Here’s some body language sayings and expressions:
“He’s spineless”
“Cold hands, warm heart”
“Bury your head in the sand”
“To split hairs”
“Keeping my head above water”
“Face the music”
“The eyes are the window of the soul
“Play it by ear”
“Lip service”
“Take it on the chin”
“Turn the other cheek”
“He’s a pain in the neck”
“Up yours!”
“Fingers in pies”
“Grease my palm”
“Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”
“Palm in palm”
“Out on a limb”
“A change is afoot”
“Achilles heel”
“Under my skin”
“Go for the jugular”
“Get it off your chest”
More body language sayings and expressions can be found here: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/body.html
There are literally thousands of phrases and sayings in the English language involving the body. Because everyone has a body it’s the universal metaphor. I suspect more than this, language reveals the intutitive knowledge we have that the body is intimately involved with thought, emotion, relationships…in fact every aspect of our being.
Cross culturally body language metaphors hold true, and similar phrases appear in many different languages. When there are slight differences – e.g. the Brazilian Portuguese “half-mouthed” instead of half-arsed – the connection and meaning is still clear.
In the book Bodywise – An Introduction to Hellerwork for Regaining Flexibility and Well-Being, Joseph Heller (the author of Catch 22 and the founder of a school of bodywork stemming from Rofing) and William Henkin, group several hundred of these body phrases and show that they are themed. Some of these obviously stem from function, like “seeing eye to eye” or having a “hand in it.” Others are more mysterious and revealing. Why is it common sense for example that phrases connected to the heart – a muscular fluid pump – are connected to emotion and love in particular? Why is it that the guts are associated with intuition?
In my Holistics classes I often want to say, “You already know this stuff. It’s obvious and amazing isn’t it?” Words give the game away.