Body Language in Sufism and Islamic Mysticism: A Context for Training Iranian Actors

The actor's "body language" is one of the most important tools for invigorating the characters of the play, which can also represent the geography, history, culture, and society of the play. The mystical culture of Iran, especially the part that flourished in the context of Islam during the 3rd to 9th centuries AH, emphasizes certain bodily states. By using these body postures, the actor can manifest a kind of spiritual behavior while using words. Contemporary studies in the fields of "non-verbal communication" and "visual culture" have investigated the same issue from a psychological and sociological angle. Stanislavski's acting system, which is a relatively new system of acting training in the last hundred years, has explored the inner roots of bodily actions. Using the comparative-analytical method this article deals with the body language in the three mentioned fields in comparison with Sufism and Islamic mysticism. It shows that by teaching the quality of body language of Muslim mystics, through mystical stories and texts to the actor, he will be able to dress up his body as an artistic medium and achieve a more creative, indigenous, and original image of his role.