26. The body language of the different CFs
Chapter contents
Introduction208
The Wood Element: facial expression, posture and gestures209
The Fire Element: facial expression, posture and gestures210
The Earth Element: facial expression, posture and gestures212
The Metal Element: facial expression, posture and gestures213
The Water Element: facial expression, posture and gestures214
Introduction
Emotion testing, as described in the previous chapter, involves the practitioner interacting with the patient to evoke an emotional response. Much assessment of the patient, however, is done by simple observation. This observation is important and involves three areas:
• facial expression
• posture
• gestures
People in China, Japan and other East Asian countries are especially known for the skill of keeping ‘face’ and showing little in public of what is really going on inside them. Everyone does this to some degree, however, and most people literally have a ‘public face’ they tend to show the world as well as a ‘private face’. The remnants of people’s true emotional state can still be detected on the face, however, as these chronic emotional patterns become etched into people’s facial lines and reflected in the chronic holding of their facial muscles.
An example of this is someone who experiences significant degrees of frustration over a period of time. They can appear to have their eyebrows drawn together and develop what are called ‘Liver lines’. Liver lines are vertical lines on the forehead that have developed from holding an ‘angry’ face for long periods of time.
If we could read it, every human being carries his life in his face … On our features the fine chisels of thought and emotion are eternally at work.
(Alexander Smith, quoted in Auden and Kronenberger, 1962)
Sometimes, and especially if patients are trying to hide their emotions, the facial expression may appear on the face as a ‘micro’ emotion for only about a fifth of a second or less (see Eckman, 2007, p. 220). Micro-emotions can also occur when the emotion is being inhibited and is outside the person’s consciousness. It is important for Five Element Constitutional Acupuncturists to learn to spot them on patients before they settle back to showing their ‘public face’.
Posture can also provide the practitioner with insights into the state of a person’s body, mind and spirit. Whilst people may try to hide their facial expression, their posture and gestures are harder to disguise and tend to indicate what is going on below the surface. Over time patients also develop chronic physical holding patterns. For example, a Fire CF may have an underdeveloped chest or an Earth CF may slump in the area of the middle jiao.
It is important for practitioners to learn to recognise these postures and gestures and the fleeting or more long lasting facial expressions. They may be key methods of discovering people’s primary emotional imbalance and their CF.
The following descriptions of these indications are arranged Element by Element and by the facial expression, posture and gestures within each Element.
The Wood Element: facial expression, posture and gestures
Facial expression
An angry facial expression is shown in Figure 26.1 below. Frequent feelings of frustration and anger may become etched in the lines between the eyebrows, the look in the eyes or the set of the mouth and jaw. The brows, eyes and jaw are all especially involved in the facial expression of anger.
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| Figure 26.1 • |
• The brows are drawn together and lowered, creating two vertical lines between the eyes. As was stated above, a person who is habitually angry may have these ‘Liver lines’ deeply engraved onto the forehead.
• The area around the eyes may be affected. The lower lid will be tense, causing the area under the eye to rise upwards. At the same time the upper lid moves down following the movement of the brows. This pushes against the upper part of the eyes, causing them to narrow. As a result of these movements the eyes look intense: fixed, hard and staring. Holding this expression may result in a tight aching feeling behind or around the eyes. Anger is the only emotion where the lower eyelid tenses.
• The jaw and mouth may take on a number of positions. People who are angry may purse their lips or pull in their lips and hold them firmly together. This ‘tight-lipped’ expression usually indicates that a person wants to hold back their expression of anger. It is as if by keeping their mouths firmly closed they don’t let out what they really want to say. It is interesting to note that the deep pathway of the Liver circles the mouth on the inside of the lips in the orbicularis oris muscle. This is the muscle that pulls in the mouth.
Suppressed anger may also cause a person’s jaw to become tense and people who are habitually angry will often be locked or tight in this area. People who grind their teeth at night usually do so because their jaw is tense. Their tense jaw becomes even tighter while they sleep. Sometimes tension in the jaw causes it to jut out and be held slightly upwards. This gives the person an appearance of slight defiance.
Although the colour on the face of a Wood CF is green, people who are angry may also redden as they feel the heat of their anger and frustration welling up inside. (For more on the facial expression of anger, see Ekman and Friesen, 2003, p. 78.)
Posture
The posture of someone who is angry is likely to be erect. The qi rises and people can appear to expand in size. In addition, there is often a very slight movement forward. Although not necessarily overtly attacking, there is an underlying sense of aggression and pushing forwards towards the other person.
When a person has been chronically angry for long periods of time, the ligaments and tendons often lose elasticity and become tight. An extreme example is a soldier on parade, standing stiffly to attention, expanding his chest, thrusting his face forward and giving a jerky salute. As well as the jaw, which was discussed above, the neck, shoulders, hips and lower back can also be tense and possibly the musculature of the whole body. A practitioner may notice that when holding the patient’s arm to take pulses that the arm is left somewhat stuck in space when released. It remains tense and does not easily move back to its previous position. Tight ligaments in the feet may cause the toes to pull up and back.
Often a Wood CF’s body may appear ‘packed’ and solid and tightly held together or squashed down as if not allowed to push upwards and to grow to its full size. The packed quality is the opposite of the expansion described above and will develop when anger has been suppressed.
Gestures
The gestures of someone who has long-term problems with anger tend to be aggressive and jerky. The person may point aggressively at people, make a fist or gesture with their hands in an abrupt and jerky manner.
Breathing
Anger will immediately change a person’s breathing. It may become louder, more rapid and more irregular as well as shallower. Anger can cause a person to have difficulty breathing in and out smoothly. As a result, Wood CFs often sigh a lot, the sigh being a way of releasing the tension felt in the chest.
The Fire Element: facial expression, posture and gestures
Facial expression
Typically the facial expression of a Fire CF either lights up with joy and happiness or drops into sadness and misery. For example, joy may reveal itself in subtle ways, such as the lines at the sides of the eyes or sadness by the set of the mouth. The most significant expressions are the changing from joy to sadness, excessive joyfulness or an absence of joy.
Joy
When a person smiles with joy the whole face moves upwards (see Figure 26.2). This causes the naso-labial folds to deepen, the cheeks to rise up and the lower eyelids to wrinkle and rise. ‘Crows feet’ then appear at the side of the eyes. A person with a truly joyous expression will have a sparkle in the eyes as the joy wells up (Ekman, 2007, pp. 190–212).
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| Figure 26.2 • |
Sadness
The facial expression of sadness usually shows itself in three main areas in the face (see Figure 26.3). Firstly, the mouth is dropped open and the corners of the lips are turned down. Secondly, while holding the lips down the cheeks are raised as if squinting. Thirdly, the inner corners of the brows are raised up and are at the same time drawn together. They may also be pulled together in the middle. In general the eyes also tend to look downwards. Some Fire CFs can have a smile on their faces but a sad look in their eyes at the same time (Ekman, 2003, pp. 82–109).
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| Figure 26.3 • |
It is interesting to note that when people are truly smiling they activate the orbicularis oculi muscle that circles the eye. This muscle can only be activated voluntarily by 10% of the population. The rest of the population can only activate it when they are smiling and expressing joy. It has been said that this muscle ‘unmasks the false friend’. A person who is pretending to laugh at their friend’s jokes or who is not truly expressing joy will not be using this muscle.
Many Fire CFs have volatile faces that can easily move between joy and sadness. Some Fire CFs’ faces look rather serious until they smile. When they do smile, however, their face often lights up and becomes radiant. It is as though they come alive. This transformation can be an excellent diagnostic indication.
Posture
Bearing in mind that the main yin Organs associated with the Fire Element are the Heart and Heart-Protector, it is not surprising that the chest area is affected in many Fire CFs. Sometimes there is a lack of physical development in this area. The chest may look weak and underdeveloped or sometimes it may be a more concave shape.
In order to protect this vulnerable area, many Fire CFs habitually fold their arms across their chest. Sometimes there is habitual tension in the upper body. This has formed as the person has endeavoured to defend the chest area. It is a bit like a door with iron bars across it to prevent burglars from entering. The problem, however, is that the barricaded door also keeps the person inside from getting out.
Gestures
Joy is yang in nature and the gestures of someone who is happy reflect this by tending to be expansive, quick moving and upwards in direction. In Su WenChapter 39, it is said that joy makes the qi ‘loose’.
On the other hand, the nature of sadness is more yin, and a person who is feeling miserable is likely to be more withdrawn with slower movements or, if extremely sad, very little movement at all.
The Earth Element: facial expression, posture and gestures
Facial expression
The typical facial expression of someone who is wanting or giving sympathy is shown in Figure 26.4. A practitioner watching Earth CFs going about their daily activities wouldn’t necessarily notice a sympathetic expression on their faces.
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| Figure 26.4 • |
Because Earth CFs often go into states where sympathy is an issue, some aspects of the expressions becomes etched into their facial features. For example, the look of sympathy may reveal itself in subtle ways such as a tilt of the head, the slight wrinkling of the forehead or the look in the eyes.
This expression will be apparent for some, but not all of the time.
Typically the facial expression of a person giving or receiving sympathy is a soft caring look on the face (see Figure 26.4). The expression in the eyes has been compared to that of a ‘puppy dog’ and the cheeks and mouth may be open, soft and relaxed. There is also a distinctive tilt to the head when someone is being understanding and caring and the forehead may have a few small lines of concern on it.
The look on the Madonna’s face that painters have usually attempted to portray is a good example of this quality. She is nearly always depicted as the embodiment of maternal love and empathy. The devotion paid to her by Catholics, as it is to Kuan Yin by the Chinese, is testament to people’s need to feel loved and cared for by mother figures. Gentleness, tenderness, acceptance and forgiveness are regarded as the predominant qualities in such archetypes.
When people reject sympathy they may show their discomfort by pulling back in the neck, tightening in the abdomen and slightly tightening and pulling down the lower lip. The muscles of a person’s face may appear to be impassive or may harden to brace against the sympathy. This can often be mistaken for anger. Beneath this hard exterior, however, can be a softness and need for support that is being covered
over. In this case the eyes may retain the soft expression described above, indicating that an underlying need for support is still there.
Body and posture
Although a practitioner can never classify the body shape, posture, gestures, etc., of each CF, it is still possible to notice certain physical tendencies that are characteristic of some Earth CFs.
Earth CFs can tend to be overweight. Their digestive system may be sluggish due to the weakness of the Stomach and Spleen. This makes it difficult for them to rot and ripen food and move fluid. This ‘slow metabolism’ causes the food and fluids to stagnate and in consequence weight problems arise.
Alternatively some Earth CFs may not be getting nourished physically, causing them to become thin and undernourished rather than overweight. The extreme of this could be severe anorexia but more often a person will just be slightly thin and bony. The legs may also be skinny and underdeveloped.
Some Earth CFs have a weakness in their middle abdomen. This can cause them to easily bloat in the abdomen or have a large belly. They can appear to collapse around the waist area and lose their waistline and take on an ‘apple’ shape.
The pear shape can also be characteristic of an Earth CF, especially when the Spleen doesn’t move fluids. In this case their legs may be somewhat large and they have an excess of body fat collecting around the hips and thighs.
Sometimes an Earth CF may habitually place their hands over the abdomen for protection as this area may feel slightly weak and vulnerable.
Gestures and touch
Touch is important when people are giving or receiving sympathy. Earth CFs who enjoy receiving sympathy may also like to both touch other people and be touched by them. When children or adults are distressed, one of the most effective ways to care for them is to give them a hug or cuddle. Touch is evocative of early contact with the mother and for many people it is much more supportive than words. The quality of touch must be soft and caring in nature and express ‘I understand’. When distressed people happily disengage from physical contact it is a sign that they have received sufficient support.
The Metal Element: facial expression, posture and gestures
Facial expression
The typical facial expression of someone who is grieving is shown in Figure 26.5. Grief may reveal itself in subtle ways such as the look in the eyes, the relaxation or tension in the facial muscles or the set of the mouth. This expression will be apparent for some, but not all of the time.
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| Figure 26.5 • |
A person’s eyes, cheeks and mouth are all involved in the expression of grief. When a person is grieving the
face tends to have a downward movement and appear slack. The lower lids will be loose and the cheeks will hang down. The mouth will also tend to be slightly turned down. Often when a person has been unable to express grief the sad facial expression is replaced by a dead or blank look. Others try to hide the feelings of grief behind a bright expression. If this is the case a degree of emptiness and loss usually remains in the eyes.
If feelings of grief are expressed rather than held in, then people’s faces will crumple as they weep and let their feelings out. In some people this crumpled expression becomes chronic.
Posture and breathing
A Metal CF’s chest area is often inert or tight. The area may have very little movement, giving the appearance of a ‘shield’ over the chest. This lack of vitality may have accumulated gradually from chronically tensing the chest to avoid strong feelings of sadness or loss. The chest is sometimes weak and underdeveloped and in extreme cases, can even be concave. This is because the underlying Lung qi is constitutionally weak.
The posture associated with the Metal type of chest is stooped. Sitting hunched over a desk compresses the Lung and the breathing. This habitual posture can both cause and be a consequence of weak Lung qi.
The breathing of a Metal CF may be shallow and weak. Some Metal CFs have difficulty breathing deeply unless they have consciously worked on strengthening their lungs by doing breathing exercises.
Gestures
Someone who is holding in grief tends not to make many gestures. Some people may hide away and silently grieve, in which case they may have very little movement at all.
The Water Element: facial expression, posture and gestures
Facial expression
The typical facial expression of someone who is feeling scared is shown in Figure 26.6. Water CFs often go into states where fear is an issue. The look of fear may reveal itself in subtle ways such as the lines on
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| Figure 26.6 • |
the forehead, the look in the eyes or the set of the mouth. This expression is only apparent some of the time.
Fear can often be seen in the eyes. Because Water CFs may try to hide their fear, the expression in the eyes is often the most overt manifestation of the underlying fear. Fear usually creates agitation and often it is rapid movement of the eyes that indicates its presence. Eye contact is often avoided by looking downwards, with quick flashes upwards to maintain intermittent contact. This agitation is common to all sorts of animals when they feel threatened.
Some people attempt to still themselves when they are afraid. This is reflected in eyes that can appear fixed and as if they are pulled to the back of the head. Although there is little movement, they are in a state of high alertness. The eyes may also open wider and the upper eyelid rise up exposing the sclera. The area below the eye is then tensed and drawn up. As the eyes widen the eyebrows rise up and the brows knit together. This causes a horizontal wrinkle to appear in the forehead.
Fear can vary in intensity from slight apprehension to pure terror. The upper lid rises more and the tension in the lower lid increases according to the intensity of the fear. The lips also become more drawn back if the fear is intense.
It is important that the acupuncturist can recognise the facial expression of fear as this is often the most hidden of the emotions. Reading the face and body can be an important ‘way in’ so that the practitioner can understand the patient’s emotional state.
When Water CFs strive to cover up their fear, the emotion may first have manifested fleetingly, only to be quickly modified into another expression. This interference can be minor. For example, Water CFs may change their expression a little so that it becomes an expression of slight worry. Alternatively it can be a major change. For example, fear may be covered up either by a deadpan expression or a laugh or aggression. No matter how covered up the fear is, a trace of the original expression usually remains, if only the practitioner can see it. Often the fear remains in the eyes. If the practitioner can see the fleeting original expression or the remains of the covered up fear, this can be an important means of corroborating the CF along with the other signs of colour, sound and odour.
Posture
A person who is afraid will have a tendency to move the whole torso backwards. This is usually a subtle shift rather than a large movement. The practitioner may notice that some people seem to be stuck in this stance and appear to be permanently shifting backwards as if to avoid an unseen threat or being ‘hit’ by something or someone.
The spine is the central pillar of the body and holds us erect. Some Water CFs appear to have a collapsed spine. It is interesting to note that the word ‘spineless’ is an expression used for a person who is overly fearful.
Of especial note on the spine is the lower back, which is the home of the Kidneys. This is often the weakest area of a Water CF’s torso. Because of this weakness, many Water CFs may compensate by holding this area rigid and there may be tight musculature around it. It can also be weak and collapsed and patients may experience frequent aching in the lower back.
Gestures
A person who is afraid can sometimes shake and tremble with fear. This is something that they will usually try to cover up. Unfortunately, the more they try to forcibly stop the shaking the more tense they often become and this only exacerbates the problem. Alternatively a person may be rendered ‘frozen’ to the spot and they may have difficulty making many movements at all.
Breathing
When people are scared, the fear affects their breathing. For example, breathing may become shallow and rapid, as happens in a panic attack. Alternatively people may hold their breath or slow it down as they try to suppress their agitation.
Summary
1 Much assessment of the patient is done by simple observation.
2 Over time, frequent emotions become etched on the face. Emotions also create changes to a patient’s posture and gestures.
3 Each Element has typical associated facial expressions, postures and gestures.
4 All patients are individuals and each expresses their CF in their own unique way, so the connections are not always consistent.
