Body talk

CLENCHED FISTS, eyes that do not look into yours, a gripping handshake, hands that are tucked deep into the pocket, thumbs that stick out involuntarily, grinding teeth... There are many more such 'actions' of the body that speak. "One need not verbalise sometimes - it's all there in the language of the body", say Mr. S. Ananthanarayan and Mr. Zane Cuxton who run the Academy for Skill and Knowledge. They regularly conduct workshops and training on personality development, attitudinal development, communication skills and wait a minute... body language.

Body language is an important aspect that has to be looked into, says Mr. Zane, who incidentally has his moorings in Scotland, but came to Chennai six years ago, and was taken in by its charm and decided to make it his home.

Both, Mr. Ananthnarayan and Mr. Zane have been conducting interactive training sessions in Coimbatore and Bangalore and have only recently focussed their attention on Chennai, where many corporate houses have used their expertise and skill to train their employees. Some colleges too have evinced interest in this area.

Talking about body language, communication as such can be divided into three basic parts - only 7 per cent of which is through words, 38 per cent through the intonation or the voice modulation and 55 per cent is through what is said through gestures. This non-verbal communication is a complex process that involves tone of the voice, eye contact, gestures and body movements.

According to Mr. Zane, voluntary gestures and gesticulations can be perfected and monitored but what about the involuntary part? - The actions that spring out involuntarily... these are actions that are spontaneous and come from within our deeper recesses and therefore even the speaker is not aware of how he conveys certain things. And, while decoding what one is trying to convey, it is 89 per cent through the eyes (what and how you see things), 7 per cent via the ears and 4 per cent via the brain.

ASK also helps teach the following things - being able to judge a person's character by the facial lines, reading palm gestures, hand and arm gestures and gesticulations, eye signals, courtship signals (this might tell you whether you are getting the "right signals"), power plays and how to tell when one is lying and how to interview and be interviewed.

The heads of all the educational institutions also concur with Mr. Zane that reading body signals is very helpful both in the personal as well as in professional life. ASK's workshops are for two to three days and it is an interactive one. At the end, the participants learn to scientifically decipher and decode whole new messages from peoples' actions and gestures. Many colleges also ask for workshops on sales and marketing, customer service and public speaking. It is in the area of public speaking that students need a lot of honing, says Mr. Ananthanarayan, as in the initial stages, students get 'cold feet' when it comes to speaking out in front of a huge crowd (stage fear, self-conscious feelings et al). In short, ASK also helps identify a person's strong points and latent talents which are brushed to perfection.

ASK plans to conduct a one-hour free session for educational institutions in and around Chennai. Contact No. 1, Subramaniam Avenue, Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. Phone - 4401646.

SHANTHIARUNKUMAR

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What's unsaid...

The next time you get a handshake from an acquaintance who is too eager to offer you both his hands and cup yours into his, do not trust him. For this is a gloved handshake or a politician's handshake and there are bound to be strings attached.

If you don't know whether your ward is lying through her teeth, focus on her eyes and her neck and see if she is breaking out into a sweat and you'll find out.! Hey, didn't some wise chap say this? - what's unsaid says a great deal more than what is said.....

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