The unique language of your body exists through your senses.

Your skin, your eyes,

your tastebuds, your nose, your ears are your interface between you and the world.

This beautiful planet and all it has to offer to us is the same for everyone, but the way
is perceived and experience is unique to each one of us.

Language is a direct response to our unique way to perceive and experience the
world and we do ourselves and the language a disservice when we don’t check in
with ourselves first before we use our voice. It might seem obvious, but the reality is
that we have been trained in using other people's words to express our opinion; our
school system (in my knowledge of many Western countries) steer our attention to
what is deemed of value, stiffen our imagination and creativity, put structures, rules
and words in our minds that may or may not serve us to express what is really inside
of us. On top of that telling us what is worth exploring and how to express it, we are
forced to ignore our bodies. Learning still occurs in the classroom, sitting and looking
at the teacher and working in groups, regardless if the sun is shining and your body
wants to feel that sun, if you need to run or walk or shake your body, if you need to
go to the toilet (and the teacher can tell you to hold on until the end of the class), if

© María Ortega García 2020

you need to laugh or cry or talk to your companion. Since we started in school we are
trained to ignore our needs for the sake of… “learning”?

All this ends up in not knowing how to answer the common “how are you?” and so
we take the easy route of “Well, thank you” regardless of our real estate.

Our communication has been reduced to a mere narration of events as objective

and neutral as possible (which is impossible because our perception is unique even if
we pretend that reality is one and only), devoid of real emotion and personal colour.
We have relegated self-expression to the domain of art and we have told ourselves
that our “artistic” expression is only valuable when in a transactional context or
validated by others, and even then, art is of little value when compared with
information.

What nobody tells us is that information is personal, subjective and biased because it
is still the result of a unique experience (or the experience of a group of people).

So, I am here to tell you to “exploit” your unique perception of the world and put it to
use, that is, express it.

All throughout this section, you will find prompts and ways to access that
uniqueness and tools to express it.

SLOW DOWN

The first requirement to sink in our bodies is to slow down and move the spotlight to
you. In order to describe the world, you need to be aware of how you experience it.

·SENSORY· LANGUAGE·

Using sensory language can help you captivate your audience. Sensory language
helps readers and listeners experience your words, almost as if they’re present, right
in the middle of your story. What’s more, sensory details add personality and flavour
to any content, helping you stand out in a sea of grey voices that all sound the same
and connect with the person you are talking to.

The science behind sensory words and expression

Sensory words are more powerful and memorable than ordinary words because they
make your speaker/reader see, hear, smell, taste, or feel what you are saying.

© María Ortega García 2020

When listening/reading non-sensory words, your brain processes the information.
But when you listen/read sensory words different areas of your brain light up. Your
brain processes sensory words as if you taste a sweet cake, as if you see a dazzling
display of colors, as if you feel a rough texture. And that’s pretty cool!

Sensory words are descriptive — they describe how we experience the world: how we
smell, see, hear, feel or taste something. In the worksheets, you will have a practice
for every sense so that you can find your OWN words to describe your unique
experience of the world.

· EXPLORATION ·

In the previous module, we explored our emotions, in this module, we will explore
how those emotions manifest in our body.

Let’s say that you are feeling sad. How does this sadness FEEL for you? What colour
is your sadness, what melody? Any flavour that evokes sadness for you? Any image?

· Practical · notes ·

Throughout this week, you’ll be using verbs of perception (they follow indicative or
subjunctive depending on the meaning you want to convey) and descriptive
adjectives (which could be before or after the noun depending on the situation).

In the grammar point section of this module, you’ll have information about verbs of
perception in Spanish and how they work, and about the descriptive adjectives in
Spanish.

© María Ortega García 2020