The Value of Non-verbal Communication. ~ Cathy Woods

Via Cathy Woods
on Oct 8, 2013
get elephant's newsletter


I recently inherited a parrot from my husband’s family.





There are no words—at least none spoken—but there is a language. It’s a beautiful language filled with support, encouragement and understanding.

We have become too dependent on words. There is a big difference between just speaking words and actually communicating. Communicating takes listening. We may not always hear in words what the person actually means, just like my parrot can’t always tell me what he wants. I have to become a very good listener via body language—the use of his feet and beak—to really understand what he wants. If I’m not listening carefully, I usually end up being the recipient of a harsh bite.

This same thing sometimes happens in yoga.

If we aren’t being active listeners to the teacher, or the warnings from our bodies, then we may get bitten by the hard truth of injury.


His hands-on adjustments also offer communication.

I know that when my teacher touches me firmly and with confidence, it means he has confidence in me and that I am capable of going where he is trying to take me. It says to me loud and clear,”You can do this.”  So what about inflection? I can tell you that my parrot knows how to use it.



I recently taught a class that seemed like the students were all visual learners. It was as if 70% of the class had no ears, only eyes to guide them. Imagine how complicated life would be if we could only understand conversations by what we see and not by what we hear.

Where has the art of listening gone?

When did we become so dependent on sight? The problem with sight is it is filtered through our preconceived mind (samskaras). This is why  people  recount a story differently even though they all witnessed the same scene unfold. Sight is not reliable, but it is helpful. Even sound is not terribly reliable, because we can read between the lines. But our sense’s are reliable.

In order to understand my pets and my pets to understand me, we have to sense each others needs. I have a house full of animals and none of them speak English; but they all speak patience, thank goodness, because we humans are sometimes selfish in our interpretations of our animals’ needs. They are so patient with my ignorance of their world and their communication. They, however, comply to everything I ask—in English. They are good listeners.

Mysore yoga gives us a chance to become better listeners.

We have the opportunity to listen to our breathing, thoughts, sensations and our dreams. The quiet of the practice allows room for patience. When in a classroom environment where the teacher is barking commands, there is little room for patience.

People often feel rushed in a led class, but not in mysore. It’s a beautiful practice that has movement as it’s language—not facial expression, not words, not inflection—just movement. It’s like a liquid conversation. I’d say it’s like a painter painting; the paint is going on the canvas, but it’s blending with other colors.

During a mysore practice, our movement blends. Each of our movements is like a brush stroke; each person a color. There’s a group effort in mysore style yoga even though no one is doing the same thing at any one time. It probably looks like chaos to an outsider, but for those of us practicing together it’s like a symphony. We each move a different way and experience different struggles. One instrument playing alone can make beautiful music, but a symphony leaves an impression.


A great musician feels what they are playing. The music that moves us the most did so because we felt it instead of just hearing it. It touched something inside of us. It’s no coincidence that the fourth chakra—the heart chakra—is called “the unstruck sound.”This is a sound that we don’t hear with our ears; we feel this sound with our heart. That’s what we’re getting in touch with every time we do a mysore practice.

The brain uses language, but the heart uses feelings.


Animals are hard to understand if you are expecting to hear words. Animals use movements to express moods and desires.

My parrot drops his head when he wants petted. He squats low and quickly flutters his wings when he wants me to come to him. My dog raises her bum but lowers her chest when she wants to play. My cat head-butts me when she wants attention. When these things fail, then animals will use sound—barks, squaks and meows—but first they trust their instincts, and their instincts are to communicate with movement.

Let’s try not to worry so much about what we are saying, and focus, instead, on what we are doing.

There’s a great quote that keeps it simple: “Actions speak louder than words.” Let’s take action, get on our mat and leave the words at the door.

It’s just better to leave some things unsaid.


Like elephant journal on facebook.


Assistant Ed: Jane Henderling/ Ed: Bryonie Wise


About Cathy Woods

Cathy’s dedication to the practice is unwavering, with her primary study being Ashtanga yoga. She embraces all yoga. Her favorite statement is “some yoga, is better then no yoga,” no matter form or style. Cathy tries to find life lessons that are relatable to the practice of yoga in all that she does. She come’s from a background of sports, so she loves to encourage all athletes to find a little extra room in their routines for yoga. She loves to share her lessons of stubbornness, injury and tolerance with other athletes and yogi’s to possibly help them avoid the same. When she’s not being a student/teacher of yoga she is spending time with her husband and the critters they share their home with 2 dogs, 3 cats and one parrot. This make’s for a furry and feathery place to practice but she wouldn’t have it any other way. When Cathy is feeling the need to test her limits she sign’s up for another marathon, as running has been in her life even longer then yoga has. She believes that they are both good for clearing away the citta vrtti. You can find Cathy at least once a day standing and facing the sun in Charleston, SC. Tim Miller (Ashtanga Yoga Center) has been her primary teacher for 13 years now. She feels lucky to have studied with him so soon into her yoga experience. She is forever grateful for his genuine love of yoga and his endless generosity in sharing his humor and knowledge. Visit her on her blog.


2 Responses to “The Value of Non-verbal Communication. ~ Cathy Woods”

  1. Stefanie says:

    Wonderful post! I am having trouble with people misunderstanding my words on certain social media sites. While I attempt to carefully construct a post to be a neutral as possible, they are often misconstrued and offend people who are already easily offended. I have almost become afraid to say anything. Maybe silence is what I need. Thank you.

  2. Rob says:

    Readers would do well to consider what we are learning from Cognitive Psychology about the brain and its relationship to emotion. The brain vs. heart distinction is an artificial one. What we think of as "heart" is really just the emotional + intuitive activity of the brain, rooted in the limbic system, as opposed to the more "rational + cognitive" activity located in the cerebral cortex. Rationality evolved to temper what we feel; the cerebral cortex is our brain's most recently evolved feature. This knowledge should help our understanding of what we often perceive as two different things.

Leave a Reply