body language talks about our experience from muscle memory reactions. But they deliver another message through language, tone, cadence, smell and what we wear. 

But those trained in body language and micro-expressions can pick up nuance and read deep into what is happening. Those trying to fake it to make it eventually get caught out because we may not know or understand what our bodies are saying. 

Some who have experienced trauma and had success in coping can recognise in others what they have experienced. Still, it is not necessarily what we are experiencing; it is only something we should avoid or understand, but we can be confused by the facade. 

Back to those conversations and observations, many people these days spend their interactions with their heads down and disconnected, unaware of their surroundings. They hear other human beings but do not really listen with awareness. 

Conscious repetitive actions create strong support for change and sub/unconscious action in the future, reduces mental load and emotional stress, and allows our body-mind to work in flow and stability. 

It took me a few nudges to go out again into the world as I had made a nest in my home office with minimal reach. This re-engaged some of my old submerged triggers from my formative years- fear, slight anxiety and obsessive traits as they were familiar and comforting in their familiarity. 

My body rebelled with a couple of significant healing journeys, affecting my mobility and energy flow. Making it slow and stodgy representing what was going on mentally and emotionally. But asking for external help and assistance as I rejigged my world has me coming back to a new energy flow and many new perspectives and moments of awareness.

The old adage ‘Use it or lose it’ applies to all areas of life, whether mental, emotional, physical, or energetic. However, remember that balance is important: give and take, move and rest, moderate stress for growth, and then recover.