Body Language of Cocooning
Cue: Cocooning
Synonym(s): Rolling Into A Ball, Curling Up, Slumping, Putting On Headphones, Texting In Public, Reading A Book In Public.
Description: There are various degrees of cocooning including putting on headphones, putting up the hands to the side of the face, collapsing the head onto the thighs in a seated position.
In One Sentence: Cocooning is to collapse in one ones-self and indicates the desire to protect and recoil from outside harm.
How To Use it: Use this gesture to show others that you are unwell and that you want to gain their sympathy. When you are depressed, coiling up can help you feel safe and protected from the outside world. Onlookers will immediately spot your discomfort and offer sympathy, care, special assistance, or time alone to reflect.
When in busy locations, a set of headphones or reading material can help drown out the outside world permitting one internal reflection. This too is a form of cocooning. When these are not available, allowing the eyes to glaze over can also allow one to escape and reflect.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: a) “Leave me be, I have my headphones on because I just want to be left alone.” b) “I’m thinking about something, I’m not stressed, but I need a moment to ponder something c) “I’m really upset and feeling bad. I’m grieving and I’m really at a loss for words, I may or may not want some comforting.”
Variant: See Shoulder Shrugs or Shoulder Rise, Body Lowering, Fetal Position (The).
Cue In Action: a) While shopping for groceries, Brenda put her headphones on so she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. b) When asked if she wanted the chicken or fish, she put her hands on the side of her face and thought to herself. c) When told that her father was sick and was certain to pass way, she collapsed; stricken with grief.
Meaning and/or Motivation: Cocooning indicates that concentration is required, a person is experiencing stress or that a person is emotionally withdrawn and requires escape. Other times, a person cocoons as a way to establish privacy in a public setting when they need time to thing and recover from excess stimulation.
Cocooning is a term used to describe body language that indicates a desire not to be bothered. There are various degrees which include a mild form such as putting on headphones to tell others that social interaction is undesired, putting up the hands to the side of the face while studying (mild cocooning), and an extreme form where the head collapses onto the thighs in a seated position which can indicate grieving.
Cue Cluster: Cocooning is usually accompanied by slumped shoulders, hands to face, eyes, or ear, hand to head in a helmet or protective type gesture. The body almost always slumps forward in a fetal position except in mild cocooning. A blank face is usually coupled with cocooning, but under extreme stress we see a grief expression where the brows come together. At times, there might be tears or sobbing.
Body Language Category: Body size reduction, Closed body language, Emotional body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Protective reflexes, Orienting reflex or orienting response, Pensive displays, Stressful body language.
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