5 Tips for Better Body Language

Some people have problems socializing with others, especially if they are not used to speaking frequently, when meeting with someone they feel nervous and the situation becomes very awkward, one of the main reason this happens is because of bad body language.

Using body language can be very useful when you are meeting with other people, making new friends or want to improve the relationship with your significant other, if you want to develop a positive body language and have better results in your social life here are 5 tips that can help you obtain achieve that goal:

The most important tip to improve your body language in general, is to obtain a proper body posture in any situation, everyone you meet will base their first impressions through the visual cues on your body, this includes any situation where you are walking, standing or sitting in front of other people.

If you have any sign of bad posture people will get a negative opinion about you in a subconscious level, making your relationships with others more difficult and hard to develop, people will not pay to much attention to you and in some cases, they will try to avoid talking to you directly.

To avoid this you must adopt a proper body posture every time you are alone or when you are interacting with other people, to achieve this you can start making these adjustments:

• Arch your back and avoid hunching.
• Straighten up your shoulders and align them with your hips.
• Keep your neck stretch and always look in front of you.
• Adopt an open posture and avoid crossing your arms and legs.

Eye contact is a very powerful form of communication that allows you to convey different emotions and influence other people, it is used for almost every social interaction and trough this action people can measure the level of interest and emotional feedback coming from the other person.

If you want to make good eye contact during a conversation, display a positive expression and convey your thoughts to the other person, they will be very more willing to listen and participate, giving you their opinion about the subject, this is a great way to attract the attention of others and create rapport during conversations.

Here are some tips to help you make better eye contact:

• Don’t look down or avert your eyes when meeting someone.
• Don’t furrow your brows when looking at someone.
• Relax your facial muscles every time you are face to face with someone.
• Avoid squinting your eyes when making eye contact.

Smiling is a facial expression that is related to joy and happiness, it happens spontaneously when you hear a funny comment or you feel very good about something, this is most seen when you are having a good time with friends, family or when someone makes a funny joke.

Smiles are very contagious and have a positive impact in other people, this is especially true when someone is smiling directly at them, by smiling you can improve your personal image, become more approachable and get positive responses from the people you meet every day.

To have a better smile and impress everyone, you can apply the following recommendations:

• Relax the muscles of your face especially the ones of your mouth.
• Have a positive mindset when you are looking to the other person.
• Arc your mouth using the muscles at the sides of your lips.
• Have an upbeat and playful attitude when smiling.
• For more impact slightly open your mouth and show your teeth.
• Practice in front of a mirror every time you can.

Good proximity is essential when talking to other people, In every social situation you need to grasp the right distance between you and the other person, always making sure that you are not to close or too far away from them, by doing this you can avoid many problems or awkward situations during the conversation.

If you want to have good proximity you must place yourself in a reasonable position from the other person, without creating any tension between you and them, the distance should be approximately between 4 and 3 steps away from each other, if you are familiar with them you can come closer, but you must always leave enough room for them to move around and talk with the other people.

Other things you can do to improve your proximity are:

• Never point or raise your hands towards the other person.
• Don't lean forward when you are talking to someone else.
• Keep your body straight and always face the other person.
• Don't come closer unless the other person wants show you something.

The handshake is the best way to greet other people regardless of the situation, it is considered a formal and respectful way of acknowledgment and can be performed every time you meet someone, especially in social events or during private meetings.

It is great for introducing yourself to another person and begin new conversations, doing a handshake can greatly improve your image and make you look more professional in front of other people.

To make a good handshake you need to practice the following:

• Keep an open posture and face the person directly.
• Initiate the handshake extending your hand at the same level of your stomach.
• Apply slight pressure during handshake while shaking the other person hand.
• Establish eye contact with the person to build rapport.
• Maintain your handshake for 3 seconds max.

With these 5 body language tips you can increase your personal image, have a better social life and be more confident around your peers, if you are having a difficult time practicing these tips you can try them with your friends and family first until you get familiar using them.

Once you become proficient with your body language you will communicate better with other people, start having more pleasant conversations and have more fun at parties or social events.