Our hands are composed of 27 small bones, all connected together through dozens of ligaments and numerous tiny muscles to move the joints.According to researchers, there is more amount of nerve connections between our hands and our brain than any other part of the body making it the most revealing and visible area of our body when trying to read body language.These are some of the popular gestures:

• Rubbing Hands: When someone quickly rubs their palms together, it’s a sign of positive expectation.Haven’t you ever made exciting plans and while talking about it with someone you rubbed your hands in impatience looking forward to the event? Observe some people who are about to throw dice…they’ll quickly rub the dice inside their palms before throwing it in hopes of good fortune, go to a local club and watch the MC introduce his special guest for that night…they’ll rub heir hands while saying “We have a special treat Tonight ___”.One thing you have to notice though is the speed in which the person is rubbing their hands together, if they do it quickly it means its an honest positive outcome for themselves and/or everyone, if they rub their hands slowly however, it can clearly be interpreted as a sign of deviousness and acting sneaky…many used car salesman use the slow rubbing of hands while trying to get rid of one of those old black smoke exhaust bombs.
• Clenched Hands: This is one of those subtle gestures that may try to portray confidence or respect when it fact it really means frustration, restraint, anxiety or negative thoughts.There is different ways of using the clenched hands gesture, some have the hands clenched in front of the face while sitting and resting the elbows on the table, others rest their clenched hands on the table or their lap while many simply clench their hands in front of their stomach or crotch while standing up.The height in which the hands are held demonstrates the level of frustration, clenched hands in front of face means more frustration than clenched hands on the lap.
• The Monty Burns: One of my favorites, this is when the fingers of one hand slight press against the fingers of the other creating the shape of a church rooftop, which is funny cause it resembles a lot the act of praying with your hands…sometimes the fingers will squish down and back up expanding and compressing the fingers triangle shape, it doesn’t necesarily have to be in front of them as many use this gesture on their lap or in front of the lower abdomen while sitting.Unlike any of the other gestures throughout body language, this is the only one you can read in isolation without looking for groups/clusters of other gestures, it’s a clear sign the person has confidence and feels superior.
• Back Held Hands: There are some people that like walking around while holding their hands behind their back, this is the typical posture used by army sergeants, principals at school roaming the hallway and policemen patrolling the streets.The total opposite of crossing your arms, this hand/arm gesture exposes the vulnerable chest with its vital organs, stomach, crotch and neck in an attempt to demonstrate fearlessness, superiority and self confidence (as can be seen in the example on the left by the Head Priest walking with his disciple).One thing to note though that this gesture is referring to the hold of palm over hand (as mentioned in the Palms & Thumbs article, palm downwards being a sign of authority), if however they don’t have palm over hand but instead are gripping their wrist with the other hand behind their back…it says something completely different, it’s a display of frustration and self control, as if refraining themselves from using that hand to punch or slap someone, the higher up the arm the grip of the hand is…the more frustrated they are, some even gripping themselves at the elbow.This one can commonly be observed at court rooms when lawyers are interviewing the accused or witnesses.
• Pros and Cons: It’s common practise in many cultures such as the French or Italian to raise their hands slightly while talking as a way of punctuating a conversation, but in many cases it’s also done in the British/American/Australia culture, when you’ve finished talking you lower your hand to let the other person speak.Sometimes when your discussing a topic with someone they will have a biased opinion on the subject, this can be observed by watching how they weight their hands with the opinion…if the person is right handed, the opinions and thoughts they value more or feel more positively inclined to, will be spoken about while raising their right hand (if they are left handed then their left hand), when discussing the points they feel slightly negative about, they will raise their left hand while speaking.
• Head Support: When someone is using their hand to support their head, it’s a clear sign of boredom and an attempt to restrain themselves from falling asleep by finding a support point to rest their heads.There’s different degrees of support which reflects their degree of boredom, it can begin with a simple thumb being used to support their head, followed by the fist or clenched hand and in the deeper scenarios the whole hand is being used to wrap the face in a hand pedestal while resting the arm on a desk or arm rest.
• Evaluating: Someone who is paying close attention to and is genuinely interested in what your saying will close their hand and rest it on their chin or cheek occasionally using their index finger to point upwards, if what your saying is something they feel negative towards or don’t agree with, they will start resting their heads on their thumb or hands lower palm while still maintaining the index finger upwards and fist clenched to appear interested, sometimes using the index finger to rub their eye or scratch under it to reinforce their critical thoughts about what your saying.
• Thinking: When someone is making a decision or thinking about something, you will notice how they slowly raise their hands and start stroking their chin, they might also play with their beard if they have one or sometimes fiddle with their lips stretching them out or squashing them together, it can often be seen at the supermarkets when someone can’t decide if they should buy the low fat yogurt or risk it and venture into the unknown to purchase the new flavored full fat yogurt that just came out.
• The Neck Rub: I remember at school they’d give me these huge projects or essays and as soon as I saw the size of what was required, I’d start rubbing my neck at the intimidating thought of what lay ahead.We have miniature erector pillae muscles on our necks that we referrer to as goosebumps, you’ll notice this gesture frequently at hospital waiting rooms, this is a primitive reaction caused by the body to make our now gone fur pelts stand up on end to make ourselves appear bigger against possible threats, and are signs that reveal we feel intimidated, threatened, angry, frustrated or fearful…rubbing our hands on the back of our necks satisfies that tingly sensation by creating warmth.
• Fiddlers: Occasionally you will find someone who does subtle irrelevant gestures that don’t appear to be much or in context with the moment but can have an important meaning, popular ones used are fiddling with a button, jewelry, piece of paper or metal, playing with hair, even picking lint from their clothes, doing any of these things while looking downwards or away can indicate the person is secretly hiding their opinion because they feel it will be perceived as negative if they share it.
• Finger Tapping: Finger tapping whether on tables, while holding a cup or on the remote control is always a sign of impatience or anxiety, it can commonly be found at dentist waiting rooms, students waiting to take final exams, ect..

Smoking

As I wrote about in my article of the emotionally repressed, in this highly pressured society smoking is considered a sign of inner conflict where scientists have discovered it has less to do with addiction to nicotine (explaining the poor success rate of patches in some) like so many believe and more to do with the reassurance sucking or putting it in their mouth provides.They also found that babies who were breastfed had smaller chances of becoming smokers as opposed to bottle fed babies making up for the majority of heavy smokers (around 4 times more likely), this was due to the comfort and bonding being breastfed provided while bottle fed babies searched for that comfort else where as adults, they were also highly more neurotic in behavior and developed oral fixations such as nail biting, pen chewing, ect…

Women smokers tend to be more social smoking oriented as they will use it to appear open by holding the cigarette high in the air and bending their wrist backwards to expose them, this is a sign of attraction as it shows submissiveness by displaying the open palms and delicate wrists leaving the front of the body vulnerable.Men on the other hand keep their wrists stiff and straight to avoid looking effeminately queer and usually rest their smoking hand below chess level after taking a puff (as opposed to women who keep it above their breasts) in an attempt to protect the frontal part of the body at all times, many men also smoke in a secretive way (as shown in the photo to the right) by holding the cigarette inside their palm using the thumb and index finger as opposed to outside of it with the index and the middle fingers.You can also tell a smokers inner emotions by observing the direction in to which they blow their smoke, assuming its a neutral environment and their not blowing downwards to hide the smoke or upwards to not disturb anyone….when smoke is blown upwards it is a sign of positivity, superiority or confidence…when smoke is blown downwards however it is a sign of negativity, secrecy or suspicious behavior, the easiest way to notice this is with cigar smokers, usually cigars are smoked on special occasions to celebrate births, victories or birthdays so everyone will be in a positive mood and blow upwards.The speed in which the smoke is exhaled is also believed to be connected to the intensity of the feeling, if they blow fast upwards it indicates they feel very positive and vice versa.