non-verbal communication is familiar to us from birth a baby doesn't talk bot it smiles or cries to express itself our bodies send out messages constantly and we don't always realise that we are communicating a lot more than we say we understand what someone's gestures and body position indicate and we send out our own messages too-but we rarely stop to think about how we do it rubbing our eyes clearing our throat tapping our toes scratching our nose opening our arms or keeping our legs crossed all send out strong messages