When a person is drowning in a river, he makes all sorts of movements to save himself. Certainly no one would mock him for his gestures. So too, a person who gestures while praying.¹⁰ Do not mock him, for he is saving himself from the “evil waters,”¹¹ which are the impure shells that come to disrupt his thoughts and prayers. Likutim Yikarim, p. 15a.

footnotes: ¹⁰ Early chasidim were known to gesture wildly during their prayers (at times, even performing somersaults). This brought upon them much scorn by the opponents of Chasidism. ¹¹ Psalms 124:5.