Earth Hand: A short, pear-shaped hand, with square palm with thick base, sausage fingers, flat triangular nails. Often seen reaching into cookie jars.

Persons with the Earth hand require adequate chi in their digestive center. Since their digestive organs, especially stomach, spleen, and pancreas, as well as their blood sugar balance, are at issue, they may crave sweets and feel woozy from hunger. They'll reach for sweets or rich foods for comfort, grounding, or energy. Earth and Metal types are those most prone to food addictions. When depressed, they gorge on ice cream or cheese, which can lead to overweight and phlegm, resulting in difficult breathing and tumors. Without a healthy diet and exercise routine, low energy and poor digestion lead the Earth person to heart trouble, diabetes, or hypoglycemia.

Earth types need to feel comfort in their emotional center. This includes home, relationships, and work. They like everything to be smooth and friendly. At their best, they are peacemakers. Untiring, they struggle to bring forth an idea or make a group cohere. At worst, they eat to satisfy the unsatisfiable. Emotional issues for the Earth person involve incorporation. If they love you, they can "eat you up." They crave stability and warmth. They love having congenial family around, especially at feasts. Their karmic issue is rumination. Do they process, worry, and digest their ideas ad nauseam? Or do they get something done?

If you are an Earth type, you should exercise, bend in the middle with sit-ups. One Tibetan doctor told an Earth type man to do one thousand prostrations before an image of the Buddha. He slowly went down onto his knees and bowed gently while exhaling until his head reached his meditation pillow. He did this twenty times twice daily, in front of a beautiful painting he'd bought in Asia. By the time he had finished the required number of prostrations, he had lost his stomachaches and extra weight. Exercise will help balance your blood sugar and lift your spirits. It will help bring you into your center of balance and well-being.