The Ways We Communicate:

W y would a dancer and omatic movement thera-ist, yoga and meditation eacher be interested in issues of communication? Nonverbal communication infuses dance and movement in three of their functions: play, theater, and healing, although this may not be immediately apparent. Nonverbal messages are always present in our body language. Dance distills the hidden (or taken for granted) mes-sages of body and makes them more apparent. Yoga and meditation also provide avenues to cellular memory and often spur unspoken stories. For over for ty years now, I have been engaged in the heart of listen-ing. When I teach any kind of move-ment, I cultivate a reflective style that I would like to share for use in everyday communication, both verbal and non-verbal. I have learned the most about non-invasive communication from the techniques of dance movement therapy and from meditation in yoga and Zen. These techniques depend on incremen tal learning that starts where you are, beginning with self-awareness. My views on communication have de-veloped over the years through various studies including seminars in "Effec