E The Holistic View 151
Men and more masculine women will make themselves squarer
and blocky in their movements. When people become enraged,
the animal takes over. I have little experience to define how
effeminate men or masculine women behave in rage.
One constant is that when people become emotionally tender,
all of us become more rounded. Go to a bar, or any place you can
watch people trying to make a connection. In a bar, the men will be
very masculine, square standing, and using straight-line movement
until they pass a point at which bonding begins. At that point, the
speed of behavior slows and the man’s movement and posture will
start to round. The same is true for sadness and depression. Watch
men become softer as these emotions hit.
Movement
Every subculture of which you are a part will affect how you
move. Professional dancers will show traces of training in daily
movement. Police officers responsible for crowd control will also
have residual movement patterns. Everything we do, whether as
hobby or profession, leaves muscle memory on our bodies. In this
section, I will give you an overview of movement. An entire book
could be dedicated to reading the body language of movement and
ritual, so consider this simply an introduction to gait, center of gravity,
and overall body movement.
Gait
“Put some pep in your step” is a military expression that actually
means something specific. Drill sergeants will use this cliché when