?The International Institute of Hand Analysis

IIHA Historical Overview
The International Institute of Hand Analysis had its starting point in the hand reading classes taught by Richard Unger at the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1969 and 1970. Richard expanded his original program into a more comprehensive set of classes offered at the Esoteric Philosophy Center in Houston, Texas from 1975 through 1981. Traveling the country from 1981 to 1983 in a series of lectures and workshops, Richard eventually chose Marin County, California to be the birthplace of the IIHA. As of 2012, the IIHA is in its 27th year.

Richard's First Palmistry Class
1969. After four months of U.S. Army basic training in South Carolina and two months of commune hopping across North America to get my head back on straight I am back in college where I belong. However, I am not the same person I was only six months ago. I have a new direction in life: hands. Having picked up a used palmistry book for $1.50 in Boulder, Colorado and reading the hand of every Tom, Dick, and Harry I met on my travels, little as I know about this ancient study, I am convinced it is for real. And, with an appropriate sense of collegiate zeal, I want to know everything there is to know about it. Since my return to SUNY Binghamton, I have been reading hands in the snack bar using The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading by William Benham as my guide. Though my data base is limited, an entire part of me that I was but dimly aware seems to emerge each time a pair of hands open before my eyes. I didn't realize it then,
but an irreversible alteration in my experience of life had begun.

Jack is one of several of the curious at the table in the snack bar, asking questions about his hands and hands in general. He has this beautiful, enormous smile, which is a good thing since his beard is so bushy you wouldn't notice it otherwise. I truly admire Jack, and not just for his facial adornments and interest in hands. President of the Senior Class in 1968, Jack used his knowledge of the University administration to sue the school and create a new position: his current job. Given the 18% unemployment in Binghamton, any job was a good job but Jack's job was a dream-come-true. He is responsible for spending approximately a $100,000 of student activities fee money on whatever he deems most interesting.

Jack says that instead of teaching hands for free in the snack bar he thinks he can arrange for me to be paid as part of the "Campus Activities Program," funded by his office. Sounds good to me. Besides, $190 for seven classes was almost a month's income back then. A small notice goes into the campus newspaper, two signs go up near the snack bar, and I start prepping for my first formal class. I am nervous, but expecting only a half dozen students, I am not too concerned.

The location selected for me was one of the new science lecture halls. The hall holds about 150 people: 30 rows, 50 seats to a row, staggered vertically so that the students can be as close to the teacher as possible. The effect is like a Greek auditorium in state funded burgundy and gray. I have my notes in hand as I walk across campus toward a classroom I had previously known only as a student. This is going to be fun. I open the door and stare amazed: 72 students (I counted), and a photographer from the Binghamton newspaper. I do the class in a state of total shock.

I teach several semesters at SUNY, and as a famous man of the same era once said: I have a dream. I dream of a school for hand analysts, extended training, an international journal (can you believe there isn't one already?), research programs, a library, and more. But I also dreamt of a new generator for my car so I wouldn't have to hitchhike to campus and that dream seemed slow to materialize. So, a generation and several generators later, the IIHA is 27 years old, my first book: LifePrints: Deciphering Your Life Purpose from Your Fingerprints is now in three languages and getting ready for its second printing. I look forward to watching the rest of this
dream as it continues to unfold.

IIHA Philosophy
The IIHA focuses on understanding one's life from a Life Purpose perspective. What have you come to do in this lifetime? What must you learn from experience in order to be capable of doing it? Where are you now? What is your next step?

What Is Hand Analysis?
Hand analysis is the modern form of the ancient art of palmistry. Whereas palmistry is defined as foretelling the future from the lines of your palm, hand analysis seeks to further self- understanding through an examination of the entirety of your hands. There is nothing particularly mystical about the process. No special gift is required to do it. Anyone can benefit from the experience. That being said, hand reading is totally mystical and life altering. To have your hands read is to stare deep into the truth mirror, to stand revealed before your very eyes. A hand reading shows you who you are today and who you can be at your best.

The hand analyst examines the overall shape of palm and fingers to determine basic temperament, the thumb to see you how you "get things under your thumb," and the twelve zones of the fingers to see personality strengths and weaknesses. The lines in the palm are examined to determine basic wiring: the type of emotional system you have, what kind of computer you possess, which nervous system type you are, etc. Talents and hidden motivations are revealed.

?Both hand shape and lines change over time, but fingerprints remain unaltered from five months prior to birth. By comparing the original imprint revealed in your fingerprints with the dynamic map of your personality and character shown in the lines and hand topography, a hand reading gives perspective to your current circumstances in relation to the big picture of your life story.

What is Soul Psychology?
Soul Psychology is a model for understanding a person's core nature and differs markedly from standard psychology. What would make you feel this has been a life well lived, that you are not wasting your time on this planet? What is your Life Purpose? What are your Life Lessons? Good questions, Soul Psychology questions. Personality psychology can help improve behavior and outcomes, but it is Soul Psychology that addresses the hunger for meaning deep in the center of one's being.

What Is Life Purpose and Why Is it Important?
By definition, Life Purpose is that which brings satisfaction at the deepest possible level. More than a goal or set of goals, beyond right livelihood, your Life Purpose is your Right Life, an ongoing connection to a personal directive, a call to cosmic duty. It is your highest potential expressing itself naturally and powerfully in all that you do.

Whether hidden or known, your Life Purpose is the guiding principle behind the events of your life, the voice of your destiny calling out to you from your soul. Your Life Purpose lies within you, always seeking expression, some means of awakening you to the power of its message. It is elusive, it is always there; it is real, it is a dream.

Why Do I Read Hands?
"Two hands open and in front of my eyes an entire Universe stares back at me. I descend into their world, like a cave explorer, my ropes and lanterns at the ready, immersed in this alien environment both strange and familiar: their essence, the meaning behind life's events, asking me to put into words and images that which calls out for understanding and acceptance.

And when I take notice, I see a transformation in my own experience: I am clear and centered, weightless, aware, more alive, more thankful and more alert than at any other time in my life.

Why do I read hands? To help other people, to become more self aware, because nothing, absolutely nothing, connects me more to my spiritual center, because my own Life Purpose commands it, because they are there.