Ever wondered how evangelists and other notable public personalities are able to gain such followings simply through their talk? One of their biggest secrets is their ability to fully express their passion through their body language.

Again, if the goal is to get people to feel excited or passionate about what you are talking about, you need to back up the verbal content of the message with the appropriate body language because people expect your body language to be congruent with what you are saying verbally.

The most effective way of expressing one’s passion is through energy gestures. Energy gestures are amazing because they not only express your passion but they are able to motivate people to mirror your energy and passion, which is essential when you are leading a group of people.

Energy gestures are important to your subliminal influence toolbox. People might think you are sincere and someone who can be trusted, but this doesn’t mean that people would do what you want them to do immediately. People still need motivation – and motivation requires passion and access to people’s emotions.

So far you have learned about the plane of dissonance, the plane of pure trust and how breathing affects communication. If you need to express passion, you need to access the plane of energy.

The plane of energy is located near the center of the chest region, right where the heart is. When a person begins gesturing from his heart, his heart rate increases and his energy surges. People automatically feel this sudden change and the same effect are achieved in the audience.

Why do we become confident and powerful when we gesture from the chest level/heart level?

The reason is probably because the chest region is the most well-protected area of the body. Sure, the chest region houses the lungs and the heart but at the same time, this part of the body is protected by a very hard cage of bone.

We feel almost invulnerable because this part of the body is hard and well-defended. A person can easily raise his energy level by gesture from this part of the body without feeling vulnerable.

If you doubt the truth of this statement, try gesturing from the abdominal level, near the stomach. Does it feel somewhat different? If it does feel different, it means that your brain is telling you that you are gesturing from a vulnerable part of the body and you should stop.

When you need to raise the passion and energy of your message, I invite you to use this particular plane. Use it well and you will reap the rewards but as with anything in this world, this plane does have some potential downsides.

First, it is very easy to overdo the expression of passion. People like it when their pack leader has excellent control of his emotions. Raising your energy may be misinterpreted as a lack of self-control and this reduces your credibility as a pack leader.

Third, even if your gestures are well presented some people might still think that you are being too melodramatic. Again, you have to re-evaluate whether the venue is right for this approach to influencing people.

I know that many of you might find this volume a little confusing at first because I’ve broken down the body into different planes, each with a unique purpose.

I want these techniques to become second nature and I know for a fact that in the beginning, it’s hard to let go of old body language habits. That’s why I’ve prepared a very simple and yet very effective exercise for those of you who can’t figure out how nonverbal language affects a person’s very conviction to verbally express himself.

Are you ready for the second step? Say “I love you!” but this time, raise your hands so you are gesturing from above the navel. Take note once again of how those words felt as you gestures from above the navel. Try saying those words using different planes – how do the words feel and how does the plane you chose affect how the words feel as you were expressing them verbally?