Our body language and our ability to read the non-verbal signals of those around us develop unconsciously from birth. Non-verbal signals are evidence both of the meaning behind the messages we may be trying to communicate verbally and of our state of mind.

Just as you are able to influence your state of mind with conscious action, so you can learn to consciously develop your skills of reading body language and your (self)awareness of the body language signals that you are conveying, allowing you to change them as appropriate.

This collection of 20 activities is drawn from a wide range of Gower activity manuals. This powerful body language training resource brings together exercises that use NLP, observation, mime, coaching, feedback and a number of other techniques.

The activities have been chosen to suit different styles of training and to explore as many applications and dimensions of body language as possible. All of the activities are appropriate for general interpersonal skills training. Some of them are useful for particular contexts too, such as interviewing, coaching or negotiating.

Contents: Editor's Foreword; Actions speak louder, by Sue Bishop and David Taylor; Aggressive, submissive, assertive by Clifford Johnson; Body language 1 by Sarah Cook; Body language 2 by Di Kamp; Body power by Lucy Seifert; Busy body by Lucy Seifert; Clothes talk by Lucy Seifert; Developing awareness of non-verbal behaviour 1, 2 and 3 by Roy Johnson; Discovering rapport by Roy Johnson; Experimenting with rapport by Roy Johnson; Getting feedback by Terence Jackson; Impact of non-verbal behaviour by Roy Johnson; Non-verbal expression by Terence Jackson; Pictures 1 and 2 by Rex Davies and David McDermott; Practising rapport by Roy Johnson; Stars of the silent screen by Wendy Denham and Elizabeth Naylor; Using personal space by Terence Jackson.

About the Editor: Jonathan Norman is Publishing Director at Gower Publishing.

Reviews: 'The collection will certainly be useful to facilitators holding behavioural courses or workshops who want to provide a variety of experiential activities, or for more general training programmes that include an element of non-verbal behaviour understanding ... The activities will be found useful for both helping learners to use body language effectively and also to recognise it and its meaning in others. Well Recommended.
Innovation *****; Content *****; Clarity *****; Overall Recommendation *****; Value for money *****.' Training Journal, December 2003

'You'll find a good variety of material and train safe in the knowledge that the activities are robust and the messages clear.' Claudine McClean MCIPD on HRZONE, June 2004

'...a powerful body language training resource...important manual for everyone's learning.'
The Hairdresser

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Full contents list

Chapter 8 Developing awareness of non-verbal behaviour 1