How to Communicate Effectively With Anyone, Anywhere by Dan Bullock

Author:Dan Bullock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser

4.1  Powering Our Greatest Instrument: The Mind-Body Connection

Communication is to relationships what breath is to life. –Virginia Satir

The human breath is our life force and has a special physical and psychological power. Go ahead and intake a breath—feel the power course through your body, exciting each fiber of your being, as every cell within us—from our toes to our fingertips—relies on oxygen to move, express, and live. Then, when we speak, our breaths manifest an elemental force of communication that, when used effectively, expels into the vast mix of headwinds in the world. Fueled by the breaths of those that came before, our bodies shape the air in the act of expression.

Your body is your greatest communications instrument on this planet. This instrument can convey a multitude of emotions using a varied combination of such cues as vocal nuance, proximity, eye contact, posture, touch, and gestures—all of which enhance our communications to produce powerful messages that resonate in the air across cultures, time, and space.

Yet, breathing does more than fuel this greatest instrument for communication; breathing also cultivates mindfulness—a term that is now growing with importance in many corporate spaces, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley and beyond. Communication requires a mindful approach—we must be aware and awake to the present moment. Any focused activity can be used to trigger a mindful state, and “focused breathing” is seen as the most effective way to tune our body to this meditative state and to the nonverbals of others.

What does breath have to do with successful nonverbal communication? First of all, breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, the most powerful conduit in the parasympathetic, or “rest-and-digest,” nervous system, as compared to the sympathetic, or “fight-or-flight,” system. The vagus nerve is the longest and most important nerve in the body and connects the brain stem to multiple organ sites, including your heart, lungs, spleen, fertility organs, stomach, liver, kidneys, neck, ears, and tongue. Most importantly, when you activate your vagus nerve through conscious breathing, it primes your social engagement system.

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