Exercise: Creating a Listening Body

Observe what body positioning you naturally default to when listening. Do you disengage with your body as you process what you hear or are you equally engaged physically as you listen? 

Why do you think an expressive but silent Listening Body is as important as the verbally expressive body?

Practice the Listening Body frame with the same concentration and energy that you would if you were speaking. Observe how much more of the interaction or content you absorb when practicing a Listening Body frame.

Observe how your audience responds to you when you are in a position that displays engagement. Notice that an attentive physical presence has the potential to invite the continuation of an interaction where a disengaged or passive listening body does not facilitate communicative exchange.