Whole Body Listening
Listening with Your Body
Whole body listening involves more than just using your ears. It means also using your eyes, feet, body, mouth, brain, hands, and heart. Each part plays a specific role so that you can truly focus, hear, and understand what is being said.
In whole body listening, your ears have to be ready to hear, but it's hard to hear when the rest of your body is not prepared. To hear, your eyes must be focused on who is speaking. Looking around the room is not giving your full attention to the person who is talking, and you may miss something that is important. Your feet must also be flat on the floor, and your body should be facing the person who is talking. This is your way of telling the speaker that you are preparing to hear what is going to be said.
In order to listen with your whole body, you should also remain silent. It is almost impossible to hear what someone else is saying if you are talking. When you speak when others are talking, you keep others around you from being able to fully pay attention. Your hands also have a job to do. They should be in your lap, by your sides, or in your pockets. If you are playing with or touching something, your focus leaves the speaker and redirects itself to the thing in or on your hands. These six things are visual cues you can give the person that is speaking. You are saying, 'I am ready to listen' without having to actually say anything.
In whole body listening, your ears have to be ready to hear, but it's hard to hear when the rest of your body is not prepared. To hear, your eyes must be focused on who is speaking. Looking around the room is not giving your full attention to the person who is talking, and you may miss something that is important. Your feet must also be flat on the floor, and your body should be facing the person who is talking. This is your way of telling the speaker that you are preparing to hear what is going to be said.
In order to listen with your whole body, you should also remain silent. It is almost impossible to hear what someone else is saying if you are talking. When you speak when others are talking, you keep others around you from being able to fully pay attention. Your hands also have a job to do. They should be in your lap, by your sides, or in your pockets. If you are playing with or touching something, your focus leaves the speaker and redirects itself to the thing in or on your hands. These six things are visual cues you can give the person that is speaking. You are saying, 'I am ready to listen' without having to actually say anything.
Be a Whole Body Listener
Using a picture of yourself, outline some of the ways you can listen with your body...
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