Our Body Speaks Without Our Permission: The Keys To Non-verbal Language
Communication is an omnipresent phenomenon in nature. Although many times when thinking about the concept of “communicating” language and writing come to mind, these information exchange processes are only the surface of the communicative aspect.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we are always carrying out actions that are the raw material of communication, and only some of them are based on speech or the creation of texts. This happens because, put quickly, our body is always giving rise to communication, through many parts of the body.
Synergology is precisely the discipline in charge of studying the way in which our body communicates beyond our consciousness: postures, gestures, etc. This is an interesting field of work and research initiated by Philippe Turchet in the 80s of the last century, and whose object of study is, specifically, what is known as Non-Conscious Non-Verbal Language.
Let’s see what the main keys to synergology and non-verbal language are.
As we anticipated, Communication goes far beyond the use of language We only need to look at other forms of life to realize this: there is communication between many types of animals, both between members of a species and between members of different taxonomic groups. In fact, several of these life forms probably do not have any kind of self-awareness, nor what we know as voluntary actions; and yet, they communicate.
What implications does this have? One of them is that communication comes before consciousness. It is a basic element of life, so it should not surprise us that we are always participating in communicative interactions whether we want to or not: the opposite would be strange. On the other hand, the fact of being aware of our own existence is almost an eccentricity, one of the most characteristic and unique aspects of the human species. Although sometimes we have the feeling that all our actions come from our conscious will to do them, this is nothing more than a mirage
Thus, we communicate bodily spontaneously and directly, without necessarily passing through the filter of consciousness. And in the same way, many times we receive these communicative “inputs” unconsciously. Now, that does not mean that we cannot learn to modulate and interpret those communicative elements of non-verbal language. Our body dominates unconscious communication, but our system of learning and conscious recognition of information can “take ground”, even partially.
We will probably never have absolute control of Non-Conscious Non-Verbal Language, but internalizing knowledge about it can be very useful in various contexts. And it is estimated that the basis of 55% of communication is non-verbal, and around 38% consists of paralanguage (diction, voice intonation, etc.). Really only 7% of the impact of a message would be based on pure verbal language. Taking this into account, there is no doubt that knowing more about this unconscious part of language offers great potential.
The basics of synergology
As we have seen, the main objective of syrergology is to allow us to know (and recognize) the aspects of Non-Conscious Non-Verbal Language. To this end, this discipline has developed a universal labeling system with around 2,800 entries which allow us to study the basic elements of this non-verbal communication from a systematizing prism, as if it were an encyclopedia.
Furthermore, from the synergology We work from an observation protocol that has three main elements:
Do you want to learn more about Non-Conscious Non-Verbal Language?
If you are looking to learn more about non-verbal language and even incorporate this knowledge into your personal life or work, You may be interested in the online training program “The power of non-verbal communication: keys to interpreting body language” This 15-hour course is organized by the European School of Coaching (EEC) and taught by Patxi Rocha del Cura, Executive Coach by the EEC, PCC by the International Coaching Federation, and Synergologist by the Institut Européen de Synergologie.
It is a program especially recommended for therapists, coaches, salespeople and Personnel Selection technicians, and in it it is possible to learn about such interesting topics as the detection of inconsistencies between verbal and non-verbal language, the recognition of attitudes and emotional states in the interlocutor, the adaptation of communication processes to the “signals” sent to us by the person we are talking to, and detecting the attitudes of open, closed, interested or disinterested communication, among others.
To find out more about the course, contact the European Coaching School team.
