People often ask, “How do I use gestures?” This photo of the marvelous filmmaker, Andrew Silver, is my answer: “Any way that suits you!” In my work, I want my clients to be more free, more themselves, more unexpected in their presence.

Gestures, like walking, standing, and speaking, are behaviors that we never think about until the spotlight is upon us. Then, we forget how! Suddenly, our arms and hands become like loaves of bread, awkward appendages. And we can find ourselves repeating the same gesture again and again. We get stuck.

My job is to help my clients get back to that natural, spontaneous, organic way they use gesture all the time when not in the spotlight. Read on…

Look at this photo of Deborah Lawrence about to start her TEDx Talk. She is, what we call in the movement technique, Nia, “RAW:” Relaxed, Alert, Waiting. She is free from this place to speak as her full self.

In order to get to this place of RAW, I help people strip away the habits and anxieties that cloud our presence. By “habit” I mean, any behavior that has a constant cadence, feels stuck in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern, is restrictive. The most exciting communication is fresh, jagged, unexpected, alive. Habits tend to appear or amplify when we feel the spot-light upon us. Habits might show up in gestures, how we hold ourselves and move, and how we use our voice. In the next few weeks, we will delve into each of these areas and play with a few ...Read on.