Body Language

Sometimes body language is obvious. The facial expression from the woman in this picture learns us that she is amused with something.

There's an old marketing saying that only 19% of what you communicate to others is words; the rest is communicated in your tone of voice and your body language. Body language is just as critical in dating as it is in business; after all, you're really selling yourself when you ask a girl - or guy - out on a date.

Here are some related articles about how you can use body language for dating purposes:

• Female Body Language
• Male Body Language
• Reading Body Language
• Body Language in Flirting
• Body Language and Dating

Body language has many different dialects: your facial expressions, subtle hand gestures, even a girl's hair toss. There are also significant body language differences between man and woman; for example, when a guy likes a girl his body language may be bold, whereas a girl who likes a guy may adopt a more coy and flirtatious attitude.

Involuntary Body Language

Nonverbal communication is such a powerful tool that military interrogators are trained extensively in its use. Reading body language, in some situations, means the difference between life and death; lying can be better detected in this way than with the use of a lie detector.

Most people express themselves nonverbally with involuntary body language - in other words, they don't realize that they are talking to you with their motions. When you learn how to read meaning into a person's gestures and microexpressions (those that last a fraction of a second), you are on your way to a better understanding of human beings.

The easiest body language to read is that of the whole body. Look at a person's stance, how far apart their arms, hands, and legs are. One of the best body language secrets to know is that wide spaces tend to indicate openness or acceptingness, while close spaces mean a closed mind. Especially in a girl, arms wide apart means she's ready to embrace you emotionally. In everyone, feet set apart and folded arms are a listening stance - the person is listening openly to you, not judging.

Look also at which direction a person leans. A girl's physical stance, whether she's sitting or standing, will tell you right away if she likes the person she's with; she will lean toward someone she's interested in, and away from someone she dislikes or is bored with. Train your eye in interpreting these microsignals, and you'll learn which maidens to come to the rescue of!

Voluntary Body Language

Just as important as learning to read body language is learning how to project the proper nonverbal information yourself. Your own voluntary body language can make the difference between the right impression and the wrong one.

Forget dating for a moment; think about your first job interview. How important was it to sit up straight, to smile, and to meet the gaze of your interviewer? Critical, of course.

In dating, you'll need to do the same things. Keep these things in mind as you learn how to work with body language:

• Stand up straight
• Smile often
• Don't fold your arms or cross your legs, at least not at the same time
• Look directly into the eyes of the person you're interested in
• Lean toward those you like

There's much more to it than this, but these five behaviors will get your foot in the door.