Just the mention of Lin Klaassen’s specialty causes people’s eyes to widen: face reading.
You have to wonder what she’d have to say about those wide eyes. She is, after all, the expert.
Klaassen, of St. Clair Shores, provides most interesting evenings for the probing. As a 23-year veteran of her craft, she offers more than food for thought; she presents a veritable feast for the senses.
Some audiences are lucky enough to receive free workshops, thanks to municipalities, business groups and professional organizations.
“I started out in the corporate world, and wanted to hire better employees,” Klaassen said. “I worked 60 hours a week and had 15 stores and a lot of employees. I took a face reading class to pursue the idea of finding people who were more suited to various jobs. Some people are more suited to long-term tasks, some are detail oriented, and so on. Knowing ahead of time who will perform well and make better contributions is key.”
Her subject, known as Western Face Reading, dates back 3,000 years and began with the Greeks. It intrigued Aristotle, and fellow students since have included Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Roger Bacon and Shakespeare.
Called Personology, it’s the basis for modern psychology and centers on 144 muscles and14 facial bones. Face reading has two schools of thought — the Asian one, also called physiognomy, and the Western one. The Asian version is stymied by the lack of correlation between its readers, with no overall consistency in its results.
The Western one, by contrast, is scientific in nature. Its basis is that facial features used less often atrophy, and those used frequently cause muscles to grow and develop. Thus, happy people build faces that reflect that, and so on.
Klaassen studied for three years, beginning in 1990, under the expert tutelage of Robert Whiteside. It was undertaken on the west coast, the only location available to learn it then, and involved founders like Whiteside and William Burtis.
It began in the 1930s, when Judge Edward Jones — who observed behavior of defendants, witnesses and attorneys during his years in a courtroom — sought out the teachings of Johann Kaspar Lavater, from the late 1700s. Lavater’s book, “Essays on Physiognomy,” inspired Jones to take it one step further.
Jones collaborated with Whiteside and Burtis to establish further principles, recognizing that the face changes over time as people change. Yet, that’s, oddly, not due to chronological age. From 1950 to 1955, the threesome studied more than 1,000 adults, measuring and recording facial features, and correlating them with personality factors. That led to scientific accuracy of 92 percent per trait.
“Anything less than 92-percent proven accuracy was omitted from the study results,” Klaassen said.
She credits the ongoing mantel assumed by his son, Daniel, for keeping the science going since.
Klaassen left the corporate field and further delved into face reading, establishing her own business in teaching it. She has done that on cruise ships, at educational and business seminars, and in municipal environments, as well as teaches individual classes.
Well versed in its use, she recommends it for jury selection, dating, law enforcement, sales, adoptions and blended families, job interviews and hiring or advancements, securing doctors and surgeons, family dynamics, dealing with educators and many other ways.
Available both in hard-copy and online downloads, her books include: “Introduction to Face Reading,” “Face Reading for Singles,” “Face Reading for the Business World,” “Face Reading for Sales,” “Face Reading for the Interview,” “Face: The Real Deal, and an entire tool for gamblers, “Poker: The Real Deal.”
In short, there isn’t an aspect of human communication that can’t benefit from at least one of Klaassen’s classes.
“This isn’t the same as body language,” she begins each session. ”That is based on temporary micro gestures, whereas face reading is based on the face's physical structure, and if you see it, you can read it. It’s a genetic blueprint, but can be influenced by others. As we embrace certain behaviors, there are facial features associated with that.”
Premiere businesses have taken part and she is a favorite among social circles and education. But, she’d like to get the message out to even more.
“I think this would be so key for HR departments, and even in casting movies,” she said.
Klaassen’s offerings run the gamut from reading business faces to kids — and everything in between. For better clarity, she limits class sizes to 25, providing an 80-page workbook covering 150-plus facial traits and 250 photos for study.
For more information go to: http://www.facereadingbylin.com/
See Part 2 for her class and insights into our children, followed by Part 3, with poker tips!
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