Put your hands on your hips. Now, cross your arms across your chest. Now extend your arms straight out in front of you with your palms up as if pushing. Repeat each of these, and hang out for a while in each position. Does your stance change? Your breathing? Did you notice how you changed? I’ve often wondered, if we could re-construct the famous armless statue of Venus De Milo, what would her arms say? (And yes, you can find a photoshopped version with arms.)
Our arms are instruments of expression. Amazingly, the arms are attached to our bodies via muscles, tendons and ligaments. This gives them an astonishing range of motion, and also means that every movement of the arms has to begin somewhere on the trunk.
Raise your arms above your head. Can you feel your ribs? Throw your hands up in disgust. Now throw your hands up in surrender. Did you notice that your shoulders did something different each time? Why do we shrug anyway?
I was once teaching a workshop on body language and when we got to the idea of gesture, one man said, “Oh, this is going to be a waste of time, I never use my arms and hands when I talk.” He was shocked when his partners proceeded to catalog for him how much his arms and hands participated in his speech.
Try an experiment next time you are talking. See how long you can carry on a conversation without once using your hands. You will be amazed.