Kelly Goto, IIHA CHA
Please join me in hearing about Kelly Goto’s journey into hand analysis over the last twenty-plus years. Kelly is a Mom, Design Ethnographer, Hand Analyst …
When and how did you start reading hands?
I started reading hands in elementary school. I liked to tell people how many children they might have, and look at the length and placement of the key lines. In the 90’s while living in Los Angeles, I met Spencer Grendahl who wrote Romance on Your Hands . And I started reading books and hands voraciously.
In 2003 I found the IIHA Institute with Alana and Richard Unger. It was life changing. I spent one Saturday out of each month in Tiburon and embraced the yearlong class with a combination of energy and exhaustion. I was at a pivotal time in my life, burning the candle at both ends — I realized I needed to make a serious change. I made a decision to shift my life, downsize the company, have two children and move to the coast — away from the city.
Flash forward 10 years and I magically found Kay and am excited to pursue hands with a new sense of purpose and hopefully some maturity to add to the mix!
Are you specializing in any particular area of hand analysis? If so, what is it?
The research side in me is always curious, and also a bit skeptical of the data, and my own expertise. So, I place myself in the shoes of the person I am reading and wonder if the elements I am talking about are accurate. The more I learn, the more I realize I do not know. I feel this is a lifelong pursuit of knowledge, and although I am not new to this field, I often feel like a novice.
I ask myself every time I read hands, I think, “does this ring true?” I like that hands fit within a category that is less “woo woo” and more analytical, with patterns and training that is understandable, explainable, teachable and repeatable over time. There is obviously an aspect of spirituality to any kind of palmistry or hand reading. I prefer the term, ‘hand analysis’ because it helps me explain what I am looking at and tell others how they can view their own hands, and understand themselves and others in a way that is not dependent on psychic prowess. It doesn’t hurt to have a lot of intuition and basic human understanding to help deliver the messages the hand provides.
What is most meaningful to you about reading hands?
I’m a visual person so I love creating art from people’s hands. It is a special imprint unique to each person. I am a calligrapher and enjoy flourishing printed hands with purpose — it pulls all the elements I have crafted over a lifetime into meaningful expression. I really enjoy the rational side of the analysis and using the methods I have learned to help people understand themselves, and their life purpose in a relatable, visual artifact. The discussion and insights gathered through this process is the most valuable to the individual and to me as a reader. I am always learning through every hand that passes my way.
Has your life lesson ever shown up during a reading? If so, how and what did you learn from that experience?
I rarely see hands that are more flexible or more depleted than mine. When I print a hand that is a water hand, that is super flexible and has the sign of exhaustion (non printing in the center of the hand) I see the depletion and understand more than anyone how this person got to this point in their life where they are doing everything but taking care of themselves. I see myself in the Via Lasciva and a clear bohemian spread of others. I know these marks are two-sided, and with the tendency to dive into imagination, crave stimulation and excitement and throw caution into the wind, comes a more mature side where balance becomes the goal.
How do you apply your life purpose and your life lesson, in other words, how do you see them work together?
I am still learning how to put it all together. As the daughter of a 10-whorled dad, constant working and doing was revered in our family. Being a hard worker, true to your word, and a self-starter (entrepreneur) was my path. There was a moment where I learned the difference between doing and being. So my adult path is to stop, take a moment and allow myself to be without trying to do do do all the time. Doing for others is great until you are physically incapable. Then you need to step back and realize the way to help others is to take care of yourself.
What are your fingerprint patterns?
| Whorl | Whorl | Whorl | Whorl | Whorl |
| Loop | Whorl | Whorl | Whorl | Whorl |
Do you have a bad experience you can share to help others avoid a similar situation?
I don’t really have a bad experience to share, however I have a thought about concerns we may have as hand analysts in the future. I used to take hundreds and hundreds of fingerprints wherever I traveled. Now I realize with privacy and the condition of the world, people may be less inclined to let me ‘fingerprint’ them or record their hands. There is a new awareness of privacy concerns with fingerprint scanning on the iPhone and TSA screenings at the airport. So we may need to have separate release forms moving forward to gather and keep a database of our own, letting people know if we are sharing the information and with whom. I’m not sure when this will be an issue, but I believe it will limit our ability to be as ‘free’ with the information as we have in the past.
What advice would you give to new students of Hand Analysis?
Start looking at as many hands as possible, as often as possible. You will start to notice and remember things from your classes or from books that you can apply. When out with friends, start by asking people to hold their hands up in front of them as if they were pressing against glass, and comment on the finger spread, the thumb spread and anything you see — without needing to actually touch hands. When someone is interested, then take the cue and start to look at flexibility and maybe individual lines or fingers. Only when you have a captive interest, along with time and space, move to print and do a full reading. You can do a lot to get yourself, friends and even strangers warmed up to the reading!
What intentions do you have for your Hand Analysis practice during the next six months?
Right now I am looking 20 years out, instead of 2 years out.
I am focused on balancing time with my family, my work and in life, with health, exercise and in my interactions with others. So in the next six months, I intend on continuing to learn, grown and continue my exploration of learning whenever the opportunity arises, and on my own time. It is a time of dedication and commitment to the things I feel are important, with hands being one of them. I am re-dedicated to understanding the life purpose and life lesson and have Richard’s book out as a constant reference. I would love to continue to study with you Kay as well!
You can find Kelly at her company site: www.gotomedia.com where you can also contact her via the link provided.
Kelly lives in Half Moon Bay, about 45 minutes South of San Francisco, just along the coast with her husband and two daughters.
