UNDERSTANDING THE CENTERS

IN HUMAN DESIGN

THE FACILITATOR'S GUIDE TO

TRANSFORMING PAIN INTO
POSSIBILITY
ROBIN WINN, MFT
Difference Press
McLean, Virginia, USA
Copyright © Robin Winn, 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in
reviews.
Published 2021
DISCLAIMER
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, or transmitted by email without
permission in writing from the author.
Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors,
omissions, or contrary interpretations of the subject matter herein. Any perceived
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Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
Cover Design: Jennifer Stimson
Editing: Erika Parsons
Author Photo Credit: Juliet Jarmosco
 ADVANCE PRAISE

“Robin has once again brought her gift of clarity to describe the com-
plex system of Human Design. In this book she compassionately de-
mystifies the strengths and pain points of our Open and Defined
Centers and leads the reader to a fuller understanding of their puz-
zle piece in life so that they may reach their fullest potential. As a
clinician, I appreciate her strength-based approach to the Centers in
Human design and the emphasis on helping clients understand
these strengths while working towards ultimate wellbeing.”

– Melissa Lopez-Larson, M.D., best-selling author of My Child’s Not

Depressed Anymore: Treatment Strategies That Will Launch Your College
Student to Academic and Personal Success

“This is a brilliant book! I have never felt so seen and understood

as when reading your detailed accounts of each of the Human
Design Centers. Your writing style and your personal anecdotes
make this complex system so accessible. I can’t wait to get my offi-
cial copy. Bravo!”

– Jane Bell, spiritual teacher, guide, mentor, and founder of Presence

of Heart

“To know ourselves is to experience freedom. In Understanding

the Centers in Human Design, Robin Winn teaches us how to under-
stand who we are, and our unique spiritual path. She shows us how
our Open Centers enable us to become the fullest expression of our-
selves. This book is for everyone whose role on this earth is to em-
power others to become the best possible versions of themselves.”

– Jill McAbe, business coach, best-selling author of It's Go Time:

Build the Business and Life You Really Want, and founder of BOOM-U
 “When I first heard about Human Design, I was curious to learn
more. After taking a course with Robin, I learned about my own de-
sign, which gave me an insight into why I think and act as I do. As
Robin recommends, it is helpful to download your chart as a refer-
ence as you read this book. It makes the information easier to follow.
Just be prepared and surprised at how closely your Human Design
chart touches your soul. It can be a true eye opener! Robin does an
excellent job explaining Human Design so that those of us who are
beginners can easily grasp the meaning and concepts. If you are
someone who is curious about how the universe helped to form
everything about who you are, this is the book for you. You will not
be disappointed!”

– Dr. Shelia Craig Whiteman PT DPT, CLT-LANA, The Pelvic

Coach, best-selling author of: To Pee or Not to Pee? The Guide to
Reducing and Eliminating Urinary Incontinence

“Robin Winn has taken on the enormous task of exploring the of-
ten, misunderstood Centers in her book: Understanding the Centers in
Human Design. I love Robin’s outlook on Human Design. She ap-
proaches it as a launching pad, recognizing that the chart is a begin-
ning, but not the whole finite picture. Robin tackles the Centers with
a fresh perspective by describing the Defined Center as a privilege.
This was incredibly illuminating for me in understanding my own
chart, my clients, and most importantly my partner of forty years!
Robin writes with clarity and effortlessness taking on a complex top-
ic making it easier to understand. She also writes candidly sharing
her own personal story which adds depth to the many concepts pre-
sented. This book is an important contribution to Human Design
and is infused with Robin’s beautiful and generous spirit. It is a must
read if you are trying to comprehend the difference between the
Open and Defined Centers, as well as many of the other multifaceted
concepts in Human Design. Bravo!”

– Deborah Sudarsky, M.ED., Master Intuitive Coach, best-selling

author of Embrace Your Psychic Gifts: The Guide to Spiritual Awakening
 “Whether you are familiar with Human Design or are a novice,
this book allows you to get tremendous understanding of this rich
and complex subject. To me it is the perfect marriage of the
Encyclopedia Britannica and the “French Laundry Cookbook”
(Thomas Keller), explaining background, history as well as the nec-
essary tools and how to apply them beautifully. Robin takes us on a
forward-looking journey of Human Design incorporating tools that
lead the way to Oneness and Beingness – which I see as her declara-
tion of love towards each human being and humanity.”

– Dr. Petra Frese, BCH, CI, Intuitive Scientist, Mental Coach, a best-
selling author

“For the post-COVID era, nothing brings more comfort than

making sense of what is going on in this world, and having a deep
understanding of Who am I? and Why I am here at this time? Robin
Winn’s book is such a timely gift to this world to bring new light to
readers, especially those who “suffer” from Open Centers in their
Human Design.”

– Xuemei Zhong, Ph.D., best-selling author of The Medicine Mage, 12

Steps from Depleted Doctor to Magic Healers of the New Earth, and
founder of the Medicine Mage Academy

“Author Robin Winn again makes the complex world of

Human Design easy to understand in her second book Understanding
the Centers in Human Design. Building on some of the Human Design
concepts introduced in her first book, Understanding Your Clients
through Human Design, this book delves deep into the Centers and
the connected gates and channels to provide a thorough understand-
ing of our uniqueness. Winn's illustrative story-telling and in-depth
teachings makes this book a pleasure to read and a must-have refer-
ence for those using or consuming this technology. Winn's work
gave me a deeper understanding of my own Human Design and that
of my clients in my coaching and healing practice through the expe-
riential Center meditations, tips, and tools. She provides a unique,
balanced view of the Openness and Definition in our charts as being
more about learning how to wield the energy instead of viewing
Openness as weakness and Definition as strength. Winn shows us
the empowerment in the openness that can oftentimes feel disem-
powering. The most profound concept for me was that the Head is
not a decision-making center and should never be used to make a
decision. What might the world look like if we all started using our
unique decision-making Center (our Authority) and stopped using
our heads? Whether you are interested in Human Design for person-
al or professional reasons, this book is a must-read and reference
throughout your journey.”

– Lyndsay K. R. Toensing, MBA, WPCC, transformational

leadership coach, energy healer, and best-selling author of The
Beautiful Un-Becoming: The Ultimate Guide to Life after Spiritual
Awakening

“While reading certain parts of Robin’s second book I teared up

(literally). I was moved by the “passionate aliveness” with which she
wrote this book. Her writing oozes love, authenticity, aliveness, and
divinity. Robin has gift of articulating (seemingly) complex ideas of
Human Design into easy-to-understand bite sized pieces of informa-
tion by using stories and metaphors. For instance, her simple and in-
credibly powerful reframing of Open Centers as not something that
is lacking or missing, but as “wombs” that have the potential to give
birth, is extremely empowering. It opens up a world of possibilities.
It’s difficult to summarize my takeaways from reading Robin’s
book as there are so many, but I will say this: Robin has cultivated a
very deep understanding of Human Design through her dedication
to this glorious body of knowledge and way of life. In the process
she has nurtured a magnificent gift to utilize her own design and
help others utilize theirs. For example, she is honoring her Open
Throat as a God Portal, using it as vessel to channel divine energy in
the writing of her books, her conversations, and through her coach-
ing work. I am exceedingly grateful to be on the receiving end of this
divine transmission.”

– Vandy Verma, business coach, and best-selling author of I Finally

Feel Secure About My Financial Future: 6 Simple Steps to Make More, Be
More, and Live More, and Yes! You Can Be a Badass Coach!
 “I first learned of Human Design from Ms. Winn in 2019 when
we were in an author mastermind program. I was struggling with
my identity in not only the group, but also moving forward in the re-
launching of my coaching practice. Understanding my Human
Design through my work with Robin Winn was a life changer for
me! I was able to embrace and honor the Manifestor within and I
now utilize the basic knowledge of Human Design with my coach-
ing clients. This understanding of Human Design has been extreme-
ly powerful for all of my clients and now with this new book, I will
be able to take them even deeper into the awareness of who they
came here to be in this lifetime. From the first chapter, you will be
drawn into Ms. Winn’s story and get to know her as I know her – a
brilliant, loving and kind teacher, mentor, and gifted human being
who has so much to share with this world!"

– Pat Sheveland RN, PCC, ICF Certified Life Coach, Grief Coach,
Qigong Teacher and best-selling author of The Mourning’s Light: Life
After Child Loss, and Living Life in the Middle: The Caregiver’s Guide to
Healing, Hope, and Harmony through Multigenerational Living
 CONTENTS

Foreword
Preface
I. Coming to Human Design
1. You Want to Know More about the Centers?
2. My Journey with the Human Design Centers
3. How to Use This Book
II. The Underpinnings of Human Design
4. The Mechanics of Human Design
5. The Centers – A First Look
III. Gifts and Grapples
6. Getting to Know the Head Center
7. Getting to Know the Ajna Center
8. Getting to Know the Throat Center
9. Getting to Know the Identity Center
10. Getting to Know the Will Center
11. Getting to Know the Sacral Center
12. Getting to Know the Emotional Solar Plexus
13. Getting to Know the Root Center
14. Getting to Know the Spleen Center
IV. Looking Forward
15. Electromagnetics
16. Deepening the Inquiry
17. Take the Gift

Resources: Helpful Tools

Acknowledgments
About the Author
About Difference Press
Other Books by Difference Press
Thank You
To Byron Katie,
Thank you.
 FOREWORD

Human Design, a synthesis of Eastern and Western Astrology, the

Chinese I Ching, the Hindu Chakra system and Judaic Kabbalah is a
cross-cultural system of archetypes that helps you get to the root of
why your clients are in pain and how to help your clients cultivate
deeper meaning in their lives.
When I first started using Human Design in my Life Coaching
practice more than twenty-two years ago, I was astonished at how
simply understanding the chart gave me deep insights into my
client’s purpose and ways for them to create a meaningful, authentic
life. Obviously, this is vital information that significantly helps your
client feel “seen” and heard.
But, the more I used Human Design in my practice, the more I re-
alized it was also a tool to help me get to the root of why my clients
seemed “stuck” in their lives. The more I understood the compo-
nents of the chart, the Centers in particular, the more I could see why
things like commitment, motivation, conflict avoidance and lack of
follow-through were simply artifacts of misusing or misinterpreting
energy.
So much of what my clients struggled with wasn’t necessarily a
result of trauma, conditioned patterns or family habits. They simply
didn’t understand how their energetic “hard-wiring” was causing
them to misinterpret the energy of their relationships and world
around them. Once they understood “how” they were hard-wired —
their unique Human Design energy blueprint — they quickly gained
new ways to navigate through the world without allowing their own
energy system to be overwhelmed by the energy of others. They
learned solid strategies to stay connected to their own inner truth
and their own inner navigation system.
In Robin Winn’s first book, she shared with practitioners the
power of understanding the basic elemental configuration of a chart,
the Human Design “Type.” In Human Design, there are five basic
personality “types,” each of which have a unique purpose and role.
Understanding Type is essential knowledge for practitioners who
seek to help clients decode who they are — and who they are not.
In this, Robin’s second book, she approaches a deeper under-
standing of the elements of the Human Design chart, the Centers, to
help practitioners learn how to use their understanding of the con-
figuration of their client’s chart to empower clients to master strate-
gies for authentic living. She also shows you how to use the Human
Design chart to help your clients get “un-stuck” and to discover their
natural power to connect more deeply with compassion for them-
selves and others.
There is also a flow of how a client experiences the wisdom of
Human Design. The first stage in understanding their Human
Design is for them to discover the vocabulary that helps them ex-
plore why their inner perceptions of themselves and their experience
of the outer world don’t necessarily match.
The second phase, which is one that is not addressed in the tradi-
tional Human Design Community, is to use Human Design as a tool
to help clients redefine for themselves who they are, who they seek
to become and how to deepen their relationship with the greater
meaning of their life.
The Centers are, as Robin writes, “God Portals,” a way to dive
deep into the experience of the cosmos flowing through you. The
lessons we master as a result of our unique configuration and way
we experience life and relationships through these “portals” helps us
to be able to co-create with each other and with the deeper flow of
possibility that the Universe shows us.
The vocabulary of traditional Human Design doesn’t necessarily
fit with this second phase of understanding Human Design. Over
the past few years, I created a new vocabulary that I call Quantum
Human Design™ that allows you to see more clearly understand
your unique, vital and irreplaceable role in the Cosmic Plan. In this
book, Robin shares her understanding of Quantum Human Design™
to give you a rich and powerful way to help your clients connect to a
deeper place of purpose and meaning in their lives.
You’re about to embark on a journey that will exponentially help
you help your clients untangle themselves from limiting patterns
and behaviors that may have confounded them over a lifetime and
help them discover that they are a cosmic-once-in-a-lifetime-event
that is deeply purposeful and beautiful. By the time you finish this
book, you’re going to be able to look at a Human Design chart and,
in less than a minute, be able to get to the heart of why your client
may be stuck and trapped in a narrative that holds them back from
fulfilling their potential. You’re also going to be able to show them a
path that leads them to discover the true meaning and purpose of
their lives.
You’re going to know how to give them strategies that will fortify
them, deepen their resilience and to teach them how to anchor them-
selves in an authentic understanding of, not only who they are, but
how they can become masterful over their experience of the world.
Human Design presents a powerful framework to support clients
in not only crafting a personal narrative that supports their growth
but gives clients a unique way to understand why and how they
may be locked in patterns that limit their ability to tap into creating
what they really want in their lives.
There are nine Centers in the Human Design chart that correlate
to the 7 Chakras in the Hindu Chakra System. Each of these Centers
is responsible for processing different kinds of energy. Each of us has
a unique configuration – our own Human Design – which creates
predictable behavioral themes. In this book, Robin teaches you exact-
ly how to interpret these themes so that you can better help your
clients access their wisdom and support them in making choices that
are more in alignment with their Authentic Self.
Blending her wisdom gleaned from years of practice as a thera-
pist with her deep understandings of the power of the Human
Design chart to truly transform, Robin gives practitioners fresh in-
sights on how to support and teach clients how to discover who they
are as well as “how” they operate. With gentle words, she gives
guidance on how to most efficiently support your clients in untan-
gling themselves from patterns and habits that no longer support
their more authentic narrative. She teaches how to use the language
of the chart to help clients discover how to tap into greater resilience
and the capacity to stay true to themselves, no matter what their ex-
perience in the world.
This book promises to give you a powerful way to shorten the
time you spend supporting your clients, gives you a strong and ac-
curate starting point to get to the root cause of your client’s pain,
helps you help your clients tap into higher levels of performance
and, ultimately, shows you practical ways to enhance your client’s
wellness and deepen the meaning of their lives.
It is my dream that you use the power of this book that Robin has
created for you to help your clients feel seen, heard and truly recog-
nized for who they are – not for who they think they “should” be or
who they think they need to be to feel loved and accepted.
This information will help your clients discover who they truly
are and give them powerful strategies to stay true to themselves no
matter what’s going on in their world.
Be prepared, as you implement Robin’s insights into your prac-
tice, to help your clients feel genuinely seen and acknowledged –
sometimes for the first time in their lives.

– Karen Curry Parker, BSN, CFC

Bestselling author of Understanding Human Design, Human Design
Activation Guide, Abundance by Design, Introduction to Quantum
Human Design™, and The Quantum Human Creator of The Quantum
Alignment System™
 PREFACE

When I started writing my first book, I thought I was going to go

through all of the elements of the chart in a very simple, clear way so
you could simply look at a chart and decipher who the person was
and how to work with them. I wanted to deliver the whole package.
I quickly discovered, after outlining the whole book, submitting
it for approval, having it approved (the poor folks looking at it had
no idea how massive the book would have been) that there was no
way I could write this amount of material in the allotted nine weeks
the program allowed. I basically had enough time to write the first
chapter which would cover the Types, Strategy, and Authority. There
were easily another six or seven books to follow. So, after almost a
year after embarking on that first book, developing a training pro-
gram to teach therapists and coaches this wild and wonderful tool
that in a moment’s time opens a portal into someone’s life, I begin
again. I’ve thought long and hard over the year about which aspect
of the chart made the most sense to make available next. The sim-
plest thing would be the Profiles, which reveal a person’s learning
style. With knowledge of the Human Design Profiles, coaches could
better support their clients to navigate their unique approach to new
opportunities. Or perhaps it would be better to address Circuitry
(the Individual, Tribal, and Collective pathways), which reveals an-
other layer of understanding inner conflicts and conflicts that arise
from differences that show up in relationships.
 Even as I write this and think of the other elements, I wish I
could just connect a tube from my brain to yours and download the
whole enchilada. This is the challenge. There is so much information,
and my calling is to make it readily available. But I can’t. So, I am left
with the task of giving it out in manageable morsels, hoping you will
be patient as I take the time that’s needed to craft and download
each aspect.
As I’ve taught and trained people using Human Design in their
work, I see so clearly that Human Design is like a language. When
we first learned language, we had to learn letters, then words, then
sentences. As we put the pieces together, doors to whole worlds
opened up to us. Human Design is like that. You have to learn the
pieces to step into the whole. To get the full picture, you have to un-
derstand the parts.
I’ve also gotten clear that while, yes, therapists and coaches see
the value of bringing Human Design into their work, they are most
interested in understanding themselves. In fact, I had to shift the fo-
cus of my training from Understanding Your Clients through
Human Design to Understanding Yourself through Human Design.
Understanding yourself creates the foundation for understanding
others. Duh!
I sat with the question: What piece in this process of deepening
the understanding of yourself and your clients through Human
Design would be most beneficial to write about next?
The Centers were loudly and frantically calling out to me. Their
hands raised, waving enthusiastically, “Choose me, choose me. I
have the most information that’s readily assessable.” Were the
Centers, rich in information and easy to visually grok, the next piece
of Human Design to unpack and share? I was leaning in that direc-
tion but wasn’t 100 percent settled when Covid-19 hit. Suddenly,
every podcast and every panel I spoke on I found myself addressing
the Centers, the Open Centers in particular. How were you and your
clients being impacted by the global experience? Was the issue emo-
tional overwhelm? Was there an Open Emotional Solar Plexus being
bombarded by the world’s emotional distress, taking in and amplify-
ing the grief or anger that ripped through the atmosphere?
Or was terror hijacking you or your client? Did the person whose
chart you were looking at have an Open Spleen Center, the Center of
fear? Were they taking in and amplifying the world’s fear? This
Center is all about life and death, fight and flight – the amygdala re-
sponse. The Spleen flares up at the possibility that there is a saber
tooth tiger outside the cave, or whatever life-threatening danger
might be lurking. The Spleen Center is all about survival in the
present moment. It looks to the future, projects danger onto the fu-
ture, and looks to the past, projecting past terrors onto the future. I
felt compassion for the distress that was being activated in people
because of their Open Centers. It felt important to bring this infor-
mation into the mainstream as a support.
And then, my student Charity asked:
“Could you talk more about the Open Centers as God Portals?”
God Portals was the phrase I coined to speak about the Open
Centers. Places of pure possibility. The pain aspect of Open Centers
is so compelling we can get caught in that whirlpool. Charity want-
ed to understand more deeply how she could use the Open Centers
as opportunities for growth with her clients, her family, and in her
own life.
I’m writing this book for her. I’m writing this book for anyone
who is suffering at the effect of an Open Center. I’m writing this
book for all the coaches and therapists and parents who can trans-
form lives by shining a new light onto the entanglements that are
part and parcel of the Open Center grab.
 I

COMING TO HUMAN DESIGN

 1

YOU WANT TO KNOW

MORE ABOUT THE
CENTERS?

Charity’s Question:
“Could you talk more about the Open Centers as God Portals?”

C
harity had three young children when her husband died in a
freak accident. Preparing to embark from their home in
Vermont to visit family, she watched as a minor car repair al-
tered the course of her life. A malfunctioning car jack
dropped their loaded van on top of her husband, Ollie.
We met a year ago in Washington, D.C. I liked her immediately.
For someone whose tragedy was so recent, she had an aura of peace.
Charity emanated a sense of ground and ease. We were at an Author
Incubator event to celebrate and launch our books. I had just written
Understanding Your Clients through Human Design, and she had just
completed The Widow’s Guide: Living with Children After the Death of
Your Spouse.
During one of the breaks, we sat on a couch and looked at her
Human Design chart. I explained that she was here to work within
limitations and to tell stories that bring a new way of looking at life.
She shares new values that support the tribe (family, community) to
flourish and survive. Not surprisingly, her Unconscious Moon is in
Gate 51, which is the Gate of Shock. She’s here to be shocking and
have shocking things happen. She has the capacity to transform
shock into heart opening. In fact, two of her three children have the
Gate of Shock. With the Gate of Insight and the Gate of Sensitivity,
Charity is here to talk about and learn about looking at things in new
ways. Her goal is to be tuned into people’s needs and their
vulnerabilities.
As Charity listened intently, I felt the impact of the information
from her chart registering. She was lit. Charity knew right then and
there that she wanted to learn more about Human Design and im-
mediately signed up to train with me. Charity learned about her
chart, her family’s chart, and Ollie’s chart through the lens of
Human Design. It quickly became clear that the Human Design map
would be key in her work with coaching widows. The perspective
she gained from understanding her chart enabled her to relax and to
be more at ease with who she was. It helped her understand and feel
connected to her deceased husband (a Projector). It helped her better
parent her children. No wonder her Manifesting Generator son took
charge!
Human Design helped Charity understand why she was driven
to support other widows on their journey. From her own experience,
she knew how easy it was to get lost in the trauma of tragedy. She
knew how seductive the pull was to disappear, like her husband
had, into a lifeless world. Stumbling through the days, with a com-
munity of support, she was ultimately able to untangle herself from
the past and to move back into living her present-day life. Human
Design added a surprising and unexpected perspective and a new
level of support and possibility.
When Human Design grabs you, it ignites a fire. The more
Charity studied and trained in Human Design, the more she wanted
to know. As she began reading charts for widows, she realized, that
when it came to the Centers, she understood the traditional explana-
tion of the Open and Defined Centers. But she was particularly
drawn to my unique experience and understanding of them. She
wanted to know more. “Could you talk more about the Open
Centers as God Portals?” Her words rang loudly.
HUMAN DES I GN AS A
NAVIGATIONAL TOOL
The wild and wonderful world of Human Design is an ever-deepen-
ing dive into the mysteries of life. It’s about who we are and how we
best utilize our time on earth. Sometimes, it is easier than others to
navigate the challenges life throws at us. Sometimes, it is seemingly
impossible to know how to go forward, especially when tragedy
strikes, or our world becomes destabilized in unexpected ways.
As I write this book, it is the fall of 2020. The contagious coron-
avirus has shaken the economy, upended our established social pat-
terns, brought death and a heightened fear of illness and death to
our lives. The result is a radical restructuring of our global world in
ways we could not have previously imagined. Meanwhile, climate
changes are wreaking havoc as California fires burn, the presidential
election looms large, the political divide threatens to further destabi-
lize our country, and racial injustice brings massive protests to the
streets.
Uncertainty is in the air. We are undergoing a profound and pow-
erful period of destabilization.
Can Human Design help us navigate these waters?
Can Human Design foster stability?
Can Human Design help us support others who are in their own
personal deep waters?
I think so.
In fact, I believe it was given to us at this time for this very
purpose.
When I lived in the country on Dream Farm Road in Inverness,
the nights were pitch black. Getting from my car to the house was
treacherous. And yet, it only took the small light on my keychain to
make the path easy to navigate. Turning on the light to see and un-
derstand the Centers brings a level of clarity that makes otherwise
painful inner terrain easy to traverse. The Centers are the gateway to
discovering that stability, to helping us and our clients find the way
in the darkness of uncertainty.
 If you’re picking up this book, you most likely have some prior
knowledge of Human Design. Perhaps you’re a coach or therapist
and you’ve read my book Understanding Your Clients through Human
Design. Maybe you’re using Human Design to work with your
clients. Or maybe you’re wanting to understand yourself, your fami-
ly, or your circle of friends better. I’m assuming you have a basic
sense of the Centers and want to know more about how they func-
tion and how they are opportunities for growth.
However, if you are new to Human Design, no worries. Unlike
some Human Design texts, which are complex and conceptually
challenging, my intent is always to make Human Design user-
friendly. If you’re wanting more information on Human Design,
please download a free digital copy of my book Understanding Your
Clients through Human Design:
https://www.clientsandhumandesign.com/free-book.
In the next chapter, I’ll tell my story about the power of under-
standing the Centers in my life and how I came to work with them
from my unique perspective.

Continue Reading This Book If…

You want to be able to look at a chart and in a nanosecond have a

sense of what your client may be grappling with, where their
strengths and vulnerabilities lie, where they might mistakenly think
something is wrong with them, and how to support them to stabilize
in new ways. Check to see if any of these apply to you or your
clients:

You have a story that the Open Centers are scary or

problematic.
You think something is wrong with you or you feel deficient
for any number of reasons.
You don’t remember things and can’t make up your mind
or can’t stop your thoughts.
You don’t feel certain about things and feel you should.
You don’t feel heard or seen.
You don’t know who you are, don’t feel like you belong.
 You don’t have consistent access to energy like other people
do.
You don’t have the capacity to go out and do what you say
you’re going to do.
You are either very emotional or void of emotions when it
seems like you should have them.
You can’t get started with projects and feel under constant
pressure.
You lose track of time and feel you shouldn’t.
You are someone with a spiritual inclination who doesn’t
want to fall prey to spiritual bypass.
You want to feel confident when approaching your clients.
You want to speak to your client's Openness and Definition
in a way that empowers them and honors their vulnerability.
You’re excited by the possibility that the Open Centers may
offer an access to your client's potential.
You’re open to new ways of looking at the chart, and human
beings.
You are ready to take a wild ride into the multidimensional
holographic structure of the Centers in the bodygraph!

Whatever your intentions, I trust that there is a reason that you

are called to look with me through the unique lens that I bring to this
powerful and transformational system. May these words shine light
on your path and help stabilize you as you navigate the changing
terrain ahead.
 2

MY JOURNEY WITH
THE HUMAN DESIGN
CENTERS

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSE L F

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! They’d advertise - you know!
How dreary - to be - Somebody!

– Emily Dickinson

I
n these first few lines of her poem, I’m Nobody, Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson unequivocally declares that to be Nobody is a
boon. For me, as a young person growing up in a family of
Somebodies, let’s be clear that was not my experience at all.
Let me introduce myself. In Human Design speak, I’m a 6/2
Emotional Generator, with the Left Angle Cross of Wishes. I have an
Open Head Center, Open Ajna Center, Open Throat Center, Open
Identity Center, and an Open Will Center. Had I known growing up
what all that means, I’m sure a lot of suffering could have been
avoided or at least had a context. That was not the case. I suffered
because I did not know how my system was designed to operate. I
suffered a lot. Especially the first thirty years of my life. Which, if
you understand the Profiles in Human Design, that makes perfect
sense. But that’s for the next book.
This book is about how the Centers impact us, and how they are
potential sources of pain, or potential sources of support. This book
is about looking at a chart and being able to see potential areas of
suffering and strength in a person’s life. With that knowledge, you
can help yourself or someone you’re working with have a context –
an understanding – as to why that might be so. With knowledge of
the Centers, you have access to possible ways to work with suffering
in the service of aligning with an authentic, empowered self.
In this chapter, I’m going to tell my journey with the Centers with
the hopes that it will give you a context and appreciation for them.
Perhaps my story will call you to reflect on your own life journey in
relation to the Open and Defined Centers in your Human Design
Bodygraph. Hopefully, you will be inspired to discover the riches
they hold for you.
By the way, had I known as a child what I know now from a
Human Design perspective, I would likely not have suffered the
depths of despair that drove me to find solace; nor would I have de-
voted my life to helping others meet and transform their suffering. If
I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t be writing this book.
I’m grateful for the challenges that demanded my attention and in-
spired revelations that brought me to where I am today.

My Story

I was born the first girl after five boys into an intellectually ori-
ented, overachieving, WASP family. My mom said she was thrilled
to have me; in fact, the story is she kept going until she had a girl.
My brothers were not so excited. “Aw mom, why’d ya have to go
and have a girl?” My oldest brother’s words were documented in
my baby book.
 From the outside, the family looked great. At the time I was born,
my dad, a Manifesting Generator, was a Lt. Colonel in the Army, a
cardiovascular surgeon at the Fitzsimons Army Hospital outside of
Denver, Colorado. He was part of a team of trailblazers in the field of
open-heart surgery. Well respected, a humble, gentle being, he chose
to retire from the Army to enter private practice in a small town in
Northern California. My dad preferred to practice medicine rather
than follow the path of his father, an Army General, who had stayed
in the Army and become an administrator. As amazing as my dad
was, he fell under the radar in comparison to my mom. My mom,
the Manifestor, was a bright, powerful light who naturally impacted
everyone and everything she met. Of course, I would have chosen
this family and this mother to ensure I had the full-blown experience
of being nobody. You see, my mom was not a warm, fuzzy mom. She
was fun. She was dynamic. She was a leader and the president of
every organization she joined. She became a private pilot in her late
forties, and then got her own plane and became an avid air racer. She
was regularly in the papers for her feats. The whole town knew
Shirley Winn. From my view, the whole world knew Shirley Winn.
She was definitely Somebody. Oh, and my brothers were not far be-
hind. Valedictorian. National debaters. Ivy league colleges. My fami-
ly made a big splash in our little town.
I neglected to say my sister, Heidi, was born four and a half years
after me. Thank God! To her, I was Somebody. I was her big sister. I
had the job of nurturing her. She has been and continues to be my
biggest fan.
But in the bigger world, I was lost. I honestly had no idea why I
had been sent to planet earth. I surely did not belong. I had no clue
who I was or what I was supposed to do. I truly felt like a nobody. I
was not like other people. I was not like my brothers and my par-
ents. I was not like my boisterous, fun-loving, and outgoing sister. I
was shy. I was sensitive. I had feelings. I got hurt by a look or a tone
of voice. To be fair, my sister and my father were the closest I had to
feeling seen. But my dad was married to the hospital, and my baby
sister couldn’t protect me in the rough and tumble masculine world I
was tossed into.
As early as I can remember, I was trying to find a way out. At six,
I lay in my bed at night wanting to die. I didn’t feel that I had any
value. But the realization that I was a bad person and would go to
hell if I died knocked the option of death off the list of possible es-
cape routes. I set out to prove I belonged in this family, and that I
was good, after all. I wanted to prove that I was worthy of being a
Winn. I studied the world around me to see how to behave. I became
a really good girl.
In sixth grade, we studied Greek mythology. As I read about the
various gods and goddesses it dawned on me that God…the Father
in the Sky was also a myth, a crutch, and that I was not doomed to
hell after all. This revelation at once freed me from a future hell at
the same time that it threw me into a living hell. Suddenly death was
an option. I became obsessed with death as a way to end my internal
nightmare world. Remember, what I presented to the outside looked
perfect, and I worked very hard to maintain that image. When some-
thing bad would happen in my life – a rejection or some threatening
external world event – I would imagine putting a plastic bag over
my head. I know it sounds ridiculous now, but to be fair, as a child I
was warned about the danger of dying if you put a plastic bag over
your head.
Somehow, I managed to survive. It was not easy, and I was smart.
I learned to leave my body, to dissociate, as a way to numb myself to
the roughness of the world. I also wrote poetry. I wrote about death,
about dying young, and about escaping the pending nuclear disas-
ter. Writing was the one place I could speak out loud. It was the one
place I had a voice. My speaking words didn’t get much traction in
my family or in the world. Side note: all these are cues to challenges
with the Open Centers…we’re getting there.
My mother believed life was an adventure. I followed in her
wake, staying busy and playing the edge in order to avoid my feel-
ings. Keeping my good girl image to the world as a freshman in col-
lege, I secretly entered the newly bourgeoning underground gay
Mecca. The year was 1977.
As I turned twenty-five, I began studying Rosen Method
Bodywork. This gentle transformational work combined touch and
talk. It worked by meeting the physical tension in the body, which
allowed the emotion or the experience that held that tension in place
to be recognized and freed. Marion Rosen called it The Great
Undoing. It was my first adventure in meeting myself, and it opened
Pandora’s Box. I began feeling all those repressed feelings that I had
locked away in the service of fitting in. Fortunately, therapy was in
vogue among my friends, so I set out to pacify the monster I had
unleashed.
For the first time in my life, I had a place to talk and be heard. It
was amazing. But, the downside was that I embraced a victim cul-
ture. I was a victim of my mother, and of my brothers. I suffered be-
cause I wasn’t heard, seen, or acknowledged. They caused my suf-
fering because my needs weren’t met. To be good, I had to make
them bad. Let me be clear, it’s not that any of that wasn’t true. It just
wasn’t ultimately true. This will make sense as I continue my story.
So, while it was very healing for me to be heard, it also brought
to the foreground my suicidal ideation. As I started to come back
into my body, allowing myself to stay and feel rather than dissociate,
I was bombarded by the world around me. My value was glaringly
in question. I didn’t have a clear direction in life. I still didn’t feel like
a somebody and it wasn’t looking good. Being gay was becoming
problematic as it was no longer a secret, and my mom believed, at
the time, that gay people belonged in mental institutions. I was still
fighting my own internalized homophobia, so I didn’t feel exactly
gay or straight. Meanwhile, I was supposed to be making a living
and proving myself in my family’s eyes. I seemed to be failing in that
realm, too. It all felt utterly hopeless. I simply was too sensitive for
this world.
Then my Saturn Return hit. I was twenty-eight, sitting in a living
room at a hand analysis party. The guy took one look at my hand
and said, “You’re about to go over a waterfall.” I blurted back, “Peo-
ple die when they go over waterfalls!” He shrugged his shoulders. I
was in the throes of desperately wanting to die. It was my only
chance for peace. Multiple times a week, I would drive my little yel-
low VW Bug from Berkeley to the Golden Gate Bridge. Peering over
the edge I longed to jump. Fantasies of how to go occupied my wak-
ing life. They were my hope.
Let’s just say I struggled mightily with my mind. One time I paid
for a gun and was waiting for my order to process. My lover (now
wife) had a dream about me getting a gun, and she brought it up in
our couple's therapy. Our therapist asked me point blank if I’d
bought one. I am not one who can lie when asked a direct question.
She made me promise to cancel the order. Yes, I tried to exit.
Obviously, and thankfully, I survived. My brilliant failsafe idea was
to put a blow dryer into a tub of water. I turned on the blow dryer,
stood in the tub, dropped the blow dryer into the water then
watched in suspended time as the blow dryer continued to blow un-
der water. Jumping out of the tub I pulled the plug. I got a shock al-
right, but it wasn’t the electrical one I was hoping would take me
out. In that moment, I knew I wasn’t allowed to crossover. I had the
overwhelming feeling that I should have died. I should be dead. I
was overcome with a feeling of gratitude. I knew from that point on
I was living on pure grace.
I spent the next ten years in intensive therapy, committed to
putting the energy I’d spent on dying into living life. I looked at my
emotional stuff. I got reflected, seen, and heard. I got some of the
nurturing I thought my mom should have given me. I stabilized. I
stopped dissociating. I came into reality. I developed a healthy ego. I
built a thriving practice. My partner and I bought a house and had a
commitment ceremony. I went to graduate school to become a thera-
pist to help other people with their pain. I was successful. It wasn’t
easy. I did a lot of hard work. I was still trying to prove my worth.
And even with all the ground and stability I had garnered, I still
wasn’t free. I lived under the threat of not trusting myself. I couldn’t
extricate that lingering fear that if something happened that I
couldn’t bear, would I to try to kill myself? I harbored shame. Once
again, I had to keep my pain a secret to protect an image.
It wasn’t until I met Bryon Katie in 1997 that I eradicated the sto-
ry of suicide once and for all. In a flash, boom. Gone. Well...in a se-
ries of flashes. Using her system of inquiry called The Work which
consists of four questions and a turnaround, I questioned my beliefs
one by one. As I did, I began the radical transformation from manag-
ing and surviving life, to actually living and thriving. Chunk by
chunk, my defenses fell away. I inquired: I shouldn’t have tried to kill
myself – is it true? Who would I be without that thought? Who would I be
without the story that I can’t trust myself? Free. Who would I be without
the story that I’m not valuable? Not lovable?
As I inquired, duality collapsed and huge spaces of vast, empty –
but totally full – love and value appeared. I was love. I was value it-
self. Unshakable trust was born. I began the shift from looking out-
side to looking within at a deeper level than I had ever experienced
in therapy. I began what I now understand from a Human Design
perspective was the shift from living from my ego body to living
from my quantum body.
Pause. Stop. Wait. What am I talking about?

ENTER HUMAN DES I GN

Studying with Katie was the beginning of a new journey that would
transform how I saw and understood the world. There were many
teachers and teachings that I worked with following this initial clear-
ing of the decks with Katie that continued that transformational
process. Some of those I’ll talk about, as they gave me more perspec-
tive. I realize, in retrospect, that they taught me how to work with
the Centers and clear conditioning in a variety of powerful ways. But
I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let me first talk about what happened when I began to truly un-
derstand the workings of my Human Design chart. Having my first
Human Design reading in 2005 was good. It was helpful. It gave me
a reflection regarding how I operate as a Generator. I learned that I
needed to follow and trust my yeses and my noes. Most importantly,
it helped me see, understand, and appreciate that my wife, as a
Projector, had a very different operating system than I did. That was
a game changer. It wasn’t until 2013 – when I picked up Karen
Curry’s book (now Karen Curry Parker) Understanding Human
Design and began seven years of intensive study under her tutelage –
that I could look back and make sense out of all I had been through
and why. Let’s take a moment to look at my story from the vantage
of the Open Centers in my chart.
I had an Open Head Center: I was taking in everyone’s thoughts
and beliefs, thinking they were mine. I wasn’t, as Katie would say,
asking myself what I thought. This created a very unstable mind.
I had an Open Ajna Center: I wasn’t designed to be certain. I
didn’t have a consistent way to process information. I thought I was
supposed to be certain and know things. I thought I should be able
to hold on to information. I couldn’t, and as a result, I thought some-
thing was wrong with me. I thought I was dumb. This was easy to
assume when I was surrounded by brilliant mental thinkers. There
was a joke in my family that by the time they got to me, all the brains
were gone. Just for the record, I did graduate from UC Berkeley, and
I do have a master's degree. But I didn’t go to an Ivy League school,
and I didn’t get 790s on my SATs like my brothers. So, yes, I felt
dumb. I see it as ridiculous now, but it was brutally important then.
I had an Open Throat Center: I wasn’t designed to speak until I
was invited or acknowledged. I wasn’t designed to be heard until
the timing was right. Okay. That explains a lot about why I didn’t
feel heard as a kid. I watched my Manifestor mom and Manifesting
Generator dad have no problem being heard and making an impact
in the world. Of course, I also had a Manifestor brother, two
Manifesting Generator brothers, and my other two brothers with
Open Throats were unabashedly louder and more dramatic than
everyone put together in their attempt to be heard. Let’s just say
there weren’t a lot of invitations for me to speak or much interest in
what I had to say.
I had an Open Identity Center, or G Center, as we call it. Um.
Well. Let’s just say this was the root of my pain. I wasn’t designed to
have a fixed identity. I wasn’t designed to be Somebody.

Cymbals crash. Cacophonous loud sounds, please.

That’s right. I didn’t know who I was or what direction to go in be-

cause that’s simply not how I operate. No job, no accomplishment,
no role is ever going to give me the solid sense of identity I see in the
people, like my wife, who have Defined G Centers. It’s just never go-
ing to happen. I don’t mean to scare those of you who have Open G
Centers, but hopefully this knowledge will help you, as it has me,
come to appreciate, love, and embrace that Openness with full cu-
riosity. If I am not comparing myself to others, who am I?
The last Open Center I have is my Will Center. The Center of
Value. With an Open Will, I was taking in everyone else’s lack of val-
ue, amplifying it, and feeling it as my own. I was trying to prove my
value when that’s simply not the job of the Open Will Center.
I see the Open Centers as filters that are taking in and processing
the world. My filters were all clogged up with other people’s
garbage that I mistook to be my own. No wonder I suffered! I was
miserable, trying to live someone else’s life. I was a walking garbage
dump.

Using Human Design with Others

Human Design gave me so much clarity and perspective on my

life that I, of course, brought it into my work with my psychotherapy
clients. As I ran their charts, I began to shift how I understood them
and their lives. I could see from their Type and from their Open
Centers where they could easily have been prone to suffering in their
childhood, as well as in their current life. Instead of attributing suf-
fering to past stories, I saw that the suffering was almost inevitable,
given their charts. I understood that in and of itself, the suffering
wasn’t the problem. What we did with the suffering, with the beliefs
that something was wrong with us, with the thought that we should
be different than we are…that sealed the suffering into present day
reality. I also saw how pain could either become a cesspool, an end-
less loop of despair, or it could be used as motivation to do the work
of liberation – to come back to the truth of who we are.
My enthusiasm for Human Design knew no bounds, and I began
shifting the bulk of my practice from doing psychotherapy to offer-
ing Human Design readings. I quickly discovered that people ex-
pected me to talk for the entire session and tell them what I knew
about them. I was delivering a brain dump of information. It was
good information. They were being seen and reflected. I was sharing
this unbelievably amazing tool with them. Many people reported
that their lives were transformed from the sessions. I, on the other
hand, was burning out. I’d gone from being a listener to being a talk-
er. My Open Throat was not going to last.
There were a few other problems. For one, I often didn’t enjoy the
sessions. I felt drained by the push to give information. This was
supposed to be a catalytic conversation, but it often ended up being
a monologue on my side. Somehow, I felt like I had to prove the va-
lidity of Human Design, and give people something that would
blow them away. It was a lot of pressure that felt like performance.
In line with that, I didn’t feel people were getting what I knew was
possible from the chart. They weren’t entering the chart. They
weren’t owning the chart. The chart was staying a concept, as if it
was something outside themselves. I know the feeling. I’ve felt that
during astrology readings many times. In my own practice, I was
used to doing deep work with people psychologically and spiritual-
ly. With me by their side, my clients journeyed into the unknown, ex-
ploring through inquiry who they were. Delivering Human Design
sessions seemed at times almost superficial in comparison. I’d be-
come a missionary for a message, but I wasn’t delivering the living
message. I knew something was terribly wrong when I passionately
gave a reading to my book coach, Angela Lauria, and she almost fell
asleep during the session. She’s one who only responds to absolute
authenticity, and I was not meeting her where she was in that mo-
ment. I was trying to give something to her that she wasn’t asking
for. It was seriously sobering.
The last thing that was not sitting well with me was the negative
rap people had in regard to the Open Centers. So many people hated
their Open Centers. I get it. They’re called the pain points for a good
reason. They’re also the place where we’re designed to be wise. I had
come to love my Open Centers. As I spoke about earlier, they
showed me why I suffered so much. They helped me understand
why, coming from an educated, basically non-violent family (there
were those five boys being boys), with two parents who acted like
parents, with resources, opportunities, and travel…that I would feel
so badly from such an early age. Obviously, there are other things we
could consider, and I have, but the context of Human Design ex-
plained so much. It felt like such an accurate reflection that, looking
back, I couldn’t take what I experienced from the Open Center pain
personally. It felt more mechanical, if that makes sense. The bottom
line was, I loved my Open Centers and I wanted to find a way to talk
about the Open Centers to my clients that would wake people up to
the power and the potential the Open Centers hold. If we’re not
completely identified with and hijacked by the pain, if we clear the
filters of the debris we’ve collected, the Open Centers become door-
ways to a world I can only begin to describe.
I notice I’m not talking about the Defined Centers, which have
their own challenges – which we’ll get to when we look at each of
the Centers – but in my story, it was the Open Centers that brought
me to my knees and raised me from the dead. It was in understand-
ing the Open Centers, the pain and possibility they held, that shifted
how I brought Human Design to people.
 I will tell you throughout this book that where you have Defined
Centers you have privilege. You have a ground that those of us with
that Center Open can only dream of. Yes, you’ve got to work with
some issues of stabilizing and managing that Definition. You need to
be in right relationship to it. But Definition is a gift. No two ways
about it. It’s the gift of your form. Openness, while not steady or sta-
ble in the world of form, is magnificent in its own right. One way to
say it is that our Open Centers occupy the formless aspects of
ourselves.
I’m sliding into the conversation of the quantum body here. I dis-
covered that it is in acknowledging and identifying with both the
form and the formless aspects of myself that I enter another expand-
ed dimension of living. Maybe this is getting a little woo. Let me back up.
As I looked at my love of the Open Centers, I started to see how I
had healed a great deal of the pain of those Centers on my long jour-
ney of discovery. I understood that it was the ego’s desperate drive
for stability that compelled us to grab hold of the information that
bombards our Open Centers daily in order to get some ground,
painful though it may be. The healing of the Open Centers rests,
from my personal experience, in stabilizing them, not on the ego, but
on our True Nature, for lack of better words. This is where we step
out of the psychological and into a spiritual dimension. This is
where I say the Open Centers are God Portals, pointing the way to
aspects of ourselves that rest in the great mystery.
Let me use my Open Identity Center as an example. I spent a
large portion of my life trying to prove I was lovable by having an
identity. By being somebody. This is the theme of the Open Identity
Center. The vulnerability of this Center is to feel unlovable. As I did
my work with my various teachers and teachings, (driven by pain) I
came to discover that I am love itself. There is nothing I can do to get
love or lose love. There is no role I can take that will make me lov-
able. I stabilized on being love, rather than rushing to fill the hole of
not being lovable by trying to prove my lovability. This is the healing
of the Open Identity Center. It is not a conceptual understanding. It
is a realization. It changes the whole game of life. How to get there?
That’s another question that we’ll address in the chapters on the
Centers.

Discovering the Quantum Body

 In preschool, I sang the song: Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees,
and toes. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Eyes and ears and a mouth and a
nose. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees, and toes!
I was learning the parts of my body. Later, I learned that I had a
heart and kidneys, bones, muscles, and a lymphatic system. There
was a whole world to discover about the inner workings of my body.
My dad was a doctor, remember? We had anatomically correct rub-
ber replicas of a heart and of the human eye. We had books of anato-
my, and pictures of dissected organs and diseased body parts. When
I got ill with Mono in sixth grade, I learned about white blood cells.
The exploration of the human body and how it functioned was part
of my world.
In my twenties, as I turned to alternative medicine, I began learn-
ing about different healing modalities that portrayed the workings of
the body from different vantages. I learned about the meridians in
my body from getting acupuncture. When I went for homeopathy
for help with my hay fever and menstrual pain, I learned about the
energetics of the body. Studying yoga, I learned about chakras and
the etheric body. In my thirties, I was introduced to Ayurvedic treat-
ments when I was trying to get pregnant. There I learned that my
doshas needed to be in balance. Around that time, I studied
Holographic Repatterning, now called Resonance Repatterning. We
looked at the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body,
and the etheric body. Each had its own system and theory, each
could be healed through frequency, or energetic modalities. In my
forties, when I delved into Tibetan Buddhism there was yet another
elaborate understanding of the body, made of both the physical and
the subtle body elements. In intensive meditation, through direct ex-
perience and pointing out instructions, I became even clearer that I
was not my body, and that I am way bigger than any physical form.
There are so many stories I could tell about experiencing myself
as being more than my physical body. They range from being in the
presence of awakened beings, to qigong, meditation, inquiry, and
bodywork experiences. But perhaps my deepest experience of being
more than my physical body comes from being a death midwife,
witnessing the vast expanse of the unencumbered soul. Those expe-
riences may be the making of another book. For now, what’s impor-
tant for me to share is that, in the same way the Open Centers gave
me a context to understand my pain, they also gave me a context to
understand and name those experiences of being more than a physi-
cal body. When I put together the experiences of my Open Centers
with the experience of my Defined Centers, I understood Human
Design to be the map of what I experience as the quantum body.
There is a saying that all roads lead to Rome. Perhaps it was the
work of my Magnetic Monopole (read Chapter 9 on the Identity
Center) that drew exactly the teachers and teachings from a variety
of backgrounds and modalities that I needed in order to learn how to
clear my filters and to claim my authentic self. These incredible
teachers and teachings taught me to understand the importance of
liberating ourselves from inherited beliefs and merged identities.
The wisdom and support I was given bring me to this moment with
you as I attempt to share the Rome of this book: Your Human Design
chart is not only something external to you that you look at on a
piece of paper or on a computer screen. It is not only a manual for
how to best operate and live your life. Your Human Design chart is
the blueprint of your multi-dimensional holographic quantum body.
We are so much bigger than we can imagine. There is work to do
to recognize and claim our unique self. It’s time to stop diminishing
ourselves. It’s time to stop fighting who we are. It’s time to reclaim
our magnificent quantum selves and take our rightful place in the
order of life.
Here is a partial transcript of a transmission from Dr. Jacqueline
Hobbs, who says, better than I ever could, what Human Design is up
to. She speaks to what we must do in order to claim our sovereignty.
Her overall message is that we must free ourselves from what she
calls our slave state. In my translation, this is our ego dominion over
our essential being. She takes it a bit farther. In any case, I offer this
transmission from her that your path to clearing your filters of your
Open Centers and working with the duality of your Defined Centers
may liberate you to be in alignment with your spark – to be the light-
house you are meant to be.

“…anywhere that you are being weighed down

By the unresolved patterns of someone you are emotionally close to.
Understanding that it is your job to carry only your own frequencies
Continually evaluating what is you and what is not you.
We are all joined, and bonds of affection bring certain personal wavelengths
into close proximity with our own.
 But our overall personal signature is entirely different to the signature of
any other one individual.
Through togetherness we claim the parts of our souls which we are not
embodying or fully living….
Seeking to connect there will then be strength in difference.”

Quantum Human Design™

In Chapter 4, you’ll learn about how Human Design was trans-

mitted to Ra Uru Hu. Hang with me here. The material has an alive-
ness that reveals itself differently to different people. In other words,
there are now various streams of Human Design, just like there are a
variety of streams of Christianity or Buddhism. Some look through a
more mental lens. Some through a more esoteric lens. The stream
that spoke to me and that I have immersed myself in is Karen Curry
Parker’s teachings. She was a student of Ra’s and, through her
unique cognition, grounded Human Design in the frequency of the
heart.
Recently Karen has opened another Human Design door with a
new level of understanding. She calls it Quantum Human Design™.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had time for this new material to seep into
my bones. Otherwise, I would have used the new Quantum Human
Design™ language for the Gates and Channels throughout this book.
As it is, I mention each of Quantum Human Design™ names for the
Centers, and occasionally refer to the Gates in the new language.
What I present here is my own cognition of Human Design based
on Karen’s teachings and grounded on Ra’s information. To my
knowledge, what I refer to as the quantum body is not a traditionally
taught Human Design concept. It is my lived experience touched by
Human Design that I share with you.
That said, and, in perfect cosmic alignment, as I’m doing the final
edits for this book, Karen just announced that she was coming out
with a book this month called The Quantum Human. I look forward to
reading about the quantum human from her lens. Meanwhile, join
me in looking at who you are, as a quantum human body, through
the lens of the Centers!
 3

HOW TO USE THIS

BOOK

I
t’s time to begin your exploration of the Centers and discover
how they point to where you or your clients, family, or friends
are vulnerable to pain and struggle, and where you, or they,
have or can find stability and ground though understanding the
Centers. This is at once a profoundly pragmatic and magically mysti-
cal journey. As I write these words, I feel as though I’m preparing a
speech for an awards ceremony to introduce someone who has won
a major award. The Centers deserve a major award. They deserve a
place at the head table. They deserve to be recognized for their huge
contribution. I think about the discovery of penicillin, and how im-
pactful it has been on the health and well-being of humanity.
Understanding the Centers and utilizing their medicine could have
an equally great impact on the health and well-being of humanity.
What you’re embarking on is that monumental.
But before you set off, a few things need to be in place. You must
first have the map – the big picture of what Human Design is – as
well as an understanding of what role the Centers have in the
Human Design picture. Once those are established, we can zoom in
to experience the depth and breadth of each of the Centers. It is in
this deeper understanding and direct experience of each of the
Centers that the opportunity for healing and transformation is made
readily available.
 I realize some of you reading this book will be more familiar with
Human Design than others. For some, this may be your first foray
into the wilds of Human Design, whereas others of you may already
be using this transformational tool professionally. If you are new to
Human Design, you will want to have a copy of your Human
Design Chart. Go to www.geneticmatrix.com to order your free
chart. You will need to have your birth time, date, and place. To get
the most from this book, it is imperative that you understand Type,
Strategy, and Authority as the foundation of Human Design. I will
touch on the Five Types, Strategy, and Authority in Chapter 4, but I
encourage you to read Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 in my book:
Understanding Your Clients through Human Design. This will give you
a bigger foundational picture than I can offer in this book. You can
download it for free here:
https://www.clientsandhumandesign.com/free-book.
The other important piece I want to make sure is clear is that,
even though the Centers stand on their own, the chart is always part
of a larger whole. Looking at the Centers in this focused way is a
starting point. Eventually, you will want and need to weave the in-
formation you gather from the Centers into the whole of the chart.

WHAT’S IN THE C HAPTER S ?

Just so you have a sense of what lies ahead as you step deeper into
this book and into the waters of the Human Design Centers, let me
lay out the path. In Chapter 4, I will introduce you to the philosophy
and some of the basic mechanics of Human Design. In Chapter 5,
you’ll get an overview and general understanding of the Centers,
what their themes are, how they operate, why they are so central to
the chart and our lives. Chapters 6 through 14 focus specifically on
each Center, beginning with the Head Center.
Here, you’ll get a more in-depth understanding of each Center,
followed by a guided meditation to help you begin to access and em-
body your own Centers in a lived way. These nine chapters look first
at the Defined Center, then at the Undefined Center. In either case,
you’ll learn about the gifts that are offered by the specific Center and
the grapples accompanying that Center, followed by how to work
with that Center, and finally tools to help align with the Center. This
is the meat and potatoes of the book, and the Working with and
Helpful Tools sections are where the rubber hits the road.
In Chapter 15, we’ll take a beginning look at Centers in the chart
as a whole. What happens if someone has a lot of Defined Centers or
Open Centers? We’ll weave in a bit of the dynamics between Defined
Centers in relation to Open Centers. We’ll also look at electromagnet-
ic connections and planetary transits impacting Definition. Don’t
worry if this is Greek to you now. I’ll explain it soon!
In Chapter 16, I’ll discuss some of the challenges you might face
as you look at your chart or someone’s chart. Finally, in Chapter 17,
I’ll share more about why I wrote this book and what my hopes are
for you.
USING THIS BOOK AS A
RESOURCE
Given what is covered in the coming pages, there are several ways
you can use this book to your benefit. You can, of course, devour it,
reading it from cover to cover. My wife, who is not one to tolerate
reading material that is not to the point and easily readable, has thor-
oughly enjoyed reading the draft, finding it helpful for her. So, that
bodes well for you! You could also use this book as a resource,
though I recommend familiarizing yourself with the bigger picture
of Human Design and the Centers before going straight to the
Centers. I bring in a unique perspective that may provide a broader
lens. In any case, have your chart or your client’s chart, or the person
of interest’s chart available as you go through the chapters on the 9
Centers. You could, for example, start at the Head Center, and look
at your chart to see if it’s colored in or white. If it’s colored you have
a Defined Head. Read the intro to the Head Center then read about
the Defined Head. If it’s not colored in but rather white, we call it
Open, or Undefined. In that case, read about the Open Head Center
to understand more about how that Center may be operating in your
life. To anchor what you discover, I recommend keeping a journal of
your revelations as you go through the Centers.

Using This Book as a 9-week Inquiry Course

Another way you could use this book is as a nine-week inquiry

and exploration course into the 9 Centers. Each week, take one of the
Centers. Using your chart, do daily meditation and inquiry into that
Center. Try on different tools to work with that Center. Have the in-
tention of seeing how the Center currently operates in your life, and
how you might more closely align with the possibility it holds for
you.
APPROACHING THI S BOOK
FROM A PLAC E OF
OPENNESS
In any case, I invite you to approach this book, and the chart, with a
spirit of openness. In my early twenties, when I studied Rosen
Method bodywork with Marion Rosen, she talked about the impor-
tance of listening hands. Listening hands let information come in. I
invite you to bring that quality of listening as you read. Let yourself
have a listening mind, a listening heart. Suspend knowing and bring
full curiosity. I don’t presume to have the corner on truth. On the
contrary, I am one of many who have entered into a relationship
with Human Design that is an unending, ever-unfolding exploration
and discovery process. I offer you what I have found to be true and
useful in my thousands of hours of working with people using
Human Design. If I were to write this book next year, it would be a
different book. This is how it should be. Human Design is a living
and breathing quantum system. The trajectory of Human Design is
to shift your authority from an external source back to where it be-
longs – within you. We’re talking about claiming your sovereignty.
So, while I am asking you to be open and curious about what I’m
bringing to the table regarding Human Design – and in particular
the study of the Centers – I’m also trusting you to take what res-
onates and let everything else fall away, like water off a duck’s back.
After all, this is a beginning exploration. A starting point.
Hopefully, this book sets you up to understand more fully where
you and your clients may be vulnerable and have grappled.
Hopefully, this book inspires you to use those grapples to access the
gifts that are your birthright. We are not victims of our charts. Where
there is pain, there is a doorway to transformation. The big questions
I believe the Centers point to are: Where am I trapped in patterns
that are not in alignment with my authentic, essential self? How do I
liberate myself and stabilize in my authentic self? How can I live the
life I am here to live and offer the gifts that are mine to contribute?
As Einstein said:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we
created them.”

To answer these questions, we must go beyond the thinking

mind. We must go beyond the realm of the ego. We must enter into
the quantum realm. I invite you to read this book as if you were
starting on a journey to a new land. Would it be okay to bring an
open mind, an open heart, and your spirit of curiosity? Journey well,
my friend. I look forward to hearing what you discover about your-
self as you travel.
 II

THE UNDERPINNINGS OF HUMAN

DESIGN
 4

THE MECHANICS OF
HUMAN DESIGN

INTRODUCING HUM AN
DESIGN

H
uman Design is a system that was downloaded to a
Canadian fellow named Ra Uru Hu who was on retreat off
the coast of Spain. It was 1987, the Harmonic Convergence,
when he came back to his cabin to discover it was filled with
light beings. The story as I understand it is that for days, these light
beings meticulously transmitted a cascade of information. They said
that Human Design was brought here to support the evolution of
Humanity. It is for everyone, but it is particularly for parents to par-
ent their children. They explained that each person is a unique and
perfectly designed puzzle piece in the giant puzzle of humanity.
Each one of us is needed, as we are designed, to bring our part to the
larger whole. When you try to live someone else’s puzzle piece, you
suffer, and humanity loses out on your gift. If parents know who
their children are from the beginning, they can support their child to
live their design out the gate. This alleviates tremendous efforts and
struggles. Most of us have not had that good fortune. Instead, from a
place of pain, we are compelled take the long journey of letting go of
who we mistook ourselves to be in order to align with our true
nature.
While it would be wonderful if we could be seen and supported
as children to be our authentic selves, it is never too late to make the
turn to come home. Human Design shines a bright light, revealing
those areas that may have wounding, as well as pointing to the path-
ways leading home.

Your Unique Puzzle Piece

Your unique puzzle piece is derived by your birth time, date, and
place. Much like astrology, which in fact is one of the components of
Human Design, where the planets were at the time of your birth in-
forms what your puzzle piece will be. There are many elements that
combine to create your unique puzzle piece including the Chinese I
Ching, the Judaic Kabbalah, the Hindu chakra system, and quantum
physics. Your puzzle piece is a majestic synthesis reflecting a layered
weave of knowledge about you, how you operate, and how you best
function. Your chart – your Human Design bodygraph – is in effect
both a blueprint of and a manual for your puzzle piece. Your body-
graph reveals the makeup of your quantum body. In the same way
that you were born into a physical body, you were also born into a
multidimensional, multi-faceted, holographic quantum body.
Okay. Maybe that sounds a little wild. And to be fair, Human
Design is on the cutting edge, breaking down and through thought
barriers and outdated concepts. It brings in a new vantage of who
we are and how we best operate. Given that understanding, I want
to ask you, for the purpose of this book, to embrace the possibility
that you have a quantum body that you can know and work with for
your benefit. Would you be okay with that? I think it will make more
sense to you as we delve into the Centers.
Just take a momentary glance back to the time before autopsies
when people had no idea what was inside the human body. Once the
map was laid out, the organs, the arteries, and the various systems
that need to be in balance to keep us healthy were revealed. As a re-
sult, our relationship to how to care for ourselves shifted. And with
evolving knowledge we keep upgrading what we eat, how long we
sleep, and what we do to keep our body/ mind/ psyche balanced
and functioning optimally. For example, a friend of mine has Type 1,
or Juvenile Onset Diabetes. She needs insulin to live. If we didn’t un-
derstand the functioning of the body, the spleen’s lack of and need
for insulin in her case, she wouldn’t be living the vital, creative life
she enjoys. Most likely she wouldn’t be living at all.
Knowing your bodygraph is the next evolution of that greater
knowing and understanding of ourselves. Knowing how our quan-
tum body functions enables us to thrive at a level that was perhaps
inconceivable to many of us. And beyond the personal level is the
understanding from a Human Design perspective of how our quan-
tum puzzle piece connects with other quantum puzzle pieces creat-
ing a living, breathing, gigantic, seven-billion-piece quantum puzzle.
Okay. Yikes. Getting pretty out there. Let’s just pause for a second
and remind your brain that you don’t have to comprehend every-
thing at once. Like with the human body, there are layers and layers
of information to learn and discover about your quantum body
through the Human Design Chart. You don’t have to know every-
thing about your body to know that too much sugar is not good for
you or that excess alcohol kills liver cells. Though it did help me to
learn that my amygdala was stuck in the on position after my car ac-
cident. It was relieving to realize my amygdala was sending non-
stop danger messages alerting me to the life-threatening danger it
perceived. No wonder I was feeling under attack. Knowing this
helped me have a context for what my body was doing, seemingly
without my say. It called on me to strengthen my witnessing observ-
er so I could work with the trauma rather than be caught in it. There
are parallels with the quantum body. Once you see how you’re being
impacted, because of how you’re designed, you too can use tools like
the witnessing observer to stabilize your response.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about the basic
premise of Human Design.

The Basic Premise of Human Design

 So, your chart – your puzzle piece – your quantum body is per-
fectly designed. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with you.
You are basic goodness. You are unique. You are needed exactly as
you are designed. I can remember Lama Palden, my Tibetan
Buddhist teacher, telling us how the Dalai Lama was so perplexed by
the Westerners. He would sit with some of the greatest scientists and
they would tell him that they had low self-esteem. This confounded
him. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is the understanding that each per-
son is fundamentally good. There is not a story of the fall of Adam
and Eve. There is no story of being born into sin. There is no shame
of being human. Human Design looks at life through a similar lens
as the Dalai Lama does. You are not bad. You are not deficient. Your
incarnation is a precious human birth, as the Buddhists would say.
And your multi-faceted, multi-dimensional quantum body is a
wonder to behold. It is designed to interact with the environment
and others interdependently. It has its own breath, its own filtration
system. Like our physical body, we can either be in harmony with
our Design, with our quantum body, or we can disregard and disre-
spect it – with consequences. It is here where we suffer. Being out of
alignment with our operating system wreaks havoc in our lives.
When we try to be other than who we are, we degrade ourselves. We
suffer. When the ego is put at the helm, at some point disaster will
strike.

Differentiation is Key

From a Human Design perspective, we need you to be you. In

that way, you complete the whole puzzle. There are no hierarchies in
Human Design. No puzzle piece is any better than another. There are
differences, yes. And our culture does idealize some traits and capac-
ities more than others. But the truth is differentiation is important. It
provides a rich and vital tapestry. Differentiation allows for a much-
needed dynamic complexity. The first layer of differentiation in this
puzzle shows up in the Five Types. If you were looking at a puzzle,
you might first see the sky, the water, the land, the buildings, and
people. From there you would start to differentiate: clouds, and
waves and mountains and homes, adults, children. As you look clos-
er, you see more and more detail. The Human Design puzzle is like
that with ever-deepening layers of complexity. Before we zoom in on
the Centers as an aspect of the puzzle, it’s important to name basic,
fundamental Human Design pieces that begin the differentiation
process. These are fundamental to any discussion on the Centers. But
before we can introduce the bigger puzzle pieces, we have to look at
the mechanics of the chart, so you know what you’re looking at. This
is the geeky part. Hang in there. It’s like learning a language. Once
you get the basics, a whole world of understanding becomes
available.

THE PIECES OF THE C HAR T

The Neutrino Stream

It all starts with the neutrino stream. In quantum physics, the

name neutrino means “little neutral one.” Neutrinos are tiny sub-
atomic particles traveling close to the speed of light that are similar
to electrons but have no electrical charge and very little, if any, mass.
They are the most abundant particle in the universe and trillions of
them stream through our body day and night. According to science,
its possible neutrinos are the reason that matter exists. So, let’s look
at that.
At the moment of your birth, the neutrino stream flowed through
the planets, picking up the energies of the planets that were transit-
ing through some combination of the 64 Hexagrams. Bear with me
here, there’s a bit information that’s helpful to understand. If you’re
familiar with astrology, at the time of your birth, the planets were in
some configuration above and below the horizon, placed within the
twelve houses and twelve astrological signs. In Human Design, in-
stead of the planets placed in the houses and signs, they are placed
in some combination of the 64 Hexagrams of the I Ching. So, let’s
talk about the I Ching.
The I Ching Hexagrams

The I Ching is an ancient system of divination often called The

Book of Wisdom. It is comprised of 64 Hexagrams. Each hexagram is
made of six parallel whole or broken lines. The whole, or solid, lines
are yang or masculine. The broken lines are yin or feminine.

The first hexagram is six solid lines, the most yang/ masculine ex-
pressive energy in the chart:

Chart #1 The First Hexagram

The second hexagram is six broken lines, the most yin/ feminine or
receptive energy in Human Design:
 Chart #2 The Second Hexagram

The third hexagram is a combination of solid and broken lines, as are

the remaining sixty-one hexagrams:
 Chart #3 The Third Hexagram

Each hexagram has a meaning, containing certain information.

The first hexagram, for example, the most yang/ masculine energy
in the chart, has to do with the strong energy of making a creative
contribution. I think of the first hexagram like sperm, out to create.
The second hexagram is the most yin/ feminine energy in the chart
and has to do with receptivity. Think of the egg or the womb. The
third hexagram is like the first child. It’s called Difficulty at the
Beginning. When you think of a child, it takes time before the child
matures enough to contribute to society. It takes time for the child to
be in the world on its own.

The Planets
 Traditional Human Design works with twelve planets (including
the Earth), as well as the North and South Nodes. As in astrology,
each of the planets has a certain theme and carries a particular
energy.

Sun: What you’re here to express and give to the world

Earth: What grounds you
North Node: Your life theme following your Uranus
Opposition (between age thirty-eight and forty-four)
South Node: Your life theme before your Uranus Opposition
Moon: What drives you
Mercury: Communication. What you like to talk about, learn
about
Venus: What you value within yourself and others in terms of
the feminine aspect
Mars: A potent yang/ masculine force – immaturity that
needs to develop
Jupiter: Expansion, blessings – where you offer your gifts and
receive blessings
Saturn: The Great Teacher – where we are called to be in
integrity
Kiron: The wounded healer – where we are wounded, trans-
form the wounding, and help others with that wounding
Uranus: Where you are unique – surprising, unexpected
energy
Neptune: Our spiritual path
Pluto: Transformation, expansion – where we experience the
depth of life through cycles of birth and death (release)

Putting Together the Planets and the Hexagrams

Circling back around, at the time of your birth, your planets were
in some combination of those 64 Hexagrams. The hexagrams each
carry an information packet of meaning, and each planet has a
theme or its own energetic information system. The Sun, with the
biggest energy in your chart, has the theme of expressing, or shining
who you are out into the world. The neutrinos bind the energy of the
planet with the hexagram which creates a combo energy. Say, for in-
stance, that at the time of your birth, the Sun was in the first hexa-
gram. When you combine the energy of making a creative contribu-
tion with the Sun expressing into the world, we could imagine that a
big part of your life most likely revolves around the theme of mak-
ing or attempting to make a creative contribution in the world. If
your Sun was in a different hexagram, your experience walking
through the world would be quite different. For example, if your
Sun was in the 51 st Hexagram, which carries the energy of shock, the
biggest energy in your chart would involve shocking people.

Chart #4 Hexagrams and Planets

Creating Definition

Just to make sure we’re on the same page here – each planet has a
theme, and each hexagram has a theme. The Definition in your chart
is born from that combination of the neutrino stream picking up the
energies of the planets in the hexagrams at the moment of your birth.
Let me say that again. The Definition in your chart comes from the
neutrino stream picking up the energy of the planets in the hexa-
grams at the moment of your birth. This is the act of creating the
form aspect of your quantum bodygraph. We call this moment of
your birth the conscious aspect of your chart.

Conscious and Unconscious Definition

I’m going to explain the Conscious and Unconscious aspects of

the chart so you can look at the chart and have a clear sense of how
it’s created. Keep in mind, the conscious and unconscious Definition
is not crucial to the bigger conversation we’re headed toward on the
Centers.
When you look at your chart, you’ll see two sets of numbers; one
set is black, the other red. Those numbers are the hexagrams. Next to
those hexagrams are the symbols depicting the planets. The black
numbers indicate which hexagrams your planets were in at the time
of your birth. We consider this energy conscious. You will undoubt-
edly recognize it in yourself when you hear that your Conscious
Sun, for example, is in the first hexagram, which we name Gate 1.
These energies in black create the aspect of our quantum form that
we’re conscious of. Just a reminder that if you’re reading this as a pa-
perback, this book is printed in black and white so you will not see
the colors on the charts here.
In the same way that at the moment of our birth the neutrino
stream picked up the energies of the planets in the hexagrams and
created our conscious quantum body form, the same process hap-
pened three months prior to our birth. The neutrino stream picked
up energy of the planets in the hexagrams and created the Definition
of our unconscious quantum body form. This information is record-
ed in the second set of numbers which are in red on the left. We
speak of this prior date as the moment when the soul landed. When
the unconscious information from the unconscious aspects of your
chart is reflected to you, you will most likely recognize it in yourself,
though you may not walk around identifying yourself in that way.
 When we transpose these black and red numbers of the planets
in the hexagrams at your birth and three months prior to your birth
onto the chart we get your unique blueprint. We get your body-
graph. The map of you. This is the energy pattern that will be consis-
tent throughout your life. This is your Definition. Your Definition
shows up in three ways: as Hanging Gates, as Channels, or in the
Centers.
There are 64 Gates (since there are 64 Hexagrams in the I Ching),
36 Channels, and 9 Centers. Gates can either be what’s called
Hanging, when they’re on their own, or Channels when they join to-
gether with another Gate.

Hanging Gates

Whenever half the Channel is colored in and the other half of the
Channel is white, we call it a Hanging Gate. It doesn’t matter if the
gate is black or red, or both black and red; if it only fills half the
Channel, it is a Hanging Gate.

Chart #5 Hanging Gates

Channels

When two Gates (or hexagrams) come together, they create what
we call a Channel. There are 64 Gates which come together to create
36 Channels. In terms of determining Definition, it doesn’t matter if
the Gates are black, red, or both black and red. What matters is that
they come together, completing that piece of the circuit. Wherever
there is a Channel, the Centers on either side become Defined. We’ll
get to Centers in the next chapter, but first let’s make sure you un-
derstand Circuitry as each of these Circuits has a theme.

Chart #6 Channels

Individual, Tribal, and Collective Circuitry

To add a little more complexity to the picture, each of those

Channels creates different Circuits on the bodygraph. The Circuitry
is connected to the evolutionary process. This is another book wait-
ing to be written. For now, let me give you a first introduction, be-
cause I will be referring to the Circuitry throughout the book. To
make it simple, there are fundamentally three kinds of circuits:
Individual, Tribal, and Collective.

Individual Circuitry

Individual Circuitry is mutative. Its job in the evolutionary

process is to bring something new to humanity.

Chart #7 Individual Circuitry

Tribal Circuitry
 Tribal Circuitry is passionate and emotional. Its task in the evolu-
tionary process is to ensure the survival of the tribe and everything
that entails. This includes the energy of procreation, business, sales,
agreements, war, food, and education.

Chart #8 Tribal Circuitry

Collective Circuitry

Collective Circuitry is about sharing information. It’s concerned

with structures, government, school systems, laws, rules, and regula-
tions. All of this will be pertinent as we go forward.

Chart #9 Collective Circuitry

 Now that you have a big picture understanding of some of the
map of Human Design, let’s take a brief look at the big puzzle
pieces, the Five Types, along with their Strategy and Authority.
These are foundational to our work with the Centers.

THE FIVE TY PE S
In the Human Design puzzle, there are basically five different kinds
of puzzle pieces, called Types. Which means you and everyone you
know are either a Generator, Manifesting Generator, Manifestor,
Projector, or a Reflector. If you’re not yet familiar with the Types, I’ll
give a brief overview, but please go read my first book Understanding
Your Clients through Human Design. The focus of that book is to ex-
plain the Types and how to work with them.
 Chart #10 The Five Types

Your Type – along with what’s called your Strategy and

Authority – form the basis of the quantum Human Design body-
graph. They define your puzzle piece and are the first and founda-
tional layer of knowledge you need in order to understand your op-
erating system. Each Type has a Strategy, a particular operating sys-
tem, and optimal way of navigating the world. Each Type is paired
with what’s called Authority, which gives you the manual on how
you best make decisions. It’s essential that you are following your
Type, Strategy, and Authority in order to work with your Centers.
Many of the problems we encounter with the Centers come as a re-
sult of not being aligned with our fundamental puzzle piece.
 Just to weave things together here a bit, your Type, Strategy, and
Authority are determined by which of the Centers in your chart are
Open or Defined, and which of your Defined Channels go to which
Centers. The important thing to know for our purposes is that we
cannot look at the Centers without taking into account your Type,
Strategy, and Authority. Are you in alignment with them? This is the
question that we will revisit throughout this book. Where you are
not in alignment with your Type, Strategy, and Authority, you’ll find
you cannot access the potential gifts of the Centers.
For those of you new to Human Design, here is a brief overview
of the gifts and strategies of the Five Types followed by the Four
Authorities. Don’t worry if this sounds like Greek. I include it in case
you need to refer back to it.

The Five Types and Their Strategies

Generators

Generators have Defined Sacral Centers and no Motor to the

Throat Center. The Generator Strategy is to respond.

Generator Gifts:
Sustainable energy
Inner GPS
Responsive nature
Proclivity to find and master their life’s work
Relational capacity

Manifesting Generators

Manifesting Generators are fundamentally Generators. They

have a Defined Sacral like Generators. They also have the Manifestor
aspect of a Motor to the Throat Center. Therefore, they have the at-
tributes of the Generator (see above) with the power of the
Manifestor. The Manifesting Generator Strategy is to respond (Gen-
erator) and inform (Manifestor).
 Additional Manifesting Generator Gifts:
Being heard and manifesting
Impacting people and situations
Empowering people
Capacity to act on their own
Being prolific
Multi-tasking

Manifestors

Manifestors have an Open Sacral Center and a Motor to the

Throat Center. The Manifestor Strategy is to inform.

Manifestor Gifts:
Initiating action
Impacting
Speaking and being heard
Acting independently
Leadership

Projectors

Projectors have an Open Sacral Center and no Motor to the

Throat Center. The Projector Strategy is to wait for the invitation.

Projector Gifts:
Quality of being
Magnetic
Strategic maturity
Wise guides of humanity
Leaders of the future

Reflectors

Reflectors have no Centers Defined. The Reflector Strategy is to

wait twenty-nine days before acting or making decisions.
 Reflector Gifts:
Clear mirrors
Fluidity
Oneness with nature
Knowledge
Connected to all things – awakening

AUTHORITY I N THE C HAR T

Along with Type and Strategy, Authority is central to working with
your unique puzzle piece. It is inextricably connected to your
Centers. Authority shows you how to best make decisions given
your design. Again, this is beyond the scope of this book to address
fully. I will say that there are numerous ways people break down
Authority. I’ve simplified it to four basic kinds of Authority.

Emotional Authority
Sacral Authority
Splenic Authority
No Authority

If you have Emotional Authority, you have a Defined Emotional

Solar Plexus Center. You will need to determine what kind of emo-
tional wave you have: Individual, Tribal, or Collective. You will then
have the job of working with that wave. With this Authority, you are
not designed to make spontaneous decisions. You can also refer to
Chapter 12 in my book Understanding Your Clients through Human
Design for more information about the waves.
If you have Sacral Authority, you do not have a Defined
Emotional Solar Plexus Center but you do have a Defined Sacral
Center. You are designed to make decisions in the moment by listen-
ing to your Sacral yeses and noes.
If you have Splenic Authority, you do not have a Defined
Emotional Solar Plexus, nor a Defined Sacral, but you do have a
Defined Spleen. You are designed to listen intently to your intuition
and follow it.
If you have No Authority, your Emotional Solar Plexus, Sacral,
and Spleen Centers are all Undefined. You will do best if you can
talk out your thoughts with someone who is neutral. In this way,
you can hear yourself and get clarity.

RECAP
In this chapter, we began the conversation of how Human Design
came into being and its philosophy that everyone is perfectly de-
signed. We’ve clarified that each person is a unique and valuable
piece of the puzzle of humanity. We’ve acknowledged the impor-
tance of differentiation. We’ve introduced the mechanics of Human
Design: the neutrino stream, the I Ching hexagrams, the planets,
Conscious and Unconscious Definition, Hanging Gates, Channels,
and Circuitry. We touched on how Centers become Defined. We
looked briefly at Type, Strategy, and Authority as the basis of the
Human Design puzzle. We’ve noted that the Type, Strategy, and
Authority will be woven into the conversation about the Centers.
You’ll find that I often only refer to Strategy and Authority. Type is
inferred from Strategy. There are many more layers of the puzzle
that have vital bits of information that impact and reveal the design
of your unique quantum body. But for our purposes, we are focusing
on the Centers and the riches they provide.
In the next chapter, we’ll dive into the Centers. Hopefully, you’re
not too flooded with information and this crazy picture with shapes
and colors will begin to make more sense to you!
 5

THE CENTERS – A
FIRST LOOK

INTRODUCING TH E
CENTERS

W
hen you look at your Human Design chart, the first thing
you notice is the Centers. They are the nine triangle, dia-
mond, and square shapes that are either colored in green,
yellow, red, or brown, which we call Defined. Or they are
not colored but instead are white, which we call Undefined or Open.
These Centers are magical doorways.
In this chapter, we’ll look at what Centers are, what makes a
Center Defined or Undefined, and what the implications are in a
broader scope. This will set the stage for the deeper, chapter by chap-
ter dive into each Center.
Each Center is a hub, similar to the chakras, holding a certain fre-
quency or energy information system. Each Center has a particular
meaning and function. Whether these Centers are Defined (colored
in) or Undefined (white) tells us a lot about a person. It tells us
which of the Five Types a person is. Definition and Openness in the
Centers reveal what a person’s strengths and vulnerabilities are, and
what areas they’ve most likely been conditioned to believe they’re
someone other than who they are. The Centers offer a world of infor-
mation into who we are, what we may grapple with, and what our
gifts might be. They are both the map and the portals into the map of
our multidimensional holographic quantum selves. Each center pro-
cesses a particular kind of energy. Here is a chart of the Centers and
a list of what energy each Center is processing.

Chart #11 The Centers

The Head Center: Inspiration and ideas, a pressure center

The Ajna Center: Processes information
Throat Center: Manifestation and articulation
G Center/ Identity Center: Self-love, direction in life, identity
Will Center: Capacity to commit, value, material world
(motor)
Sacral Center: Sustainable energy (motor)
Emotional Solar Plexus Center: Emotional energy (motor)
Root Center: Adrenalized energy (motor), a pressure center
 Spleen Center: Intuition, fear, time, and immune system

The Four Motors

Just to complicate things a bit, there are different kinds of

Centers. Four of the Centers are called Motors. These are the Sacral
Center, the Root Center, the Emotional Solar Plexus Center, and the
Will Center. The Motors generate energy and operate in a particular
way. You’ll hear more of the details of the different Motors when we
go into the Centers individually. For now, just be aware of which of
the four Centers are Motors.

Chart #12 Four Motors

The Three Awareness Centers

There are also three Awareness Centers: the Spleen Center, the
Ajna Center, and the Emotional Solar Plexus Center (which is also a
Motor). Each of these Centers focuses on a particular kind of con-
sciousness. The Spleen Center has a body consciousness and is fo-
cused on the survival of the body and survival intelligence. The Ajna
has a mind consciousness and is concerned with mental intelligence.
The Emotional Solar Plexus has a spirit consciousness and is focused
on awareness. Again, we will look more closely at this in the individ-
ual chapters on these Centers.

Open and Defined Centers

Centers become Defined (colored in) when two Gates join and
form a Channel. The Centers on either side of that Channel automat-
ically become colored in or Defined. If, on the other hand, the Center
has no Channels, it is left white and is then Undefined or Open. You
will have some combination of Defined and Open Centers in your
chart, unless you are in the 1 percent of the population, called
Reflectors, who have all their Centers Undefined. There are also a
small number of people who have all their Centers Defined. We call
these unusual charts 9 and 0.

Chart #13 Open and Defined Centers and Channels

Defined Centers Broadcast

 Everything we’ve just discussed so far has laid the groundwork
so we can now step into the power and the mystery of the Centers.
Let’s start with Definition in your chart.
Where you are Defined in your chart – whether it is a Center, a
Channel or a Gate – you are broadcasting those energies 24/7. This
energy is always on. There’s nothing you have to do to broadcast.
The energies are the broadcast. Where you are Defined, you have
consistent access to yourself through these energies. Your Definition
gives you a sense of ground. This is energy you can count on. It’s fa-
miliar, it’s where you know yourself. With your Definition, you have
substance. Your Defined energy is your quantum form body which
interacts with the world. Whether you’re aware of it or not, it oper-
ates as an externalizing force. This is your yang energy. There’s a po-
tential potency and a possibility of impact with Definition. There’s a
strength in meeting the world. In your Definition, there’s a kind of
recognizable embodiment.

Defined Energy Carries a Consistent Theme and Operates in Duality

I want to pause here for a moment and say that where we are
Defined, we consistently carry the theme of that energy. There’s a
certain kind of privilege or abundance related to the theme of the
Center that is accessible to Defined Centers. But let’s be clear. It’s the
theme of that energy, and it operates on a continuum. This means
you can either have that energy or not have it. You can use it or mis-
use it. Either way, the theme is at play. Let me use the example of
Gate 63, the Gate of Doubt. This is a Gate that comes off the Head
Center and is the beginning of the left-brain Logic Circuit. If you
have that Gate Defined in your chart, you’re designed to doubt
things. It’s a gift. I have that Gate and I can sniff who or what teach-
ers or teachings are authentic. I can see what paths make logical
sense for me to try. Using that energy to interface with the world, es-
pecially when I’m listening to my Generator Strategy and honoring
my yeses and noes, gives me a ground and supports my path.
However, if, or when, I turn that energy on myself and doubt myself,
then that same energy becomes poison in my system. I experience an
immediate superego attack. We are not, after all, logical beings. Logic
is not an energy that should be used to question ourselves.
 The Defined areas in our chart operate in the realm of duality –
good or bad and right or wrong. The task with Definition involves
working with polarities. We’ll explore this more in depth when we
look specifically at how to work with aligning with our Definition.
This, you’ll see, is different from the process of working with our
Openness. With Openness in our chart, we are not working in the
realm of duality or polarity.
Let me use another example. Imagine for a moment that the
Defined Centers in your chart are like White men. They have a cer-
tain amount of privilege and power. They have testes that are sperm
factories. They are creating by going out into the world and impact-
ing it. Now, some of those men may be wealthier than others. Some
may have different financial inequities. Some men may have more
position and power than other men. They may have higher or lower
sperm count. But they are still men. Their privilege grants them cer-
tain rights, such as higher pay and easier access to power positions
than women. Generally speaking, a woman in our culture will have
to be twice as smart as a man to get the same CEO job. She’s vulnera-
ble in ways men simply are not. I’ll continue this analogy in a mo-
ment when we look at Openness in the chart. But for now, let’s con-
tinue to get a sense of Definition in our chart, in our quantum body.

We Are Both Defined and Open

One way to approach our quantum body through our Human

Design Chart is to see that we are both yang and yin. We are both
Defined and Open. We are both particle and wave. Our job is to dis-
cover how to utilize the gift of our Definition and Openness to be
aligned, rather than at war with the puzzle piece we’ve been given.
When we embrace the privileged parts of our Design – the Definition
– and learn to use them according to our Strategy and Authority,
they provide a ground and stability in our lives. They are powerful
forces. They give us purpose, direction, and well, definition. They
enable us to move through life in flow and with ease. In your
Definition, you recognize yourself. How skillful you are with your
Definition determines your experience of pain or empowerment in
relation to your Definition.
 The more I embrace my Definition, the clearer my path becomes.
For example, I’ve got my Conscious Sun in Gate 3, which is called
Difficulty at the Beginning. Really? My biggest energy in the chart is
difficulty at the beginning? That was hard to hear. At least my ego
didn’t think that sounded very good. I’ve also got Neptune, my spir-
itual path, in Gate 28, the Gate of Struggle. That was really a downer
at first. But you’ve read my story. It makes sense, right? I’m here to
have difficulty at the beginning, which I did, because I’m bringing in
new mutative energy. I didn’t feel like I belonged on the planet. I
was in effect, from the future, bringing something new that took
time to be recognized. As far as having struggle as my spiritual path,
I'm designed to struggle and help others with their struggles. Once I
got on board with this, I stopped making myself wrong for my
struggles and started using those energies consciously. I began to re-
spect what I bring into the world in the timing it comes (writing this
book in my sixties!). I treasure all the struggles I’ve had. They’ve
helped me understand people’s suffering from the inside out. My
struggles taught me not be afraid of pain. Those struggles were fuel
for my transformation, which I, in turn, offer as service.
I’ve come to love and appreciate my Definition. It’s an ever-deep-
ening process of leaning into it. My Definition holds the ground for
my Openness. I’ll explain more about this later. My hope is that, at
this point, you’re getting very curious about your Definition and
how aligned you are with it. I hope you are wondering how well
you’re utilizing your Definition. I hope you’re ready to learn what
your definition says about you and how it might support you.

The Open Centers

As I said, “I love my Definition.” But even with all the ground,

direction, and privilege my Definition provides, the Openness in my
chart, in my quantum body, is my true love. It holds a mystery con-
tinuously waiting to be discovered.
As we talked about earlier, the Definition in our chart is where
we are broadcasting ourselves in the world. On the other hand, the
Openness in our chart is where we are receiving all those broadcasts
from the people around us as well as from the energy of the transit-
ing planets (See Chapter 15.). We could say that our Definition is our
outbreath, while our Openness is our inbreath.
Where we’re Undefined or Open, we’re taking the world in. This
energy is fluid and flexible. It’s variable. It is the formless aspect of
our quantum body. Our Openness is the place where we don’t know
ourselves as an ego or as a body. Our Openness is the yin balance to
the yang definition. Like the womb that creates from receiving, our
Openness holds the mystery of life. It is the vast fluctuating un-
known. And it is part of who we are as much as our form. Our
Definition is part of who we are. Together they make a whole. The
form has been privileged. Most of us don’t walk around aware of
ourselves as ginormous ever-expanding beings embodying the limit-
less unknown. We condense ourselves into the known. We have no
clue who we are. Most of us don’t recognize how magnificent we ac-
tually are. We haven’t begun to tap into the possibilities this precious
birth and this quantum body offer us. Clearly, I feel a tremendous
passion and excitement about the Open Centers!

Open Centers as Pain Points

In the traditional understanding of Human Design, our

Openness – especially as far as the Centers go – are our pain points.
Understandably so. They are where we are conditioned. Think about
it. Our ego does not like the unknown. It would rather have pain
than emptiness. At least pain is something. In our Open Centers, we
grab hold of things – thoughts, feelings, fears, lack of value, and
pressure. This gives us a sense of identity where we have none. We
create whole worlds by taking on and wrapping around beliefs that
don’t even belong to us. We are conditioned by our parents, family,
teachers, friends, culture, and ancestry. The pain we experience is the
pain of identifying with what Ra called the Not Self. In Buddhism,
the teaching is that all suffering comes from a misidentification or
taking ourselves to be something we’re not. With the Open Centers,
we get caught in the comparing mind as we look around and see
that people with Definition in the places we’re Open have something
we don’t have. We tell the story we’re deficient, and we believe
something is wrong with us.
Accessing the Hidden in Jewel in the Open Centers

Our Open Centers are like filters taking in the world and sorting
through what comes in. The job with the Open Centers is to filter out
and become wise about the information you’re processing – whether
it’s the ideas that the Head Center processes, or the emotions that the
Emotional Solar Plexus processes, or any of the other Centers. But to
become wise, we have to be able to differentiate what is ours versus
what is another’s. We have to have a strong witnessing observer. We
have to be detached. We have to be comfortable with our Openness.
We have to be married to our Strategy and Authority. We have to un-
derstand that while the Defined Centers provide consistent access to
the known, the Open Centers provide access to pure possibility. This
is not an easy task.
And yet, there is a jewel hidden in each of the Open Centers and
our job is to clear the debris so we can access it. Each one of the
Open Centers could be seen as a spiritual path. Each Open Center
holds the possibility of truly letting go into the formless and access-
ing the all of life. This is a different process than working with the
duality and polarity found in Definition. It is more like going into
the hole to discover the whole.
And it is not easy. It is not easy in the same way it is not easy to
be a woman in a man’s world. But I wouldn’t trade my female gen-
der. There is a power in being a woman that a person in a man’s
body will never know. And, in a way, as I write this, I’m aware this
analogy is outdated as the gender spectrum collapses. But I think it
still it works.

We Have Access to All of the Chart, However…

My Human Design mentor, Karen Curry Parker, assures us that

we all have everything in the chart. She teaches that where you are
Open in your chart doesn’t mean you are lacking that energy. She
sees the Open Centers more like baskets that you put a lot of things
into and choose what you want. She explains that with Openness,
you get to be wise about if and how you use the energy. I understand
that perspective. I can appreciate that the Open Centers are a kind of
tasting ground to see what you like and what you don’t like, what
you want to keep and what you want to let go of. It’s true that we
have access to all the energies even though they are not consistent or
sustainable.
However, as someone with an Open Identity Center, I have a rad-
ically different experience of the world than someone with a Defined
Identity Center. When I compare my Openness to being born a girl
into a predominantly male family, it’s clear that I do not have a pe-
nis. I will never have a penis. My experience as a girl was fundamen-
tally different than my brothers’ experience of life because they had
penises. Even if I did transition gender and have constructive
surgery to have a penis, I still cannot make sperm. A man does not
(yet anyway) have the capacity to carry and birth children. Likewise,
I will never have a Defined Head, Ajna, Throat, Identity, or Will
Center. I can have penis envy, or I can explore and value the gifts of
being a woman. I can feel deficient and tell a story that my life is
screwed because of my Open Centers, or I can discover the power
that lies in wait in the unsolvable mystery of who I am. Having a
Defined Center is not better than having an Open Center. They are
just different, and we need to honor the differences.
An important thing to keep in mind is that every puzzle piece
has both Defined and Undefined aspects. We are both yin and yang.
Our Defined and Open Centers, Channels, and Gates electromagnet-
ically connect with others. We rely on one another, and just as we
rely on the sperm to enter the womb and meet the egg to continue
our species, we rely on the Defined aspects of ourselves to intermin-
gle, if you would, with the Open aspects of others and vice versa. It
is like a giant lovemaking of sorts. Each one of us is our own living,
breathing, quantum-embodied universe which then connects with
the whole of living, breathing, quantum-embodied universes, mak-
ing one inseparable whole quantum puzzle.

Electromagnetics

How Definition impacts Openness, either through planetary tran-

sits or in human relationship, is referred to as electromagnetics. It’s a
fascinating study unto itself that we can only briefly touch on here.
Basically, wherever you have a Hanging Gate, you’re electromagneti-
cally drawn to people who have the other half of that Channel to
complete it – to create the full circuit. If you have the Gate 53 Starting
Things, Defined off your Root Center, and I have the Gate 42
Finishing Things, Defined off my Sacral Center, when we connect,
we have access to the whole Channel. If you have an Open Sacral
and Open Root and those Gates connect to form a Channel, then you
have access to both root and sacral energy. This gives you a boost.
But it’s not sustainable. We’ll go a little further into this in Chapter
15.

Working with the Open Centers

Let me just talk a little bit more about the work required with the
Open Centers. The first task is to see them for what they are. The
Open Centers are the formless aspect of yourself that is fluid, open,
receiving, and most likely full of unfiltered garbage. Understand
where they are causing you pain and investigate. Understand that
there are ways to clear the filters and develop new relationships with
your Open Centers. The next task is to do the work to clean those fil-
ters. As you do, a new light comes in. A new world is born. The
Open Centers become what I call God Portals – or doorways to our
essential selves. The question then becomes how to stabilize the
Open Centers on the truth of who we are. In the Diamond Work, we
call it The Turn. It’s the shift from identifying with our egoic pattern-
ing to identifying with our True Nature. This is a powerful gift that
the Open Centers provide.

Using Human Design to Embody the Whole of Us

There are many remarkable and life-altering gifts that are ac-
cessed through knowing, understanding, and utilizing our Human
Design. One of the biggest gifts comes from understanding through
the Centers that we are both form and formless. The Definition and
Openness in the Centers call us to a new kind of embodiment. It’s
time to recognize and embody our multi-dimensional, holographic
body. We can no longer afford to split off from our formless aspect
any more than we can afford to walk around in a dissociated state.
It’s time to heal our traumas. It’s time to show up in the fullness of
who we are. It’s time to live our piece of the puzzle.
Diving into the Center’s Gifts and Grapples

In the next nine chapters, we’ll look at each of the Centers in

depth. I’ll begin with an introduction to the Center, followed by a
meditation to begin to plant the seed of experiencing the Center as
an embodied experience. Next, I’ll introduce the Defined aspect of
the Center, its gifts, its challenges (or grapples), followed by how to
work with the Defined Center and what tools you might consider to
aid you. Following the Defined Center, I’ll introduce the Open
Center aspect. Instead of starting with the gifts, as I did with the
Defined Centers, I start with the grapples. This is purposeful. The
pain of the Open Centers is generally the presenting issue in most
charts. From the grapples, we’ll explore the gifts that particular
Open Center offers. Next, I’ll share my thoughts regarding the God
Portal for that Center. Finally, we look at how to work with that
Open Center and helpful tools to support you and your clients. So,
now begins the immersion into the deep end.
 III

GIFTS AND GRAPPLES

 6

GETTING TO KNOW
THE HEAD CENTER

Chart #14 Head Center

INTRODUCING TH E H E AD
CENTER

W
e begin our exploration into the Centers with the Head
Center. This is the top triangle on the bodygraph. If the tri-
angle is colored yellow, then it is Defined. If the triangle is
white, it is Undefined, or Open. The Head Center is gener-
ating inspirations, thoughts, and ideas. It’s asking and pondering the
big questions in life: How? Why? and What? The Head Center is one
of two pressure Centers in the chart. In this pressure system, as ques-
tions arise, the immediate pressure to answer them also arises, al-
most simultaneously. Whether the Head Center is Defined or
Undefined in a chart will determine how that pressure impacts a
person. We’ll talk more about that later in the chapter.

What Is Unique to the Head Center

There are a few things that only show up in regard to the Head
Center:

The Head Center only connects to one Center - the Ajna.

The Head Center only has three Gates.
The Head Center is not motorized.
The Head Center is not a decision-making Center.

The Head Center Only Connects to One Center – the Ajna

For now, there are a few important things to keep in mind with
the Head Center. The first thing to note is that the Head Center is
unique in that the only Center it connects to is the Center directly be-
low it, the Ajna Center. All the other Centers in the chart connect to
multiple other Centers. So, what does that mean? The Ajna Center
and the Head Center are intricately connected. The Head Center has
questions, thoughts, and inspirations. The Ajna attempts to process
the information, to bring it from the conceptual realm into a prag-
matic, usable form. They work in tandem. You’ll learn more about
this when you read the next chapter on the Ajna Center.

The Head Center Only Has Three Gates

Chart #15 Head Center Gates

The second unique aspect of the Head Center is that it only has
three Gates coming off of it. These are Gates 64, 61, and 63. This is
important, so I’m going to take a moment to flesh out those Gates.
Our focus will be on the three types of questions the Head Center is
asking and looking to answer. As you read this, check your chart or
your client’s chart to see which, if any, of these Gates are Defined.
The Head Center is reaching into the unknown, trying to make
sense of life. It’s under pressure to know. It attempts to know by ask-
ing three questions from three different perspectives. Each of these
questions is connected to one of those three Gates.

Gate 64 Asks the Question How?

 The Gate on the left is Gate 64. This Gate is called Confusion in
traditional Human Design. In Karen Curry Parker’s Quantum
Human Design™ language, she calls it Divine Transference. This
Gate is part of the right brain Sensing Circuit. It is under pressure to
make sense of the past. It is trying to resolve chaos and confusion.
The right brain operates through an abstract lens in a non-linear way,
often using symbols and dreams to communicate. It offers big down-
loads of information that may take years to unpack or fully compre-
hend. The questions generated from this Gate revolve around the
question How. How do you manifest your big dreams? How do you
take the information from the past and use it to go forward safely?
How do you make sense of the download you’ve been given? This
can be disorienting and confusing energy. This is especially true if
you are viewing it through a logical lens. Thus, the name: The Gate
of Confusion.

Gate 61 Asks the Question Why?

If you or a client has Gate 61 Defined, the middle Gate coming

from your Head will be colored red, black, or both red and black.
Here you are dealing with the Individual Knowing Circuitry. This is
mutative in nature and is here to bring some new thought or new
awareness to the planet. This Gate is called Mystery in traditional
Human Design. It’s known as the Gate of Mystery or Wonder in
Quantum Human Design™. Thoughts generated from this Gate are
way ahead of their time. With this energy defined, you can know
things. You don’t know how you know, but you know. Regardless of
what anyone else says, you know things.
This Gate is reaching into the mind of God. It is attempting to
know the mysteries of life. This Gate is asking the question Why? Of
course, these mysteries are ultimately unknowable. If you have this
Gate Defined, you can easily get frustrated by the pressure to know
something only to discover there is more to know. The other option
is to relax and enjoy the journey of perpetual discovery. Here you
can bask in wonder and trust your knowing as it perpetually deep-
ens into the mystery.

Gate 63 Asks What?

 The last Gate, Gate 63, is Logical Collective Circuitry. Left brain
in nature, Gate 63 is called Doubt, in traditional Human Design and
Curiosity in Quantum Human Design™. This energy looks to the fu-
ture to make sense of which path to follow and what to pursue.
Thus, it asks the question What? There is pressure to understand and
make sense of patterns. Gate 63 uses doubt – or curiosity – to see
what is a good next step. Most of us have been indoctrinated to be-
lieve this is the penultimate lens through which to approach the un-
known, but truly it is only one of three ways and has had more than
its share of time in the Sun as the King God. If you do not have
Logical Circuitry in your chart, you may feel like you’re out of the
loop or that something is wrong with you. Honor and respect your
right brain and your knowing!
Just one more tidbit on Gate 63. Since I have it Defined, I know it
well. This energy is meant to look outside at the world in order to
hypothesize, in a prudent way, what is next. I love this gate. It's very
intelligent energy. It can see which teachers are authentic, what is
bullshit, and what is truth. The doubting aspect can be very wise.
However, this is also considered one of the Yellow Flag Gates in the
chart. If this Energy of Doubt is turned inward, it acts like poison. It
can stop any forward motion before it begins. It can act to truncate
possibility rather than supporting discernment. Humans are not, af-
ter all, designed to be looked at through the microscope of logic.
That lens cannot possibly perceive our vast complexity and, in fact,
diminishes our stature. Vandy Verma is an author and a student in
my Human Design training for coaches. She has the Gate 63 and
learning about this gate was a turning point in her life. She realized
she was misusing this energy. Her words: “OMG! I realize my fa-
vorite flavor of suffering is self-doubt. I’ve been using it destructive-
ly and now I’m using constructively. I was using it exactly the oppo-
site of how I should have used it. It’s a strength but I was using it
against myself like an autoimmune disease.”
In all of these cases, regardless of where the question is coming
from, questions are a fundamental and natural exploration of life.
We are designed to reach into the unknown in order to find know-
ing. The conundrum we all have to work with is the fact that the ego
does not like or tolerate the unknown. The ego is in a rush to answer
these questions as quickly as it possibly can. Our work with this cen-
ter is to not rush into knowing. We must learn to restrain the urge to
answer questions that demand our attention as an attempt to merely
relieve the pressure of not knowing. Something magical happens
when we learn to wait, tolerate the pressure, and see what arises. It’s
a bit like having an orgasm. If you rush through the tension for the
release you miss the exquisite pleasure of the opening. There is a
great deal of pleasure to be had in the Head Center, but much of it is
lost to us with our inability to sit with the pressure of the unknown
and open to the astonishing answers it can bring when we don’t
push.

The Head Center Is Not Motorized

The third thing to keep in mind with the Head Center is that it is
not motorized. It does not have a Motor to the Throat Center. To be
clear, it’s not the only Center that’s not motorized. But, blindly and
collectively, we act as if it were motorized. Why is this so important?
Well, in our culture we’re conditioned to believe that if we have a
thought, we should be able to act on it and have it come to fruition.
This is absolutely not the case from a Human Design perspective,
and this is the source of much angst. As a coach or therapist, you will
find this piece of information a game-changer once you know how to
use it.

The Head Center Is Not a Decision-making Center

The final thing to keep in mind is that the Head Center is not a
decision-making Center. Let me say that again, in a different way,
more emphatically. Never go to your Head to make a decision! The Head
Center is not designed to be a decision-making Center. A Center for
ideas and thoughts? Yes. A Center for questions and possible an-
swers? Yes. One of the biggest insights Human Design offers is this
shift from relying on our minds for answers and direction, to tap-
ping into our Authority. You can learn more about Authority by
downloading my free digital copy of Understanding Your Clients
through Human Design and read Chapter 12.
https://www.clientsandhumandesign.com/free-book
In a moment, we’ll delve into differentiating and more deeply
understanding how to work with the Defined Head and Open Head
Centers. We’ll explore their distinct gifts and challenges. But first,
let’s take time to connect, in a visceral way, with the Head Center.
Together, let’s bring this map into an embodied and lived experi-
ence. I invite you to put everything aside. Give yourself the next five
to twenty minutes to explore your Head Center through this guided
meditation.

CONNECTIN G WI TH YOUR
HEAD CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Pause for a moment and take a breath.

Feel where your sitz bones make contact with your chair.
Can you feel the weight of your body as it rests into the surface of the chair?
Now, sense your arms and legs.
Take a breath and intensify your focus on your arms and legs.
What do you notice? Do they become heavier?
Next sense your belly.
Breathe into your belly, feeling it expand and relax with each breath.
Rest for a moment in your belly.
Do you notice your mind getting stiller as you bring your awareness to
your belly?
Now, simply bring your awareness to your breath.
With each breath, deepen your awareness of your body.
Relaxing and opening, allow yourself to come more fully into the present
moment.
From this resting place, shift your focus to your head.
Is your mind quiet or busy?
Do you notice tension or ease?
Now picture your Human Design chart.
Imagine that in the same way that you have a physical body, you also have a
holographic, multi-dimensional body.
Picture your chart as your multidimensional vehicle or body for this
lifetime.
Smile at it.
Welcome your awareness of it.
Set the intention to get to know it.
Get to know yourself through it and as it.
Turn your attention to your holographic Head Center.
Is it Defined or Undefined in your bodygraph?
Can you allow yourself to feel into it?
From a place of curiosity, what do you notice? Just a first approximation.
Imagine a child discovering their toes for the first time.
Can you discover what your Head Center feels like?
Are you able to feel the Definition or the Openness?
Is your mind busy like rush hour traffic?
Or is it at rest like sitting by a lake looking up at the night sky?
Maybe it's somewhere in-between?
Whatever you notice is perfect, even if it is nothing.
We are just beginning our investigation into this new dimension of
ourselves.
It takes time to differentiate.
The Head Center is the home of the pineal gland.
Take a moment to acknowledge your pineal gland.
Would it be okay for a moment to allow your physical body and your holo-
graphic body to occupy the same space?
Perhaps you could begin to breathe into your pineal gland, which rests in
the center of your head.
For many of us, it is crusted over, congested, and contracted.
Can you set an intention to allow it to unwind and relax?
Now as we bring this meditation to a close, expand your awareness to in-
clude your entire body and bodygraph again. Take a few long, deep breaths.
Sense your arms and legs.
Sense into your belly.
Bring your awareness back into the room.
Take a few minutes to write down what you discovered. Consider starting a
journal specifically to keep track of your observations and experiences with
the different Centers. Return to this meditation again and again if it speaks
to you. Or you can devise your own. The point is to begin to lean into your
quantum body, to allow yourself to embody it. You have a rich and powerful
journey ahead!

THE DEFINED H E AD
CENTER
Thirty percent of the population has a Defined Head Center. You
know what that means, right? That less than a third of the people on
the planet are filling the airspace with ideas and inspirations. The
rest of us with Open Head Centers are taking in those thoughts and
inspirations and amplifying them! My Head Center is Undefined.
When I see someone with a Defined Head Center, I admit, I have a
bit of Defined Head envy. Maybe a little like that occasional penis
envy? What would it be like to have a Defined Head? What would it
be like to have consistent access to your thoughts? What would it be
like to know what you think? To be able to count on your mind?
What would it be like to remember things, for God’s sake!
In our culture, which prioritizes thinking, having a Defined Head
is definitely an advantage. Just as a reminder, if you or someone you
work with has a Defined Head Center, by definition they also have a
Defined Ajna. The Head Center can only become Defined is if there
is a Channel to the Ajna. If this is the case, both Centers automatical-
ly become Defined. This is especially powerful because, along with
consistent access to ideas and inspiration, you have a consistent and
reliable way to process those ideas. Your mind is searching, asking
questions, and your Ajna is busy trying to come up with usable an-
swers. Voila! A very solid and grounded person – mentally. At least
that is the possibility.
Remember that where we are Defined, we are looking at a theme
or a continuum. Definition exists in duality, in the positive and nega-
tive aspects of the theme. We can be on the high side of that theme or
the low side. With the Defined Head and Ajna, you can be full of
questions that you’re constantly looking to solve. Your mind is get-
ting clarity in order to move forward. The other possibility is that
you can be caught in a loop of confusion. Your mind can be hijacked
by questions which can trigger feelings of despair when you’re not
able to come up with answers. You can have the energy of constant
mental activity or the depletion of mental energy, worn out by all the
thinking. In any event, with Defined Head and Ajna Centers, you are
thinking constantly. There is no way around that.

The Gifts of the Defined Head Center

So, let's take a look at the gifts of the Defined Head Center:

You are a source of information and inspiration.

You have consistent access to your mind and thinking.
You know what you think.

You Are a Source of Information and Inspiration

First of all, with a Defined Head, you are a source of information

and inspiration. You can’t help it. Whether you are conscious of your
thoughts or not, whether you are speaking your ideas or not, you are
broadcasting. Your mind is like a 24/7 radio station, asking ques-
tions, and searching for answers. You are perpetually searching for
ways to make sense of the world. You are probing life and sharing
your discoveries. Meanwhile, the rest of us have our radio dialed to
your station – whether we know it or not! I think of my Human
Design mentor Karen Curry Parker with her Defined Head and Ajna.
She’s like a perennial geyser, a constant stream of ever-evolving in-
formation. It’s jaw-dropping to witness her endless capacity to in-
spire and educate. Her mind is truly a thing to behold. It’s like a
wonder of nature! She has an incomprehensible storehouse of teach-
ings and recordings going back twenty years.

You Have Consistent Access to Your Mind and Thinking

You have the enviable gift of having consistent access to your

thinking. You actually know what you think and remember what
you think! It’s mind-boggling to those of us with Open Heads who
are often at a loss when it comes to having a thought and holding on
to it. You have the capacity to think about what you want to say,
maybe write it down or not, and then speak it or present it. For those
of you who have this gift, it’s like the air you breathe or the water
you swim in. It’s what you know and expect. Again, the analogy of
privilege is a good one. You are privileged and it’s hard to imagine
what someone’s life might be like who doesn’t have that same
privilege.
One thing to note is that how your mind processes and what you
think about on a consistent basis is dependent on which Channel or
Channels are Defined. Take a look here and see which Channel or
Channels you have Defined.

Chart #16 Channels from Head to Ajna

Channel 64-47 Abstraction

For instance, if you have the Channel on the left, the 64-47, you
have Collective Sensing Circuitry. You will have consistent access to
right-brained, abstract thinking. You will be asking the How ques-
tions. Your mind will be looking to the past, at symbols, and dreams.
You will be trying to make sense of big thought downloads. You may
find yourself wondering how to use the information you’re receiv-
ing. A positive mindset is crucial for you in order to recognize what
you’re being given. Your mind must be clear if you are to bring to
earth your big ideas and make them usable.

Channel 61-24 Awareness

If you have the Channel down the middle Defined, you have the
deeply mutative Individual Knowing Circuitry connecting your
Head to your Ajna Center. You will be asking those big Why ques-
tions and trying to find answers that are understandable. You are
reaching into the mind of God – into the mystery – searching, prob-
ing, bringing new understanding to humanity. You will be continu-
ously tweaking and re-tweaking your answers as new information
comes in. You are a thinker!

Channel 63-4 Logic

If the Channel on the right is Defined, the 63-4, you have the es-
teemed Logic Channel. With this left-brain Collective Logic Circuitry,
you are constantly using your mind to come up with logical an-
swers, solutions to questions about the future. You are asking the
question What? What to do? What direction to go? You are designed
to think logically, have logical answers, and share your solutions
with humanity.

You Know What You Think

My wife has a Defined Head and Ajna with the Channel of

Answers, the 63-4. She always knows what she thinks. If we are with
a group and people are asking where we should go to eat, she has an
answer. She likes having and giving an answer. Her chart has the
Gate of Opinions in addition to the Channel of Logic. In any conver-
sation, about anything, I can count on her to have an idea or an opin-
ion. In many ways, I rely on her Defined Head to give me some-
thing, as a Generator, to respond to. Someone with the Head Defined
through 61-24 will have a deep knowing about what they think,
though they may not share it if they don’t believe it will be under-
stood. Someone with the 64-47 may have a case of legitimate right
brain confusion, but they still know their brain is in process. They
are thinking about something that takes time to understand.

The Grapples of the Defined Head Center

If it’s so great to have a Defined Head (and with it a Defined

Ajna), you may wonder what challenges someone might face with
this configuration.

Your mind doesn’t stop thinking.

You can have limited bandwidth in your thinking.

Your Mind Doesn’t Stop Thinking

When I do Human Design coaching sessions with people, I ask

them to send me their three greatest challenges. Invariably people
with a Defined Head report that they can’t quiet their minds. While
we are taught to value mental activity in our culture, there is also a
competing narrative that tells us we shouldn’t be in our heads. We’re
told that we shouldn’t think so much. The New Age influence and
the influx of spiritual tools such as yoga and meditation all teach the
value of a quiet mind. There can be a formidable superego attack,
and a feeling of failure when the Defined Head is unable to attain the
elusive quiet mind.
There are two problems here: One is, with a Defined Head and
Ajna, you’re designed to have an active mind. There’s really not
much to do about that activity. It would be unkind for me to tell you
to stop thinking. It’s what you do. You do, however, have a choice in
how you respond to your active mind. We’ll address this in the next
section.
The second problem surfaces if your active mind gets caught in a
mental loop. Under pressure to come up with answers, with no solu-
tion in sight, you may lose patience or faith and try to dissipate the
pressure. You may create messes by taking action that’s not in align-
ment with your Type and Authority. Or you may turn the pressure
inward and experience anxiety and/ or depression. This can be
painful and debilitating.

You Can Have Limited Bandwidth in Your Thinking

Okay, you've got consistent access to your thinking, and you

have a grounded mind. You can count on your Head and Ajna to
look at problems and come up with solutions, but your thinking is
limited. You look at things through a particular lens. You don’t nec-
essarily have a lot of flexibility in your thinking. Your mind can be
fixed.
Your Defined Head is designed to broadcast ideas, not necessari-
ly be receptive to ideas. You may have to be coaxed into expanding
your thinking. I’ll use my favorite example here, my wife. Suppose I
suggest something, like, how to arrange the furniture in our living
room. (Always a brilliant idea, of course.) Her immediate response is
no. She can’t see how it will work. But, once I’ve put the furniture in
the configuration I’m imagining, she’s surprised at how well it
works. But, if her mind can’t conceive it, she will initially block it.

Working with the Defined Head

As you turn your attention to your Defined Head, have the inten-
tion of becoming more aligned with the power of this Center.
Remember that you are working with a consistent theme: inspira-
tions – or not; questions and the search for answers – or not. Your
Defined Head will be engaged in thinking. The question is what kind.
The ego is just as happy engaging with the negative as it is with the
positive. If a child wants attention, it will go after negative attention
if positive attention is not forthcoming. So, we are looking to align
with the optimal functioning of this Center. In Karen Curry Parker’s
Quantum Human Design™, she refers to the Head as the Quantum
Interface Center. Another question we could ask ourselves as we ap-
proach this Center is: How do we engage the Defined Head in a way that
will optimize our interface with the quantum field? Following are some
ideas:
 Appreciate the Defined Head.
Come to peace with mental activity.
Develop patience and tolerance with the question/ answer
process.
Don’t act on your thoughts!
Rely on your Strategy and Authority.
Realize you may not always be right.

Appreciate the Defined Head

It is so easy and habitual to be negative toward our physical body

and the same is true with our quantum bodygraph body. When
something is valued, it responds positively. So, the easiest first step is
to appreciate that you have a Defined Head. You are fortunate to
have this gift. It is a kind of wealth or potential access to wealth, if
you choose to respect and utilize it. Affirm how powerful your
Defined Ajna is. Take time to learn about how your Head Center is
Defined. Which Channel defines your Head Center? The more you
consciously understand the nature of your particular energy, the
more likely you are to be in alignment with it as a resource.

Come to Peace with Mental Activity

You are designed to have a brain that is continuously firing. We

need your mental activity, your thoughts, your inspirations, and
your questions. Make friends with the aliveness of your firing neu-
rons! Catch any negative self-talk around how your brain works.
Stop badgering your mind because you believe it should be resting
when it is not. The key is to choose how you respond to your mental
activity. Is your mental activity in charge, or does your awareness
have the upper hand? Think about dog training. If you take a dog for
a walk, it is going to be excited to sniff everything. It’s curious and
engaged. If the dog is in charge, you are pulled around by the dog.
You’re holding onto the leash, maybe jerking your arm if your dog
sees a cat and goes after it. If you are the alpha, your dog looks to
you for where to focus. It still has all the impulses to follow all the
smells but there is a bigger reward for following your cues. Your
awareness can free you from being jerked around by your mind.
Develop Patience and Tolerance with the Question/ Answer Process

Your mind is designed to ask questions and seek out the answers.
It’s natural to feel the pressure of those questions and the need to
find the answer. The problem comes when the answers aren’t forth-
coming in comfortable timing. The ego doesn’t like the pressure of
the unknown. As a result, you might employ a variety of tactics to
try to dissipate the discomfort. One tactic is to declare a solution, re-
gardless of its credibility. This gives the ego a sense of ground and
completion for the moment. Another tactic could be turning the
pressure inwards. This tactic could flood your system with a cascade
of irrelevant questions. The onslaught could cause you to collapse
into confusion. Or you could find yourself in a mire that renders the
question utterly unanswerable. In this case, you’re likely to experi-
ence anxiety or depression. But again, anything is preferable to the
pressured disorientation of not knowing. Another option could be to
take an action, any action, regardless of its efficacy. This, again, can
temporarily relieve the pressure, and the ensuing terror, of having to
know something you don’t know. If you can relax and allow the full
process of questioning, you have the possibility of being at ease with
your mind. Practice not knowing. Practice waiting for an answer.
Trust that what you need to know will come at the right time. After
all, it is not what your mind is doing that is the problem. It’s how
you’re reacting to what your mind is doing that causes the distress.

Don’t Act on Your Thoughts!

We just spoke about action as a way to avoid feeling the pressure

of not knowing. I want to address a different angle here – the ten-
dency to overrate our thoughts. We give our thoughts a lot of
weight. We believe them and create whole worlds. We identify with
our thoughts and feel compelled to follow them. For a moment, let’s
visit the world of Byron Katie. Imagine that thoughts are just that –
thoughts. They arise. They are not even personal. We attach to them
and assign meaning to them. What would your world look like if
you were to be the witness of your thoughts rather than (like the dog
analogy above) being compelled to follow every thought?
Rely on Your Strategy and Authority

Rely on your Strategy to know when to ask your questions, when

to share your answers, and when to take action. In Human Design,
the mind is not a decision-making Center. The way to know which
thought to follow – how to be the dog owner, so to speak – is to fol-
low your Strategy. If you have a thought, no matter how brilliant, if
you look to your Strategy, you will be directed in regards to that
thought. For example, if you are a Generator or Manifesting
Generator, are you making something up in your head or are you in
response to something?
Here’s an example from my life: My wife and I moved from Point
Reyes, California to Fairfield, Iowa. Before we moved I was commut-
ing over an hour every day to see clients in Berkeley. We had a
thought that life would be simpler in the small town of Fairfield. We
knew that there would be less traffic and no commute. We had the
thought that we’d be near family and develop a spiritual communi-
ty. Side note: If you know anything about Fairfield, it’s the
Transcendental Meditation capital of the world. In the town of
10,000, up to 5,000 are meditators. There is a consciousness-based el-
ementary-to-high school as well as a consciousness-based university
in the town. We both had family living there. Sounded like a great
place to relocate and spend the rest of our lives. There were so many
thoughts that drew us to make the radical move after living in the
Bay Area for thirty years. Well, it didn’t work out so well. Now, my
commute was on an airplane once a month flying back to Berkeley.
There was a family drama that was not comfortable at all. And,
while my wife did get paid to meditate eight hours a day, I missed a
feminine, embodied approach to spirituality. We were not flourish-
ing in the new soil. One day, out of the blue, my wife said to me, “I
want to go to Hawaii this year.” That seemed inconceivable to me as
my workload had diminished dramatically in the move. Within the
hour, I got an email inviting us to come to Maui to housesit that
summer. We could pick when and for how long.
Let me break this down. My wife is a Projector. Her Strategy is to
wait to be invited or acknowledged. She had a thought, but that
wasn’t enough. Remember our thought to move to Fairfield had not
panned out so well. She was invited to go to Maui. Meanwhile, I am
Generator and my Strategy is to respond. I still did not have a yes. I
was concerned about the finances. Long story short, I discovered
that the flights to Maui were equivalent to the flights from Iowa to
the Bay Area. Then, I learned through an astrocartography reading
that Maui would be an optimal place for me to live. I had a huge
sacral yes. Now, we happily live on Maui.
The bottom line here is to be aware of your thoughts but not to
give them jurisdiction. Follow your Human Design Strategy and
Authority, and you will be well guided on your path.

Realize You May Not Always Be Right

Finally, if you have a Defined Head, you are designed to broad-

cast thoughts and inspirations, not necessarily to take them in.
Which doesn’t mean you don’t listen or hear. From a Human Design
perspective, your thoughts arise within a bandwidth. You may have
thoughts that you feel very certain about. With a Defined Head and
Ajna, it’s important to leave a little space for the possibility that
someone else’s thought might hold a better solution. Can you accept
the idea that you might not always be right? You do not have the gift
of the Open Head that is designed to look at all possibilities. You’re
looking for answers within a framework. This, on the one hand,
gives you mental ground but, on the other hand, limits your think-
ing. Just be aware of this. It could open a door of flexibility that may
not be natural to you.

Helpful Tools

When approaching the Defined Head, there are a few tools that
can be helpful. Some of these will also be appropriate for the Open
Head.

Use the Defined Head and Ajna to look back at itself.

Inquire using recurring questions.
Inquire using The Work of Byron Katie.
Practice meditations that occupy the mind.

Use the Defined Head and Ajna to Look Back at Itself

 The Defined Head coupled with the Defined Ajna has tremen-
dous self-reflexive capacity. The trick here is to cultivate awareness
and train the mind to look directly at itself. This practice will
strengthen the muscle of being in charge of rather than at the effect
of the active mind. There are a number of ways to do this including
the inquiry and mediation tools that follow.

Inquire Using Recurring Questions

The practice of inquiring into the mind using repetitive questions

can be particularly useful with the Defined Head. It entails either
working with a partner or doing the exercise alone. With a partner,
set the timer for five to fifteen minutes. The person asking the ques-
tions is the neutral observer. The person answering the question is
engaging in an inquiry. We do inquiry to discover more about our-
selves. Our first responses to the question are usually what we al-
ready know. As the question is asked repeatedly, we begin to get an-
swers that may surprise us. The trick is for the person answering the
questions to keep their attention on themselves. This is not about
telling the observer something about you. It is not about engaging
them. This is for you to hear yourself. The Observer, meanwhile, is
not trying to show understanding. They are holding space for the
Inquirer to access and hear themselves.
It looks something like this:

I’ll use the example of doing this in my training this week.

Observer asking question to a Manifesting Generator class-

mate with a Defined Head:

“Can you tell me what you know about your Defined Head?”
(Side note: If this had been a person with an Open Sacral the
question would be: “What can you tell me about your Defined
Head Center?”)

Inquirer answers.
 Observer: “Thank you. Can you tell me what you know about
your Defined Head Center?”

Inquirer answers.

This repeats for the set amount of time, even if the Inquirer ap-
parently runs out of things to say. The answer might be “Nothing, at
which point the Observer would merely thank the person and ask
the question again.
The student in my training realized that much of her frustration
with her husband stemmed from the differences between her
Defined Head and his Open Head. This is a common issue.
Remember, when you have privilege, it can be hard to understand
those who don’t have that privilege.
You can also do this alone as written practice. First, set a timer.
Then simply write the question then write the answer. When you
have exhausted your thoughts, write the question again, and see
what comes. Let whatever shows up have its life. Don’t censor, even
if you write I don’t know. Ask the question again.

Inquire Using The Work of Byron Katie

Katie’s work is genius when it comes to cleaning up the mind,

seeing thoughts for what they are, and getting aligned at a higher
level. In her inquiry process, you begin by writing your judgments
on what she calls a worksheet. The format is:

Fill in the worksheet

I’m angry at ____ because ____.

I want ___ to ___.
I need ___ to ___.
_____ should/shouldn’t ___.
______ is ____ (make a list).
I never want to experience ____ again. And I’m willing to ex-
perience ___ again.
 Once you have completed the worksheet, take your thoughts to
inquiry with four simple questions and something that’s called a
Turnaround.

The Questions

Is it true?
Can I absolutely know it’s true?
How do I react when I believe that thought?
Who would I be without that thought?

The Turnaround is merely taking your sentence, for example, I

want my husband to answer my questions, and turning the sentence
around by replacing your name where you’ve got their name. So, I
want me to answer my questions. Or I want me to answer my husband’s
questions. Ask yourself if that is as true or truer than your original
sentence. See what you discover.

Practice Meditations That Occupy the Mind

Other skillful means to work with the Defined Head involve us-
ing meditation techniques that occupy the mind. You may have the
tendency of fighting the mind to try to get it to be quiet. If this is the
case, you can actually focus the mind in a way that stops the search-
ing activity. A few excellent choices include mantra repetition, visu-
alization, and chanting. Moving meditation like qigong or tai chi can
also occupy the mind, demanding a level of focus that inhibits the
mind spin. Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and Transcendental
Meditation are particularly good for the Defined Head.

THE OPEN HEAD C E N TER

What’s in an Open Head?

An astonishing 70 percent of the population have Open Head

Centers. Do you have an Open Head Center? Chances are likely!
With an Open or Undefined Head, you are not designed to have con-
sistent access to your thinking. Uh oh. How’s that supposed to work
in our culture where so much emphasis is put on our capacity to
think clearly? Being smart is equated with knowing information.
We’re graded in school on memory retention. This is not the exper-
tise of the Open Head! The Open Head is receptive, taking in all the
thoughts and inspiring ideas in the field and amplifying them.
People with Open Heads just aren’t designed to hold onto those
thoughts. Obviously, there are some grapples in this scenario, some
very real challenges which we’ll get to in a minute. But don’t be dis-
couraged. The gifts of the Open Head are formidable. You have the
possibility of a flexible mind, deep wisdom, and magnificent expan-
sion. As you come to understand your Open Head, you have the op-
portunity to work consciously with it. You can come into alignment
with your Open Head and use it at the highest level. Remember,
every part of the chart is perfect. We need your Open Head to func-
tion at full capacity!

The Grapples of the Open Head Center

As I pointed out, there are a number of grapples that someone

with an Open Head Center may encounter. In Human Design, these
Open Center challenges are often referred to as Pain Points. Here are
some of the big ones:

You can’t rely on your mind.

You may not remember things.
You can have a story that something’s wrong with you.
Your mind has been conditioned.
You’re under pressure to come up with answers.

You Can’t Rely on Your Mind

 With an Open Head Center, you are taking in the thoughts and
inspirations of the people around you. It’s like your mind can easily
be tossed in the wind. You’re with Kathy who’s talking about a new
coach she’s working with and you think, Oh, I should work with that
coach. Then, you’re with Bob who’s taking a coaching program on
becoming a speaker and you’re like: That’s what I need. Then, your
friend, Bess, tells you she’s going back to a full-time job because
she’s tired of being self-employed, and you think, Maybe I should do
that….
The Open Head will look at all the possibilities. It’s not biased.
That’s one of its gifts, which we’ll discuss later. But it is also some-
what of a curse. You can get lost in the possibilities. It can be hard to
know what you think with an Open Head. This is where Strategy in
your Human Design becomes so important. You may be completely
enthusiastic about an idea in one moment, only to drop it and pas-
sionately embrace another idea in the next moment. People may see
you as flaky, ungrounded, or ditzy. You simply can’t rely on your
mind to be consistent. You’re not designed to.
With your Open Head, you can get disoriented by little things
like deciding what to eat or what to wear. You may go into a restau-
rant craving an omelet, only to see someone eating a burger and find
yourself ordering a burger. You can be stumped when it comes to
things like giving speeches or writing papers. You cannot turn to
your mind for readily available information. You may look to your
Head and find it is blank. There can be a deer-in-headlights moment
when someone asks you a question you know you should be able to
answer, or you’re expected to say something, but you have no clue
what to say.

You May Not Remember Things

The challenge of not being able to rely on your mind is tied to the
inability to remember things. Occasionally, people with Open Heads
have photographic memories. There’ll be more on that in a bit. But,
more often than not, the experience is one of thoughts coming in and
going out. I have the Open Head Center and experience my mind
more as a Monet painting. I remember impressions of things. Not de-
tails. My wife, with her Defined Head and Ajna, can remember how
much the electricity bill is each month. I would have to squeeze my
brain to search for that information. We’ll address this more when
we get to the Ajna, but having a brain that functions so fluidly can
make navigating this very logical world a bit dodgy.

You Can Have a Story that Something Is Wrong with You

Which brings me to the next challenge. People with Open Heads

can think something is wrong with them. Maybe you worry that you
have early-onset Alzheimer’s, or that you’re just not as naturally
smart as other people. This niggling feeling drives people to over-
compensate to prove they’re okay. Think of women trying to prove
their worth. They become like superwoman to show they’re capable.
This feeling of mental inadequacy can also show up when people
with Open Heads get overwhelmed by people with Defined Heads.
In this case, they can feel like too much information is hitting them,
or that they don’t know what to say when they’re asked a question.
Their mind can go totally blank.
Recently I did a Human Design coaching session for a woman
who had an Open Head. I described how the Open Head functions
and the challenges she might face. Later she told me the session
brought a lot of relief and shifted her attitude toward her mind. She
had been in an accident as a child and for years had assumed there
was something wrong with her head. When she heard the descrip-
tion of the Open Head, she realized it matched what she had per-
ceived as symptoms from the accident.

Your Mind Has Been Conditioned

With an Open Head Center, you can be impressionable. You take

in the thoughts of people around you as if they are your own. As a
child, you take in the thoughts of your parents, your teachers, your
community. We all do this, but a Defined Head has more of a chance
of knowing what it thinks. An Open Head merges with the thoughts
of others. If you don’t question those thoughts, they can create an
identity. This can set your life on a course that may not actually be in
alignment with who you are and what you’re here to be. You may be
uncomfortable with your Openness and grab hold of thoughts in an
attempt to have something to ground you. This is not how you’re de-
signed to function and can cause mental tension.

You’re Under Pressure to Come Up with Answers

The Open Head is one of the two pressure Centers. You walk into
a room, and pick up on everyone’s questions, spoken or not. Your
mind immediately goes to work trying to come up with answers. It’s
just what your head does. Picture the spinning wheel on your com-
puter as it searches files. Your mind is continually under pressure to
come up with answers. The thing is, you like coming up with an-
swers. For a moment it relieves the pressure. But only for that mo-
ment. Then the next question surfaces. These questions may have
nothing to do with you, but still you’re compelled to deal with them.
We’ll be addressing how to work this phenomenon, but for now, just
recognize that’s what you’re up to/ up against.

The Gifts of the Open Head Center

We’ve looked at the issues you or your clients may have to grap-
ple with if you’ve got an Open Head; now we get to delve into the
enormous gifts that are available to you.

You are a flexible thinker.

You take people and information in deeply at a mental level.
You have the possibility of a still mind.
You’re here to explore human consciousness.

You Are a Flexible Thinker

With an Open Head Center, you are designed to look at the

whole of life. You are not limited to a bandwidth but have the flexi-
bility to see all sides of an issue. You can entertain a very logical as-
pect as well as a very right-brained perspective. You can look at
something from a conservative view or a liberal view. When your
thinking isn’t clouded by conditioning, you’re open to new ways of
thinking and looking at life. With this comes an enthusiasm for the
possibilities life offers.

You Take People in Deeply at a Mental Level

The unimpeded Open Head is spacious and receptive. It can

know what people think, almost like a mind reader. And, while you
may have a fluid mind, whole pieces of information can drop in, al-
most as if from nowhere. As a therapist, if I didn’t take notes after
sessions, I would completely forget what I’d talked about with
clients. The upside was that I didn’t hold onto the information be-
tween sessions; the downside was it could seem like I hadn’t been
tracking from week to week. As I relaxed and became more comfort-
able with how my mind worked, I found that with the slightest clue,
the whole session would download, and I would have access to
every detail. It wasn’t from a place of holding on or storing, it was
seeing it.
Now is a good moment to talk about the photographic mind
some people with Open Heads enjoy. When the mind is clear with-
out thought, it can take in information directly. Recently I read a
chart for a renowned MD who had a totally Open head with an
Open Ajna as well. I wondered how it would be to go through med-
ical school with all the detailed information required to memorize.
When I asked him about it, he said that things that were important
to him he could remember in vivid detail. Other things were lost on
him.

You Have the Possibility of a Still Mind

Without the constant chatter of the Defined Head, you are able to
have a still mind. If you learn to tolerate and not resist the pressure
to answer everybody’s questions, and the discomfort of the blank
mind, you can empty your mind. You can enjoy an uncluttered
mind, a resting mind, a mind at peace. With some work, it’s quite
possible.

You’re Here to Explore Human Consciousness

 Your wide-open mind is curious and engaged. It connects with
the world through the mental lens. You are here to be one of the
deep thinkers, exploring and being wise about what is important to
look at and understand. Central to this exploration is curiosity about
consciousness itself. With your flexible mind, you have the capacity
to traverse the unknown. You discover the majesty of life without
having to have things neatly resolved and figured out. Yours is a cre-
ative mind, naturally full of wonder.

The Open Head as a God Portal

Once you have freed your mind of egoic conditioning and habit-
ual patterns, you are available to enter the realm of the essential do-
main. This is the realm of Being. Imagine that there is no separation
between your mind and all of life. You step into a state of Oneness
through your mind. Innate intelligence is revealed. Your quantum
mind opens a whole new set of gifts and possibilities. They may ini-
tially show up as flashes of insight. These states of awareness can,
over time, become stabilized into what Faisal Muqaddam calls sta-
tions. This is part of the path of awakening – reclaiming our essential
self. We’ve identified ourselves as a body, or particle. We have the
opportunity to organize around and embrace ourselves as a quan-
tum body, or a wave, as well. Full transparency: I speak to this hav-
ing touched into it and witnessed it in others who are further along
the path. I do not profess to understand it completely. I leave you to
discover for yourself what is possible when you let go of the struc-
tures that define your thinking and directly open into the space of
the great unknown. Here are some glimpses into the God Portal as-
pect of the Head Center:

You enter a state of Oneness with Universal Mind.

You can know all things.
You have a mind at rest.

You Enter a State of Oneness with Universal Mind

 When there is nothing between you and all of life, you become
one with the Mind of God, whatever you might call that. Your mind
is no longer personal but holds the entirety of life in an ever-expand-
ing, multi-dimensional capacity. Perhaps you’ve experienced this
through meditation or in that moment of grace when you’re watch-
ing a sunset and the world stops. Maybe, like Byron Katie, you’ve hit
rock bottom, and something completely alters the way you perceive
reality. For Katie, it was a cockroach crawling on her foot. The first
time I consciously remember this happening I was nineteen, home
from college, lost and miserable. My mind was crashing in on me
(Okay, I was deeply depressed). I was mired in the web of my dire
thoughts and beliefs about myself and the world. Then, I read
Yogananda Paramahansa’s book, Autobiography of a Yogi. I stepped
into a different dimension. I didn’t stay in that dimension; I was
more like a visitor. But, over time these experiences became more fa-
miliar. Byron Katie said it took her seven years to stabilize into what
she calls peace. What expansive mind experiences have you had? Is
your mind stabilized in peace?

You Can Know All things

It can be daunting from the ego’s perspective to have access to

the entire library of knowledge, but consider, if your mind is not
cluttered, what you might perceive. When we’re talking about the
quantum body and the quantum field where there is no time and
space, anything is possible. The Indian saint, Ammachi, was born in
rural India with no formal education, yet she reads, speaks, and un-
derstands multitudes of languages. She has access to knowledge and
information that is unfathomable. There are countless stories of high-
ly developed spiritual teachers knowing things from the past, as well
as from the future. I can remember Ram Dass telling the story of
meeting his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, a.k.a. Maharaji, for the first
time. Maharaji unnerved Ram Dass when he addressed the private
thoughts which Ram Dass had been having about his mother the
night before.
My mind flashes to Charity and her deceased husband. I imagine
the widows she’s coaching. I wonder what they might understand
about the death of their spouses from this larger vantage. With her
totally Open Head, Charity has come to a knowingness of the perfec-
tion of it all. With the bigger God View, the tragic, unexpected death
of her husband opened her heart. It brought a level of understanding
life beyond linear time. She has a direct experience of her connection
with her husband that is unshakable. She has an understanding that
his death was not a mistake. Unshackled from the belief that it
should not have happened, she is able to step into the present with-
out abandoning or dissociating from the past. This is the nectar
available from stepping into the God Portal.
I’m not saying someone with a Defined Head doesn’t have this
capability, and I’d like to hear more from those with a Defined Head
about what your experience is. I imagine it is more focused on a par-
ticular ray of knowing rather than the whole picture. I’m guessing all
roads lead to Rome, and with enough focus, the Defined Head lets
go into the great expanse. The Open Head, designed to naturally rest
and fill all space, has access to Oneness by letting go of focus.
In the Diamond work, there is an essential vehicle called the
Diamond Dome. It accurately describes the God Portal of the Open
Head that can see all things. Here’s an excerpt from A.H. Almaas,
who speaks about this knowing from a place of Being,

“…The Diamond Dome is the essential mind that brings about the precise
understanding of the levels of knowing. There is the usual learned,
discursive knowledge based on memory, which is necessary for functioning
in our daily life, but basic knowing – knowing the presence of Being – is not
a reflective knowing; it is the knowing of Being, which is knowing by direct
experience.... The Diamond Guidance is an adjunct to our ordinary intellect
and can navigate any kind of knowledge. That is what gives it its power. An
intellect that can use mental knowledge while also having a foot in the
universe of presence can conceptualize all kinds of knowing – whether
mental or direct – with exactness.”

— The Jeweled Path, p. 195

You Have a Mind at Rest

The nature of the Open Head Center is to be the space in which

all thought arises. There is a dynamic stillness that can be accessed
through deep meditation. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the path of
Mahamudra is called The Great Seal. It brings into Oneness relative
and absolute reality. Mahamudra is the realization of the great plop,
where your mind settles into itself and rests in its True Nature. This
is referred to as natural great peace. Sometimes this state is realized
in extraordinary or life-threatening circumstances when the mind
can’t fathom the events at hand and surrenders into stillness. When
your filters are clear, your mind can rest. Like a mountain that re-
mains still while animals scurry, rivers flow, and trees and flowers
grow, your mind remains calm. Insects buzz and birds sing, but still,
your mind is at peace. All the activity of the mind can rise, but it has
no bearing on the mind at rest.

Working with the Open Head Center

The big question is how do we work with the Open Head Center
– in ourselves and with our clients? I have some ideas, but as I write
this, the world is in a state of utter chaos and disruption. There is so
much confusion about what is true and what is fake news. The bar-
rage of social media floods our Open Head Centers. Like computer
technology, so much is changing so fast. New ways of opening our
minds and directly experiencing truth are coming to meet the cur-
rent need. From where I stand now, this is what I suggest:

Appreciate your Open Head Center.

Learn to tolerate mental pressure without acting on it.
Witness thoughts rather than identifying with them.
Decondition or clean the filters of your Open Head Center.
Follow your Strategy and Authority to discern which
thoughts to act on.

Appreciate Your Open Head Center

Instead of resisting, fighting with, or dissing the way your mind

is designed to function, shift your attitude. Stop squeezing your
head trying to make it be something it is not. Make a decision to be-
friend and get to know your Open Head. The compulsion to com-
pare is hardwired into our world of duality. Defined Heads are not
better than Open Heads. Even this belief robs you of the gifts your
Open Head possesses. Get to know your Open Head – its strengths
and its vulnerabilities. Have compassion for the glitches or awk-
wardness the Open Head might experience. Take time to appreciate
and have gratitude for what you’ve been given. As you do, your
Open Head will reveal itself to you in unimaginable ways.

Learn to Tolerate the Pressure Without Acting on It

Okay. The Open Head Center is known as a pressure Center. You

are under pressure to come up with answers. I walk into a room and
I am poised to come up with answers for people, in a knee-jerk fash-
ion. This is a subconscious reaction. I can’t help it. That mechanism
has got a life of its own. What I can do, is witness the pressure with-
out acting on it. I can learn to tolerate it rather than trying to imme-
diately dissipate it with answers. I can take my time to choose which
answers I want to answer, trusting that the pressure will soften. Be
clear on this. You are not designed to answer everybody’s questions!
You will wear yourself out. You’ll be like the dog owner being jerked
around by the dog on the leash. No! Choose the questions that feel
good to you to answer. Let the rest go. Do not be a victim of your
mind!

Witness Thoughts Rather Than Identifying with Them

The best way to work with the Open Head is to understand that
thoughts arise, and they are not personal. I remember standing on a
street corner in Holland when someone asked Byron Katie, “Why do
we even have thoughts? What’s the purpose?” She explained to us
that they’re like children, they come to be seen. She asked if we
could just let them have their life without attaching to them.
When we believe we are our thoughts, we get tossed around by
them. Eating foods that aren’t good for us, taking jobs that sound
good but aren’t right for us, the list is infinite. Basically, we live a life
that is not ours. When, on the other hand, we identify with the space
within which thoughts arise, rather than the thoughts themselves,
we stabilize the mind. We liberate ourselves from downloads of an-
cestral mental patterns, familial conditioning, and societal pressures
to think, believe, act in a sanctioned way. We become free to enter the
moment and see for ourselves what is true for us.
Give this freedom to yourself. There are definitely tools to help
establish the observer or the witnessing mind which I’ll touch on in
the Helpful Tools section below.

Decondition/ Clean the Filters of Your Open Head Center

Establishing a witnessing mind is the first step to cleaning the fil-

ters of your Open Head. Sometimes seeing the thoughts you’ve at-
tached to is not enough to release them. They get entangled in the
weave of your identity and letting them go can be threatening to the
ego. You’ve attached to them for your survival – to fit in to be safe –
after all. So, letting go of your conditioning is a huge deal. It is also
essential to your well-being. You cannot live a full and fruitful life if
you are following thoughts and beliefs that were programmed into
you. And as you do shift your identification from believing your
thoughts to resting in the Openness of your mind, your whole world
changes. You open to a new level of safety and understanding. You
appreciate differences and see the world through a differentiated
lens. Time and space are altered. Instead of a limited view of life, you
open into a bigger world view. As you do this the perfection of life
reveals itself. Wow.
I remember sitting on a ski lift going up the mountain at
Heavenly Valley in Tahoe as a child. The quiet stillness, the open
vast expanse of the sky, and the vivid detail of the earth below per-
meated my being. It was if time stopped and I was enveloped in a
nectar of astonishing beauty. The perfection of life.
I don’t know what path or paths you will choose to decondition
your Open Head. There are many. Some involve a lot of effort on
your part, some require less. Follow your Strategy and Authority to
see what works for you.

Follow Your Strategy and Authority to Discern Which Thoughts to Act On

So, you’re witnessing your thoughts. You’re not succumbing to

the pressure to answer questions that are not yours to answer. You’re
actively cleaning the filter of your conditioned mind. Now you have
the important task of discerning which thoughts to act on.
For most of us, a thought arises, we attach to it, believe it, and
then act on it. We’re trained to look to our mind to tell us what to do,
which direction to go. From a Human Design perspective, you can’t
lead an authentic life true to your unique self if you’re not following
your Strategy and Authority.
Once you are clear on your Strategy and Authority, your Open
Head is no longer a hindrance. You’re no longer being tossed around
by your mind’s continuous shifts. You have guidance in terms of
which thoughts to follow. Take someone like me, for instance, with
an Open Head Center and a Defined Sacral Center. As a Generator,
I’m designed to be in relationship with and respond to what the
world offers me. Writing a book like this can be somewhat of a night-
mare. I go to my head to see what to write. Blank. Then, I sit with my
wife and we do inquiry. I am dumping my mind, witnessing my
conditioned thoughts as I speak – I can’t do this, I don’t know what
to say…and so on. She says something in her inquiry that sparks me.
I have something to respond to with an enthusiastic yes, I sit down,
and thoughts flow. Whole worlds of information open up to me. As a
person with a Defined Sacral, a no is equal to a yes. The information
is telling me which direction to go. It tells me to either respond or
not to respond. If my mind is flooded with thoughts, pulling me in
opposing directions, I can remedy this. I can turn to my Sacral
Center and get a visceral sense of which thought to trust.

Helpful Tools

The Open Head calls for attention. Depending on who you are
and what you’re drawn to, there are a variety of ways to tend to the
Garden of the Mind. Because the Open Ajna necessarily has an Open
Head, I’m offering the same tools for both of these.

Meditation
The Work of Byron Katie
Sensing your arms and legs, bringing your awareness to
your belly
Essential oils as a practice
 Tapping
Connect to Being

Meditation

Meditation is a clear choice for cleaning the filters when it comes

to the Open Head and Ajna Centers. Here are a few you might
consider:
Vipassana meditation is currently a popular and widely available
technique. It guides you to witness the mind through your breath,
your thoughts, and your sensations. Vajrayana Buddhism includes
Vipassana meditation but takes it a step further to look directly at
the mind with the practice of Mahamudra. Through a series of ques-
tions, called Pointing Out Instructions, the insubstantiality – the ab-
sence – of mind is laid bare. This is medicine for the Open Head.
Vajrayana has a variety of meditation practices. These are all geared
to shifting our identification from our habitual thought patterns to a
more authentic and naturally aligned self. These require time and ef-
fort and are best done with the guidance of a skilled teacher.
Byron Katie has a simple meditation I often suggest to people
with Open Heads. First, you put your thoughts on a cloud, one at a
time as they arise. Next, you let the thought pass with the cloud. You
can do this anytime or anyplace, and though it is simple, it does the
job.
Transcendental Meditation doesn't look directly at thoughts, but
the practice of TM makes space for thoughts to arise without waging
war with them or trying to make them go away. This has a back-door
effect of loosening the grip of the mind. This takes daily practice to
reap the benefits of an unencumbered Open Head Center.
Any meditation, really, that helps you dis-identify from your
thinking is deeply supportive. One technique that has been particu-
larly helpful for me is mantra recitation. This can be done as part of a
meditation or in daily life. Basically, the mantra is taking up space
the habitual thoughts would inhabit.

The Work of Byron Katie

 If there is one tool that has had the biggest impact on clearing my
thinking and conditioned mind, it is The Work of Byron Katie. In this
simple yet potent process, you write down your judgments and in-
quire into your thinking. This is a fantastic way to look at the painful
thoughts we identify with and to inquire into their truth. As we see
our internal fake news, our attachments to conditioning naturally
fall away. We become sober in our thinking rather than looking at
life through a lens cluttered with distortions.
(See the full inquiry of The Work in the Helpful Tools section of the
Defined Head, or in the Resource section at the end of the book.)

Sense Your Arms and Legs, Drop into Your Belly Center

This might seem like an odd choice to add to the mix, but don’t
be deceived. This simple practice has big ramifications. I first learned
about sensing the arms and legs and dropping into the Belly Center
from Faisal Muqaddam in my Diamond Logos Training. This was a
core teaching to become present, to drop out of the congested mind,
to rest in Being. Later, when I was studying essential oils with Greg
Toews, he spoke about working with the arms and legs as a way to
heal dissociation and bring people into the present. He had helped at
least nine cases where psychologists lifted MPD (Multiple
Personality diagnosis – when they were still called by that name)
simply by working with the arms and legs. Greg says:

“Dissociative disorders are more cardiovascular than psychological. The

circulation in the arms and legs is poor which results in diminished oxygen/
blood levels in the head. The energetic pathways in the arms and legs known
as meridians are also quite compromised. Energetically this is tied to your
ability to be present and realistic. When a person has significant issues in
this area, they tend to “check out” or not be present.
This is known as dissociation or automatic behavior.”

Greg uses what he calls the Mugwort Technique to work with

dissociation and fixated thoughts to bring people into the present.
Here’s what he says about it, followed by the technique:
 “The Mugwort Technique helps to open the channels and reboot the
immune response. It helps one to not be so fixated on the thought processes
which means you are able to break out of the “fear thinking” and become
more present and alert. Automatic behavior means your brain doesn’t
process what is happening, it just takes action based on what is triggered.
The Mugwort Technique helps one to be more in their body and to
cognitively process what is happening so they can make a conscious choice.
This is good for physical well-being, better cognitive processing, and deeper
meditation for spiritual practitioners.”

Mugwort Technique: Regeneration of the Immune Response/ Opening the

Channels:

Mix the essential oil Mugwort with a lotion or massage oil and
place on the areas below. Mix twenty drops of mugwort to one
ounce of base oil or lotion and then apply. And/ or breathe Mugwort
(or substitutes listed below), focusing on each of the body parts be-
low for three to fifteen breaths each. Repeat numerous times for a
deeper experience.

Single Oils: Artemisia, Mugwort

Blends: Artemisia Complex, Mugwort Supreme
Sustained Inhalation for three to fifteen breathing cycles

Soles
Ankles
Knees
Hips
Palms
Wrists
Elbows
Armpits
Navel
Navel Minor

Essential Oils
 I’ve just introduced The Mugwort Technique and now I’m going
to bring essential oils into the toolbox again. The use of essential oils
is a new path for me. It’s one that took me by surprise. My sister
kept telling me I needed to experience the essential oil work with
Greg Toews. Eventually, it became easier to take a class with him
than to resist her. My first experience was a Relationship workshop. I
spent two days smelling oils and focusing on different parts of my
body. I know it sounds a bit strange. But by the end of the weekend,
chunks of conditioning – that I had not even been aware of – had
suddenly disappeared. I felt a lightness in my relationship with my
wife that reminded me of a feeling I had when we first met. After
forty years together, we had built some unsuspected defense struc-
tures that had created an unconscious film of separation. Since that
initial class, I have studied intently with Greg. At every turn, the oils
have aided me in dropping unconscious patterns and lightening my
load. In fact, I’ve used the Mugwort Technique throughout the writ-
ing of this book to help ground me and bring me back to the present.

Tapping

Tapping, also called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a

phenomenal resource to work with any of the Open Centers. Karen
Curry Parker uses this simple and accessible tool extensively in con-
junction with Human Design to help people clear patterns. Basically,
you state an issue you want to resolve and then you tap on certain
points in your body. You can Google Karen’s site for easy instruc-
tions: www.humandesignforeveryone.com/eftforeveryone.html.

Connect to Being

There are two ways to meet and work with the Open Centers.
One is to clean the filters by dredging up all the garbage and taking
it out through inquiry or whatever tool you might use. This involves
directly addressing the issues. The other way is to go directly to
Being, the essential domain. Here, as with the essential oils, the is-
sues fall away of their own accord. It’s as if the frequency of the es-
sential domain doesn’t have space for that which is at a lower fre-
quency. Those issues simply cannot survive in the rarified air of
Beingness. The challenge here is connecting to Being, which is a
practice in and of itself. You will have to explore and find your own
way with that. In the Diamond Work, we would call on essential
states – like the Diamond Body, for instance – to bring clarity. There
is a prayer I used to say when I first began my Rosen Practice. This
was my way of not engaging in the garbage of my mind that insisted
I had nothing to offer. It was from Catherine Ponder: Of myself, I can-
not do it, but the Christ within me can, and is performing miracles of mind,
body, and spirit here and now. (Insert the name of the person I was
working with) is made whole now. Sometimes, I would put the name
of my client in at the beginning if they were trapped in their pain
body and I had no clue how to help them.
We’ve looked in depth at the Head Center. Hopefully, you have
some insights and new ways of thinking about your mind. Now, let’s
shift our focus to look at the Ajna Center, which is intimately con-
nected to the Head Center.

RECAP
You’ve learned about the Head Center. Perhaps you’re surprised that
it’s not a decision-making Center. Maybe you’ve discovered you
have an Open Head and some things are starting to fall into place.
Maybe you’re understanding why you feel different from other peo-
ple. Take some time to reflect. What Channels and Gates do you
have coming off the Head Center? What does that mean to you?
Does it make sense? Can you use the information in a pragmatic
way?
In the next chapter, we’ll look at the Ajna, which is closely con-
nected to the Head Center. In a way, we’re just continuing the in-
quiry of mental energy. Look back at this chapter as you need to.
Take your time and enjoy the process of learning.
 7

GETTING TO KNOW
THE AJNA CENTER

Chart #17 Ajna Center

INTRODUCING TH E AJN A
CENTER!

T
he Ajna is a powerful Awareness Center. It is the second
Center, the upside-down triangle just below the Head Center.
When it is Defined, it is green; when it is Open, it remains
white.
The Ajna enables us to process information. This Center takes in-
spiration from the Head Center and makes sense of it. It can see the
whole and all the parts. With the ability to review and analyze data,
the Ajna makes information usable. Karen Curry Parker calls the
Ajna Center the Divine Translator. I love this description. It’s appro-
priate since the Ajna Center translates and gives order to a world
that can be overwhelming with mental input. And while Anat Baniel
wouldn’t have the context of the Ajna Center, in her training for spe-
cial needs children, she often speaks about a healthy brain as being
able to make sense out of nonsense. “Intelligence,” she says, “is the
capacity to differentiate.” This is the job of the Ajna Center. So much
information bombards us every moment. Without this analyzing
function, we would be lost, unable to discern, for example, if there
was a door in the wall. I know from my experience with a head in-
jury, that when my Ajna was not functioning well, my world became
very small. I couldn’t tolerate sounds or lights or much input of any
kind. Talking on the phone was exhausting. Going out to a restau-
rant was unthinkable. My brain couldn’t process the input.
When we are in tune with the Ajna Center, the capacity for men-
tal clarity is stunning. However, understand that the Ajna is not a de-
cision-making Center. And here is where so much confusion is creat-
ed. Operating at its highest level, the Ajna sees through a neutral
lens and is impartial to outcomes. With no Channels connecting from
the Ajna to a Motor there is no possibility to directly manifest ideas
into action. In order for the Ajna’s exquisite information to be uti-
lized, it must be connected by a Channel to one of the Four Motors:
The Will Center, ESP Center, the Sacral Center, or the Root Center.
Otherwise, the Ajna’s information must be invited and acknowl-
edged before it’s shared. In any event, the information must be deliv-
ered at the right timing. As with all Awareness Centers, the medicine
they deliver turns to poison if it is given to a person who is not able
or available to receive it. From a Human Design perspective, yes, tap
into the Ajna clarity, but then you must follow the guidance from
your Authority to make aligned decisions. (See Chapter 12 on
Authority in Understanding Your Clients through Human Design).
A healthy Ajna is flexible and open to what is arising. It has the
ability to see if some answer, opinion, or thought is off track from a
detached vantage. The Ajna is the ultimate witnessing observer.
Using the Ajna Center to control and dominate is an act of rigidity
that actually diminishes the power of the Ajna to function at full ca-
pacity. It’s better to use this brilliant mechanism to communicate and
empower by offering multifaceted perspectives and possibilities
seen from clarity without attachment.
I think of Anat Baniel, again. In her NeuroMovement Training,
she used to tell us that she could tell which gymnasts were going to
perform well at the Olympics by looking at their wrists and hands. If
they were tense, she knew that the brain was occupied and not fully
present for the task at hand. Grabbing onto our thoughts causes ten-
sion in our musculature. This contraction robs us of our attention to
meet the moment with all our intelligence intact. Anat also explained
that the sign of a healthy brain was the ability to reverse its action. In
other words, to not to be caught in a loop or pattern. If you’re at-
tached to a belief or attached to being right, you can get caught in
one of these loops. There’s something we’ll need to sort out in terms
of flexibility as we turn to look more closely at the Defined and
Undefined Ajna, which will become clear as you read more about the
Ajna.
There are six Gates that come off the Ajna Center; three of them
connect to the Head Center, and three to the Throat Center. Which
Gate or Channel is activated will determine how the Ajna functions.
In this chapter, the particular Gates are discussed in the section
Working with the Specific Gates. But first take some time to connect to
your Ajna Center.
CONNECTIN G TO YOUR A JN A
CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Before we dive into the Open and Defined Ajna Centers, take a moment to
come into the present and actually connect with your Ajna Center from an
embodied place.
Begin by feeling your sitting bones on the chair.
Sense your arms and legs.
Notice your breath.
Now, put your focus on your Ajna.
Is it Defined or Undefined?
What do you notice as you feel it?
From a place of curiosity, notice: Is there tension?
Does your forehead feel relaxed?
Along with the neocortex and the visual cortex, the pituitary gland is asso-
ciated with the Ajna. This master gland plays a huge role in ensuring we
function optimally.
Is your processing center functioning well?
Are you able to maintain a healthy mindset?
Are you able to have a neutral attitude toward the information that arises –
the answers you come up with, the opinions, insights, and ideas that show
up in your life?
Or does your negative mindset hamper your progress and diminish
possibilities?
Are you wrapped around your answers, ideas, insights, and opinions, in an
effort to hold on to some sense of being right or safe?
Are thoughts, beliefs, and ideas caught in the eddy of your mind with no
exit plan?
Has your ego hijacked your mind?
Are you striving to be certain?
Now, put your attention on your heart.
What do you notice?
Would it be okay to send a stream of appreciation from your heart to your
Ajna Center?
Would it be okay to gently smile at your Ajna Center?
Make a decision to connect to your Ajna, to be curious about its function in
your life, to understand it, and to tap into its resources.
Think about this connection to your Ajna Center as an ever-deepening
relationship.
You’re getting to know a previously unacknowledged aspect of yourself.
Bring your awareness back to your breath.
Sense your arms and legs.
Place your focus on your Belly Center.
Gently open your eyes.
Take some time to journal about your experience. What did you notice?
Whether you come back to this meditation or create your own, make friends
with your Ajna.

THE DEFINED AJN A C E N T E R

If the Ajna Center is Defined, you will see the upside-down triangle
colored green below the Head Center. Roughly 47 percent of the
population has the gift of a Defined Ajna. The Defined Ajna gives
you consistent access to your processing center. Living in our men-
tally oriented world, people with Defined Ajnas are at a great advan-
tage. And yet there are challenges as well.
The Ajna Center becomes Defined when there is a Channel from
either the Head Center or the Throat Center.

Ajna to the Head Center

If the Ajna is Defined from a Head Center Channel, the Defined

Ajna seeks to translate the information from the Head Center. This
could be right brain/ abstract information (Channel 64-47), left
brain/ logical information (Channel 63-4), or information that comes
from an innate knowing (Channel 61-24). In any case, the mind will
be constantly active, consistently processing the information
provided.

(See Chart #16 in Chapter 6.)

Ajna to the Throat Center

If, on the other hand, the Ajna is Defined from the Ajna to the
Throat Center, you will have consistent access to speaking your
mind. If the Definition comes from Channel 17-62 Acceptance, you
will be in touch with your opinions, and share them freely (or not). If
the Ajna Center is Defined from the Channel of Structuring, Channel
43-23, you will be working to articulate your unique insights in a
way they can be understood. If your Defined Channel is Channel 11-
56 Curiosity, you will most likely be compelled to form your multi-
tude of ideas into stories to share with humanity.

Chart #18 Ajna to the Throat Center

 My wife has the very logical Channel of Answers, with Gate 63
coming off the Head Center connecting to the Ajna with Gate 4, the
Gate of Answers. As an aside, her Conscious Sun is in Gate 17, the
Gate of Opinions. She has answers and opinions for any situation.
I’ll speak about the high and low sides of this in a minute. Charity
meanwhile has the Channel 11-56. In her chart, Neptune, denoting
the spiritual path, is in the Gate 11, the Gate of Ideas coming off the
Ajna Center. Charity’s Spiritual path is to share her ideas. Her
Conscious Earth is in the Gate 56 reaching down to the Throat
Center. She is nurtured by telling stories. Thus, her spiritual path is
to take her ideas and share them as stories. If you read her book, you
will see she is an extraordinary storyteller!
My all-time favorite Channel in the entire chart is the 43-23,
which we often refer to as the Freak/ Genius Channel. The 43 is the
Gate of Insight which comes off the Ajna Center. I am always
thrilled, and a little envious, when I see this Defined in a chart. If
you have this Individual Circuitry Defined in your chart, you have
the capacity to focus on something that has been looked at for cen-
turies and see it in a new way. You are shining the light in places that
have remained in the dark. With Gate 23 Assimilation coming off the
Throat Center, you strive to articulate what has never been spoken or
named. You have an extraordinary job – although it’s not always an
easy one.
One of my former clients, Dena Evans, has the Channel 43-23.
She was a star women’s basketball athlete. And although she was
small as far as basketball players go, she played brilliantly. Dena
turned down an offer to play at Stanford, which gives you an idea of
her caliber. At some point in her career, she shifted from playing bas-
ketball to creating a basketball training. High-level basketball play-
ers came from all over the US to attend – men and women both.
Dena had a unique way of seeing and understanding the game that
she could articulate and use to help others improve their game.
Just so I know you’re clear – if you or your clients have one or
more of these six Channels Defined, the chart has a Defined Ajna,
along with the corresponding Defined Head or Defined Throat
Center. Stop here and reread this if you’re confused. This is founda-
tional, and important to understand.

The Gifts of the Defined Ajna

 In full transparency, let me say that I do not have a Defined Ajna.
I am reporting what I have been taught from the Human Design lens
and what I have seen and learned from the people in my life, my
family, and my clients. It is up to you to see what resonates, and to
deepen your understanding of your Defined Ajna, or the Defined
Ajnas of those you interact with.
That said, with a Defined Ajna, you may not even realize how
fortunate you are. You can count on your mind in a way you most
likely take for granted. You are privileged, or blessed, with the gift of
having consistent access to:

Resting in certainty
Counting on your mind to hold and process information
Enjoying mental stimulation
Having mental ground – not being easily influenced by
others’ thoughts

Resting in Certainty

Let’s face it. You can trust your mind. Unlike the Open Ajna,
which we’ll get to shortly, you’re not bombarded by other people’s
thoughts. You have access to a stable mind. Remember, the Defined
Centers are broadcasting information. Connected to the Head or
Throat Centers with a Defined Ajna Center, you’re designed to in-
spire people. You give people things to think about. You impact the
field with your thoughts. Our Western world is mind-based, and you
have access to your mind and the workings of your mind. You are
designed to be certain. That’s a very grounding quality. An I know
therefore I am kind of energy. In other words, you have a sense of ex-
isting through your mind.
Let me go back to my wife for a moment: She always knows what
she thinks. As I mentioned, when we’re with a group and nobody
has an opinion about where to go for dinner, she has an opinion.
She’s comfortable with that, happy to share what she thinks. She’s
always available with answers. And, with a Defined Ajna, she has a
level of certainty that’s natural to her, even if she’s not right. It’s got-
ten a bit complicated when you bring in the rest of the chart, given
she’s a Projector with her Sun in the Gate of Opinions. That takes
some skill to navigate, but let’s save that for the Grapples. Consider
Charity with her Defined Ajna as well. She trusts herself to tell her
story. She knows she can help other widows to heal by telling their
stories.

Counting on Your Mind to Hold and Process Information

Part of resting in certainty is the ease with which you hold and
process information. With a Defined Ajna, your mind has a consis-
tent way to process that you can count on. It may be so familiar to
you that you don’t even realize you have that gift. But trust me, you
do. And with that processor, you have the capacity to analyze data.
How you do it will depend on which Channel or Channels you have
Defined, but that skill is available to you.

Enjoying Mental Stimulation

Your Defined Ajna feeds on information. It enjoys mental stimu-

lation. We could say it needs mental stimulation. It needs something
to focus on, to process, to analyze. It’s exciting and fun for the mind
to look at things in new ways and make sense of them. The Defined
Ajna is designed to be actively processing the world.

Having Mental Ground – Not Being Easily Influenced by Others’

Thoughts

The Defined Ajna enjoys a feeling of being mentally grounded.

You have the gift of solidity in your thinking. You’re not knocked
around by other people’s thoughts. You can hold onto your own
view. This is a beautiful and powerful support that is available to
you.

The Grapples of the Defined Ajna

With a mind that can’t stop thinking, you or your clients may
grapple with:
 A constantly active mind
An overwhelming task
Believing your thinking
A potential to be headstrong
Inflexible certainty
A tendency to make decisions from your mind
Dependence on your mind as the sole source of your
wisdom
Feeling inadequate if you’re unable to put your thoughts
into action
The challenge of timing
Medicine turned to poison

In each of these cases, the Ego, in its quest for safety, has hijacked
the actual mechanism of the Ajna. The Ego is using the Ajna’s capaci-
ties not from a place of open curiosity, but from a striving to know
and prove what it knows is true.

A Constantly Active Mind

When I give a Human Design coaching session, I ask people to

send me their three greatest challenges prior to the session. More of-
ten than not, people with Defined Ajnas include the challenge of not
being able to quiet their mind. Invariably, when I explain that they
are designed to have a mind that never stops working, the relief is
palpable. It is easy to think something is wrong with us when we’re
told, especially in spiritual circles, to quiet our mind, and we’re not
able to. What happens if you stop resisting your active mind and in-
stead learn to work skillfully with it? What happens if you claim and
celebrate your capacity rather than reject or diminish it?

An Overwhelming Task

When the Ajna Center is Defined from a Channel coming from

the Head Center, the Ajna has the daunting task of processing the
Head’s three big questions: What? Why? and How? No wonder the
mind is so busy! If the chart is Defined though the right brain, ab-
stract Channel 64-47 Abstraction, you will be constantly looking at
the past to secure the future. You’re asking the question How? With a
mind processing dreams, symbols, and images and everything ab-
stract, the ensuing confusion can take time to unpack and under-
stand. If your mindset is negative – if you’re caught in a no-possibili-
ty thought pattern – you will miss the insights and the revelations
offered.
If your Ajna is Defined from Gate 61 to Gate 24, the Channel of
Awareness, you will be consistently engaged in understanding the
Why of life. You are destined to continuously search, stretching into
the universal Mind of God to make sense of life’s mysteries. If you
get caught in believing there is a final answer, you can succumb to
the pressure to find it. You then enter an endless search for meaning
that can be depressing, anxiety-ridden, and overwhelming. Your
mind is designed to engage in this ongoing process of tweaking and
re-tweaking your discoveries, but not to land with a final answer.
Finally, if your Ajna is Defined from the left brain, logical circuit-
ry of the Channel 63-4, the Channel of Logic, you are here to look to
the future to figure out what makes logical sense in terms of things
working out. You’re here to come up with answers. Your mind has
answers for everything. The problem is, you may not be right. If you
attach to your answers as truth, you may find yourself frustrated
when things either don’t work out as you planned, or your answers
aren’t well received. Your work lies in holding your answers lightly
with curiosity. Your task is to view your answers as possibilities,
rather than as facts.

Believing Your Thinking

Coupled with the overactive mind is the challenge of attaching to

your thinking. Byron Katie called it Believing Your Thinking. Our
thinking is just that – thoughts. In our culture, we have over-ideal-
ized thoughts, and tend to think that what we believe is fact. It’s part
of our cultural conditioning and gives a sense of safety. If we believe
we know something, we feel oriented – we feel safe. There is a
premise here that we can actually know something. One of the prob-
lems is that we attached to thoughts as young children and have ne-
glected to upgrade the beliefs to the present moment. For example, if
you had an older sister who impinged on your space as a child, you
might have drawn the conclusion that people can’t be trusted to re-
spect you. Your Defined Ajna gets that idea trapped in its wiring and
plays that loop over and over again. Instead of being in the present
moment and using your Defined Ajna to assess the current situation,
you see through the old lens and develop a defensive structure, an
attitude that people are unsafe. You are going to need to liberate that
pattern and work with bringing your Ajna into the present moment
in order to find peace and ease. The other difficulty with believing
our thinking is that we attach to our thoughts as if they actually be-
longed to us. We identify with them, believing they are personal to
us, rather than merely thoughts arising in an ocean of thoughts. I
learned the truth about thoughts first from Byron Katie, and her in-
quiry process, and again, when I got pointing out instructions from
my Tibetan Buddhist Lama. We'll get to that in the working with the
Ajna section.

A Potential to Be Headstrong

Yes, when you emphatically believe your thoughts as fact and

identify with them as yours, you can become engaged in defending
what you believe to be true. You can actually push your thoughts
into the field and on to people with almost religious vigor.
Remember that Definition in the chart is, by nature, not particularly
receptive. The Defined Ajna can act like a force with no possibility of
shifting perspective. This holding onto a thought and taking a stance
can easily alienate people and act as a barrier to intimacy or connec-
tion. Your thinking can become very focused and righteous, causing
you to lose the bigger, relational picture. We can see this playing out
in the current political climate.

Inflexible Certainty

Hand in hand with the potential to be headstrong is the vulnera-

bility of using your natural tendency toward certainty in an uncon-
scious way. With a Defined Ajna, you are designed to be certain.
Your certainty offers the grace and ease to operate without debilitat-
ing doubt. However, don’t take a stance of certainty without realiz-
ing the possibility that there may be information you have not con-
sidered. Such a position would prove to be a hinderance to you and
those around you. Recently, I watched the movie Misbehavior which
is based on a true story about how the Women’s Liberation
Movement was launched in Britain in the early 70s. Five women
were arrested for disturbing the peace at the Miss World contest, de-
claring that the women in the contest were being treated like cattle.
What we would describe now as blatant sexism, at the time was de-
fended as the norm. Bob Hope continually sexualized and demeaned
the women for the enjoyment of the audience. The movie pointed
out a blind certainty held by the producers and the culture of that
time. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the misogynistic world of that
time believed that the title, Miss World, was the highest honor a
woman could aspire to. Any suggestions that women’s value
shouldn’t be based on cultural ideals of beauty were met with
ridicule and astonishment. Bob Hope stood in his righteous certainty
that left no room for another narrative.

A Tendency to Make Decisions from Your Head

With such a powerful grounded thinking capacity it would make

sense that those with a Defined Ajna would be drawn to make deci-
sions from the information they’ve analyzed and gathered. The
Western world view would support and honor this method. From a
Human Design perspective, however, the Head and Ajna are never
the places to look for decisions. They are information Centers, not
decision-making Centers. It’s like asking a computer to make a deci-
sion about whether you should marry someone. Yes, your brain
could analyze all the data. It could make pro and con lists. But in the
end, it is your Authority, determined by your chart, that will support
you to make aligned decisions and deliver the best results. (See
Chapter 12 in Understanding Your Clients through Human Design for an
explanation of the Types of Authority.)

Dependence on Your Mind as the Sole Source of Your Wisdom

Again, your mind, your Defined processing center, gives you an

advantage. It gives you a kind of ground. You can easily defer to it at
the cost of listening to your intuition or your Sacral response. You
may override your emotional sense of well-being for something that
sounds pragmatic, reasonable, and sound. The problem is that facts
and data do not take into account deeper knowing. A bigger picture.
A sensibility. They are limited to the information at hand. If you are
looking through a lens that is already compromised from past expe-
riences, you may pass by an opportunity that could benefit and sup-
port you. If you happen to be in a negative space and believing your
negative thinking, you will take what you think as fact and your ac-
tions will be limited. It’s a delicate balance between using the mind
versus turning to the mind as your guidance system.

Feeling Inadequate if You’re Unable to Put Your Thoughts into Action

Remember that the Ajna is an Awareness Center. It is not an ac-

tion center. There is no Channel that connects directly to a Motor.
You are not designed to think of something and put it into action,
contrary to popular belief. You must follow your Authority to have
your thoughts come to fruition. That said, many people with
Defined Ajna’s have tried and failed. This can lead to a great deal of
frustration and doubt about the information your Ajna is producing.
It's easy to think something is wrong with you, when in fact, it’s
merely a matter of not being skillful with the genius you’ve been
given.

The Challenge of Timing

Much of the failure comes from poor timing. With the Ajna, the
information offered must be spoken in the right timing, whether it’s
opinions, insights, or ideas. No matter how genius, if the timing is
off, you’re in trouble. Likewise, if the people you’re speaking to are
not available to hear you or are not interested in what you have to
say, your brilliance will fall on deaf ears. This is where you are vul-
nerable to questioning yourself, rather than realizing that you were
throwing pearls to swine.

Medicine Turned to Poison

 When you are not tuned in to the situation but you're trying to
share your knowledge without a willing receptor, it is actually an af-
front to the people you’re talking to. There are two ways to look at
this. One is that you aren’t connected to the person you’re with and
you’re dominating them with your answers, opinions, insights, or
thoughts. Your thoughts become like objects you’re hurling at people
who then have to duck to avoid. Maybe you’ve watched people get
overwhelmed by your barrage. From your end, you were just trying
to offer what you had to give – your thoughts on the situation. There
is another way to see it. This is an extreme analogy Byron Katie used
to use. She said to think of the difference between lovemaking and
rape. The action can look the same, but one is wanted, the other is
not. When you think you’re giving something loving to someone,
and they don’t want it, it’s like rape. Or this might be easier to di-
gest: What is medicine to one person is poison to another. If some-
one’s system isn’t available to take what you’re offering, they can’t
process it and it is actually toxic to them.

Working with the Defined Ajna

So, you or someone you are working with has a Defined Ajna.
How do you best work with it?

Appreciate what you have been given.

Stop resisting the activity of your mind.
Value your certainty, at the same time leave space for not
being right.
Learn to detach from your thinking.
Train yourself to analyze, receive information, then turn to
your Authority for decision-making.
Appreciate that what you have to say may not be
welcomed.
Know that what you are offering is valuable, but not
infallible.
Work with your timing.
Bring your Ajna into the present moment.
Work with the specific gates.
Appreciate What You've Been Given

The first step is to appreciate that you have capacities other peo-
ple may not have. This is not about fostering arrogance or being bet-
ter than people with Open Ajnas. Rather, it’s about recognizing and
honoring difference. Your Defined Ajna is a gift – a strength. The
more you recognize and understand it, the more skillfully you can
utilize it.

Stop Resisting the Activity of Your Mind

This requires making peace with the fact that your mind is de-
signed to be in action. There’s nothing you can do about it. Well, you
can stop trying to put it in rest mode, when that is truly unnatural
for you. Once you or your clients are no longer fighting yourself, you
can begin the work of understanding, befriending, and utilizing the
particular steady stream of information that runs in your system.
You can also start to explore relaxing with your thoughts, looking di-
rectly at your thoughts, and opening to the space between your
thoughts. This inquiry into your mind can be deep, profound, and
rewarding.

Value Your Certainty, at the Same Time Leave Space for Not Being Right

Feeling certain offers a level of ground. It brings confidence and

enables you to go forward. With the Defined Ajna, you or your client
have the gift of mental sure-footedness. The glitch is, you're not al-
ways right. When I share this piece with couples, where one person
has the Defined Ajna and the other has an Open Ajna, they often
laugh out loud. The Defined Ajna can be so convincing and so com-
pelling that it can leave little room for the partner's point of view.
The key here is for everyone to appreciate the certainty and at the
same time, hold it lightly. It's a possibility. It’s not a fact. You may
question your thoughts and beliefs with a curiosity and rigor. That’s
different from attacking yourself or diminishing yourself for feeling
certain and having something not be accurate.
 If you've got a Defined Ajna and don't resonate with feeling cer-
tain, the lack of certainty may also show up as a challenge in your
life. Remember, with Definition in the chart, we are working with
themes. If you are not aligned with the energy that the Definition is
broadcasting, you may be living and broadcasting the opposite of
that theme or the absence of that theme. When this is the case, it's
time to examine the thoughts and beliefs that have been caught in
your wiring, and free them, so that you can access the stream of cer-
tainty you are entitled to.

Learn to Detach from Your Thinking

As you begin to leave room for the possibility that your thoughts,
opinions, ideas, insights, answers, rationalizations, and mindset may
not always be accurate or right, you can start to explore the next lev-
el of using your Defined Ajna. When you let go of attaching to your
thoughts, you have access to a higher level of functioning. The Ajna
is a neutral observer. It processes information. When you become the
witness of your thoughts, you no longer are at the effect of them.
With a Defined Ajna, you have the extraordinary capacity to use
your mind to look at your mind. It might be akin to the path of Jana
Yoga in Hinduism, the path of Inquiry, the path of using the mind to
understand the nature of the world. In Buddhism, there is a path
that uses logic to look at the nature of the mind in order to free one-
self of the mind. Someone with Defined Ajna is well suited to this
path once they are aware it is an option. Meditation is a great tool to
support detaching from identifying with your thoughts. Meditations
in the stream of Vipassana – which train you to watch your thoughts
– are particularly good. Byron Katie also has a powerful meditation.
She has you look at your thoughts as they arise, put them on a cloud,
and let them pass. Her tool, The Work, is an incredible inquiry tool
to look into the nature of your thinking to discover what is true. It
becomes immediately clear when you do The Work that much of
what you think is simply not true. There is a big space that opens
when you are no longer at the mercy of your thinking.

Train Yourself to Analyze, Receive Information, Then Turn to Your Human

Design Authority for Decision Making
 Part of learning to detach from identifying with your thinking is
discovering that your thinking is not your source of guidance. Once
your Defined Ajna has done its remarkable job of sorting through in-
formation, your next task to use that information wisely. This isn't
accomplished by following what it says to do. Rather, you will now
need to turn to your Authority as shown in your bodygraph.
Here’s an example: One of my author colleagues, Veronica
Anderson, is clearly brilliant. An M.D., she graduated top of her
class from Princeton. With Defined Head and Ajna Centers, Dr.
Veronica has mental capacity out the wazoo. In her book, Too Smart
to Be Struggling, she chronicles her extraordinary path to becoming a
thriving ophthalmologist with her own clinic employing a group of
MDs. We could say her Defined Head and Ajna led her to the pinna-
cle of her career – something we could all admire and envy. And yet,
as a Projector, she was burning the candle at both ends.
Understandably, she flared out. The ensuing rest that was required
to heal opened the door to her listening deeply to her Authority,
which in her case is Splenic. Splenic Authority relies on intuition as
guidance. Dr. Veronica stopped following the guidance of her head
and listened instead to her intuition. She spent six months resting.
Really deeply resting. During that deep dive, her capacity as a med-
ical intuitive became pronounced as she watched diagnoses written
in the sky. She is the one to turn to if you can’t figure out what’s go-
ing on with your body. She now trains MDs and high performing
women to listen to themselves and to their clients. Her upcoming
book is Get the Respect You Deserve: 7 Secrets to Getting Seen and Heard
in Your Job. Dr. Veronica has learned to use her brain well, but not to
turn to it for direction. Her intuition is a much more reliable guide.
Her intuition holds the big picture for her and allows her to bring
her piece of the puzzle to serve humanity.
What is your Authority? Your client’s Authority? Don’t miss out
on tapping into your best decision-making tool – which is never your
mind.

Appreciate that What You Have to Say May Not Be Welcomed

So, you have mental capacity. You have thoughts. You have opin-
ions. You have answers. You have insights. You have ideas. You
know something and want to share it but when you do, it is rebuffed
or ignored or dissed. This can be very confusing to someone with a
Defined Ajna. A friend of mine – who I met at Rockstar Camp – has
her Ajna Defined through that Freak/ Genius Channel 43-23. Like
Dr. Veronica, she is a Projector who has achieved status in her life,
though for her it is as the head of an HR department. As we looked
at her chart, she acknowledged that it's very frustrating when people
don’t listen to her. Some do, and that’s great. But I saw that she had
begun to question and doubt herself. This is something that I typical-
ly see in people with Defined Ajnas. The antidote here is to come
back to the realization that what you have to say matters. It’s just
that it is not for everyone’s ears. You must clean up any old patterns
of belief that you don’t have anything important to offer simply be-
cause what you’ve tried to communicate hasn’t been well received.
It’s emphatically not true. Your ideas, opinions, thoughts, revela-
tions, hypotheses, and knowing matter, but they have no value in and
of themselves. They must be relayed to the right people in the right
timing. You have got to learn to value yourself first, and not throw
your pearls to swine. In part, this could be achieved merely by mak-
ing a decision that what you have to say is valuable. Then fake it un-
til you feel it in your bones. If that does not shift the path your neu-
rotransmitters fire, then try writing The Work and see what thought
patterns you can clean up. Some possible statements you can work
with are: People should listen to me. People don’t listen to me. I need peo-
ple to value what I have to say. Give it a go! You’ll be surprised what
you discover.

Know That What You Are Offering Is Valuable, But Not Infallible

Once you have established the value of your Defined Ajna and its
powerful gifts, you must remember to hold your thoughts lightly.
This goes back to detaching from your thoughts. You may be abso-
lutely right about whatever it is you’re thinking or professing. But if
you are wrong, and that is one of the possibilities, the tendency can
be to call on your superego to attack you. This could easily trigger
the old patterns of dismissal. This is not a resourceful use of your en-
ergy. Better to know from the outset that you can be certain without
being tentative. You can trust your thinking and value your opinions
while remaining open to shifting. I remember Byron Katie saying to
me once: “Would you rather be right, or would you rather get what
you want?” Often, we hold on to being right and lose in the long
run.

Work with Your Timing

The key to being heard with a Defined Ajna is timing. Just be-
cause you have something to say has no bearing on whether you
should say it in the moment it arises, if at all. We’re back to the don’t
throw your pearls before swine scenario. You must be clear about your
intention to have what you say be heard. This involves speaking it in
the right timing to people who can hear it. It requires clarity and pa-
tience. Use your Strategy to discern who those people are and what
the right timing is. This is true kindness to you and to them. For ex-
ample, if you are a Projector, wait to be invited before you share your
wisdom. If you are a Generator, wait to respond before giving your
insights. This takes tremendous discipline and restraint at times. But
you will fare much better for it.
A side note here: My Human Design mentor, Karen Curry Parker,
has a Defined Ajna. Her mind is a thing to behold. Her capacity to
channel information and generate content is phenomenal. I was in-
terviewing her recently for a podcast, and she told me that she’s
been talking about things for twenty years that people are just now
starting to comprehend. She has had to be patient. She has had to
wait for the world to catch up to what she knows.

Bring Your Ajna into the Present

Think about it, when we are dissociated from our bodies, we do

not have the body feedback information needed to stay safe. We miss
cues; whether we physically trip or mentally misread signals, we are
at risk. Being embodied – present to the moment – offers a ground
and capacity to respond appropriately to what we have to face.
Likewise, being dissociated from our bodygraph, in this case, the
Defined Ajna, actually trips us up and keeps us from the rich know-
ing that is available to us. When your mind is caught in the past or
out in the future, the Ajna is not available to process incoming data.
When your mindset is mucked up with past stories, you can’t see
clearly the immediate possibilities. The more work you can do to
clean up limiting beliefs and your attachment to and identification
with your thoughts, the more capable you are of using your Defined
Ajna to the full extent. I’ve got a thirteen-year-old iMac which runs
slowly. I have a lot of unnecessary information stored on it. If I were
to let go of what wasn’t current, it would be way more efficient and
enable me to work more effectively. You get the drift. There are many
tools available to help. One of the most effective I’ve found is Byron
Katie’s process of writing your thoughts on paper so you can look at
them directly.

Chart #19 Ajna: Defined Gates

Work with the Specific Gates

In other chapters, you will see that I talk about specific Gates in
terms of gifts or grapples. With the Ajna, it makes sense to me to in-
sert them here. Here are the Gates and ways you can think about
working with them:
Gate 47 Realization

This Gate comes off the Ajna reaching toward the Head Center.
It’s a right brain, Sensing Circuit energy that is trying to make sense
of the big downloads from Gate 64 Confusion. What is important to
know here is that this is the mindset Gate. You must have a good
mindset in order to recognize the revelations that are offered from
the 64. If you have a negative mindset, you can miss them. We con-
sider this a red flag Gate, because mindset is such a huge deal. If you
have this in your chart, you have a mandate to continuously align
your mindset.

Gate 24 Rationalization

If you have this Individual Knowing Circuitry energy, you can

rationalize anything. Be aware of this tendency, and keep an eye out
on yourself! This is also called the re-tweaking Gate, as you are con-
tinuously taking information and looking it over and over, trying to
upgrade what you’re understanding. Your mind is designed to work
non-stop. Don’t judge yourself for this or think you need to stop this
activity. Instead, look for the gaps between your thoughts. There you
will find answers that the brain can’t conceive.

Gate 23 Answers

If you have this left brain, Logical Collective Gate, you are de-
signed to come up with answers. But your answers are suppositions.
They may not be correct. Keep that in mind. Also remember that you
must deliver your answers in right timing, or else they will fall on
deaf ears. Use your Strategy and Authority to guide you.

Gate 17 Opinions

If you have the left brain, Collective Logical Circuit of Opinions,

you have consistent access to your opinions. Just remember that they
are just that – opinions. Hold them lightly and be prepared to shift
them as new information comes in. That said, your opinions are im-
portant, but in order to be heard, you must offer them in the right
timing. Learn to be skillful with your opinions by following your
Strategy and Authority.

Gate 43 Insight

With this Individual Knowing Circuitry, you just know things.

This is mutative energy, so your insights are out of the norm, for
sure. You have the amazing ability to look at something and see it in
fresh light. Your insights can shift the trajectory of humanity. Just
know when you work with this aspect of yourself that this is part of
the Freak/ Genius Channel. If you share your insights with someone
who is not asking for them or not ready to hear them, you will be
perceived as a freak. If you speak them in right timing, according to
your Strategy and Authority, your insights will be recognized as ge-
nius. Timing is everything here. Don’t get discouraged if people
don’t understand or appreciate your insights. Know that they are not
the right people, or it is not the right timing. Recalibrate. Wait until
you have people who can understand and appreciate what you are
bringing. As with all Knowing Circuitry, there can be some melan-
choly as you are so different from others. See this for what it is, and
don’t go down the drain with it.

Gate 11 Ideas

If you have this right brain, Collective Sensing Circuitry Defined,

you are here to have ideas. Lots of them! More than you know what
to do with. There are a few things to be aware of here. First, know
that you are not meant to act on all of your ideas. You come up with
ideas for others. Second, the ideas which are yours to work with, you
must guard carefully. Other people will take your ideas and mone-
tize them. So, enjoy the ideas that run through you without feeling
pressured to bring all of them to fruition.

Helpful Tools:

Develop a witnessing observer.

 Do The Work of Byron Katie!

Develop a Witnessing Observer

This is perhaps the most important tool you could employ with a
Defined Ajna. The Ajna is the master witness. Turn that capacity to
look at your thinking. Watch your mindset. Watch your rationaliza-
tion. Watch your attachment to your answers. Watch your insistence
on your opinions. Watch your judgments of your insights. Watch
your attachment to your ideas. The act of witnessing puts a layer of
curiosity between you and your beliefs. It enables you to have some
perspective and be less invested. Once you have witnessed, turn
what you see to inquiry.

Do The Work of Byron Katie!

Katie’s work is the perfect antidote to believing your thinking.

Ask yourself: Is it true? How do I react when I believe that thought?
Who would I be without that thought? You can do this with your
mindset, your rationalizations, your answers, your opinions, your
insights, and your ideas. This will give you incredible freedom from
the trappings of the mind that believes what it thinks! (See the
Resources section at the end of the book for the complete inquiry process.)

THE OPEN AJNA

Where we are Open in our charts, we are taking in the world around
us. These are receptor sites. The Ajna is the center of processing, ana-
lyzing, and making sense of data. It takes in all the information pre-
sented, to make sense out of nonsense. But, how do you do that with an
Open Ajna? Some people’s first response when they realize they
have an Open Ajna is to feel like they’re missing something vital.
Other people feel a big relief, like, no wonder they’ve struggled so
much trying to process and retain information.
When I look at someone’s chart and see they have an Open Ajna,
I wonder how it is for them, how they’ve navigated life without con-
sistent access to their processing center. For most of us, it’s not that
easy in a world that privileges mental capacity. In response, those of
us with Open Ajnas have often compensated by making extra efforts.
Historically, women have had to work twice as hard as men and had
to be twice as capable, in order to get the same job or status. The
compensation that comes out of a feeling of lack can produce great
results. But it can also create a pressure and a tension that is ulti-
mately not in alignment with or respectful of the power of the Open
Ajna. Again, I picture women leaders like Margaret Thatcher who
have taken on the persona of men, feeling that is the only option to
gain respect. In fact, the power of an embodied woman – say, for ex-
ample, Stacey Abrams – embracing who she is, has a grounded, en-
livening, invigorating, and heart-opening impact. It’s much more po-
tent than the facsimile of the strained and unnatural male persona.
Those with Open Ajnas can struggle to process information in a
reliable way. It is also possible, with an Open Ajna, to have a pro-
cessing center that is naturally functioning at a level beyond what
we consider normal. Occasionally I meet people, especially if their
Ajnas are completely Open, who have photographic memories. It’s
happened enough times that I hold open that possibility as well.
As you enter the world of the Open Ajna, I invite you to amplify
your spirit of curiosity. Watch the tendency to grab hold of thoughts,
to succumb to the ego’s attempt to take over your Ajna! The Open
Ajna is truly remarkable, valuable, and worthy of respect in its own
right.
If you or your client are one of the 50 percent of the population
with an Undefined Ajna, the second Center from the top – the down-
ward facing triangle – will be white. Your first center, the Head
Center, will automatically be white, or Undefined, as well since there
are by definition, no Channels going from the Ajna Center to the
Head Center. Remember, a Center becomes Defined when two Gates
meet and form a Channel, creating Definition in the two Centers on
either side of that Channel. As with all the Open Centers, there are
profound gifts and formidable challenges. The Open Ajna is made
more complex or potent due to the fact that it is always paired with
an Open Head Center.

The Grapples of an Open Ajna

Where we are Open is where we take in and receive the world

around us. Where we are Open is where we are conditioned, where
we believe we should be different than we are. The Open Centers re-
veal our pain points. With that in mind (and we will get to the gifts
after you’re clear on the grapples), here are some of the challenges
you, or your client, with an Open Ajna may face:

No consistent way to process information

The challenge of holding onto thoughts, data, and
information
The lack of mental groundedness
Not designed to be certain
Where to focus?
The totally Open Ajna

No Consistent Way to Process Information

With an Open Ajna, when information comes in, you don’t have
a consistent way to sort, analyze, and process information.
Sometimes you may process through your intuition, another time
through your logical left brain, another time through your abstract
right brain. You just never know. This can be unnerving and confus-
ing, leaving you with a feeling of not being able to trust your mind.

The Challenge of Holding onto Thoughts, Data, and Information

Which brings me to the next point. Your brain does not hold onto
information in the same way someone with a Defined Ajna does. My
wife has a Defined Ajna. She remembers the amount of electric bill,
the internet bill, the cost of gas, the name of the actress in the movie
we saw last week, and on and on. Her brain retains information. My
brain is more like a sieve.
 People with Open Ajnas often have fear that something is wrong
with their brain; they wonder if they have Alzheimer's because of the
way information flows in and out. They can be afraid of looking stu-
pid when they can’t come up with an answer for an obvious ques-
tion. Their minds can go totally blank like a computer freeze, unable
to access the file.

The Lack of Mental Ground

Which brings me to the next point. With the fluid experience of

the Open Ajna, there can be a lack of mental ground. You may not
know how your mind is going to behave. You may not be able to
count on your mind to be stable. In our culture, this is sometimes
called flaky. When the mind is free to look at things from various
perspectives and goes in and out of being online, a person can be in-
consistent in their thinking or variable in their perspective.
Depending on how you were viewed, or treated, or conditioned with
your Open Ajna, you could end up feeling mentally insecure and de-
ficient. You could easily not trust yourself. As a result, you could
strain your brain, squeeze your head, and pressure yourself to hold
onto thoughts, trying desperately to get mental ground by exertion.
One way we try to get mental ground is by merging with other
people’s thoughts and opinions. We identify them as our own to
have something in our heads, rather than the ominous nothingness
that we defend against. The problem here is that, as soon as that per-
son is out of our field, either the thought goes with them, or we are
left exerting effort to hold onto the thought. It’s like a muscle that’s
reached for something then forgotten to let it go, leaving the hand in
a contracted state, unable to reach for the next thing that comes by.

Not Designed to Be Certain

Desperately wanting the mental ground that you witness other

people having and being conditioned to believe that certainty is a
virtue, you attempt to stabilize your mind by being certain. The only
problem is, with your Undefined Ajna, you are not designed to be
certain. This thinking is so counter to our cultural norm that it may
be hard to even fathom.
 The analogy I like to use is driving a car. Imagine you’re holding
onto the steering wheel with your hands tight. You’re trying to stabi-
lize the car through the effort of keeping the wheel from moving.
You’re not allowing the flexibility of the small movements that are
continuously correcting and adjusting to the ever-new input the car
is encountering. By trying to stabilize the steering wheel by holding
tightly, you actually become an unsafe driver. The lighter you hold
the wheel, the more responsive you are to the obstacles in the road.
Likewise, with the Open Ajna, if you can hold your mind lightly, you
are free to respond in the moment to the changing data. This requires
tolerating and allowing for uncertainty. If you grab hold in order to
be certain, you miss out on important cues that could enhance your
capacity to understand and analyze information.
I find that people with an Open Ajna can be more certain than
those with Defined Ajnas. This is always a flag for me. I can feel it.
There is a rigidity, a defiance, a proving that smacks of the Ego hav-
ing hijacked the person’s sensibility. On the other hand, I have seen
people with Open Ajnas become so flummoxed at the notion of hav-
ing an opinion or coming up with an answer, that they freeze and
lose all access to their Ajna.

Where to Focus?

Your Open Ajna is constantly taking in and amplifying the

thoughts, ideas, opinions, and insights of those around you. Then it’s
attempting to process the barrage. Where do you focus? It’s like a
camera lens trying to find the subject in the field, zooming in, zoom-
ing out, trying to find a landing place. The Open Ajna has to grapple
with what information is worth processing. Remember, it’s got the
Open Head feeding it from all directions. Meanwhile, there is the
looming pressure to come up with answers. The receptive Open Ajna
acts like a magnet. It draws information to it so that it can easily be-
come flooded and overwhelmed.

The Totally Open Ajna

In the event your Ajna is completely Open, when no Hanging

Gates are coming off of it whatsoever, the question of where to focus
can be intensified. With nothing to organize your thinking around,
the feeling of lostness – the lack of ground – can be crazy-making.

The Gifts of the Open Ajna

Where we are Open, we are vulnerable to conditioning, thus the

Open Centers are referred to as our pain points. In our Openness, we
take on other people’s thoughts and treat them as if they are our
own. I see the Open Centers as filters that get gunked up with de-
bris. As we clean those filters, liberating ourselves from – in the case
of the Ajna – thoughts, beliefs, and neuropathways that are not in
alignment with who we are, we open to our wisdom. We step into
choice. We become available to experience without a veil, the full
spectrum of the Ajna’s capacities. The pain transforms, becoming the
doorway to what I refer to as The God Portal. Here are the gifts from
the traditional Human Design perspective, followed by my under-
standing of The God Portal level.

You’re here to be wise about what to process.

You can process information in a variety of ways.
You can have a brilliant mind.

You’re Here to Be Wise about What to Process

When the Open Ajna functions without being under the influence
of conditioning and the distortions that conditioning brings, the Ajna
is capable of seeing clearly which thoughts and beliefs warrant pro-
cessing, and which to let pass. The Open Ajna can see many sides to
an issue, bringing a flexible mind and free-thinking spirit that allows
space for new thoughts to be considered.

You Can Process Information in a Variety of Ways

Coupled with the capacity to be astute in discerning what it pro-

cesses, the Open Ajna has a wide array of tools at its disposal.
Depending on what the situation calls for, it can tap the breadth and
depth of the right brain, abstract approach which interprets dreams
and symbols. Here it takes into account the past as it senses into –
more than figuring out – what is at hand. The Open Ajna can also en-
gage the left brain, logical aspect of the mind to predict and hypothe-
size what to analyze and how to go forward. It can also utilize the
knowingness that comes seemingly from nowhere but is clear, per-
haps a direct line to Universal Knowing. In addition, the Open Ajna
can draw upon intuitive knowing, gut knowing, emotional knowing,
and mental knowing. Thus, the Open Ajna has a plethora of possible
ways to navigate and make sense of the nonsense, the chaos, it per-
petually encounters.

You Can Have a Brilliant Mind

With the flexibility of looking at life through myriad lenses, the

potential for brilliance can go far beyond the grounded Defined
Ajna’s capacities. Take Albert Einstein for instance: his Open Ajna
coupled with his totally Open Head enabled him to peer into the
workings of the universe in new and astounding ways. When the fil-
ters are cleared, miraculous insights become available (we’ll look at
this in the God Portal). My mother had an Open Head and Ajna. She
graduated from college at eighteen and finished her Ph.D. at twenty-
one. She was a genius at test-taking, and, in her late forties, took up
aviation. She consistently got 98 percent to 100 percent on her flight
tests while the guys in the class got scores in the 70 percent range.
The teacher suspected the secretary was slipping her the tests so he
began locking them up. When my mom went to take her written
exam, she found the test much harder than she had been prepped
for. The fellows in her class had all been notified they’d passed while
she hadn’t heard. She got a call saying she had passed the test for the
Commercial License, but they had no record of her private pilot’s
test. She’d mistakenly been given a more advanced test. She went in
and took the private pilot’s test and easily passed.
Another way, which I mentioned before, that the brilliance of the
Open Ajna can show up is a photographic memory. It’s as if there is
not a barrier between the information and the mind. This can also
show up as a capacity to almost hear or see people’s thoughts. It’s
like going into Oneness with someone’s mind and picking up on
what they’re thinking. This is an asset for any coach or therapist who
can access the clarity of the Open Ajna.

The Open Ajna as a God Portal

The Diamond Body – neutral witness

Access to all knowledge
Laser focus
Unshakable mental stability

The Diamond Body – Neutral Witness

In the Diamond Approach, the Diamond Body is the essential ve-

hicle whose function is to see and process the whole and all the parts
simultaneously. When the Open Ajna is unimpeded, we embody the
neutral witness and thus have access to an unfathomable level of
clarity. In this unhindered state, there is nothing between the Open
Ajna and the Oneness of the universe. The level of complexity is
daunting and unavailable to the Ego. And yet with the light of the
Diamond Body, order is revealed in a harmonious simplicity. If you
have done extensive meditation – or perhaps through ingesting psy-
chotropic substances – you may have pierced the Ego’s veil and got-
ten glimpses of the vast workings of the universe.

Access to All Knowledge

As we touched on above, the Open Ajna can access everything

from photographic memory to mind reading. But it goes beyond
that. From the Diamond Body perspective, the entire knowledge of
the universe is accessed and processed through the combination of
the Open Head and Open Ajna Centers. This includes information
throughout time and space, including access to the Akashic records.
This is a very spacious mind that is open to the full spectrum of in-
formation and able to process it.

Laser Focus
 The Diamond Body has the extraordinary capacity to instanta-
neously process information from a non-preferential place. Likewise,
when the unimpeded Open Ajna places its focus on something, a
light turns on and reveals everything there is to know about the ob-
ject of its focus. This surpasses the sophistication of any supercom-
puter we could imagine.
I’m going to use myself as an example here. When a client shares
a dilemma with me, and my Open Head and Ajna are clear (this
practice requires true neutrality), I can see in a nano-second the en-
tire scenario. The problem and possible solutions reveal themselves.
Whether and how I share what arises, or not, is another issue that
takes its own skill. There is no thinking or effort involved. The infor-
mation is just there. The light gets turned on and I see.

Unshakable Mental Stability

As you learn to relax your mind and surrender to your Open

Head and Ajna, you Open to your essential self, your Being. You
land in the present moment. Instead of identifying with, and thus be-
ing tossed about by the thoughts or processing styles of others, you
become the neutral observer; you become the witness to the myriad
of thoughts and processes that are in continuous motion. As the ob-
server, you rest in the spaciousness, identifying with spaciousness it-
self. As a result, you access an almost inconceivable stability which
engenders a natural certainty. This certainty is predicated on flexibil-
ity and flow. It is not based on the rigidity of the Ego’s need for secu-
rity and safety.
I remember the first time I accessed this clarity. It was 1998 or
1999. I was in the back seat of a car, sitting directly behind Byron
Katie. We were driving to an event she was doing in Tucson,
Arizona. Katie said something – I can’t remember what – and my
mind went still. For a moment, I glimpsed the world in perpetual
motion, a constant swirl of change. And yet, the act of witnessing the
movement was an experience of peace and stability, a ground in my
mind that I had never known before. I can remember turning to her
and saying, “I get it. The only thing that’s constant is change.”

Working with the Open Ajna

 Appreciate your Open Ajna.
Clean the filter of conditioning.
Find the ground/ stability.
Use your Strategy and Authority as guides.

Appreciate Your Open Ajna

We are wired to hold onto and identify with pain. It’s our primi-
tive brain’s way of trying to keep us safe. But to truly access the gifts
of the Open Head and Ajna, you must shift your attitude and begin
to appreciate them. By treating your Open Ajna with awe and re-
spect, seeing it as a source of possibility, you open to receive the
blessings it has to offer. Instead of dissing your mind, and believing
it should be different, practice the qigong inner smile. Send apprecia-
tion to your brain exactly as it is. Claim your mind as a witness
rather than falling into the habit of being at the effect of the people
around you and the conditioning from the past.

Clean the Filter of Conditioning

To liberate yourself from the pattern of habitually identifying

with other people’s thoughts, beliefs, ideas, answers, and just, in
general, their mind patterns, commit to looking diligently at the
thoughts that arise. See what you’re believing that is untrue. Decide
to either stop comparing or to use the comparing mind consciously
to discover the truth. Byron Katie’s work is the best filter-cleaning
agent I know, but it is not the only one. There are many Buddhist
meditation practices that will clear the filter. Cognitive therapy can
be a useful tool here as well. Anything that will help free your ego
from the desperate need to know and be certain will bring tremen-
dous clarity and ease into your life.
There is a story my Diamond Teacher, Faisal Muqaddam, used to
tell us about his childhood in Kuwait. That culture did not overwork
the brain. It was understood that the mind was designed to be at rest
until something appeared that actually required thought. He was
shocked when he came to the US and experienced the rampant men-
tal flurry and head tension from overthinking. We have been condi-
tioned to think as an ongoing action rather than to allow ourselves to
know, or to use that function specifically in the right timing. Can you
imagine if you were surrounded by people whose minds were at
rest? What that would do to the energy in the field?

Find the Ground and Establish an Authentic Stability

If you have the good fortune to be in the presence of someone

with a stable mind, you can actually get the transmission of that
state. I believe this is what happened to me being with Katie. Yes, I
did The Work, but being in the presence of her unshakable mind
gave me a template – a new path. On your journey to stabilize your
Open Head and Ajna, here are a few guideposts that may be helpful:

Surrender, lean into, or fall into your openness.

Relax and open. Rest in being. Wait. Practice not going after
information. Rather allow information to come to you.
Allow knowing.
Keep in mind that mental stability comes as we become the
witness to what’s arising.
Detach from identification with thoughts and see thoughts
as impersonal.
Free yourself of the need to be certain. When you find
yourself being certain, see that as a sign that you may be
identifying with your ego.

Use Your Strategy and Authority as Guides

Retrain your mind from the pattern of going to your head for
knowledge by looking to your Strategy and Authority instead. This
will give you a trustworthy way to discern what thoughts are condi-
tioned and what are supportive to you. For example, if you’re a
Generator with an Emotional authority, you may have a response to
something someone says. You first start to process it from an old
pain vantage, but when you check your gut, you know better. You
wait and let more information come in, which lets you see a bigger
picture. You’re flooded with compassion for the person rather than
reactivity. You’ve shifted from processing something from the habit-
ual stance – where you believe that what’s being said is personal to
you – to seeing it is more about the person and what they’re experi-
encing than about you.

Helpful Tools

It is easy enough to say find the ground and establish authentic sta-
bility. And this does provide an initial orientation. But how is the big
question. How do you liberate your Open Ajna? For each of you, and
for each of your clients, the journey will be unique. I see the Open
Centers as direct access to connecting with universal Oneness. They
are our spiritual portals: the doorway to knowing ourselves as spirit,
as essence. There are particular tools I regularly use and recommend
specifically for the Open Ajna that you might find helpful:

Meditate.
Do The Work of Byron Katie.
Sensing your arms and legs, bringing your awareness to
your belly.
Use essential oils as a practice.

Meditate

Meditation is a clear choice for cleaning the filters when it comes

to the Open Head and Ajna Centers. Vipassana meditation in partic-
ular is geared to looking directly at the mind. Byron Katie has a med-
itation I often suggest that guides you to put your thoughts on a
cloud, one at a time as they arise, and let them pass. Transcendental
Meditation doesn’t look directly at thoughts. However, it makes
space for thoughts to arise without going to war with them or trying
to make them go away. This has a back-door effect of loosening the
grip of the mind. Vajrayana Buddhism has a variety of meditations.
They are all geared to shifting our identification from our habitual
thought patterns to a more authentic and naturally aligned self. Any
meditation, really that helps you disidentify from your thinking is
deeply supportive.
 I would add here a tool that has been particularly helpful for me,
which is mantra recitation. This can be done as part of a meditation
or in daily life. The mantra is taking up the space the habitual
thoughts would otherwise inhabit.

Do The Work of Byron Katie

If there is one tool that has had the biggest impact on clearing my
thinking, it is The Work. In this simple yet potent process, you write
down your judgments then inquire into your thinking. This is a fan-
tastic way to look at the painful thoughts we identify with and do an
inquiry into their truth. As we see our internal fake news, our attach-
ment to conditioning naturally falls away. We become sober in our
thinking rather than cluttered with distortions.
(See Resources for Katie’s complete inquiry process.)x

Sense Your Arms and Legs, Drop into Your Belly

As I mentioned in the chapter on the Head Center, this might

seem like an odd choice to add in the mix. But do not underestimate
this simple practice. It can help bring you immediately into the
present moment.

Use Essential Oils as a Practice

Essential oils have the extraordinary ability to cross the blood/

brain barrier to access and work directly with the brain. You can re-
lease trauma and tension by smelling specific oils as you focus on
different parts of your body. There is so much clearing and healing
you can do with the oils on so many levels. There is a technique
called the Mugwort Technique that can bring you into the present
moment. This is a new path for me, and I find it surprisingly
supportive.
(See Resources for Mugwort Technique.)
RECAP
This has been a long and full chapter. All the Centers are important
and unique, but the Ajna holds a special place. If we can be in align-
ment with our Ajna, we can work with the other Centers from a
place of clarity. The overarching theme with the Ajna, in general, is
to retrain your mind. Learn to shift away from the pattern of going
to your head for the answers. Instead, rely on your Strategy and
Authority to recognize which of your Ajna’s insights, opinions, or
ideas should be followed and ultimately expressed. Take some time
to reflect on what you’ve learned about your Ajna. What’s your rela-
tionship to certainty? Do you rely on your Ajna without even realiz-
ing it?
In the next chapter, we’ll explore the Throat Center. This is a key
Center in the chart. It could be a game changer in your life. Take
your time and get to know your Throat Center!
 8

GETTING TO KNOW
THE THROAT CENTER

Chart #20 Throat Center

INTRODUCING TH E THR OAT
CENTER

A
pproaching the Throat Center is like looking out at the Grand
Canyon in suspended awe. It is so majestic. It is so powerful.
It embodies the beauty, the splendor, and the magnificence of
creation. The Throat Center is a thing to behold. It is so multi-
faceted, so powerful, so important. It’s key to our relationships, our
creativity, our survival, our well-being, our sense of self, our power.
Through the Throat Center, we express ourselves. We speak our
thoughts, express our feelings, and share our intuitions. We use our
voice to take leadership. And, perhaps most importantly, when we
put our words into action, we create. Through our Throat Center, we
make manifest the glory of God. This is the Center of creativity and
possibility. This is the Center through which we manifest. In the be-
ginning, was the word. With the Throat Center, we hold the power
of the word.
The Throat Center is so vital in the Human Design chart that all
the energy in the chart is rushing to make its way to the Throat
Center. Sometimes called the hub, or the town square, of the chart, it
is the gathering place through which we connect to others. With
eleven Gates connecting to six Centers, mechanically speaking, the
Throat Center connects to more Centers and Gates than any other
Center in the whole chart.
With its vast diversity and its huge impact, the Throat Center is
worth getting to know, understand, and work with. Your capacity to
show up, be heard, create, and manifest rests with your alignment
with your Throat Center. It also has a role in our physical health as it
is associated with the thyroid and parathyroid glands. These small
but powerful glands are responsible for our metabolic processes –
regulating how we assimilate and digest food, and – for that matter –
life. If you misuse your Throat Center by not following your Type,
Strategy, and Authority, you risk burning out your thyroid and/ or
your vocal cords. This is very easy to do and can cause serious
health issues. It’s also avoidable. As I said, it’s worth knowing how
to care for and align with your unique Throat Center.

CONNECTIN G TO THE
THROAT CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Let’s take a moment to connect with this powerful energy and begin the
process of befriending your Throat Center.
Begin by taking a breath and dropping your awareness down to your sitz
bones.
Can you feel the weight of your body dropping into the chair?
Expand your awareness to include your entire body.
Taking another breath, relax.
Sense the whole of your body.
Bring your awareness to your throat.
What do you notice?
Is it tight or relaxed?
What sensation do you feel?
Smile into your Throat Center as you breathe.
Imagine your Throat Center expanding out to fill the space in front of you.
Now allow your Throat Center to fill the space behind you.
To the left of you.
To the right of you.
Feel your Throat Center expanding in all directions.
Rest and relax.
Now imagine your quantum body, alive, vital, full of energy wanting to get
to your Throat Center.
Can it make it to your Throat Center?
Or is it blocked?
Imagine for a moment that any blocks dissolve and that you are free to
speak, to express yourself.
What do you want to express?
What do you want to manifest through your Throat Center?
Can you allow it?
Can you allow yourself to fill all space with You, the voice of You, and the
expression of You?
What would it feel like if you could speak and be heard?
What would it feel like if your voice mattered?
Take a minute to let that feeling sink in.
You are the voice of the world.
Your voice matters.
Through your voice, you are known.
You exist.
You bring your unique gift to the world.
Now take a moment to appreciate and thank your Throat Center.
Set an intention to deepen your connection with your Throat Center.
Set an intention to be skillful with this powerful force.
Slowly bring your awareness back to the rest of your body.
Sense your arms and legs.
Sense your belly.
Gently open your eyes.
Take time to write down your thoughts and experience. Come back to this
meditation again or create your own. Give yourself the gift of your voice.

THE DEFINED THR OAT

CENTER
As I write this, I’m sitting on my lanai. It’s around sunset on Maui
and the birds are making their evening racket. Their rich diverse
voices are cooing and hooting, chirping and chattering, in a melodi-
ous cacophony that demands I pause and listen to their song. They
make me think of all the Defined Throat Centers being like these
birds, each with their unique song. They have a particular consistent
tone, their way of speaking. They’re comfortable chatting it up with
the world. Occasionally there is a bird, louder than the others, that
stands out, its voice resounding, impacting the field. These birds, I
muse for a moment, are like the folks with a Motor to their Throat
Centers whose powerful voice almost has an implicit command to be
heard.
Are you one of the 72 percent of the population that has a
Defined Throat Center? What tune are you sharing with the world?
There is so much diversity in the expression of the Throat Center.
With connections to six different Centers and eleven different chan-
nels, which Center and Channel you have Defined to your Throat
Center will determine the nature of your song. What theme are you
consistently announcing to the world?
If your Throat Center has a Defined Channel to the Ajna Center,
you are here to speak your mind. If the Defined Channel is to the
Emotional Solar Plexus, you are here to express feelings. If your
Throat Center is Defined by a Channel to the Will Center, you are de-
signed to take leadership, to speak from a place of power and au-
thority. If your Throat is Defined through a connection to the Identity
Center, you have the task of making a unique creative contribution.
If your Throat Center is Defined through the Sacral, you’re here to
manifest your actions through your words. If your Throat Center is
Defined through your Spleen Center, you’re speaking your intuition.
Which Center does your Throat Center connect to? However, your
Throat Center is Defined, you are truly blessed.

The Gifts of the Defined Throat Center

In full transparency, I do not have the gift of a Defined Throat

Center. My knowledge of the Defined Throat comes from the teach-
ings I’ve received, hearing people talk about their experience, and
witnessing others, most notably people close to me: my wife, my
parents, three of my six siblings, my friends, and the clients I’ve
worked with. I invite you to take what I say then inquire into your
own experience to discover what the gifts of your Defined Throat
hold for you.
 There are a few things to keep in mind as we look at the gifts of
the Defined Throat Center. It is not a simple picture. As I said earlier,
the Channel you have Defined will determine the path of consistent
access you have to your Throat Center. Add in the complexity of
whether you have a Motor to the Throat, whether it’s an uncon-
scious or conscious Channel that defines your Throat Center, and
whether or not you have a Defined Head and Ajna. Each of these
distinctions shifts the picture. Let’s take a look at both the broad
strokes as well as the closer view.

You have consistent access to your voice.

You have a level of confidence.
If you have a Motor to your Throat Center.

You Have Consistent Access to Your Voice

With a Defined Throat Center, you will have consistent access to

your Throat Center. Whether or not you use your voice, whether or
not you speak what you have to say is a different matter. And,
whether or not you’re heard when you speak is also a different mat-
ter. This gets into your capacity to follow your Type, Strategy, and
Authority. Regardless, you have access to your Throat Center. This
may be so natural to you that you don’t even recognize it. Like the
bird singing its song, you have a particular song that has a specific
quality.
I think of Karen Curry Parker here, and her consistent voice, her
song of Human Design. While she’s ever-evolving and always up-
grading her teaching and content, her song remains constant. Her
tone of voice is one of warmth and compassion in the service of ex-
pansion. Let’s look at the different Channels – or songs we might say.
Check your chart to see which of these thirteen Channels you have
Defined and what that might say about your song:

Defined Channels from the Throat Center to the Ajna:

With a Defined Throat connecting to the Ajna Center, you’re here

to speak your mind.
(See Chart #18 Ajna to the Throat Center.)

Channel 17-62 Acceptance

You have the gift of speaking your opinions and articulating de-
tails if you have the left brain, Logic Channel with Gate 62 Details,
coming off your Throat Center and connecting with Gate 17
Opinions, in the Ajna, Defined. My wife has this, and I can attest she
always has something to say when asked her opinion! She loves this
quality about herself – especially when, as a Projector, she’s invited
to share those opinions.

Channel 43-23 Structuring

If you have this Individual Knowing Channel Defined with the

Gate 23 Splitting Apart or Assimilation, and the Gate 43 Insight or
Breakthrough, you have the gift of speaking your insights in new
ways that can transform the world. You have the potential of bring-
ing a new light of awareness to the planet. True confessions: This is
my favorite Channel in the whole chart. My friend Pali Summerlin
has this Channel. She can look at any issue you present and see it
from a perspective you couldn’t have imagined. It’s a real gift. My
friend Dr. Veronica has it as well. We call her The Oracle. Through
her eyes, I have seen and understood racism in ways I never grokked
before.

Channel 11-56 Curiosity

With this right-brained, Sensing Circuit Channel Defined, you

have an abundance of ideas with Gate 11 Ideas connecting with Gate
56 The Storyteller. You have the gift of being a storyteller, always
sharing your ideas through stories. I can remember one client I had
who questioned this about herself. It was such a part of who she was
that she didn’t recognize it until I started pointing out how each time
she explained something, she was telling me a story.

Throat Center to the Emotional Solar Plexus Center:

 When you have your Throat Center Defined by a connection to
the Emotional Solar Plexus, you’re here to express your feelings. You
automatically have a Motor to your Throat Center. That makes you a
Manifestor or Manifesting Generator. Because of your Motor to your
Throat Center, you naturally empower everyone around you.

Chart #21 Throat Center to ESP

Channel 36-35 Transitoriness

If you have this right-brain, Sensing Circuitry with the Gate 35

Change and the Gate 36 Crisis both Defined, you have a Motor to the
Throat Center. You have the gift of speaking, from your Emotional
Solar Plexus, what you need and want. You manifest through your
desires. You are here to bring change through crisis, or a variety of
new experiences. The Gate 35 is sometimes referred to as The Jack of
All Trades, so, with this definition, you undoubtedly have a variety of
capacities.

Channel 22-12 Openness

 If you have Gate 12 Caution Defined off your Throat connecting
with Gate 22 Grace, you have deeply emotional Individual Knowing
Circuitry. You have the gift of combining your wordsmith capacities
with social grace when you’re in the mood. You have the possibility
of articulating the depths of humanity’s despair as well as the
heights of their elation. Perhaps you are a public speaker, a poet, a
musician, or a dancer; however, you do it, your voice is powered by
the Motor of the ESP.

Throat Center to the Will Center:

Chart #22 Throat to the Will Center

With a Defined Throat connecting to the Will Center, you are here
to lead.

Channel 21-45 Money

If you have Gate 45 The King or Queen Defined as well as Gate

21 The Treasurer, you are here to voice leadership. With this strong
Tribal Circuitry, this is the one place in the chart where you have the
gift of taking charge. You also have the gift of working independent-
ly. The Will Center is a Motor, so the Throat Center is empowered
with this materialistically focused Manifestor or Manifesting
Generator energy gifting you with the capacity to commit and follow
through. This brings tremendous confidence to your leadership.
Used skillfully, this is an awesome energy!

Throat to the Identity Center:

With a Defined Throat Center connecting to the Identity Center

you are here to speak authentically from your heart.

Chart #23 Throat to Identity Center

Channel 13-33 Prodigal

If you have Gate 33 Retreat or Privacy Defined as well as Gate 13

The Listener, you have the gift of listening deeply, reflecting on the
past, and sharing what you’ve discovered when the timing is right.
This is right brain, Sensing Circuit energy, that is based on experi-
ence rather than thoughts.

Channel 1-8 Inspiration

If you have Gate 8 Contribution and Gate 1 Creative Expression

Defined, you have the gift of making a creative contribution. This is
Individual Knowing Circuitry, so you can speak from deep knowing
and articulate things in a unique way. My wife has this energy. I can
always count on her to have words that capture the heart of a situa-
tion in an unusual way. While you undoubtedly feel pressure to
make a contribution, your biggest contribution is being your authen-
tic self.

Channel 7-31 The Alpha

If you have Gate 31 Influence, and Gate 7 Self in Interaction (or

The Collaborator), you have the gift of leadership and influencing
the future. However, unlike Channel 21-45, you cannot take leader-
ship – you must be called to it. This is the voice of democracy – you
lead by the mandate of the people. This is left brain, Logical
Circuitry that looks to the future to see what can be improved.
Hillary Clinton has Gate 7, while Bill Clinton has Gate 31. The prag-
matic heart force of Gate 7 seeks to guide the voice of leadership in
Gate 31.

Channel 10-20 Awakening

If you have Gate 20 Defined and also Gate 10 Defined, you have
the gift of loving yourself in the moment. Sometimes called The
Buddha Gate, this is the energy of empowered awakening. When
you are aligned with this energy, you support everyone in your field
to love themselves. With this extraordinary Individual Knowing
Circuit, you embody the voice of authenticity as you live and speak
your truth.

Throat to the Sacral Center:

 With a Defined Throat connecting to your Sacral Center, you are
here to manifest your actions through your words in the moment.

Chart #24 Throat to the Sacral Center

34-20 Charisma

If you have Gate 20 In the Now, and Gate 34 Power Defined, you
are the archetypal Manifesting Generator. Your gift is the simultane-
ous combustion of word and action becoming deed. You can almost
manifest at will. When you’re in alignment, which means when
you’re creating out of response, your creative life force knows no
bounds. You are here to live in the moment to the beat of your own
drum. As you do, you inspire and empower everyone around you to
follow and live their truth.

Throat to the Spleen Center:

With a Defined Channel from the Throat Center to the Spleen

Center, you are here to speak your intuition and express your
expertise.

Chart #25 Throat to the Spleen Center

57-20 The Brainwave

If you have Gate 20 In the Now and Gate 57 Intuition Defined,

you have the gift of speaking your intuition. You also have an intu-
itive sense, when you are following your Strategy and Authority, of
what to do in any given moment from the survival wisdom of the
Spleen Center. This is Individual Knowing Circuitry, so you natural-
ly know things.

48-16 Talent

If you have the Gate 16 Enthusiasm and the Gate 48 Depth

Defined in your chart, you have the gift of combining your intuitive
instincts with your depth and enthusiasm. With your sustainable en-
thusiasm, you have the capacity to develop a skill or talent. This is
left brain Logical Circuitry, so this talent is mastered over time by re-
peating and upgrading patterns. Think about the passion and dedi-
cation it takes to become proficient with a musical instrument.

You Have a Level of Confidence

Whether you are aware of it or not, there is a confidence that

comes with consistent access to the Throat Center. Of course, there
are other configurations in the chart that could overshadow or make
you doubt that confidence. And, there is always the potential oppo-
site of the theme. None-the-less, if you are following your Strategy
and Authority, with a Defined Throat you have a consistent song
that you have access to.

Motor to Your Throat Center

If you have a Motor to your Throat Center, you are by definition

a Manifestor or Manifesting Generator. With this, you have the
added gift of having your naturally consistent access to your voice
turbo-charged. You have the both the gift of manifestation and the
gift of being heard. These cannot be underestimated. It’s said that if
Human Design were a game, the way to win would be to get a
Motor to your Throat Center. So, you arrive having won. Not only
that, but you empower everyone around you by your presence –
electromagnetically giving everyone around you access to that
energy.
Again, I think of Karen Curry Parker, who almost daily writes
long, inspired, heartfelt and relational emails to the Human Design
Community. Add to that her plethora of books and her speaking and
teaching. She’s like an endless geyser manifesting, creating from her
Motor to her Throat Center.
Of course, there are a few challenges with your Motor to your
Throat Center as well. We’ll address those in the next session on
grapples. But truly, if you are following your Strategy and Authority,
you are supremely blessed. You have the keys to the treasury.

The Grapples of the Defined Throat Center

 Blessed with the Defined Throat Center’s gifts, you may also en-
counter both general as well as specific challenges, depending on
which Channel you have Defined and which Center it is Defined by.
Always remember that where there is Definition, the gift is consis-
tent access, but the theme of the Definition arrives in duality, with
the polar opposite possibility as well. So, let’s say you have the
Channel 1-8, for example, and you’re here to make a creative contri-
bution. You could spend your lifetime lamenting that you’re not
making your creative contribution. The theme is present, but as the
opposite. This could be true for any of the following Channels com-
ing from the Throat Center. Let’s take a look and see what grapples
you or your client might be encountering.

Speaking within a bandwidth

Needing to follow your Type, Strategy, and Authority to
empower your voice
Honoring timing
Grapples specific to channels

Speaking within a Bandwidth

Whenever there is Definition, the energy of the theme is ex-

pressed within a bandwidth, whereas in Openness all possibilities
become available. In this case, if you have a Defined Throat, your
speech is consistent within a bandwidth. This is not a grapple in and
of itself, it’s just that you may not have the variety of options in tone,
or in how you say things. Think for a moment about certain actors or
actresses who have a distinct voice, whereas other actors or actresses
have a range of what they say and how they say it. With a Defined
Throat, there may not be a level of sophistication in your voice that
enables you to meet the person you’re with. Remember, with a
Defined Throat you’re broadcasting your voice, not receiving.
Sometimes you may say things in a blunt kind of way. If your
Channel to the Throat Center is Individual Circuitry, you may speak
your unique thoughts without regard or awareness of their impact.
I’m ultra-sensitive to tones and have had to learn not to take the tone
of Defined Throat energy personally.
Needing to Follow Your Type, Strategy, and Authority to Empower Your
Voice

This is so big. Yes, you have this incredible gift. And yet, you
have to read the instruction manual in order to use it to its fullest po-
tential. If not aligned with your Design, you risk all kinds of prob-
lems. Some of the biggest include not being heard and burning out.
Here are a few examples: My wife has a Defined Throat Center, and
she’s a Projector. She has things to say, but unless she’s acknowl-
edged or invited, she won’t be heard. It’s baffling to watch people
blatantly ignore her. Even within our relationship, we’ve had to find
ways to make sure her voice is heard. If Manifestors and Manifesting
Generators don’t inform before they speak, they risk being rebuffed.
The impact of their Motor to the Throat is thwarted. This could hap-
pen even when they do inform, but the odds are better with inform-
ing. The result in either of these cases can be a sense of feeling dis-
heartened or disempowered. For Generators and Manifesting
Generators, if they are not using their voice in response, they easily
can burn out, or they can use their powerful voice in an unskillful
way that can be dominant or aggressive.

Honoring Timing

In any of the above scenarios, there is always the question of tim-

ing. When you speak do you do it in a way that will be empowering
and manifest what you are wanting to create? Unfortunately, waiting
to speak is a skill that’s not taught as a virtue. Our culture is all
about use your voice, get in there, be heard. The squeaky wheel gets the
grease. For my wife to wait, as a Projector, it could be a long time be-
fore the door to speak is opened. For a Manifesting Generator with
the 34-20, they may be so compelled to put their thoughts into ac-
tion, to speak at every opportunity, that they don’t wait to respond.
The result? They totally dissipate their energy and burn themselves
out. Honoring the timing of your words is crucial to accessing the
riches of your voice.

Grapples Specific to Particular Channels:

Channels Defined from the Throat Center to the Ajna:
(See Chart #18 Throat to the Ajna.)

Channel 17-62 Acceptance

Channel 43-23 Structuring
Channel 11-56 Curiosity

With any of these three Channels Defined, timing is everything. If

the timing is off, you can be filling the field with your mental gifts to
no avail. You can also get a bit rigid if your ego holds on too tightly
to believing that what you have to say must be heard. This is the
place where you are in possession of valuable pearls that you must
respect and protect. Do not throw your pearls to swine! Another way
to say this is that what you’re offering is a kind of medicine.
However, if the person is not ready to receive it, the medicine be-
comes poison to them. They can’t tolerate what you’re saying so they
reject you.

Channel 17-62 Acceptance

The timing of when you share your opinions with the 17-62 will
determine whether or not they are heard or ignored.

Channel 43-23 Structuring

The timing of when you share your brilliant insights with the 43-
23 will determine if you are seen as a freak (which means you’re
ahead of your time and people aren’t ready for what you’re bring-
ing) or a genius. You can stop believing in yourself and your know-
ing – to the point of feeling something is wrong with you – if your
insights are continuously not valued.

Channel 11-56 Curiosity

The timing of when you share your multitudes of ideas through

story with the 11-56 will determine if what you have to say is lis-
tened to. If you’re consistently not heard, it can feel disheartening,
like your gifts aren’t received. If you’re not following your Strategy
and Authority, you may be talking away with no audience. You
might decide that what you have to say isn’t important, but to not
speak could be like holding back a dam. You must find a way to
work with this energy, to honor it.

Throat Center to the Emotional Solar Plexus Center:

(See Chart #21.)

Channel 36-35 Transitoriness

Channel 22-12 Openness

With these Motor-to-the-Throat Channels, you have an emotional

wave that you must wait out before you act or risk making messes.

Channel 36-35 Transitoriness

With the Channel 36-35, you have a restless desire for new expe-
riences. You cannot tolerate boredom and can jump into things just
to avoid that feeling. I’ve seen clients with this Channel dissipate
their energy by getting excited by the next new thing, only to be-
come bored and depleted, leaving a string of projects half-done.
They end up not trusting themselves and their desires.

Channel 22-12 Openness

With the Channel 22-12, you have the grapple of not forcing
yourself to speak or be social when you’re not in the mood. You have
to listen and wait, and look within rather than succumb to external
pulls.

Throat Center to the Will Center

(See Chart #22.)

Channel 21-45 The Money Line

 With the Channel 21-45, yes, you have the capacity to take charge
with this Manifesting energy of the Will Motor going to the Throat.
But unless you honor your Will Center and the work-to-rest cycle,
you will burn yourself out. You’re designed to be the leader.
However, it can be challenging for you to trust people to be as com-
petent as you are. As a result, you may not delegate. This can easily
lead to overworking and burnout. You also have the challenge of
needing to follow your Strategy. You must inform people before you
take action or else risk having people feel dominated by you.

Throat to the Identity Center:

(See Chart #23.)

Channel 13-33 Prodigal

Channel 1-8 Inspiration
Channel 7-31 The Alpha
Channel 10-20 Awakening

All of these Channels from the Throat Center to the G Center in-
volve speaking from the heart. What can happen if your voice isn’t
heard or if you are criticized triggers the turtle effect – you can stop
speaking. Your heart, in effect, gets hurt, and you can pull in and
mute yourself. This is a loss for everyone. We need what you have to
say. Your grapple is to become skillful, to follow your Strategy and
Authority, to get clear on place and timing. Heal any of the past
wounding and come back out!

Channel 13-33 Prodigal

With the 13-33, you can get stuck in stories of the past. Instead of
taking time to reflect and learn from past experiences, you can be-
come victimized by them. This is not pretty and creates a lot of
suffering.

Channel 1-8 Inspiration

 With the 1-8, you are here to make a creative contribution, to in-
spire people with your unusual offering. When you are not making
that creative contribution, you suffer. If you get caught in your head
thinking you have to figure it out, you miss the boat. If you’re busy
doing in order to make a creative contribution, you’ll burn yourself
out. You are the creative contribution. Living your life authentically,
in accordance with your Type, Strategy, and Authority, will naturally
guide you in the manifestation of your unique self. Living as a cre-
ative contribution takes awareness and a bigger view of life. While
it’s simple, this is not easy.

Channel 7-31 The Alpha

With the 7-31, you are here to be a leader. You’re here to be called
into leadership. The grapple comes when you try to take leadership.
This is Democratic leadership. You become the voice of the people. If
your ego steps in, the dynamics shift and you actually lose the pow-
er of your voice.

Channel 10-20 Awakening

The Channel 10-20 is one of the red flag channels. As empower-

ing as it can be, it can be equally disempowering. We refer to this as
the verbal gunslinger. If you are not self-loving, what comes from
your heart to your voice is distorted. There can be a vitriol that is
cruel to the core. You have a responsibility to keep your power in
check and use it wisely.

Throat to the Sacral Center:

(See Chart #24.)

34-20 Charisma

Speaking of power, this is the most powerful Channel in the

chart. If you are not following your Manifesting Generator Strategy,
you can be busy doing without responding in the moment. The re-
sult – total burnout. I have had many clients with this challenge.
They have capacity but lose it by burning out. There is also an un-
usual conundrum I’ve seen many times where people with this
Channel act like Projectors. They feel unseen and unheard. Their en-
ergy is drained. I attribute this to not being in full integrity with their
Sacral responses to the point where they have shut down their Sacral
Motor and burned out their adrenals or thyroid. The challenge here
is to slowly rebuild your relationship with your Sacral, starting with
baby steps. You’re designed to live a deeply individually oriented
life. It’s as if you have abdicated that to live according to something
outside yourself – following the beat of someone else’s drum. This is
actually not a viable option for you.

Throat to the Spleen:

(See Chart #25.)

57-20 The Brainwave

48-16 Talent

With Spleen energy to the Throat, you have a distinctly intuitive

sensibility. However, it is easy to override your instincts if you get
pulled into the loud noises in your mind giving you direction.

57-20 The Brainwave

With the 57-20, you have the capacity to speak your intuition in
the now. Your first grapple is to listen, hear, and trust what your in-
tuition is telling you, rather than listening to your thoughts. Your
second grapple is to articulate what you know. However, this is an
Awareness center, not a Motor, so while you may have insights for
people in terms of what would be good for their well-being, you
don’t have energy to make that happen. Your words may not come
to fruition. The last grapple here is timing. You must learn to be skill-
ful in your timing or else risk not being heard or not have what you
have to say be trusted by another.

48-16 Talent
 The 48-16 demands patience. You must first get clear on what
you’re passionate about before jumping in for the long haul of doing
the work of mastery. This could be a life-time endeavor requiring not
only time but resources to develop your talent. If you don’t follow
your Strategy and Authority, you may get excited and leap into
things without the internal and external resources to follow through.

Working with the Defined Throat Center

Appreciate the gift.

Be clear on your Type, Strategy, and Authority.
Differentiate what you need to be skillful.
Develop a witnessing observer.
Give your Defined Throat a voice.

Appreciate the Gift

When you begin to appreciate the gift of your Defined Throat,

then you can begin the work of being skillful with how to best use
that gift. But that can’t happen if you don’t recognize what’s possible
for you. I find many clients, especially women, are shy about claim-
ing the power of the Defined Throat Center. There is a power in
voice, and as much as we long for it, we also defend against it. It’s so
core to our empowerment that it’s one of the places it’s easy to feel
disempowered and victimized. If we hold onto that story of victim-
ization, we deny the gift. So, the first thing you’ll want to work with,
for yourself or others, is claiming where you have consistent access
to your Throat Center. Your task will be to see first where you might
be denying that energy, then to begin nourishing it. Look for places
where, for example, you are making a creative contribution. Look for
times when you did listen to and follow your intuition. Remember a
time when your Freak/ Genius was able to shed light on something
and change the course of a project or a relationship. You get the drift.
So, tease out where you’re denying this energy and begin to affirm
where you have it. This will begin to turn the disempowered barge
around.
Be Clear on Your Type, Strategy, and Authority

In order to access the riches of your Defined Throat, you must

know how to work with your particular quantum vehicle. If, for ex-
ample, you are driving a stick shift, you need a different skill set
than if you are driving an automatic. If you are driving a Prius, you
have to know how to turn on the car without a key. Likewise, your
ease and fluidity with your Type, Strategy, and Authority must be-
come second nature. Otherwise, the old patterns of going to your
head – or pushing your throat out there – will leave you burned out
and disheartened. You’ll end up questioning what you have to offer.
If you have a Motor to the Throat Center, your challenges and gifts
will be very different than if you don’t.

Differentiate What You Need to Be Skillful

You’ll also need to get clear on what your particular Channels

need in order to be heard. This dovetails with Type, Strategy, and
Authority, but is also different. Perhaps you’re a Generator with the
43-23. Not only do you have to wait to respond, you also need to
wait for right timing. Do you have a Channel from your Identity
Center to your Throat Center? If so, it’s important that you’re around
people who know not to criticize you. Do you have the Verbal
Gunslinger Channel? Can you pause before blurting something that
could be hurtful? Are you listening to and respecting your intuition?
Do you need to wait out your emotional wave before jumping in?
Become familiar with the gifts and grapples of your particular
Channel or Channels. Get clear what is called for to live the high end
of the energy of that Channel.
The importance of the Throat Center energy cannot be underesti-
mated. You have riches waiting for you if you’re aligned with your
Definition and use it skillfully.

Develop a Witnessing Observer

Once you have gotten clear where you disempower your voice,
and what strategies you need to employ to get back on track, you
can begin the work of seeing yourself in action. Watch when you are
not successful with your voice and when you are. Don Miguel Ruiz
talks about stalking yourself as if you were tracking an animal. From
a neutral observer stance, you can compassionately see where your
neurotransmitters have fired in an old pattern. Perhaps you’re enact-
ing an old pattern of trying to take power or trying to be seen. You
can witness your ego in action. You can also begin to differentiate
when you’ve allowed your natural, authentic self to show up.
Compassionately witnessing yourself in action is a huge support in
shifting your dynamics.

Give Your Defined Throat a Voice

There are so many ways to give your Defined Throat a voice. You
will have to explore and see what works best for you. What I know
is that Definition seeks expression. And it will express itself either
positively or negatively. Your Defined Throat will either powerfully
claim its voice or powerfully fall into the hole of no voice. Think of it
like exercising your body. Find people, places, and situations where
your voice is welcome and celebrated. Give you to you.

Helpful Tools

Here are a few tools I recommend, though I look forward to hear-

ing from you what you find supportive:

Inquiry
Speaking circles
Creative expression

Inquiry #1: Five and Five

I’m particularly fond of the Five and Five inquiry practice. This
practice is done with a partner. One person is the designated
Witnessing Observer, the other person is The Inquirer. Set the timer
for five minutes. The Inquirer begins by inquiring. It could be an in-
quiry into a topic, like Where do I disempower my voice? Or What is the
path to empowering my voice? Or it could be an inquiry into what is
present in the moment. Either way, the Inquirer takes their time to
see what arises. This is not sharing information with another person.
This is not looking for approval. This is the opportunity to listen to
yourself. The Observer is there to hold space for your listening. They
are not nodding you on or responding with sighs or empathic
groans. They are merely there to support you and to hear you. When
the timer goes off, thank each other and then switch roles. You could
do longer turns, like fifteen minutes. Or you could do rounds of Five
and Five, going until you agree to stop. My wife and I do this Five and
Five almost every day. It gives us a chance for her Projector self to be
heard and my Open Throat to speak. Most importantly, it gives us an
opportunity to listen to ourselves. With this structure, you protect
against the proclivity of one person hogging all the space. It’s quite
magical and healing.

Inquiry #2: The Work of Byron Katie

I will invariably come back to The Work as a go-to method of

clearing places where we believe a story, where we’re convinced
we’ve been done wrong (and I’m not saying we haven’t). These are
the places where we haven’t found an empowered way forward.
With this inquiry, you could write a worksheet on the person who
you feel shut down your voice. Or you could listen to your disem-
powered voice and put that on paper: People should hear what I have to
say. I need people to listen to me. My voice gets lost in the crowd. There’s
nothing I can do to be heard. Write your story of disempowerment and
inquire. This will begin to untangle the knot that keeps your voice
stuck. This is worthy work. We need your voice! What you have to
say matters.

Speaking Circles

If you can find a Speaking Circle in your area, I highly recom-

mend going to one. If not, you can go online and do a Speaking
Circle online. These are similar to the Five and Five inquiries, only
you are being witnessed by a group of benevolent people focused di-
rectly on you. Your job is to keep eye contact with one person at a
time and speak to them. This innovative tool, developed by Lee
Glickstein to overcome his speaking anxiety, has helped thousands
of people access their voice. This is not a performance, rather it is
learning to speak in relation to others. Many of us experienced
wounding in our family of origin around our voice and being heard.
This format begins the process of reclaiming our voice in a safe con-
text. It’s powerful and healing. http://www.speakingcircles.com

Creative Expression

Invitation to play here. Improv, dance, writing, art. There are

many wonderful resources to support your creative journey. Check
out what speaks to you. Maybe you’re called to do a home study
course using Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. Or there is a
wonderful studio called the Center for Creative Exploration in San
Francisco that has intuitive painting classes on Zoom. They require
no prior experience. You show up and, in the moment, see what col-
or you’re drawn to. Red. Okay. You dip your brush in red. Then you
check in, what’s wanting? A dot? A line? You bypass your thinking
logical mind and allow expression to happen through you. It’s like
inquiry, but through color and shape. Improv is also great. Dance is
fantastic. Music and singing are amazing. I loved doing Megan Jo
Wilson’s Rockstar camp. It is designed to support people who are
ready to empower their voices. Megan Jo coaches people, especially
women, to find their voice through song. However you do it, find a
way to allow your expression to have a life.

THE OPEN THR OAT CE N TE R

Having an Open Throat Center is a bit tricky. Only 28 percent of us
are blessed – or cursed, depending on how you’re feeling about it –
with the Open Throat. Blessed because with an Open throat, you
have a sophistication with your voice that is enviable. Your capacity
to tune into another person and meet them with your voice is a pow-
erful force. You have access to a rich flexibility and fluidity spanning
the tone of your voice to the content of what you say that can be
awe-inspiring. You are poised with potential to access any of the
Channels driving to the throat. And yet, having an Open Throat
Center can create serious pain in your life if you don’t understand it
and work with it skillfully.
The problems start when you’re a kid and people don’t listen to
you. With an Open Throat, unless the conditions are right, your
voice isn’t easily heard. That’s hard. It’s confusing and distressing
and crazy-making. It’s like you’re invisible. Maybe you respond by
shutting down and shutting up. The other choice is to get louder, act
out, do anything in a desperate attempt to be seen and heard. You
learn a pattern that plays out into your adult life. Maybe you’re con-
vinced no one will listen to you, so you stop even trying to be heard.
Or you’re determined to ensure you’re seen and heard, so you get
louder to draw attention to yourself. You don’t care what you have
to do or say to get that attention, because the need to be seen is so
great. In any case, there is a fundamental insecurity as you can’t rely
on your voice to be heard.
Remember the Throat Center is connected to your capacity to
speak your intuition, to manifest your actions, and to speak your au-
thentic truth. It allows you to speak your mind, to be empowered
through speech, and to articulate your feelings. If none of those
Channels are defined, you don’t have consistent access to those ca-
pacities. It can leave you with a feeling of impotence and inadequa-
cy. Especially when you look around and see other people being
heard. Remember 78 percent have that Defined Throat. You’re left
wondering what’s wrong with you.
So, obviously, there are some serious challenges with the Open
Throat Center. Keep in mind, as we turn to look more closely at the
challenges, that you are ultimately headed toward the gifts.
Understanding the challenges enables you to shift from the disem-
powered experience, so readily available to anyone with an Open
Throat, to access and utilize the pure potential your Open Throat of-
fers. In truth, all of the Channels to Throat Center are available to
empower you – when the timing and circumstances are right.

The Grapples of the Open Throat Center

 When I think of the challenges that come with the Open Throat, I
picture a huge traffic jam of cars trying to merge into one lane. So,
take a breath and know as we face the challenges of the Open Throat
Center that you may feel anything from triggered to relieved. These
are big waters, and they have core vulnerabilities. Here are some of
the main grapples:

You speak but are not heard or noticed.

You feel the pressure to talk but don’t know what to say.
You deplete your energy trying to be seen and heard.
You can blurt things out.
You can talk incessantly.
You can't plan what to say and say it.
You’re dependent on connecting with others to manifest.

You Speak but Are Not Heard or Noticed

This is a tough one, much like what Projectors have to contend

with. With an Open Throat Center, you have to wait to be invited or
acknowledged before you speak – even if you are a Generator. What
happens is that we are conditioned to speak out. We watch other
people speaking out and being seen. We think that’s how we’re sup-
posed to be. When it doesn’t work, we either blame them or shame
ourselves. We get louder to try to be heard. We act out. We say some-
thing, anything to be recognized. At this point, negative attention is
better than no attention.

You Feel the Pressure to Talk but Don’t Know What to Say

With your Open Throat, you’re taking in all the voices around
you. You naturally feel under pressure to say something. If you have
a Defined Head and Ajna, you probably have some idea of what you
might want to say, but you can’t trust how it’s going to come out. If
you have an Open Head or Ajna – you’re kind of out to sea. You
have no clue what to say. Your mind can go blank. Someone asks you
a question and you’re like a deer caught in headlights. Not easy.
You’re under pressure to talk because it’s how you can be seen and
known. But what are you going to say? You go to your head but
when you speak, it sounds like somebody else’s voice. Not you.
You’re going to have to learn to let go and let your voice speak. This
is so hard to do, especially when all you want is to feel some kind of
control. Perhaps you try to rig your system by writing something out
ahead of time, say if you’re giving a speech, or want to say some-
thing to someone. It falls flat, but you cannot prepare the same way
someone with a Defined Throat can. This is a huge challenge.

You Deplete Your Energy Trying to Be Seen or Heard

With a Defined Throat, and definitely without a Motor to the

Throat, you are not designed a) to have sustainable throat energy,
and b) to be heard by speaking out. Obviously, it’s important that
we’re seen and heard. You develop a strategy of talking. Pushing
into conversations. Demanding, in various ways, to be heard. This
takes an enormous amount of energy that you don’t have consistent
access to through your Throat Center. You have been throwing your
pearls to swine with no return. You burn out your adrenals or your
thyroid. It takes your whole body down. This is a serious problem.
Your challenge is to stop trying to make yourself heard. I know it
sounds like being a doormat. It is anything but. We’ll get to that. For
now, just have some empathy for yourself if this is you.

You Can Blurt Things Out

With your Open Throat, words seem to come of their own accord.
I know, for myself, I hear what I’m saying as I speak it. Often times
you’re picking up the voices in the room and speaking what is un-
spoken. I used to have this proclivity. I can remember my wife
would cover her eyes every time I raised my hand in a group. She
was terrified of what I was going to say. Most of the time, I didn’t
know ahead of time. There would be an internal pressure that I had
to speak. And then, it would come. This was my liberated voice.
Prior to that I had shut my voice down so intensely that when the
blurts came they popped out of nowhere. I couldn’t trust myself. I
remember a time as a kid when my mom got pulled over by an offi-
cer. I said something like, “That’s really funny that you pulled my
mom over, usually it’s my dad that speeds. But he never gets
caught.” My parents were not happy with me.
This Open Throat speaking was sometimes a challenge for me
with clients. Something would arise and I would say it. I wasn’t at-
tached to it, it was arising, I was sharing it to see if it had resonance.
But with one person in particular it was not at all skillful on my part.
The grapple of waiting even if you feel pressure to speak is a tough
one.
In my early days with Bryon Katie, I was popping. I had so much
to share, so much wisdom, so many insights and ideas. I wanted to
be seen and recognized. I had my hand up pretty much non-stop. At
one-point, Katie turned to me and said: “Do you think we care what
you have to say?” That stopped me in my tracks. I realized that no,
probably no one cares what I have to say. It was at once devastating
and liberating. It shut me up for two years which was a huge gift. It
stopped my habit of going out to get approval. It threw me into the
witness. It opened the door for me to investigate everything I want-
ed to say and why. What was my motive? What was I trying to get?
It was incredibly sobering. My ego took a huge hit. It was big, life-
changing medicine.

You Can Talk Incessantly

With an Open Throat Center, you can talk and talk and talk and
talk oblivious to the fact that you’re taking up all the space. The
drive to be heard is so great that you ignore the cues both from with-
in and without. This is not especially great for you, and it actually
doesn’t give you the contact you’re seeking from talking. In fact, you
more likely push people away. It’s like you're inserting yourself
rather than being in relationship with someone.

You Can’t Plan What to Say and Say It

I touched on this earlier in the grapples but it’s worth highlight-

ing. This challenge makes it hard to trust yourself when it comes to
writing or speaking. For me, writing this book, for instance, has its
particular challenges. Finding a consistent voice takes deep listening
for me. My songbird, if we stick with that analogy, is one I have to
listen for within. It doesn’t just sing out in the same way someone
with a Defined Throat can. I have to fall into the emptiness and let
the writing come through. It takes tremendous trust to jump in. Of
course, once you get me going, there’s no stopping me – as you can
see!

You’re Dependent on Connecting with Others to Manifest

If you have an Open Throat, you rely on electromagnetic

hookups to access your Throat Center. In particular, you’re looking
to get a Motor to your Throat in order to manifest. To do that, you
are dependent on connecting with others. In the Gifts section I’ll re-
frame this as a positive, but it also has its challenges. For instance,
coming back to writing this book, I’ve tended to write in the vicinity
of my wife. When we come together, I get a hook up from my ESP,
my Root, and my Sacral going through my Spleen connecting my in-
tuition with my Throat. So, I get three Motors and my intuition con-
necting to my Throat Center. There are other things I have access to
as well when she’s around. If you don’t have a Yarrow in the next
room and are isolated in Covid, trying to write a book could be hard.
Typically, I would suggest going to a café or being around people in
order to get access to a Motor to your Throat Center. It’s just some-
thing you have to consider and manage with an Open Throat.

The Gifts of the Open Throat Center

Though there are numerous challenges with the Open Throat

Center, there are powerful gifts that more than offset the challenges.
Let’s take a look:

Your Open Throat can be a channel.

You can energetically connect to people with your voice.
You can speak for the group as a whole.
When you connect a Motor to your Throat Center, it’s
amplified power.
Your Open Throat is a magnet.
 Your Hanging Gates off your Open Throat Center focus and
ground your vocal power.

Your Open Throat Can Be a Channel

When your Throat Center is clear of conditioned debris, when

you no longer strive to be seen and heard through your voice, when
your ego is out of the way, your Open Throat Center is free to allow
the unknown to flow through. This could look like so many different
things. One of those is being a channel. Perhaps it’s for those who
have crossed to the other side. Perhaps you allow the voices of high
beings to come through. However it looks, being a channel is one of
the possibilities.
I remember when I had a session with the Feng Shui intuitive
Marie Diamond. She told me that I worked with frequency and that I
would be working with thousands – if not hundreds of thousands –
of people over the internet. This was maybe in 2003 or 2004. She said
there will be times when I would sit with people, not knowing what
I was going to say, and the words would come to meet the people.
This is the exact energy I’m talking about. That is the possibility of
the Open Throat Center. I haven’t yet opened my Throat Center to
that degree – but I’ll keep you posted!

You Can Energetically Match and Connect to People with Your Voice

Your voice is free to show up in a variety of ways. You have a pal-

ette of hues to work with when it comes to tone or variation. How
you say something will match the person or people you’re with. This
is a huge boon, especially for therapists, coaches, speakers, and par-
ents. It’s as if you take the person in and give them back to them-
selves through your voice. It’s a kind of mirroring. I know this quali-
ty well and appreciate it. It’s not something I consciously do; it
moves through me and adjusts accordingly. Bill Clinton has an Open
Throat. Many times, people reported they felt he was speaking
specifically to them. That is the gift of an Open Throat meeting each
person where they need to be met.
You Can Speak for the Group as a Whole

I alluded to this in the grapple section. With your Open Throat,

you are taking in and amplifying all the voices in the room. There is
a kind of pressure to speak and name people’s experience. I often
found myself speaking the unspoken truth in groups. Speaking what
others were either unwilling or unable to say or articulate. It wasn’t
always welcome, and I martyred myself a number of times. But, in
the places that welcomed it, it was a transformational force. It’s a
very powerful energy that is looking to be expressed. You have to be
clear on your Type, Strategy, and Authority. You need to be certain of
whether or not it is your calling to be the voice for the group.

When You Connect a Motor to Your Throat, the Power is Amplified

This makes sense, right? Where you are Open, you’re taking in
and amplifying. So, when you take in the energy of a Motor to the
Throat, you’re amplifying that energy. It’s not sustainable, but for the
time it’s streaming through you, you can be more powerful than
someone with a Motor to their Throat. Think again of Bill Clinton or
Barack Obama. Both were powerful speakers. Neither has a Motor to
the Throat. They do have Hanging Gates that support them – we’ll
get to that in a minute.

Your Open Throat Is a Magnet

Again, somewhat akin to a Projector who magnetizes people

with their Open Sacral, the Open Throat draws people to them.
When you are not acting like someone with a Defined Throat and
pushing yourself out into the world to be recognized, your Open
Throat acts like a magnetic vortex attracting the right people to you.
These people want to hear what you have to say, and ultimately
want to hear what they have to say through you. I know that may
sound wonky but think of the mama bird who chews the food up be-
fore giving it to the baby. You have the power of taking in people’s
Throat activations, digesting it, and giving it back to them in a clear,
powerful form. With your Open Throat, people can feel seen and
heard by you. If you can learn to tolerate waiting and letting people
find you, your world will open in unimaginable ways. This is what
happened with me and Katie. I did her first school (remember, I’d
shut up by then). I was asked to assist at her second school where I
was a terrible assistant from my view, getting horribly sick, and act-
ing like a total bitch. At the end of that school, she asked me to be
her right hand person. She gave me the job of Curriculum
Coordinator. It was actually the perfect job for an Open Throat. I
wasn’t attached to what came through me and she welcomed the
truth. Other people were trying to please her by telling her what
they thought she wanted to hear. I trusted her to hear whatever I
said and decide for herself. Well, there was that time I told her ex-
plicitly not to wear her brown dress for the photo shoot…you can
guess what she wore…I mean I did have my opinions…I still have
copies of those photos.

Your Hanging Gates off Your Open Throat Center Focus and Ground Your
Vocal Power

Each one of your Hanging Gates that come off your Throat
Center will give you some place to focus your Throat energy. You
will be looking for people with the other half of the Channel to give
you access to a Defined Throat. This will empower your voice and
your Throat Center. Look to see which Hanging Gates you have and
read about them below.
 Chart #26 Hanging Gates off the Open Throat

Gate 62 Details

If you have the Gate 62 coming off your Open Throat Center, you
will be grounding your voice on details. Details could be a super-
power for you. This is left brain, Logic Circuitry which gives you a
practical voice, a voice of reason.

Gate 23 Assimilation or Splitting Apart

If you have this Hanging Gate you will be attempting to articu-

late things in new ways, breaking them down to shine new light.
This is Individual Knowing Circuitry, which gives your voice a deep
ground in knowing. It’s imperative to be skillful in the timing in
which you share your knowing.

Gate 56 The Storyteller

 If you have this right brain, Sensing Circuit Hanging Gate, your
Openness will be grounded on storytelling. You can be a powerful
storyteller if you share in the right timing.

Gate 35 Progress or Change

If you have this Collective Sensing energy, you have the gift of
many talents. Your voice will be one that shares from experience and
only engages in worthwhile adventures. You value aliveness and
have little tolerance for boredom.

Gate 12 Caution

With this Hanging Gate, you are designed to have a shy/ bold
nature. You voice is meant to be used when you are in the mood.
This is Individual Knowing Circuitry reaching for the Emotional
Solar Plexus. With it, you have the gift of the wordsmith. You have
the capacity to speak to the depths of humanity’s suffering and the
heights of their elation.

Gate 45 King or Queen

With this Hanging Gate, you have the gift of leadership. Even
though you cherish your individual path, your voice is part of the
Tribal Circuitry reaching to the Will Center. Your voice is one of a
teacher speaking to guide the tribe.

Gate 33 Privacy and Retreat

With this Hanging Gate, you have the gift of looking back at the
past and reflecting on what has gone before. When the timing is
right, you share your insights. This is a right brain, Sensing Circuit,
so you are reflecting on past experiences with the hope of improving
the future. This is the only gate Marianne Williamson has coming
off her Open Throat Center. In her presidential bid, she spoke pas-
sionately about the issue of reparations. She addressed past wrongs
committed against the African American people. Her focus in the
Course in Miracles work is to look to the past and forgive for they know
not what they do. All with the intent on moving forward to a more
peaceful realm.

Gate 8 Contribution

With this Hanging Gate, your voice is one of transformation.

Your focus will be to support others in their creative contributions.
This is powerful Individual Knowing Circuitry. Your voice will be
unique, reaching for authenticity.

Gate 31 Democratic Leadership, and Influence

With this Hanging Gate, you are here to be called into leadership
and speak the voice of the people, not your ego’s voice. This requires
waiting on your end, for the right time, the right place, and the right
call.

Gate 20 In the Now, The Collaborator

If you have this Hanging Gate, your voice is most powerful when
you speak from the present moment. You have the gift of knowing
when to manifest power. You are here to inspire others and connect
people and resources. This Individual Knowing energy figures large
in my chart, as my Conscious Moon occupies this gate. I love this en-
ergy and work to honor it.

Gate 16 Enthusiasm

With this Hanging Gate, you have a zest for life and the inclina-
tion to leap into new experiences. Your voice is one of enthusiasm
and you have the uncanny capacity to wing it, even when you’re not
fully prepared. This is left brain, Logical Circuitry, so ultimately your
passion serves to support your mastery through repetition over time.

The Open Throat as a God Portal

 We’ve come to my favorite portion of the Throat Center – the
God Portal. Here we imagine and open to what’s possible when
your Throat Center filters are clear, when there is nothing between
you and the universe. Here are a couple of possibilities:

The universe speaks through you.

All creation is available to you.

The Universe Speaks through You

This is similar to what I was alluding to regarding channeling but

on a much grander scale. If there is nothing between you and uni-
verse, then you have the possibility of consciousness, God, the mys-
tery, speaking through you. Think about the poetry of the saints or
the music of Bach. What high frequency could you imagine being a
vessel for if you had no ego attachment? Would you be an oracle? A
sage? Would it matter?

All Creation Is Available to You

Given that the Throat is the center of manifestation, it stands to

reason that if your Open Throat is fully available, you potentially
could create at will. You have access to all creation. This may be a bit
of a daunting thought at first. But if you look back, have there been
any instances where you were so clear, there was nothing between
you and what you desired, and it showed up effortlessly? I think this
is more in alignment with where we’re heading and that the Open
Throat Center may be leading the way.

Working with the Open Throat Center

Appreciate your Open Throat Center.

Develop a witnessing observer.
Get skillful with your timing.
Relax, trust, and stop trying to control.

Appreciate Your Open Throat Center

 The grapples of the Open Throat are so easy to identify with and
get caught up in. Before you can open to the gifts, you have to know
what they are and recognize that the grapples can be worked with.
Look to see if you have any Hanging Gates coming off your Throat
Center. Begin to consciously ground on that energy as a support
while you learn to relax and let go into your Openness.

Develop a Witnessing Observer

To clear your filters, you must know what’s gunking them up.
Using inquiry tools with your witnessing observer, you can begin to
get a picture of where you have wounding in your Throat Center.
Then you can begin the process of healing – of reclaiming your pow-
erful voice. The more you know about yourself, the more you have
to work with. Watch and see – are you using your voice skillfully?

Get Skillful with Your Timing

Are you waiting to be acknowledged or invited before you

speak? Or are you rushing in to say something really important? Can
you learn to watch and wait? Can you hold onto your pearls until
the timing is right? The more you can tolerate the buildup of pres-
sure without speaking to try to relieve it, the more potent your
words will be when you do speak – in the right timing.

Relax, Trust, Stop Trying to Control

The impulse to use our words to manage anxiety and pressure is

intense. Yet, as you learn to relax and let words come through you,
there is an ease and a grace you can begin to depend on. You can
trust the words to come in the perfect timing. Maybe not the timing
you think they should. Or your ego thinks they should. But, when
you learn to relax and let words come through, something quite
magical happens. You get out of the way and what comes through
you is more articulate than you could have ever imagined on your
own.
Helpful Tools

I’m recommending the same tools that I did for the Defined
Throat, as I think they work with the Throat Center regardless.

Five and Five Inquiry

The Work of Byron Katie
Speaking circles
Creative expression

Five and Five Inquiry

This practice is done with a partner. One person is the designated

Witnessing Observer, the other person is the Inquirer. Set the timer
for five minutes. The Inquirer begins by inquiring. It could be an in-
quiry into a topic, like Where do I disempower my voice? Or What is the
path to empowering my voice? Or it could be an inquiry into what is
present in the moment. Either way, the Inquirer takes their time to
see what arises. This is not sharing information with another person.
This is not looking for approval. This is the opportunity to listen to
yourself. The Observer is there to hold space for your listening. They
are not nodding you on or responding with sighs or empathic
groans. They are merely there to support you to hear you. When the
timer goes off, you thank each other then switch roles. You could
take longer turns, like fifteen minutes. Or you could do rounds of
Five and Five, going until you agree to stop. I love this practice for my
Open Throat. It’s like exercising a muscle. Only in this case, it’s the
muscle of letting go and allowing. Find someone to share this high
play!

The Work of Byron Katie

Katie’s work is brilliant for clearing any wounding around your

Open Throat Center. You could write a worksheet on the person or
people who you feel shut down your voice. Or you could listen to
your disempowered voice and put that on paper: People should hear
what I have to say. I need people to listen to me. My voice gets lost in the
crowd. There’s nothing I can do to be heard. However it shows up for
you, put your voice on paper. This will begin to unlock the chains
that keep your voice silent. The need to do this work can’t be under-
estimated. Regardless of your past experience, the truth is that world
needs your voice! What you have to say matters.

Speaking Circles

Speaking Circles are similar to the Five and Five inquiries, only
you are being witnessed by a group of benevolent people focused di-
rectly on you. Your job is to keep eye contact with one person at a
time and speak to them. This innovative tool, developed by Lee
Glickstein to overcome his speaking anxiety, has helped thousands
of people access their voice. This is not a performance, rather it is
learning to speak in relation to others. Many of us experienced
wounding in our family of origin around our voice and being heard.
This format begins the process of reclaiming our voice in a safe con-
text. It is powerful and healing. I’ve found this process especially
helpful with my Open Throat. I can stand in front of an audience and
wait. Wait to see what arises. There is no pressure to speak, just the
possibility of speaking if something arises. Invariably it does, though
there have been times when I have taken full turns in silence, in deep
connection with the group, one person at a time.

Creative Expression

Invitation to play here! Improv, dance, writing, art….

Give your Open Throat Center a chance to be creative – to ex-
press itself in a myriad of ways. I had huge openings with my Open
Throat when my friend Jane Bell dragged me to a painting class at
the Center for Creative Exploration in San Francisco. I did not identi-
fy as an artist, much less a painter. But these classes were different.
They didn’t require skill or talent or experience in painting. They re-
quired presence. Being present with yourself. Listening to what color
calls you. What shape? A dot? A line? You bypass your thinking, log-
ical mind and allow expression to happen through you. It’s like in-
quiry, but through color and shape. This intuitive painting process
gave voice through color to what wanted to come through. Here’s an
excerpt I wrote as part of my artist’s statement. (By the way, for a be-
ginner, I ended up being a prolific painter, selling my art, and own-
ing a small gallery.)

“I love painting. I love what comes unbidden seemingly out of nowhere. I

love giving birth over and over again to the wild aliveness that lurks
beneath the smooth surface waiting for its breath – its life born in shape,
color, and form.
When I paint, my twenty-five years in the healing arts is temporarily set
aside as I shift my focus from being present for the world of another to focus
on my own world and the moment that calls to me. In this meeting, I
awaken to the galactic explosion of being.
Traditionally, in the Painting Experience, one’s paintings are protected from
the critical eyes of others, or carefully shared as one would share a passage
from a journal. It is process painting, meaning the painting is much less
important than the process. Painting in this way afforded me a kindness
and a spaciousness to discover – without external reflection of right or
wrong, good or bad – what wanted to come through me. My judge, though
quick to show up, was not allowed to monopolize the situation. After all, the
paper was insignificant – if not irrelevant. What mattered was the
immediate moment, and the act of allowing myself to simply choose a color
and put it on paper. More often than not, I had no idea what this color on
paper would create. I only knew to check inside and see if the dot or the line
was connected to my inner aliveness. And I learned to stop immediately if I
was disconnected or “doing” to produce a result. I learned to listen within
and respect what I heard – something I was quite skillful at with others, but
with myself, and especially in art which was so concrete and elicited such a
strong desire for things to look good, I was challenged. Surprised and in
awe, what emerged from this process was a plethora of paintings streaming
with bold beauty, and a passionate aliveness – a true reflection of me!”

So, painting, pottery, any kind of art is healing nectar for the
Open Throat. Improv is also great for allowing your voice to show
up in unexpected and out-of-ego-control ways. Music and dance are
also powerful forms of expression. However you do it, don’t let past
hurt keep you trapped in the dungeon. Find a way to allow your ex-
pression to have its life.
RECAP
By now I hope you are thoroughly intrigued by the Throat Center.
Remember, all the energy of the chart is rushing to get to the Throat.
The Throat enables us to manifest. It allows us to be seen and heard.
It is fundamental to our sense of agency in the world. Shutting down
our Throat Center is no longer a viable option. It’s time for every
voice to have its song play and be recognized in the melody of the
spheres. And just a reminder that it’s not necessarily about speaking
out loud. The pauses in the melody can be as powerful as the music.
What are your thoughts about your Throat Center? What did you
discover? Take some time and journal. Do you have an Open Throat?
If so, how does that impact you? If you have Motor to your Throat,
do you feel in alignment with your power? Or are you living the low
side of the polarity? What can you do to work with your Throat
Center? Pick one thing. Make a commitment to work skillfully with
your Throat Center.
From the Throat Center, we turn to meet and embrace the
Identity Center. This Center is as important, and perhaps even more
central than the Throat Center. Are you ready?
 9

GETTING TO KNOW
THE IDENTITY CENTER

Chart #27 G Center

INTRODUCING TH E
IDENTITY CEN TER

W
hile all the Channels the chart are driving to get to the
Throat Center in order to create and manifest, it is the
Identity Center, or G Center, as it’s called, that is central to
the whole chart. The Identity Center is perhaps the most re-
markable and powerful of all the Centers. It is the organizing princi-
ple of the chart – and therefore of our quantum body. Karen Curry
Parker calls this the Calibration Center. It is the heart of the chart. It
is the seat of the Magnetic Monopole, a magnetizing force with a sin-
gle magnetic pole. Meaning, it only attracts, it doesn’t operate in the
realm of duality. It houses unity consciousness. The G Center,
through the Magnetic Monopole, keeps all the Centers connected as
a whole. There is a purity to the Magnetic Monopole; you could say
it’s the purity of our hearts. It draws love and beauty to it. It draws
what’s needed for your life, from people and work, to places and ex-
periences. It sets the direction of your life. It is love itself, attracting
love and the essence of love and beauty. When we follow our
Strategy and Authority, we align with this force. When we don’t
know ourselves, when we don’t trust ourselves, when we don’t hon-
or ourselves, we resist what we magnetize and go to war with our-
selves and our lives.
In the Human Design teachings, the Magnetic Monopole is the
spark of life, our unique self, that calls us into a body to inhabit the
earth as humans and departs from our body when we die. In the
Diamond work, we call this The Point of Light. It is the aspect of
your unique essential self that is unborn and undying: the You of
you, the Is of you, that lives throughout time and space. If you be-
lieve in reincarnation, it is the aspect of you that reincarnates.
In the Identity Center, we recognize who we are. We know our-
selves through this organizing principle of the G Center. Here we
have an identity. With a Defined G Center, you have a stable sense of
identity, or the polarity – the feeling of not having an identity or di-
rection. Regardless of how you think or feel about yourself (remem-
ber these can be conditioned), you have an innate solidity of self.
You have consistent access to being a Somebody. With this, we say in
Human Design, you have an innate sense of lovability. I’m going to
address your objections when I talk about the Defined G Center, but
for now, sit with this possibility: 57 percent of the population know
who they are, have a definite direction in life, and know they are
fundamentally loved or lovable. They have the privilege of a
Defined G. The remaining 43 percent (I’m one of those, as you recall
from my story in Chapter 2), land on the earth clueless, not knowing
who they are, not knowing which direction to go. Those of us with
an Open G are often lost. This is a big discrepancy. People with a
Defined G have no idea of the benefits they start with. It’s like the
difference in kids getting an education from a White, wealthy neigh-
borhood where each kid has their own computer, compared to a
ghetto neighborhood where kids don’t have school supplies and rely
on the school lunch program. The discrepancy in the access to re-
sources is staggering. You don't realize it as a kid growing up.
Despite the discrepancies, each puzzle piece is perfectly de-
signed. There is a method to the madness of this colossal difference.
The human spirit is resilient and amazing, and the gifts of the Open
G Center are incomprehensible. I can attest to that!
Take your time with this chapter. Read about yourself, but also
read about those with an Open G. If you have a Defined G Center, it
may baffle you to imagine what those of us with Open Gs grapple
with. It’s a little like me as a White person trying to imagine what it’s
like to grow up Black. What is a non-issue for someone with a
Defined G, can become a threatening situation for an Open G. If you
have an Open G, you may find yourself breathing a little more
deeply, resting into yourself. Finally, some aspect of yourself that
you knew but had no words for has been recognized and named.
In a moment, we’ll dive further into differentiating the experi-
ences of the Defined and Open Identity Centers. But first, let’s take
look at some of the technical pieces. The G Center is the diamond
shape in the middle of the chart. If it is Defined, it will be yellow in
color. If it is Undefined, it will be white. This Center has eight
Channels going to four other Centers: The Throat, the Will, The
Sacral, and the Spleen. The Gate 10 Self-love, is featured because it
travels to three different Centers: The Throat Center, the Spleen
Center, and the Sacral Center. The Channels off the G are all about
love and direction in one form or another.
Here are the gates coming off the G Center; check and see which,
if any, you have. They will be significant in terms of where you focus
your love and what direction you are called.

Chart #28 G Center Gates

From the G to the Throat:

(See Chart # 23.)

Gate 1 Creative Expression

If you have this Defined, you are driven by love to express your-
self in your unique way. You are designed to make a contribution
and will be miserable when you’re not.

Gate 7 The Role of the Self

 Karen Curry Parker calls this Gate The Collaborator, which
makes more sense to me. It’s the energy of supporting leadership out
of love. Giving direction through support. Hillary Clinton has Gate
7. Like it or not, she is designed to support and influence those in
leadership positions and generate teams that support leadership.

Gate 13 The Listener

If you have this Gate, you have the magnetic pull that draws peo-
ple to tell you their secrets. You give direction by listening with love
and respect to what people tell you.

Gate 10 Self Love

This potent Gate holds the energy of self-love. When you love
yourself, you electromagnetically empower everyone around you to
love themselves. When you are not self-loving, it is unbearable, and
you go to blame and shame to deflect the intolerable feelings.
Connecting to the Throat Center, you are designed to speak your
truth. If you are not self-loving, this Channel becomes the verbal gun-
slinger as your words can be laced with hatred, cutting to the core.

From the G to the Will Center:

Gate 25 Love of Spirit

With this Gate your purity – your innocence – shines. This is uni-
versal love that can be so bright that it’s overwhelming. It connects
with the Will Center through the Gate of Shock or Initiation. When
we go through a shock, we often open to this all-encompassing love.

From the G to the Sacral:

Gate 2 Receptive
 This second hexagram of the I Ching is deeply receptive. It is the
womb receiving the sperm. It directs by receiving and deciding what
to do with what it has received.

Gate 15 Extremes

This Gate holds the love of humanity, having compassion for ex-
tremes of rhythms and behaviors. It has a deep love of nature as
well. If you have this Gate, you most likely flourish when you allow
extremes of rhythm in your schedule.

Gate 46 Love of Body

This is the determined love of a fetus as it pushes its way out into
the world, ready to live an embodied life. If you have this Gate
Defined in your chart, you may be magnetized to do yoga or play
sports. You may, on the other hand, be out of sync with your body
which will be bad news bears for you, making you vulnerable to
illness.

Gate 10 Self Love

This potent Gate holds the energy of self-love. When you love
yourself, you electromagnetically empower everyone around you to
love themselves. When you are not self-loving, it is unbearable, and
you blame and shame others, to deflect the intolerable feelings.
Connecting to the Sacral you are designed to take action that is in
alignment with your love of self – anything less will be uncomfort-
able, and, well...not self-loving.

From the G to the Spleen:

Gate 10 Self Love (again)

This potent gate holds the energy of self-love. When you love
yourself, you electromagnetically empower everyone around you to
love themselves. When you are not self-loving it is unbearable, and
you go to blame and shame to deflect the intolerable feelings. The G
connecting to the Spleen through Gate 10 enables you to be in touch
with your intuition, to know in your heart what is best for you. This
gives you clear direction. Following your intuition allows you to
align with your heart in an auspicious and profound way.
Now that you have a general sense of the Identity Center and its
phenomenal place in our chart and in our lives, let’s take this knowl-
edge out of a conceptual context and begin the process of connecting
to the G Center in an embodied way. It’s time to meet and discover
the heart power that waits for you to recognize it.

CONNECTIN G TO THE G
CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Begin by closing your eyes and feeling your sitting bones on the chair be-
neath you.
Take a breath.
Release the day, allowing yourself to come into the present moment.
Notice what is here now.
For me, there is a gentle breeze wafting up against my skin reminding me of
something Byron Katie said while we were sitting together in the desert.
Let go of whatever thoughts or images arise.
Come back to your breath.
Begin to sense your arms and legs.
Allow yourself to be embodied.
Allow yourself to inhabit your human body.
Feel the shape of your form in space.
Now, expand your awareness and your body sense to the earth beneath you.
Keep expanding into the earth all the way to the other side of the earth.
All the way to the sky beneath us.
Now bring your awareness to your crown.
Feel the sky touching the crown of your head.
Allow your awareness to expand, sensing your quantum body as you ex-
pand up into infinite space and beyond.
Now take time to expand out to the left of you.
To the right of you.
Occupying all space in both directions.
Include the front of you, the back of you.
Now, feel yourself expanding in all directions out into infinite space.
Bringing your awareness back in, focus on the spark, the point of light in
the center of your chest.
See how small or large it is.
Don’t try to shift it, just allow it its life.
Smile into your Point of Light, your infinity spark.
The you that has existed before this birth and will continue after this birth.
There is no actual birth or death for this spark.
Sense into the purity of you. The love that you are.
Relax. Open. Allow.
Be available for whatever thoughts or sensations arise.
Welcome them.
Let them pass.
Bring your focus back to your spark.
Let go.
What do you notice?
Allow whatever arises, and rest into the space of the heart.
Smile gently at your heart and your unique spark.
Let your heart know you are ready to come home to the truth of who you
are.
If you feel called, ask your spark if it has a message for you.
When you’re ready, thank your heart – your spark.
Thank You.
Gently bring your awareness back to your physical body
Sense your arms and legs, sense your belly.
Gently open your eyes and look around the room.
Take your time.
If you’re called, write down your experience. Set an intention to spend time
with your spark. Let yourself get to know this aspect of yourself.
THE DEFINED G CE N TER
If you have a Defined Identity Center, count yourself blessed. You
have consistent access to your identity and to your direction in life.
You know who you are. You have a sense of where you’re going. You
have an inherent ground in yourself. When I meet people with
Defined Identity Centers, it is obvious to me. Energetically, there is a
solidity in who they are that astonishes me. Human Design says this
is the Center of lovability and if you have it Defined, it is said that
you fundamentally know you are loved and lovable. I’ve spent the
last half hour with my wife discussing this. She has a Defined G
Center. It’s not her experience that she is fundamentally lovable.
And honestly, a lot of clients tell me the same thing. I’m trying to
make sense of this because they look like and act like they are lovable.
They take care of themselves. They’re not easily swayed by people’s
expectations. They often report feeling solid about themselves. They
also say that they are connected to love. Some describe it as having
consistent access to loving, for example, loving animals. Other say
they are very loving but feel others don’t really see them to love
them. It becomes a question of whether you feel lovable for your au-
thentic self.
I’m saying all this so you know it’s not a black and white thing.
Even with a Defined Identity Center, you may have been condi-
tioned in one of your Open Centers to believe otherwise.
Nevertheless, someone with an Open G Center will experience you
as solid in yourself. You have a there-there. You might have a nega-
tive self-image, but you have consistent access to a sense of yourself.
That is nothing to take lightly. You are not easily swayed by people’s
expectations. You walk your own path, even if you perceive yourself
as insecure.

The Gifts of the Defined G Center

You have a solid sense of self.

You are connected to the stream of love.
You have direction in life.
 You have gifts specific to particular Channels.

You Have a Solid Sense of Self

So, you have a solid sense of yourself. You have a self you can
look to and rely on. You may not necessarily like yourself at this
point. But you matter. You have a strong knowing of who you are
and what you want.

You Are Connected to the Stream of Love

In traditional Human Design language, we would say you are

fundamentally lovable. But I’ve found it more accurate to say that
people have a connection to the stream of loving. It may be turned
toward themselves (which is what it looks like to me), or it may be
that they feel consistently loving to others, animals, nature. One way
to think about it is that you have a self that can be loved (or not).
One Human Design specialist with a Defined Identity Center de-
scribed being very strong in herself but she doesn’t feel like people
love her for her because they don’t understand her. This my wife
wholeheartedly agrees with. She lights up as she tells me she loves
herself, she’s comfortable with who she is, she loves life. What is
your experience with your Defined G?

You Have Direction in Life

In Human Design, we say that people with a Defined G go to the

restaurant of life and choose off the menu. People with Open Gs go
to the buffet and piece together a meal. Typically, people with a
Defined G have a steady path. When I look at my three brothers with
Defined Gs, they are the ones who had jobs that had titles that were
on the menu: Accountant, CEO, Geologist. The rest of the family –
well we can talk about that in the Open Center section! It’s not neces-
sarily that the Defined Gs are more mainstream. That is not quite ac-
curate. We could at least say Defined Gs tend to have a steady
stream in terms of life direction. Again, this is not black and white.
It’s not as simple as you have direction in life. You could also feel the
lack of direction in life as a recurring theme.

You Have Gifts Specific to the Particular Channels

One thing to keep in mind with the Defined G is that the Channel
that defines the G determines the focus of the love or direction the
energy flows. So, it could look very different for different people.
For example, if your G is Defined to the Throat, you will be
speaking from your heart. You are a truth teller. You have an authen-
tic voice. My wife has this. She doesn’t say a lot, but when she does,
it is from her heart. It’s grounded and connected. Let’s look more
closely at the specific Channels and the gifts they offer. Look at your
chart to see which ones you have Defined.

If you have the G Defined to the Throat Center:

(See Chart #23.)

1-8 Inspiration

With this Individual Knowing Circuit, you are here to make a

unique creative contribution from your heart. You are here to impact
humanity by living true to your authentic self. By your example, you
inspire others to live in alignment with, and express their authentic
selves. Your greatest gift is to be who you are.

7-31 Leadership

This is energy in the Collective Logic Circuit. You’re here to be a

leader, to lead from your heart as you’re called into leadership to
represent people’s voices.

13-33 Prodigal

This is Collective Sensing Circuitry. You have the gift of looking

back at past experiences, reflecting on them, listening deeply from a
place of love, then sharing the wisdom you’ve garnered when the
timing is right.

10-20 Awakening

You have the gift of loving of yourself in the moment – when you
are aligned with this energy. This is a powerful force. It is empow-
ered awakening that sparks everyone in your field to love them-
selves. With this extraordinary Individual Knowing Circuit energy,
you embody the voice of authenticity as you live and speak your
truth from a place of self-love.

If you have the G Defined to the Will Center:

Chart #29 G to Will Defined Channels

51-25 Initiation

With this Centering Circuit Defined, you have a distinct gift of

waking people up to the truth of who they are. This is potent mysti-
cal energy that seeks to initiate people into self-awareness. It is
strong medicine. I think Byron Katie is the perfect example of some-
one who uses this energy skillfully.

If you have the G Defined to the Sacral Center:

Chart #30 G to Sacral Channels

Each of these Channels have the Sacral Motor pumping energy

into the Identity Center, connecting action with authenticity and di-
rection in life.

29-46 Discovery

This Collective Sensing Circuitry carries the capacity to surrender

or persevere. When you have a sacral yes for something, you can
trust your stamina will carry you to success. Sometimes referred to
as succeeding where others fail, and failing where others succeed,
you are here to do unusual work in the world.
14-2 The Beat

With this Individual Knowing Circuitry, you have the gift of

managing resources that you’ve generated in response to mutative
opportunities. Which is to say, when you follow your Sacral yeses,
you engage in work that brings resources and direction to your life
that impact the world. Even though this is Individual Circuitry, often
the resources you generate are for the benefit of others. You have a
real and enviable skill. Karen Curry Parker calls this the luckiest
Channel in the chart.

5-15 Rhythm

With your strong connection to nature’s rhythms, you have a

deep love of life, of nature, of animals, and of humanity. This is
Collective Logic Circuitry that has its own pattern and flow. Life
force energy from the sacral pumps to your Identity Center, guiding
your timing and direction in life – when you follow your Sacral
yeses. Your large aura attracts people into your flow which is guid-
ing humanity to a more secure future. Your presence is a magical gift
effortlessly weaving the web of life together with the threads of love.

34-10 Exploration

You are here to love and trust yourself. With this Centering
Circuit energy, you are here to follow your convictions guided by
your Sacral responses. When you do this, you inspire and empower
everyone in your field to love and trust themselves. This gift is trans-
formational, calling people to step out of their conditioned patterns
and listen deeply to themselves.

If you have the G Defined to the Spleen:

 Chart #31 G to Spleen Channel

57-10 Perfected Form

You have deep intuition connected to your direction in life, and

your love of yourself. Your gift is to spontaneously know in any mo-
ment what needs to happen to survive. Your incredible sensibility
makes you a trustworthy person to follow in dicey situations. Your
gifts are revealed as you follow your Splenic awareness and embrace
what you love. In this way, your joie de vivre – your love of yourself
and what you create – becomes infectious, inspiring others to live life
from a place of authenticity and self-love.

The Grapples of the Defined G Center

Of course, there are also challenges you face with your Defined G
Center:

You can think people should go the direction you’re going.

You can lose heart if you follow someone else’s direction.
 You may not recognize the gift of solidity and lovability.

You Can Think People Should Go the Direction You’re Going

With your Defined G, when you’re clear on a direction, you think

this is the direction everyone you are with needs to go. You can be
flummoxed when people want to go a different direction. From a
Human Design vantage, you’re really not designed to follow some-
one else’s path, so it’s not like you can shift directions to follow. Your
work is to learn to let people have their own path.

You Can Lose Heart if You Follow Someone Else’s Direction

Meanwhile, if you do give up on yourself and go a direction oth-

er than what is right for you, it can be deeply disturbing to you. To
the point of giving up on yourself. You lose heart. It’s so important
for you to stay on track with yourself and claim the treasure of you.
When you abandon yourself, everyone loses.

You May Not Recognize the Gift of Solidity and Lovability

If you have a Defined G and you’re not taking advantage of your

gift, perhaps you’ve got some conditioning. Maybe one of your
Open Centers is telling you you’re inadequate in some way. Maybe
you drew a conclusion as a child that convinced you of some lie.
Maybe it didn’t feel safe as a child to show up authentically and so
you created a protective identity. In this case, it could be hard to feel
loved. Especially if you believe what’s being loved is a false self. If
you are not in touch with feeling loveable you may be caught in the
low polarity of this theme, namely the lack of feeling loveable. This
is painful. It’s like a wound calling to be healed.

Working with the Defined G Center

Recognize and honor the gifts of the Defined G.

Have compassion with the limitations.
 Clear up your beliefs that could obscure your stream of
loving.

Recognize and Honor the Gifts of the Defined G

After the grapple with my wife about her lovability, she came
back into the room fifteen minutes later, her face lit up. She told me
that knowing that her Defined G gives her access to her lovability
was helpful. She’s going to focus on her lovability. Just seeing and
hearing that it was part of her Design shifted something for her. That
touches me. If one person can use this chapter to make a shift toward
claiming their lovability, that makes the whole book worth the effort.
As we continued the conversation, she was clear that she loved life.
That she loved nature. That she loved herself. If you know her, she’s
an extremely loving person.
As I write this, I think again of Karen Curry Parker and her
Defined G Center. Her heart gives and gives and gives and gives.
She gives in her classes, she gives through her books, she gives
through her speaking at conferences, she gives on her TEDx talk. She
gives with her emails and her support for her students. She is a giv-
ing heart. And even though she’s been ahead of the world for the
past twenty years, bringing new material that hasn’t been easy for
some people to digest, she has continued to give. Her direction is set:
She’s here to empower people to love themselves and others. She’s
here to help people know the truth of who they are: unique, magnifi-
cent beings with value and purpose. That kind of giving is the gift of
a Defined G. When I think of my three brothers again, I don’t think
of them as loving in the way I think of mama bear Karen. But as I sit
with it, I see they have a steady stream of love going to their chil-
dren. It’s beautiful actually.
If you have a Defined G, you are here to have a steady stream of
love flowing through you out into the world. If that is not the case,
then you need to see what is blocking your stream. Do you have
clogged Open Centers? You were not placed here on earth to be shut
down or silenced. We need your gifts and whatever it takes for you
to reconnect with them must be a top priority. This is your precious
human birth and your unique spark at stake.
 Likewise, if you are not loving yourself or feeling lovable, this is
the polarity of the theme. You may be holding onto this end of the
stick. Use inquiry to go into the hole of feeling unlovable or unloved.
See what stories you’re telling yourself to keep that belief intact.
Where do you have Open Centers? How are they informing you? If
you have an Open Will, are you questioning your value? Do you
have an Open Throat and aren’t feeling seen or heard? Do you use
that to draw the conclusion that you’re not loved? If you have one of
the Individual Circuit Channels, you’re bringing mutative energy
and may not feel like people get you. This could be triggering, or you
could recognize it as being about them, not you.

Have Compassion with the Limitations

With a Defined G, you’re not meant to follow other people, nor

are you meant to go off-road, so to speak. My oldest brother, Pete,
who I spoke about in my last book, is a Manifestor with a Defined G.
You might think he went off-road by running first descent river trips
in China and Tibet. But, throughout his life he stayed in his lane: ge-
ologist, river guide, adventurer. In contrast, my brother Michael with
an Open G worked for a publishing company in New York before
becoming a traveling photographer/journalist, traversing Marco
Polo’s footsteps. On his world travels, he became enamored with
Ethiopia, came back to New York, and started an Ethiopian
Restaurant in the building he owned and worked as a landlord. He
got involved with Mantak Chia in the early 80s and co-wrote a num-
ber of Mantak’s books on Taoist practices. Eventually Michael be-
came a well-known teacher of Taoism, starting a yearly Taoist sum-
mer camp with teachers from all over the world. Meanwhile, he
started leading trips to the sacred sites of China, combining qigong
with the adventure travel. All the while, he has been a businessman,
negotiating deals from oil, to efficient battery motors, to Internet
safety. His dream is to build a replica of an ancient Taoist temple to
hold healing retreats in the hills of North Carolina. You see the dif-
ference between Pete and Michael? It would be flat out wrong for
Pete to do what Michael did.

Clear Up Your Beliefs That Could Obscure Your Stream of Loving

 Know that you can connect to your stream of loving and do
whatever it takes to claim your inheritance! Deepen and celebrate
your connection to love by clearing up whatever is between you and
loving. Become aware of where you are loving. Is it toward nature?
Animals? People? Feel that, welcome that. See if you can expand that
to other areas of your life. Perhaps it is time to allow yourself more
authenticity in order to open your stream of loving.

Helpful Tools

Reflection/ Inquiry
Ho Oponopono prayer for healing and forgiveness
Release Technique
The Work of Byron Katie

Reflection/ Inquiry

Look at what stories you’re telling yourself about not being lov-
able or having a clear direction in your life. Check to see which Open
Centers you have and how they might be blocking your capacity to
recognize yourself. Take radical responsibly for your experiences
and use a tool to help release those stories and patterns that keep
you from your inheritance.

Ho Oponopono Prayer for Healing and Forgiveness

I love you, I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you. This powerful prayer is
like a natural cleanse for past trauma. Use it free yourself from any
places you might feel less than loving.

Release Technique/ Sedona Method

My brother Steven introduced me to the Release Technique ten

years ago. It comes out of Lester Levenson’s experience of having a
heart attack in 1952. At that time, the doctors had no cure and sent
him home to die. He was forty years old. Lester was a scientist and
wasn’t going to give up that easily. He started doing an inventory of
his life. He discovered that he was happiest not when he was loved
by others, but rather when he was loving. He started consciously
loving all the situations in his past where he felt less than loving.
Within months he was healed, living pain free. He didn’t see a doc-
tor for the next forty years. Lester began teaching his method to oth-
ers to help them release their pain and suffering and come into their
stream of loving.

There is a simple specific pattern of inquiry:

Step 1: Focus on an issue you would like to feel better about.

Step 2: Ask yourself one of the following questions: Could I
let this feeling go? Could I allow this feeling to be here? Could
I welcome these feelings?
Step 3: Ask yourself the basic question: Would I? Am I willing
to let go?
Step 4: Ask yourself this simpler question: When?

The Work of Byron Katie

Use Katie’s work to help you get clear. Read her book: I Need
Your Love, Is It True? If you are caught in the hole of not lovable, or
not feeling loving toward yourself, others, and life, then definitely,
read this book.
(See Resources for more detail about her work.)

THE OPEN IDE N TITY

CENTER
If you have an Open Identity Center, you are not designed to have a
fixed identity. You don’t have consistent access to any one identity or
direction. You’ve most likely tried a lot of different things. Your life
has perhaps gone in many different directions. You may have a
chameleon quality about you – an ability to fit in in any situation
with anyone. You’re like an actor playing different parts but leaving
the role behind to move on to the next one. You may feel lost or dis-
oriented at times, not knowing exactly who you are or what direc-
tion to go. Because you don’t have a stable identity, place is crucial –
where you live, the city, the house, where you sit in restaurants.
Most people I work with who have Open Identity Centers recognize
this quirky fact about themselves, but they think it was just some-
thing about them. They’re somewhat surprised and delighted to dis-
cover they’re designed that way. People are also consistently relieved
to hear that the thing they’re doing is not the thing they have to do
forever. Again, they know this, but the permission is liberating.
Consider the surgeon who has a fabulous job but is way ahead of
his time. He has lots of mutative energy. I could see him easily
changing what he’s doing to be more aligned with his visionary self.
He knows this to be true and is waiting for the right timing to make
a shift. Likewise, it’s often a relief for parents with Open Gs to dis-
cover that being a mom, for instance, isn’t going to give them the ul-
timate lovability or ultimate satisfaction they seek. Nor is being the
CEO of a company or writing a bestselling book. Nothing external
can fill the hole of no self. With an Open G, you’re not on the path of
becoming a Somebody. Instead, you are creatively meeting the world
in the moment, showing up in response to who and what is in front
of you. The love you are is not a steady external stream broadcasting
into the world. You are more like a field of love within which the
truth of love is discovered. You are not on a path from A to B, instead
the path and your destination are one, in the moment. I can’t get a
consistent identity from writing this book. But, in the moment of
writing, I experience myself as a writer. This is hard to describe. It’s
so cool really, as long as you’re not thinking you should be different
than you are. If you’re thinking you should be different, like the sto-
ry of my first thirty years, it’s extreme suffering.

The Grapples of the Open Identity Center

You don’t have a clear direction in life.

You can question your lovability.
 You don’t have a fixed identity.
You’re vulnerable to place.
Defined Gs don’t understand your dilemmas.

You Don’t Have a Clear Direction in Life

With an Open G, you are wide open. You can go any direction
you’re called. If you don’t know your Strategy and/ or don’t follow
it, you most likely go to your Head Center to try to figure it out.
Well, that doesn’t really work. You can feel lost, you can feel con-
fused. The unique spark that you are doesn’t have a way to show up
and shine its light. This can be depressing and disheartening. With
your Open G, you may latch onto or merge with people with
Defined Gs and follow their direction, but it isn’t yours, and ulti-
mately will feel dissatisfying. It’s like going through the motions
without any skin in the game, without any passion or juice.
This was a cause of great distress for me growing up, especially
as I was trying to figure out who to be and what work to do. I had
the conditioning that told me I needed to be someone of value; I
needed to prove I was someone worthy of love. But I didn’t feel
valuable and I didn’t feel worthy of love. I was all over the map.
After getting my BA in English Literature at UC Berkeley, I moved to
New York. There I worked as an intern for Phyllis Chesler, who was
working on her latest book. I left that job to work at East West Books,
selling books, and teaching yoga. Next, I worked at a burrito shop,
then did a stint as an editor before moving back to Berkeley. At
Berkeley, I worked at a daycare center and cleaned houses while I
studied to become a Rosen Method Bodyworker. Finally, I settled
into being a bodyworker and therapist. But even then, I was always
learning new things to bring to my work. I was always coloring out-
side the lines.

You Don’t Have a Fixed Identity

You also aren’t designed to have a fixed identity. You’re fluid.

Depending on who you’re with, a different aspect of you will show
up. You don’t know who you are. We laugh about it now, but at one
point, my sister and I wondered if we had Multiple Personality
Disorder. We were so unstable in our identities.
I can remember in tenth grade being given the assignment to
symbolically depict who we were. I made a circle with multi-layered
cloth, divided into twenty slices of material of different colors and
textures. I was not one thing. I was multi-faceted in every direction.
There was a gold button in the middle. I think now that was my
spark, my point of light.
The truth is, with your Open G, you’re taking in the identities of
everyone around you and amplifying them. You’re buffeted around
by whomever you’re with. It’s hard to sort out who you are in the
midst of everyone else. This can be confusing and make you feel like
something is wrong with you. Maybe you feel like you’re playacting
your life rather than being a person in it.
I remember reading Kafka’s The Trial in high school. It was un-
canny how closely it matched my experience – I felt I was on trial for
some crime, but I had no idea what it was. The only thing I could
fathom was that I was on trial for being born. For existing. This is the
angst of an Open G!

You Can Question Your Lovability

With this confusion comes the question of your lovability. What

after all is there to love, if you don’t fundamentally exist in any con-
sistent way? In our culture, we get a sense of our goodness and lov-
ability from the roles we play. But, if we know deep down that those
roles are not who we are, the felt sense of being lovable is called into
question.
I want to make sure we don’t fall into simplistic thinking here.
You can’t just look at an Open G and project a lifetime of suffering. It
really depends on the whole chart. If someone has a totally Open G,
I’d say it's definitely more challenging, as there is no gate to hang on
to for direction or a sense of self. But take my friend, Lucia, for in-
stance. I call her the Projector Poster child. She doesn’t have all the
complications many Projectors have. She was seen and recognized
by her family growing up. She was taught to follow her own guid-
ance, and getting juvenile diabetes forced her listen to her body – it
was a matter of life and death. So, she didn’t have a pattern of over-
riding herself. When I asked on Facebook, “Who has a Defined G
and do you feel lovable?” she posted: I do not have a Defined Identity
Center and I do feel lovable. My wife and I had already discussed her
as an anomaly. I look at her chart and see her Conscious Sun is in
Gate 10, the Gate of Self Love. She loves herself. It’s clear. And, she
has three other gates coming off of her G. These gates give her con-
sistent access to loving and life direction.

You’re Vulnerable to Place

This is really important information. If you are living in an area –

or going to school in a place, for example – that doesn’t feel good to
you, it will impact everything. It will impact who you meet, what
jobs you get offered, and how you function. If you have a child with
an Open G, keep your eyes open. If they’re not flourishing, there
may be a problem with location.
Because Open Gs don’t have a fixed identity, they get their sense
of identity from their surroundings. Where you sit in a restaurant
matters. Where you live matters. When I learned about my Open G
and saw that I was not getting the work I expected after moving to
Iowa, I had an astrocartography reading to find out places that
would be good for me as well as my wife. Of all the places we were
considering, Maui was the best. The difference between living in
Maui and living in Iowa in terms of what has come into my life is
dramatic.
A few years ago, I had a Vedic astrology reading and the fellow
told me that the sure way to make me go crazy was to have me live
in a chaotic environment. He was so right. This is the Open G feeling
themselves as the environment. When I gave Cheyenne, a Reflector,
a Human Design coaching session and was telling her about the
Open G, she said something like: “That must be why I can’t tolerate
even a chip on a dish. I feel it like it’s me.”

Defined G’s Don’t Understand Your Dilemmas

I’ve alluded to the vast difference between living as a person

with a Defined G and living as a person with an Open G. With your
Open G, you can wonder if something is wrong with you, as you see
these incredibly confident people know what they’re doing and
where they’re going, ostensibly good with their path. To make things
more challenging, people with Defined Gs often don’t have a clue
about their privilege and can’t understand your lack of stability in
who you are and where you’re headed. They want you to go with
them, which you’re capable of doing, though it doesn’t ultimately
work. So, bottom line, you can feel further shamed or feel like you
have to fabricate an identity to pass, so to speak. I’m sure there are
more dilemmas, but you get the sense of what you’re up against.

The Gifts of the Open G Center

Now that we’ve so fully laid out the challenges of an Open G,

what are the gifts?

You have an openness and flexibility.

You’re designed to be wise about direction and true love.
You have a rich and varied life.

You Have an Openness and Flexibility

With your Open Definition comes an open spirit. You’re not so

clear about what you want or what direction you’re going, so you’re
available to discover life. You’re able to meet and make friends with
a wide swath of society. You don’t have an agenda for how or who
people should be. This makes for an excellent therapist or coach. You
will want to look and see which Hanging Gates, if any, you have
coming off your G Center – these will be handholds for identity and
direction. For example, if you have an Open G with Gate 1 Self-
Expression, you will feel like you have an identity when you are cre-
atively expressing yourself. You recognize yourself with substance as
you express yourself.
Obviously, having an Open G is also great for actors, giving them
a lot of possibility in how they play roles.

You Have a Rich and Varied Life

 You’re not only open to people, you’re open to your direction in
life. Most Open G folks I know and have worked with have tasted so
many dishes from the buffet of life. This gives them a wide knowl-
edge and tool base. I stopped giving my resumé out at some point
because the number of things I’ve done, and done in depth, is almost
unbelievable. Obviously, a big drive in doing so many things was
searching for identity. Along the way I learned a ton that became my
life’s gifts.

You’re Designed to Be Wise about Direction and True Love

With all that testing and tasting, you learn what is in alignment
with you and what is not. You’re designed, with an Open G, to be-
come wise about direction and to come to understand what is true
love. Ultimately any direction that is aligned with your Strategy and
Authority will be gratifying. You do not need an end goal, an arrival
place. Remember, you are going to the buffet of life and choosing a
variety of experiences to see which direction you’re called to go. We
could say you’re a non-linear being.
I think about my dad here. He had eight Centers Defined with an
Open G Center. And, while he did have a long and fruitful career as
a surgeon, in an odd way it wasn’t his identity. He definitely wasn’t
going for an identity as a Somebody in the Army. He left right before
he was going to be promoted to Colonel. His father was an Army
General, but my dad could not care less about the status. He didn’t
want to move to up and work in administration, which is where he
would be headed if he stayed. He also chose a place to retire to that
was good for him. My parents build a house a block from the hospi-
tal so he could walk or bike to work. He chose a hospital clinic in a
small town where all the doctors got the same salary, regardless of
their specialty. He had been wooed by large hospitals in Los Angeles
that promised big financial rewards, but that didn’t feel right to him.
He was wise about direction. He was clear about what was good for
him and his family.

The Open G as a God Portal

 Now we get to my favorite aspect of the Open G Center – the
God Portal. Clearing the filters of the conditioning – that you should
be somebody, that you should be loved a certain way, or that you’re
not lovable – liberates you from the clutches of deficiency. Here are
the God Portals I perceive with the Open G.

You are love itself.

You are the space within which all love arises.

You Are Love Itself

When your filters are clear, you stabilize not on an identity, but
on the realization that you are love itself. I spoke earlier in the chap-
ter, in the Helpful Tools section, about Lester Levenson, and how he
shifted from trying to get love to being the one loving. His experi-
ence points to this God Portal turn. But, let me be clear, this is not an
action of being loving toward someone. This is not a doing; it is
rather the act of recognition that you are an emanation of love. Your
being is love. Here you stabilize, as it were, on the space in which
love arises. Which is love.

You Are the Space Within Which All Love Arises

In the second turning of the wheel in Buddhism, when the next

level of teachings was introduced, the Buddha pointed to the form-
less, explaining it was not empty but rather full of compassion.
When we expand our understanding of our heart from our physical
heart organ, to our quantum, holographic, multidimensional galactic
body, we open to a new dimension. We allow our heart to fill all
space. We understand our heart is all space. This is a radical shift in
perception which dramatically alters our experience of the world.
There were so many ways Byron Katie pointed to this reality. She
would say, “I walk into a grocery store and I know everyone in that store
loves me. They may not know it yet, but they cannot help but love me. That
is their nature. That is who we are. We are made of love.” She always
talked about this being a loving universe. No wonder my magnetic
monopole drew her to me. She was the doctor, the surgeon my heart
needed to clear my clogged arteries, to give me a new chance at life.
This opening into the space of love is beyond magnificent. It is
our true direction, our True North. If you are lost, looking for a pur-
pose in life, this is it. What you do from there is secondary, is a natur-
al movement in and from love. These are only words, and they can
only point to the heart that patiently lies in wait, as Katie would say,
for you to come home to it. Your path is to come home to the heart
and realize the love that you seek is you.
I do not want to mislead you. For most of us this is not a one-
time revelation that ends all suffering. I think of the story Maharishi,
the founder of Transcendental Meditation, often told to show the
path of awakening: You take a cloth and put it in yellow dye. It fades in
the sun. You dye it again, again it fades, though less so. You do this process
until the brightness of the cloth is no longer subject to fading in the sun.
Byron Katie’s version was that she had her awakening then spent
seven years questioning the thoughts that arose until she was stabi-
lized in love. This is a path. I know for myself, once I had a taste of
this truth, so much garbage fell away. The long search for looking to
be loved – to prove I was lovable – came to a screeching halt. I was
no longer on trial. All charges were dropped. But still, there are lay-
ers of myself that arise which show that not all of me has gotten
word that all is safe. There is a world waiting to be held in the space
of the heart. Here we get a bit esoteric. Going back to that giant puz-
zle and the awareness that we are part of a whole. Katie would say,
“My work is not done as long as you are suffering, you are an out
picturing of me.”

Working with the Open Identity Center

Appreciate, have compassion for, and reflect the challenges

of the Open G.
Know how the Open G operates.
Develop a strong witnessing observer.
Clean the filter.
Go into the hole of no self – allow the lostness.

Appreciate, Have Compassion for, and Reflect the Challenges of the Open G
 As you begin to work with the Open G, begin with appreciating
it. Free of past conditioning, it is quite remarkable in in its flexibility
and capacity to meet life from an almost open innocence. It has no
need for recognition. Rather, it is alive to the rich variety of experi-
ences life offers. Be curious about what your experience, or your
client’s experience, has been with an Open G. Recognize that it may
have been challenging or confusing, although don’t assume that. My
friend Pali Summerlin tells me she always loved her Open G – she
felt like she could be anyone and it didn’t matter. It will depend
where else you have Definition in your chart. For example, with Pali,
she has a Defined Head and Ajna with Channel of Insight 43-23 con-
necting them. She had a grounded way to look at and understand
her Open G.
For most people I’ve worked with, it’s quite disorienting and the
effort to be somebody has created tremendous suffering. Have com-
passion for the challenges you may have faced as a result of this as-
pect of your design. Consider that you could have a different rela-
tionship with this energy. Perhaps you could begin to accept it rather
than fight it?

Know How the Open G Operates

The best way to befriend your Open G is to get clear on how it

operates. Understand that you’re taking in the identities of the peo-
ple around you and amplifying them. You don’t have a fixed identi-
ty. Understand that you need to be in a location that feels good to
you. That place is key for you. Understand that when you are ques-
tioning your lovability, you are believing an untrue story.
Understand that you are different than people with a Defined G, and
there is nothing wrong with that. And understand that you are here
to choose your experiences from the buffet of life – not choose off the
menu. Enjoy the variety and richness. Remember that you are not
here to derive your identity from the roles you play. Finally, be clear
on the support your Strategy and Authority offer in guiding your di-
rection in life. Take some time to look at which, if any, Defined Gates
you have coming off your G Center. These will give you some direc-
tion, some ground, some identity to hold onto in the flux of Open G.
Develop a Strong Witnessing Observer

It’s imperative that you have the capacity to look at your life and
discern what is yours and what belongs to other people. In order to
clear the gunk you’ve picked up from conditioning in the past, as
well as current merges, you must be able to see what’s what. This
demands a strong, non-judgmental internal witness. If you are judg-
ing what has happened in the past or what’s happening in the
present, your awareness will be occupied with the act of judging. In
order to clean the filters, you need clear vision. Develop a meditation
practice or inquiry practice to support and ground you. Basically,
you’re asking yourself to shift from identifying with your ego and its
vast network of entanglements. Instead, choose to identify with your
Being, your essential self. The ego does not have a stronghold in the
light of awareness. With a steadfast witness, you can see what is
true. It’s the first dose of medicine for the suffering.

Clean the Filters

With a strong witness, you can begin the task of cleaning the fil-
ters of your Open G. You can begin to take stock of your past by
looking to see where your filters got clogged. The best way to this is
to look at your pain: What were you taking in that was toxic, that
was less than loving? Who wasn’t loving themselves? Who told you
that you weren’t lovable? Who didn’t have direction in life or told
you that you needed to be somebody? What are you still believing?
What identities have you attached to? Do you believe you have to do
something or be someone to get love? Use your witness to take in-
ventory, then begin the inquiry process. Bring the light of awareness
to see what is truer than your long-held beliefs. You may be sur-
prised to find beliefs that lurk beneath the surface, steering your life
from a place of old defensive reactions.

Go into the Hole of No Self – Allow the Lostness

When you are ready, I invite you to explore the core pain of the
Open G – the terror of being nobody. This is the terror of not having
an identity. The terror of not existing. It’s one thing to talk about it,
it’s quite another to allow yourself to experience it. Most of us spend
our lives defending against it. Once we face the hole of no self and
meet it with open arms, a door opens. On the other side is a new
world. I’m not saying you won’t ever get hooked back and have mo-
ments of questioning your lovability. But those moments don’t stick.
They’re not real. They’re seen for what they are – desperate attempts
by the Ego to have a life. Traversing this hole is the ultimate medi-
cine for the Open G.

Helpful Tools

Many of the tools for the Defined G are also helpful with the
Open G, with a few additions:

Put yourself in the right place!

Inner Smile
Reflection/ Inquiry
Ho Oponopono prayer for healing and forgiveness
Release Technique
The Work of Byron Katie
Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

Put Yourself in the Right Place!

If there is one thing that could shift your life with an Open G, it is
this. Commit to yourself to be aware of and honor what you feel like
in any given location. If it does not feel good in a restaurant, find a
different seat or leave. If you are not happy where you live, do
everything you can to relocate to a place that feels good to you.
Remember, you’re taking your identity from your environment. You
matter. How you feel matters. Respect yourself!

Inner Smile

This simple Qigong meditation tool is surprisingly powerful.

Think about it: When we are judging or disapproving of something,
we are entangled with it. The act of smiling to your Open G and any
pain or suffering that might be lodged there actually begins the
process of disentangling from it. It’s a turn toward compassion and
peace. You can do this anytime in any place. The Inner Smile is a
salve for our wounding.

Reflection/ Inquiry

Look at what stories you’re telling yourself about not being lov-
able or having a clear direction in your life. What are the origins of
those stories? Explore them. Write down your thoughts. Take radical
responsibility for your experiences and use inquiry to help release
those stories and patterns that keep you from your inheritance.

Ho Oponopono Prayer for Healing and Forgiveness

Use this powerful prayer to release any debris caught in your fil-
ter: I love you, I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you. This prayer is a natural
cleanser for past trauma. Use it to free yourself from any places you
might feel less than loving.

Release Technique/ Sedona Method

This technique is the way Lester Levenson cleared his filter in

1952 following a heart attack at age forty. At that time, the doctors
had no cure and sent him home to die. He was a scientist, and he
wasn’t going to give up that easily. He started doing an inventory of
his life and discovered that he was happiest not when he was loved
by others, but rather when he was loving. He started consciously
loving all the situations in his past where he felt less than loving.
Within months he was healed, living pain free and without seeing a
doctor for the next forty years. He began teaching his method to oth-
ers to help them release their pain and suffering and come into their
stream of loving. There is a simple specific pattern of inquiry:

Step 1: Focus on an issue you would like to feel better about.

 Step 2: Ask yourself one of the following questions: Could I
let this feeling go? Could I allow this feeling to be here? Could
I welcome these feelings?
Step 3: Ask yourself the basic question: Would I? Am I willing
to let go?
Step 4: Ask yourself this simpler question: When?

The Work of Byron Katie

Use Katie’s work to help you get clear. Read her book: I Need Your
Love, Is It True? If you are caught in the hole of not lovable, or not
feeling loving toward yourself, others, or life, do The Work!
(See Resources for the full Inquiry.)

Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

The meditation practices in Tibetan Buddhism specifically ad-

dress identity. One of them is called Deity practice. Here you focus
on a deity, say for example Tara, the female Buddha who removes
suffering. You first focus on her outside yourself, but ultimately you
become Tara. This is a skillful way to shift our identity from the
Ego’s grasp and expand into an identification with our true nature.

RECAP
It’s a bit hard to find words big enough to reflect the magnitude of
The Identity Center. It is a major organizing force of our quantum
body. It magnetizes what we need in our lives. It is the power of
Love. It holds the spark of our unique, infinite self. It is the connec-
tive nectar between our puzzle piece and all the other puzzle pieces.
And it is the very substance of our puzzle piece.
What did you discover about your Identity Center? Did it sur-
prise you? How do you feel about having an Open or Defined G?
Are you moved to take an action to be more in alignment with your-
self through your G? Take some time and journal your thoughts.
Develop a relationship with your G Center. See how your life
changes when you do.
Now we turn to the Will Center, which is powerful and impor-
tant in its own way. It is the support we need to navigate the materi-
al world. Onward!
 10

GETTING TO KNOW
THE WILL CENTER

Chart #32 Will Center

INTRODUCING TH E WI LL
CENTER

T
he Will Center is the little triangle off to the right. If it’s
Defined, it’s colored in red, if it’s Undefined or Open, it’s
white. One of the Four Motors, this is the one Center that is
predominately concerned with the material world. For being
represented as the smallest shape on the chart, it exerts tremendous
power in the world. Embodying the themes of value and capacity,
the Will Center holds the I can do energy, an important energy when
it comes to the well-being of the tribe. In the new Quantum Human
Design™ language, Karen Curry Parker calls the Will Center the
Resource Center. What’s so curious is that in the scope of things, rel-
atively few people have this energy Defined. Just 37 percent of the
population have this privilege, yet the qualities of the Will Center are
idealized, and we are all expected to have and use them. For those
with consistent access to their Will energy, there is a support that
makes life a bit easier. Think of living in the Unites States as opposed
to living in a third world country. Some level of the material world is
made easier.
Does that mean that those of us without consistent access to that
energy are lacking or doomed to struggle? No. Not at all. We are
simply not meant to exercise our Will in the same way. It’s not a defi-
ciency, it is how we were designed. If we can step out of the world of
comparison, we can begin to see complexity and a range of operat-
ing in the world that allows for variation, difference. An Open Will
Center is here to be wise about what is valuable.
Much like people without a Motor to the Throat are drawn to
people in order to access that, those of us without a Defined Will
Center can benefit by being around those with a Defined Will Center.
A tricky little guy. I can feel my own ambivalence toward the Will
Center as I go to connect with it. It is the cause of pain in so many
people’s lives – and the core of glory for others. What’s your rela-
tionship to your Will Center? Let’s find out.
CONNECTIN G WI TH THE
WILL CENTE R – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Begin by taking a deep breath.

Feel your sitz bones resting on your chair.
Notice where your body is tense.
Take a breath and breathe into that tension.
Become aware of any sensations in your body.
Shift your posture to make sure you’re comfortable.
Take another deep breath.
Settle into this moment.
Let the past and the future drop away.
Bring a little smile to your lips.
Sense your arms and legs.
Take a moment to rest in your breath.
Just rest.
From this resting place, turn your attention to your quantum body.
Feel yourself as a multi-dimensional holographic being that energetically
expands out into the world and draws the world into it.
Feel yourself as a unique energetic being connected with all of life.
With each exhalation, expand out into the universe.
With each inhalation, take the world in.
Now shift your focus to your Will Center.
Is it Defined or Open in your chart?
Notice your response to it.
Do you have an immediate thought arise in relation to it?
Do you wish it were different?
Are you at odds with it or do you feel good about it?
Do you trust yourself to be able to do what you say you’re going to do?
Or is that a challenge for you?
Do you value yourself?
Or do you question your value?
Just notice.
Either way, can you just smile at your Will Center?
For the moment, can you let it be what it is, as it is?
Can you open to the possibility that your Will Center can be a support for
you, that it holds hidden treasures waiting to be revealed?
Can you make the decision to get to know your Will Center and how it has
operated in your life?
Maybe there are ways to be with and work with your Will Center that you
haven’t yet imagined.
Take another breath.
The Will is big energy.
It’s important to understand how it operates in your life.
It’s important to be aligned with it.
It’s important to respect it. To know it.
Take another breath, letting it out slowly.
Set an intention to discover the power of your Will Center.
When you’re ready, begin to sense your arms and legs.
Sense your belly.
Gently open your eyes and bring your awareness back into the room.
Take some time to journal about your experience. Imagine you’re getting to
know a new friend. What did you discover?

THE DEFINED WI LL C E N TE R
Okay. Let’s face it, you’ve got superpowers. You’re one of 37 percent
who has been endowed with the enviable capacity to say what
you’re going to do and do it. You have consistent access to your will
power, and that is a highly valued trait in our world. You know how
to navigate the material world and your presence is a boon to every-
one around you. You have the capacity to be capable, competent,
and inspiring. Need I say more? Well yes, actually. It’s not quite that
simple. First of all, remember that where you are Defined, you have
the theme of that energy, which is either being expressed – or not. So,
you may have these amazing qualities available to you, but you may
not be utilizing them. In the event you have a Defined Will Center
and are feeling less than capable, that’s something you’ll want to ex-
plore and rectify. Secondly, the Will Motor is designed to work to
rest. You do have the capacity to push through, but unless you’re fol-
lowing your Strategy and Authority, you can burn out. It kind of
goes without saying, but if you’re burned out, you are not able to use
the phenomenal gifts of your Defined Will Center.
Just one more thing before we go deeper into the gifts and grap-
ples of the Defined Will: there are four Gates coming off the Will
Center, creating Channels to four different Centers – the Throat
Center, Identity Center, Sacral Center, and Emotional Solar Plexus.
Which one of these Channels you have Defined in your chart will
determine how you exert your will power.

The Gifts of the Defined Will Center

There are so many boons that come with the Defined Will Center.
I’ve alluded to them, but here is a closer look:

You have the capacity to decide you’re going to do

something and do it!
You have competency and inspire others.
You value yourself.
Each of the Four Channels has a particular gift.

You Have the Capacity to Decide You’re Going to Do Something and Do It!

This is no small feat. Trust me. For those of us who don’t have
this muscle, the world is a different place. But let’s stick with you.
You’re designed to make promises and keep them. This builds your
trust in yourself and your capacity. There’s an element of proving
yourself here. With a Defined Will you have that egoic drive to test
and prove you can do things. For you, it’s not a big deal. It's healthy
for you to exercise your will. It’s high play. It’s a bit like going to the
gym and working out. It gives you satisfaction. The Nike slogan Just
Do It! captures the spirit of the Defined Will Center: it’s fun, go for it.
It’s invigorating to challenge yourself, to compete and achieve
success.

You Have Competency and Inspire Others

With your capacity comes a level of competency that is remark-

able, really. There’s a grounded trusting of yourself that can easily
elude those of us with Open Wills. This competency engenders lead-
ership and inspires the people around you to do more than they be-
lieve they can do – to stretch and accomplish things that were
unimaginable on their own. The classic example of a Defined Will is
Tony Robbins who, as a motivational leader, inspires people to go
beyond their perceived limits. One of the things he’s famous for in
his inspirational trainings is having people walk across hot coals.

You Value Yourself

There is a level of value that comes from trusting ourselves and

our capacities. With the Defined Will, there is a hidden support, a
feeling that the universe has your back. There’s a kind of snowball
effect here, a building of confidence and value as you take action in
the world and get the results you set out to accomplish. The more
you value yourself, the more you can do. The more you can do, the
more supported you feel. The more supported you feel, the more
you value yourself. And so, the person with the Defined Will in-
creases their sense of value with each accomplishment.

Each of the Four Channels has Particular Gifts

Whichever Channel defines your Will Center will determine how

the strong Will energy shows up consistently for you.
 Chart #33 Will Center Channels

21-45 Money Channel

If you have Definition in Gate 21 The Treasurer/ Control and

Gate 45 The King or Queen, you have the Money Channel. With this
very grounded and materialist force, you have gift of being in con-
trol and taking empowered leadership. I’ve worked with CEOs who
have this Channel and their natural capacity to take leadership
brings a feeling a safety, a sense that someone is at the helm that can
be counted on to guide the ship.

37-40 Channel of Community

If you have Definition in Gate 40 Deliverance or Aloneness, and

also in the Gate 37 Friendship, you have the powerful Tribal
Channel, Community. You have an emotional strength. You are de-
signed to make clear, solid agreements which are beneficial for the
tribe and where you are well-compensated. When these are in place,
you have the gift of working tirelessly on whatever project you’ve
committed to.
44-26 Channel of Surrender

If Gate 26 The Trickster is Defined from your Will Center and

connects with Gate 44 Energy, coming off your Spleen Center, you
have the Tribal Channel of Surrender giving you a Defined Will
Center. Here the materialistic Will Center Energy connecting with in-
tuitive, survival-oriented Spleen Center energy creates the gift of
sales. You are intuitively strong. You have the ability to transmit to
the tribe what is valuable for our survival. You are here to sell an
idea or a product to benefit the tribe. With this Channel Defined, you
have the superpower to accomplish enormous amounts of work in a
fraction of the time it would take others.
My friend, Dr. Veronica, who I spoke about earlier, has this
Channel. Robin Theiss, who you’ll hear about in the next section,
named her The Oracle. I couldn’t have said it better. Dr. Veronica is
the ophthalmologist turned medical intuitive who can see diagnoses
written in the sky. She transmits a message from a deep place of
knowing that is both pragmatic and intuitive, regardless of the topic.
Another author/ coach who I studied with and who also trained
with me in Human Design is Megan Jo Wilson. I mention her be-
cause, like Dr. Veronica, she has this channel. She’s here to sell a mes-
sage to the tribe. The twist is, she’s got Gate 51, the Gate of Shock
(you’ll read about that next). Megan Jo is here to sell a message in a
shocking way. She empowers women to claim their voice through
what she calls Rockstar Camp. She basically shocks women, not nec-
essarily singers, to step into their power and own their voice by
putting them on stage to sing with a band in front of a live audience
that is live-streamed. Megan Jo recognizes that we need women’s
voices to be heard for the survival of the tribe. In her unique way of
supporting women, she is transmitting empowerment, the possibili-
ty of coming out from the shadows into the full glory of who we are,
as we are.

25-51 Channel of Initiation

The last of the four Will Center Channels is different. It is the

only Channel coming off the Will that is not Tribal in nature. Here
we have the Individual Centering Circuit at play. So, if you have the
Gate 51 Shock Defined in your chart and it connects with the
Defined Gate 25 Love of Spirt which comes off the Identity Center,
your Will is Defined through the Channel of Initiation. Unlike the
other Defined Will Center Channels, the force here does not come
from the will to do something. Here, you have the gift of shocking
people into their hearts, into a higher level of understanding. This is
the gift of awakening. You also have the gift of enduring shocks, the
will to survive and transform the wild disruptions that show up in
your life and mess with your world. This energy is shamanic in na-
ture, transforming the material world by placing it into the arms of
Spirit. When you are shocked out of your familiar, known world,
you have no choice but to land in a different dimension of reality.
Another possibility with this Channel is to work with people who
are experiencing shocking situations, helping to bring people into
their hearts.
My colleague Robin Theiss, who was in my book-writing cohort
and went through my Human Design training, is a Projector with
this Channel. Robin wrote a bestselling book called Motivating
Adolescents: Your Child’s Journey to Success. In it, she recounts her own
hero’s journey of being initiated, and how she came to help adoles-
cents who are struggling find their way. Often times the parents of
the kids she works with are in shock, not knowing how to help their
child move forward. I clearly remember Robin telling me that noth-
ing shocks her anymore. She’s heard it all. Robin works with shock.
Her deep, soulful understanding of shock as a pathway to transfor-
mation enables her to help parents and adolescents in shocking and
heart-opening ways.

The Grapples of the Defined Will Center

Okay, yes, of course, there are a few challenges that come with
the powerful Defined Will Center.

You risk burnout.

You’re not following your Strategy so you can’t access your
will power.
You can get frustrated with people who don’t have Defined
Will Centers.
You Risk Burnout

So, you have this impressive Defined Will Center. You can push
through and work long hours or do whatever it takes to reach your
goal. What you can do is phenomenal. You have the capacity. But
just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should do it. Remember,
the Will Center is a Motor. It works to rest. Unless you are resting be-
tween jobs, so to speak, you can and will burn out. This can leave
you completely without energy, without capacity. Your health in this
case is usually compromised. It’s honestly not a pretty picture.
You can also burn out if you’re exerting your will for something
that is not in alignment with your Strategy. Remember Dr. Veronica.
She went through medical school, doing rounds while she was preg-
nant and working inhumane hours. She could do it. She did. But she
paid the price. Her body gave out on her.

You’re Not Following Your Strategy So You Can’t Access Your Will Power

You have the sense that you have capacity, you just can’t access it.
This can be extremely disempowering. Perhaps you’re a Manifesting
Generator with the 37-40 who is not waiting to respond. You’re busy
making agreements with people but they’re not good for you, in
which case your Will Center may not cooperate. You may not have
the energy to push through. Or say you’re a Projector and are trying
to exert your will without first being invited or recognized. Nothing
happens because you’re not seen. To engage your Will Center, you
must align with your Strategy and Authority.

You Can Get Frustrated with Others Who Don’t Have Defined Will
Centers

This is an interesting challenge that the Defined Will Center peo-

ple face: they naturally have more capacity than people with Open
Will Centers. On top of that, when people are around them, the
Open Will Center folks take in and amplify the Defined Will. In that
case, the Open Will can have even more capacity than the Defined
Will. People are empowered around you to do things they couldn’t
have imagined. Remember Tony Robbins and the fire walk. So that’s
a good thing, right? You inspire people and help people break
through barriers. The challenge is that when they leave your pres-
ence, they lose that capacity.
There are a few pieces to consider here. First, if you’re a coach
and you think someone should be able to do something because you
can – wrong. They don’t have that Motor. They don’t have the capac-
ity. So, it’s actually unkind and not skillful on your part to project on
them like that. They end up failing, then you end up being frustrated
with them and with yourself. Second, say your client says they’re go-
ing to do something while they’re with you. They feel like they can.
They’re in your aura. They’re empowered. They commit to it. Then
they get home and they’re like I can’t do that. This very thing hap-
pened to some friends of mine who went to a Tony Robbins event.
They got all fired up. They enthusiastically paid him for courses.
Once they got home, they looked at each other and realized there
was no way they could do what he was asking them to do.
Think of the ramifications of this. Let’s say Dr. Veronica knows
what’s going to help someone. She also knows patient compliance is
a problem. If she prescribes something and someone enthusiastically
commits to a protocol while they’re with her, she cannot count on
them to follow it when they get home (unless they have a Defined
Will). Similarly, I have a client who has a Defined Will Center. When
her kids are home with her, she can support them to make big break-
throughs in their finances and action plans. But when they leave her,
they cannot sustain it. With your Defined Will, you have to be clear
that most people don’t have your superpower!

Working with the Defined Will Center

Value your Will Center and use it wisely.

Understand why you don’t have access to your Will Center
Motor.
Appreciate the true support you can offer others.
Work with the energy of the gates that come off your Will
Center.

Value Your Will Center and Use It Wisely

 You are in possession of a great gift. Care for your Will Center
Motor and use it wisely. To ensure it remains available to you, you
must cultivate awareness of it. Learn to follow your Strategy. Is this
project a good use of your Will? Know that you have access to a
great power. Don’t be afraid to exert yourself, but also, don’t let your
ego take over and push you beyond limits merely to prove yourself
from an out-of-balance, egoic mindset. The unique and powerful
Will Center energy is very potent. It can be used to break through
limits, but only if you are in alignment with it. Remember you are
using it – don’t let it use you.

Understand Why You Don’t Have Access to Your Will Center Motor

There are fundamentally three reasons why you might not have
access to your superpower. When this happens, you need to under-
stand and respond to each situation accordingly. First, you may have
a thought about what you want to do but your Strategy is not in
agreement and doesn’t allow access. The important thing here is to
be aware of what’s happening and basically be humble. You are be-
ing protected. If you’re a Generator, you must have a yes to access
the Motor. Again, if you have a no and push your Will Center Motor,
you will burn out.
The second reason you may not have access to your powerful
Will Center energy is that you are already burned out. You haven’t
taken care of yourself. Your ego has been in charge and pushed you
beyond a healthy limit. In this case, you have the job of recovery.
Rest and renewal. You have the task of rebuilding the trust of your
Will Center.
The final reason you may not have access to your Defined Will
Center is that you are in your own way. Remember, when there is
Definition, you have the theme – in this case, either the theme of
having capacity or the theme of lacking capacity. You will be occu-
pied with one end of the stick or the other. Most likely, you are
telling yourself some story about yourself that is programing you to
not access your Will Center. What would happen if you allowed
yourself to be that powerful and strong, to have that much capacity?
I was working with a talented coach who felt stalled. A
Manifesting Generator, she has a Defined Will Center and a power-
packed chart. She initially didn’t identify with having the strong Will
Center energy and being able to create her program. She felt she was
hiding. As we talked more, it became clear that when she had a full
yes for something, she went full-bored. Nothing stopped her. The in-
teresting thing here – and we all have to be cognizant of this – is you
have to look at the whole chart. She has her Conscious Sun, the big-
gest energy in her chart, her unconscious Moon, which drives her,
her Conscious Mercury, what she likes to talk about, and her
Conscious Saturn, what she has to be in integrity with, all in Gate 52,
the Gate of Stillness. Her chart is all about waiting. Waiting in dy-
namic stillness until the right moment to act. It’s like holding the
bow taut with the arrow until the exact moment to let the arrow go
to hit the bullseye. In her case, we needed to reframe hiding as wait-
ing. We needed to reframe the feeling that she was lagging with her
program to she was waiting for the right timing. Then, and only
then, could she activate her Will Center.

Appreciate the True Support You Can Offer Others

Your authentic support comes from your presence. Your Defined

Will Center enables those with Open Will Centers to access the Will
energy when they are in your auric field. You are an inspiration to
people. Your power to support others in accessing Will energy does
not come from pressuring or demanding that others to be like you.
Learn to be compassionate toward yourself in relation to others
when you find yourself getting frustrated or being disappointed in
their lack of capacity. Watch the tendency to make them wrong or
less than. Learn to be compassionate toward them as well. You actu-
ally have something they don’t have. Work with people to find their
own unique way to master the things they are attempting. And be
clear that not everyone is meant to prove themselves in the same
way you are. Recognize that your accomplishments do not make you
any more valuable than others. Be clear on this. The ultimate func-
tion of your Defined Will is to support others in the tribe. Be vigilant
with the comparing Ego that is out to prove that there is a hierarchy
and that you are higher up than others!

Work with the Energy of the Gates That Come off Your Will Center
 Check to see which of these Gates you have defined, take respon-
sibility for the power you wield, and use it wisely.

Chart #34 Will Center Defined Gates

Gate 21 Control, The Treasurer

What do you feel the need to control? Be vigilant with your im-
pulse to control. Investigate it. Is your ego controlling out of domina-
tion or fear? Or are you coming from a clear and empowered place,
aware of your environment, in tune with your Strategy, and using
your drive to control respectfully for all concerned?

Gate 51 Shock, Initiation

Explore your relationship to shock. What planet is in your Gate

of Shock? Are you using shock skillfully in alignment with your
Strategy? Or are you shocking just to be shocking, not taking into ac-
count your impact?
Gate 26 Trickster

What message are you sharing? Are you selling some idea or
thing to the tribe out of lack to fill your coffers? Or are you in in-
tegrity, authentically selling a solution to a real problem that will be
of benefit?

Gate 40 Aloneness/ Deliverance

Are you delivering the goods to the tribe that they need? Or that
you want to give? Are you including yourself and your own needs
to make sure the agreement is one you will feel good fulfilling? Are
you honoring your alone time or are you feeling victimized by it?
With any of these Gates or Channels Defined, take responsibility
for the power you wield and use it wisely.

Helpful Tools

Cultivate awareness.
Be vigilant with your power.

Cultivate Awareness

Make awareness your friend. Develop a strong witness. Turn

your awareness within to know when you are overworking or when
you are using your Will to dominate or manipulate. Cultivate your
awareness to make sure you are in integrity with yourself and oth-
ers. Cultivate your awareness to register when you are demeaning
another because they do not have your capacity. Can you appreciate
what you have without putting someone else down in the process?

Be Vigilant with Your Power

Imagine you are a linebacker making love to a petite woman. You

would need to be conscious of your differences. Be aware of how
powerful you are. Especially know the Channels and Gates coming
off your Will – are you unconsciously overpowering people? Or
maybe even consciously dominating people and justifying it because
you’re in the power position? Be vigilant. Know your strength and
use your power skillfully.

THE OPEN W I LL C E N TER

Really? I’ve got an Open Will Center? At first blush, it may feel a bit
unfair to have an Open Will Center in your chart. Like something
fundamental is missing. Perhaps akin to the feeling of being born a
female in a male privileged world, or Black in a White privileged
world. How could it be right that some people have consistent access
to the Will Center Motor while others don’t?
Actually, something like 67 percent of us have Open Wills. Do
you have an Open Will? If so, what does that mean? What does it
look like in the world? I don’t want to kid you, there are a host of
challenges that accompany an Open Will. We are, after all, condi-
tioned to believe that we should have the capacity to say we’re going
to do something and do it. We are conditioned to believe that we
should be able to make a promise and keep it. With the Open Will,
you have the job of cleaning the filters of your conditioning which
bombard you. From an early age, you’re told what you should value.
Your task is to get clarity regarding what you actually do value. This
is a formidable task – one I suggest you wholeheartedly embrace.
The daunting challenges of the Open Will are meaningless in com-
parison to the potential wealth buried beneath the crusty condition-
ing. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges on the way to un-
earthing the riches of the Open Will Center.

Grapples of the Open Will Center

Here are some of the main issues you may encounter with your
Open Will:
 You question your value.
You take on and amplify other people’s lack of value.
You spend a lifetime proving your value.
You burn yourself out.

You Question Your Value

Because the world is so oriented toward Defined Will Center ca-

pacities, it is very easy to feel deficient when you attempt to act like
someone with a Defined Will and it doesn’t work out. You say you’re
going to get a certain number of clients or make a certain amount of
money or get a certain job. You don’t, and then you feel like a failure.
You try and fail enough times that you end up with the distinct feel-
ing that you’ve got an inner loser. You don’t trust yourself. You lose
faith in yourself. The result? You end up questioning your value.
This becomes a vicious cycle. You question your value, so you deval-
ue yourself. You charge less than you’re worth, then you don’t gen-
erate the resources you see others are able to generate. You become a
chronic under-earner and you devalue yourself further. You feel
shame and have to hide the fact you feel inadequate. Or you pretend
to yourself that you don’t. Maybe you defensively idealize being im-
poverished or justify it because you’re an artist or in the service field.
You can chronically attack yourself for your apparent lack. Let’s be
clear: This is not a comfortable cycle, and yet it can be hard to extri-
cate yourself from it.

You Take on and Amplify Other People’s Lack of Value

The nature of the Open Centers is to be receptors, to take in and

amplify the energy of others who are broadcasting the theme of that
Center. In this case, you take on and amplify other people’s lack of
value. Here’s an example from my life of how it can look: I’m con-
tentedly waiting for a therapy client. I love this client. She’s magnifi-
cent, a goddess. When she arrives, I suddenly feel diminished. Like
something is wrong with me. She is not portraying this picture. She
is telling me how incredible things are. Only later in the session do
her feelings of lack arise and I recognize that I have taken in her ex-
perience and identified it as my own.
 With your Open Will Center, you are vulnerable to walking into a
room and taking in people’s lack of value, their feelings of inadequa-
cy. As you take them in, you amplify them. If you identify with
them, you believe you are less than. This can be extremely painful.
When you don’t recognize what’s happening, your self-esteem takes
a hit. When this pattern happens over and over, you walk around
with a hidden wound that you then have to defend against.

You Spend a Lifetime Proving Your Value

The wound of inadequacy is unbearable and so you set to work

proving your value. You act more like a Defined Will person trying
to compensate for your perceived lack, trying to prove you actually
do have worth. You effort more, out of desperation. Your ego is tak-
ing a hit, after all. We can’t have that. You become depleted, exhaust-
ing yourself using energy you don’t have. This is a no-win situation
for you. There is nothing you can do to once and for all prove your
value.

You Burn Yourself Out

There can be an endless cycle of questioning your value, taking

on other people’s lack of value and amplifying it, then efforting to
prove your value. This can leave you in a sorry state. As if that
wasn’t bad enough, you now have chronic fatigue or some other au-
toimmune disorder. On top of everything else, you’re bereft of ener-
gy, unable even to fight to prove yourself.
If this sounds dramatic, just think of all the people you know
who drive themselves into the ground in an effort to get the trap-
pings of what looks like success. It’s a chronic issue in our culture. It
makes me wonder, with Covid, how many people are rethinking the
validity of this drive to succeed, to prove themselves.

Gifts of the Open Will Center

While the challenges of the Open Will can be disconcerting and

disheartening, all is not lost. As with all Open Centers, there are gifts
as well. The Will Center embodies the theme of value. There are
three gifts I’m going to explore here. You may discover others.

You have the gift of discerning what is valuable.

You have the gift of exploring what’s valuable.
You have the gift of not having to prove your value.

You Have the Gift of Discerning What Is Valuable

The Open Centers are the wisdom Centers. With your Open Will
Center, you’re here to be wise about what’s valuable. You do that by
taking in all the different possibilities. It’s like tasting food to deter-
mine what you want to serve at your wedding. You’re trying all the
different flavors to see what you like. You taste something you don’t
like. You don’t keep eating it. You either spit it out (if you’re able to)
or swallow it and don’t take another bite of that!
You’re taking in and discerning who has integrity. Is what that
person is selling (whether it’s an idea or a product) of value or is it
questionable? When your filters are unobstructed, your innate intel-
ligence lets you know clearly. Going back to the tasting analogy for a
moment, if you have a stuffy nose from allergies or a cold and you’re
trying to taste something, you may have difficulty discerning. The
Open Center has to be clear of the inflammation of conditioning to
function well.
So, the gift of the Open Will includes differentiating who is au-
thentic, who has real self-esteem rather than fabricated self-esteem.
Who has integrity concerning money? Whose shocking behavior is
acting out or unconscious as opposed to being in service of heart-
opening transformation? I can remember going to see Bryon Katie in
the early days. What she was saying was so shocking and radical. It
was intriguing and disconcerting all at once. My cherished beliefs
were being decimated by the second. At the beginning, I was on
alert, looking to see where she was out of integrity. I was looking to
see if she was walking her talk. Was there a hole in her inquiry
process?
In my process of discerning, I fought her, hard. I stood up sob-
bing and told her I didn’t want to be like her. I didn’t want to lose
the world as I’d known it. She graciously told me, “Sweetheart, you
don’t have to. You can hold onto your suffering. And how’s that
working for you?” My Open Will was checking, checking, checking.
It was testing her, testing The Work: was this process spiritual by-
pass or was it revealing truth? I endured shock after shock as I wit-
nessed her work with people and did my own work. The unraveling
through The Work was not something my head could sort out.
Here’s a Katie story about a time where she demonstrated valu-
ing truth over making people feel comfortable. At the time, I initially
wobbled, preferring safety over truth.
Back in the late 90s, before Katie’s work had become known,
Katie and I were at a workshop in Ireland. We were in a small hall
packed with people new to The Work. There was an edgy feeling in
the room. People were asking Katie questions, in a testing sort of
way, pulling on her to prove something. She said that the best way to
show the impact of The Work was to do it. Nobody wanted to do it.
Nobody wanted to expose themselves. There was a conversation
around how it wasn’t right to put out your dirty laundry for every-
one to see. Finally, a brave young woman stood up with her Work
piece. Clearly distressed, she told an emotional story of being sexual-
ly abused. The room was still as her sobs filled the space. I was un-
easy, not at all sure how this was going to go. I trusted Katie; I had
watched her work with probably a thousand people at that point.
But something felt different.
When Katie got to the question, He abused you, is it true? The
whole room erupted in chaos. There was a revolt. Katie was unde-
terred. She valued truth more than pleasing people. As the inquiry
went on Katie pressed the woman, “When did you know that if you
walked into that room the abuse was going to happen. How did you
abuse yourself?”
Just this one time, I was internally willing Katie not to go where
she was heading. Protect the woman, protect these people, I screamed in-
side. Don’t rattle this cage! Katie stayed with it. The woman stopped
the process. She sat down in exasperation and disdain. Some people
got up and left. She may have even left. I was mortified. Was this go-
ing to be the one time that Katie blew it? Had she misread the situa-
tion? I’d never seen that happen. I forget where the conversation
went from there. Perhaps Katie talked about some of the things she
often talks about in terms of the nature of reality. I don’t believe any-
one else did The Work. Maybe half an hour went by when suddenly
the woman stood up. With a clear and steady voice, she said, “I
found it.” The whole room became still, taking in her honesty as she
told another layer of her story.
It became so clear to me that we can try to prove our innocence as
a way to prove our value. But the attachment to our traumas actually
keeps us in the I’m good, you’re bad, or I’m bad, you’re good dualistic
paradigm. Katie held the larger picture, knowing that real value
doesn’t come from hiding or defending, but from seeing the truth.
Your Open Will can be a huge support when it comes to being clear
on value.

You Have the Gift of Exploring What Is Valuable

Not only are you discerning and bringing wisdom in regard to

what’s valuable, with an Open Will Center, you’re also here to ex-
plore what’s valuable. You’re not designed to have fixed values. Your
values change and shift as you taste and explore new values.
Let me give you an example. In Human Design, when you put
two charts together, it’s called a composite chart. When you do that
you see which Centers remain Open. This tells you what those two
people are here to explore together. For my wife and me the Will
Center remains Open. And it’s true – we have spent the past forty
years exploring what we value. We’ve walked the path of exploring
the body through movement and bodywork. We’ve explored our
psyches through therapy. We’ve explored our spirituality, following
numerous teachers and teachings. We share some values and others
not so much. We have taught each other and learned from each other
and shifted our values. After all, with Open Wills, we are not de-
signed to hold onto values but to keep upgrading and updating
them. She for example, as a Projector has valued rest, being, vacation.
As a Generator, I have valued doing, mastering things. I’ve learned to
value the power of rest from her, and she’s learned to value the pow-
er of activity from me.
With our Open Wills, we have often chosen a path divergent
from mainstream. Maybe breaking through the pattern of heterosex-
uality as the only option in the 70s enabled us to look at all of life dif-
ferently. Neither of us valued working for other people. I was clear I
wanted to work in a beautiful environment, making my own hours,
doing something I valued, someplace where I had control of the tem-
perature (at that time I got cold very easily). I also wanted to be able
to work shoeless. It was really important to me to feel my feet on the
ground. Many of these things I can now see were in response to my
Open G Center. But that’s a bigger conversation. Above all, I valued
frequency: what the energy felt like in any given situation and with-
in myself. This led me to explore different kinds of meditations and
spiritual paths. Surprisingly, I discovered that attending deaths was
one of my all-time favorite things. As a person or animal crosses, I
experience the entire universe opening, ushering in a peace beyond
measure. What do you value with your Open Will? How has it
changed over time?

You Have the Gift of Not Having to Prove Your Value

Finally, with an Open Will, you have the gift of not having to
prove your value. You’re simply not designed to. That’s not your job.
Any more than it would be your job to manufacture sperm if you’re
in a woman’s body or give birth if you’re in a man’s body. You’re not
here to prove you can do something or be something spectacular.
You’re not here to prove that you have a right to exist. Give it up.
Break with the cultural norm and enjoy the fact that you’re here to
discern, explore, and be wise about what you value. That’s it.

The Open Will as a God Portal

All of the Centers are important, each in their own way, with
their own offering and support, but as we step into the waters of the
God Portal of the Will Center, I feel a particular sobriety. It is as if I’m
being told to pay attention. Wake up. This really matters. This is
core. I feel a touch emotional as I write this. The truth is that there is
so much pain around the Open Will Center when that suffering
seems so unnecessary. I mean the suffering is useful and needed to
show us where we are off, to point us to the truth of who we are, but
in and of itself? Here is where the lies we believe bring us to our
knees. When we believe there is something, we have to do in order to
get value, we suffer. One thing stands out as the God Portal for the
Open Will Center: You are Value itself.
You Are Value Itself

As you begin to clean your lenses, to clear the debris that blocks
your vision, this obvious and shockingly simple truth is revealed:
There is nothing you can do to diminish your value, nor to increase
your value. Think about it this way: An orchid doesn’t have more in-
herent value than a daffodil. It’s simply not possible. Your existence
on this planet is your value.
When you open into the openness your Open Will you experi-
ence all life as you, as valuable. You no longer put or project value on
top of things. You shift out of the dualistic perspective of right and
wrong, good and bad. In the Oneness, you see the stunning, almost
blinding truth, the value of what is, as it is. This is a breathtaking
revelation.
I can remember sitting in the desert with Byron Katie and a
group of friends. She invited us to look around and show her some-
thing that was unnatural that didn’t belong. Someone pointed out a
piece of trash in the distance. Katie turned to that person and said
something like, “Sweetheart. You think that’s unnatural? How could
that possibly be? Here it is. It belongs as much as that rock or that
tree. Who are you to judge it?”
I also remember Katie pointing to the rose on the table next to her
asking a student, “You think this rose has more value than a daf-
fodil? How can that be? How can you have any less value than any-
one else? It’s simply not possible.”
There is something so powerful that begins to happen when we
shift out of the judging mind that is busy placing value on every-
thing: We stop going to war with the Is. We realize that our puzzle
piece in the giant picture matters. We’re freed to offer what we’re
here to offer. We’re no longer trying to show that we have value, to
justify our existence. Instead, we’re resting in the value that we are.
From this place, we walk through the world differently. With a sense
of unconditional acceptance, we feel worthy. There’s an unwavering
knowing that the universe has our back. Self-care and including our
own needs in any situation is natural as we respect and honor the
needs of others. We’re free to take risks in our daily life from a place
of authentic confidence.
I never quite understood why, in traditional Human Design, the
Will Center is called the Heart Center. It didn’t make sense to me to
have the egoic, materialist Will Center get the attribute of the heart.
But now, as I’m writing this, I feel my heart. I see the tear in Katie’s
eye as she looks out in awe at the desert splendor, trash and all. I
flash back to sitting on a plane with Katie as we’re coming into Los
Angeles. It’s pitch black and Katie makes a gesture with her open
hand pointing to the city below – a network of lights that almost
looks like a sci-fi movie. She says something in her words, in her ges-
ture that stops my mind. I see the magnificence of all life. Without
judgment, the heart is wide open. The value is revealed.

Working with the Open Will Center

The work you do with your Open Will Center pays off in big div-
idends. Here are some ways you might approach it:

Appreciate your Open Will and trust that you are a priceless
jewel.
Understand how your Open Will functions and what that
means for you.
Become the witness and observe your Open Will in the
moment.
Clean the filter of your Open Will.
Discover what you do value.

Appreciate Your Open Will and Trust That You Are A Priceless Jewel

You have to start with a mindset shift. You have to decide to end
the war with yourself. You have to begin by appreciating your Open
Will with all its challenges and all its gifts. There is a leap of faith – a
fake-it-until-you-make-it attitude – that will support you on the jour-
ney with your Open Will. But as long as you’re pummeling yourself,
married to the perception that you are somehow lacking in value,
you will stay entrenched in the cycle of victimhood and suffer. You’ll
need to do the work to actually realize your value. To do the work,
you must start with an attitude of good will toward yourself.

Understand How Your Open Will Functions and What That Means for You
 When you know what’s going on, you can begin to work with it.
If you’re unconscious about what’s happening, not so much. So be
clear that you are taking in and amplifying other people’s sense of
their value. If you attach to it and believe it’s yours, you will either
devalue yourself or elevate yourself based on them. This is living a
lie. This is being buffeted around by the winds of people’s ego iden-
tities. This is not authentic value. You are not in the picture when
you are not aware that this is what’s happening.
On the other hand, if you are aware, you can see it for what it is,
deliberately try on different values, and consciously choose for your-
self what you value. Think about it as a discovery process, like an in-
fant putting her hands and her feet in her mouth, discovering what
are the possibilities here.
That’s how it works. Do you want to be a slave, mindlessly fol-
lowing other people’s values? Or do you want to be sovereign? Your
choice.

Become the Witness and Observe Your Open Will in the Moment

Using your witnessing capacity to observe what you’re feeling in

any given moment is the key to discovering if you’re being hijacked
by someone else’s self-esteem or value system. Do you, like I did in
that therapy session, find yourself suddenly feeling badly about
yourself with no explanation? Look around. Whose Will Center ener-
gy are you picking up on? See it for what it is.

Clean the Filter of Your Open Will

Once you know how the Open Will functions and are able to ob-
serve it at work, you have the vigorous task of deconditioning all the
thoughts, beliefs, and values of others that you have unwittingly
merged with and identified as your own. There are numerous tools
you can use to do this. All of the tools require increasing your aware-
ness. Most of them involve some kind of inquiry. However you do it,
you must commit to cleaning the filters of your Open Will Center.
This is key to reclaiming your sovereignty and living the life you
were designed to live. Clearing your Open Will Center enables you
to thrive.
Discover What You Do Value

The process of discovering what you value, not living someone

else’s values, goes hand in hand with the deconditioning process. All
day long, we are bombarded with opinions regarding what we
should and shouldn’t value. This conditioning began as infants.
We’re taught this is good, that is bad, depending on our parents’ val-
ues and preferences. Eventually those values become seamlessly wo-
ven into what we think and how we behave. They become part of
our un-investigated identity.
When I was a freshman in college I fell in love with a woman. It
was very scary to me. At the time, 1976, my mom believed people
who were gay belonged in mental institutions. She valued family.
Her dream for me involved marrying a rich man and living happily
ever after. I didn’t want to be gay. Being gay was bad. What I felt for
this woman was not bad, it was beautiful. What to do? I tried to pret-
zel myself into my mom’s picture. It was disastrous. Trying to fit into
someone else’s value system rather than live my own led me into a
deep depression. Ultimately, it became a matter of life and death. I
had to choose me.
That was a big and obvious claiming of my value that created a
whole new world of possibilities for me. But some of the subtler
ones – the more unconscious beliefs – can be insidious. To know
what you value, you have to be awake.
I can remember the first time Byron Katie asked me: Did you ask
you? It was like an earthquake. Values I was sure were mine began to
crack. I could ask me! Ask you. Question yourself and become wise
about what is valuable to you.

Helpful Tools

When you’re working with the Open Will there are two major
tools:

Awareness
Inquiry
Awareness

You can’t underestimate the power of awareness. Especially with

the Will Center, it is foundational to any other work. You must turn
your focus inward and notice what you feel. You can do this by
noticing sensations in your body. Thoughts that arise. Be aware of
anything that will give you a clue that you are identifying with
someone else’s value system. Some of these systems are inherited,
hand-me-downs from past generations. Others are embedded in cul-
tural norms. Learn to turn on the light of awareness and observe
without judgment what you notice.
Once you are aware of something, you can inquire into it. And, in
the process of inquiry, you increase your awareness. There are a few
inquiry tools I’ll mention here, but there are many more that can be
supportive on this path.

Inquiry #1: The Work of Byron Katie

Of course, for me The Work of Byron Katie is always a staple, and

I highly encourage anyone who resonates with it to give yourself the
gift of writing your judgments and using The Four Questions and
the Turnaround to clean the debris you’ve accumulated.
(See Resources for the full inquiry process.)

Inquiry #2: Six Steps to Freedom

The Six Steps to Freedom is an inquiry tool I learned from my

friend Pali Summerlin. It’s taken from Diederik Wolsak, the Program
Director for the Centre for Attitudinal Healing in Vancouver. The in-
tent is to use a current upset to access the original experience in our
early life where we attached to a core belief that we were not
valuable.

The Process:

The first step is to acknowledge we are upset. Hello

awareness!
 The second step is to recognize that our upsets are never
about the situation itself, or the other person; they are about
us. The upsets are merely tapping into an earlier wound.
The third step is to focus on the feeling.
As you focus on the feeling, the fourth step is remember the
earliest time when you had that feeling.
The fifth step is to get clear on what judgment you had or
belief you concluded about yourself at the moment you had
that earlier feeling. An example would be: I don’t matter.
This is the essence of the Open Will – feeling you are
without value.
The intention of the sixth step is to embrace the truth about
yourself. There are two parts to this: First, you realize that
your judgment or conclusion at the time was wrong. It was
understandable, and inevitable with the psychological
resources you had at that age. Then you forgive yourself for
believing that lie. In place of the lie, you remember that the
truth of who you are is unchanging and unchangeable. This
is my version of you are value itself.

When I worked the process with Pali, she helped me to see that
those original judgments against ourselves, the beliefs we concluded
in regard to our value, set in motion the world we then lived into
and created. If I had the belief I don’t matter, for instance (easy to do
with seven children), I would then see through that lens. I would be-
lieve that lie and look to make that lie true in my life. These value
judgments against ourselves are powerful. They’re like weeds that
take over the whole garden with pricker bushes. If you go back and
get the weed at the root, you can have a conscious garden with food
that actually nourishes you.

Inquiry #3: Diamond Work

Another tool I want to mention here is the Diamond Work in

terms of the question of value. In this system, at the essential level,
the Gold Essence is the essence of value. Two things can happen to
mess with your value. One, the aspect of the Gold Essence called
Merging Gold can be contaminated by other people’s false values or
egoic beliefs. You can merge and your value gets mucked up. Sound
familiar? The other thing, and this is really good information for all
the Open Centers, is that you can go into the hole of no value. This is
not a problem in and of itself – it’s actually the signal to inquire. As
you allow yourself to feel the hole of no value without resisting it,
you witness where it is in your body, what it feels like, how you ex-
perience it. You just stay with it. Allowing it. Eventually, the hole
opens and you open into the essential domain. Here you experience
the truth who you are. You experience essential value. This is a beau-
tiful and powerful inquiry if you’re able to do it.

RECAP
The Will is obviously an important Center in relation to navigating
the external world. It truly is a resource. With a Defined Will, you
have superpowers. With an Open Will, you can over-effort and be
flummoxed as to why your efforts don’t pay off. In either case, this is
a Center that requires attention. It’s easy to burn yourself out
through mismanagement of the Will Center. Take a moment and re-
flect on your relationship to the Will Center. Do you understand how
to best utilize your Defined or Open Will?
Next we turn to the most powerful Motor in the chart, the Sacral
Center. Take your time to understand and work with your Sacral
Center. It’s a major player in all of our lives….
 11

GETTING TO KNOW
THE SACRAL CENTER

Chart #35 Sacral Center

INTRODUCING TH E SACR AL
CENTER

W
e’ve come to the Sacral Center. I know I say each time we
talk about a Center how amazing it is, and how important
it is. But the Sacral Center – it’s monumental. For one, it’s
the most powerful Motor in the whole chart. It’s the Center
for activity and sustainable energy. It’s our go-to Motor. It’s also a
built-in inner GPS for the 70 percent of us who have it defined.
Designed to be in a dance with the universe, the Defined Sacral re-
sponds to what shows up with a yes or no, off or on response. It’s as
simple as Yes, I want to eat at that restaurant, or No I don’t want to take
that job. When Defined, it’s the workhorse of the chart. The power-
house. Having it Defined is the definition of the Generator and
Manifesting Generator Type. This energetic force impacts the field
and sets the norm for how humans should operate. In her Quantum
Human Design™ language, Karen Curry Parker calls the Sacral
Center the Evolution Center.
For the 30 percent who have it Undefined, well, they’ve got the
job of learning to be skillful with their energy. My wife just said she
feels like the Defined Sacrals are like notes in a piece of music and
the Open Sacrals are like the pause between the notes. We need both.
But it’s not easy to be a pause when the world expects and values
notes.
This is a major potential burnout center for both Defined and
Undefined Sacral Types, for different reasons, which we’ll discuss
when we focus on each one.
If all that wasn’t enough, the Sacral is also the Center for sexuali-
ty and vitality. This is creative life-force energy. Bountiful and exu-
berant – when we follow our Strategy and Authority. It is nurturing
energy and fertile energy. It powers our drive to survive.
Unfortunately, it is also a place that most of us have not been
taught to honor and respect. We either take it for granted, don’t lis-
ten to it, or disregard its messages. Not being aware of and knowing
how to work with our Sacral Centers, perhaps more than anything
else in the chart, has thrown humanity off track. We’ve been led
down a path of projecting our authority outside of ourselves. We act
as if someone or something other than us knows best how to use and
where to put our energy. Most of us have been taught to go to our
heads, rather than check-in with our inner guidance. This is an insid-
ious trapped and enslaved mentality that we’ve collectively bought
into. With the coming 2027 Emotional Solar Plexus Evolutionary mu-
tation, that pattern is being called into question. You can already see
it happening in the world. People are discovering with Covid that
they don’t have to work in an office. They’re realizing that they don’t
have to submit to harrowing commutes. They’re understanding that
they can live anywhere. It’s becoming clear that they don’t have to
be tied to a work schedule. Big changes are afoot, and hopefully un-
derstanding your Sacral Center will aid you in the shifts.
Mechanically speaking, the Sacral Center is loaded: It has nine
Gates connecting eleven Channels to Five other Centers. The Five
Centers are the Identity Center, the Emotional Solar Plexus, the Root
Center, the Spleen Center, and the Throat Center. Whichever Gates
or Channels you have coming off your Sacral Center will determine
where you focus your energy.
Let’s discover how this Center and its Gates and Channels oper-
ate in your life and the lives of those you work with and love. But
first, let’s connect directly with the Sacral Center.

CONNECTIN G TO THE
SACRAL CENTE R – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Turning your focus inward, take a moment to feel your sitting bones on the
chair.
Let your belly soften. Take a deep breath and slowly exhale.
And again.
Begin to sense your arms and legs.
Give yourself a few moments to allow yourself to come online.
Now allow your awareness to expand to the earth beneath you.
Sink your awareness into the earth, two feet below the earth.
Ten feet below the earth.
Down into the center of the earth.
Let it expand further to the other side of the earth, and to the sky above the
land on the other side of the earth.
Let your awareness reach down into the galaxy below you, out into infinite
space.
Now bring your awareness to the top of your head.
Feel the sky touching your head and allow your body to expand beyond
your head into the sky, into the galaxy, out into infinite space, and beyond.
Feel yourself expanding above and below you into infinite space.
Now bring your awareness to your front body.
Sense your front body as you allow it to expand out in front of you.
Expanding. Expanding. Expanding out beyond the horizon into infinite
space.
Bring your awareness to your back body.
Sense your back body and now allow it to expand behind you.
Slowly let your awareness fill the space behind you.
Now experience yourself expanding out to the left of you.
Out to the right of you.
Expand in all directions.
Feel your quantum body filling all time and space.
Now bring your awareness to your inner space.
Feel the infinite space within you. Vast open spaciousness. Between each
cell, between each molecule.
Next bring your awareness to your Sacral Center.
Is your Sacral Center Defined or Undefined?
Just notice what you are aware of as your focus rests on your Sacral Center.
Don’t worry about a physical location in your body.
Feel it in your quantum body.
If you have a Defined Sacral, can you feel your motor revving, ready to step
into action?
Can you feel your motor responding to these words?
Begin to get a sense of your sacral yeses and noes.
See if it would be okay to trust them.
Determine whether you trust your yeses and noes or if that is an area that
needs your attention.
If you have an Open Sacral, what is your experience?
Do you feel pressure to do?
Or are you like a cat at rest, alert but relaxed?
Are you ready to take action when you know to?
Check to see if you’re doing too much, pressured by others.
Perhaps you need some time away from all the Sacral Motor energy.
What would it be like to give that to yourself?
And what are your thoughts around trusting yourself more?
What are your thoughts around repatterning the Generator conditioning
you’ve taken on?
Regardless of whether your Sacral is Defined or Open, smile into your
Sacral Center.
Appreciate it.
Make an intention to get to know it, to listen to it.
Now, just take a few deep breaths and let yourself sense your arms and legs
again.
Sense your belly.
Thank your Sacral.
Gently begin to bring your awareness back into your belly as you open your
eyes.
Take some time to write your experiences in your journal. What did you
discover about yourself? Make an intention to become acquainted with your
Sacral Center and to work consciously with it.

THE DEFINED SACR AL

CENTER
The square in the lower middle of the chart, colored red, indicates a
Defined Sacral Center. Having a Defined Sacral can be a little like
winning the lotto. You have consistent access to the Sacral Motor,
thus to vitality and the creative sustainable life force energy that ac-
companies vitality. Your dharma is to find your right work and mas-
ter it. You are designed to fall asleep exhausted at night and to get
up every morning, your battery recharged, ready to go.
If, that is, you are following your Strategy and Authority. That is
to say if you’re listening to and honoring your Sacral yes and no.
This is your inner GPS. A genius guidance system that will brilliantly
direct your life – if you let it. Most of us have had that cord to our
Sacral GPS pulled out. Can you imagine teaching a child to trust
their yeses and noes? As a parent, that might not work for you!
Especially if your goal is to get the child to school, or to complete
some errand, or to put the food on for dinner. I know I was taught
over and over not to listen to and trust what I knew. I remember
shopping with my mom and picking out a shirt that had mauve col-
ors. My mom was a bright color person, and she was clear with her
preferences saying, “Aw Honey, you don’t want that one. It’s drab.”
From food choices and clothing to what I wanted to be when I grew
up, she had an opinion. I was probably nine or ten when I declared I
wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Her response, “Aw Honey,
you don’t want to be a writer, they don’t make any money.” Later,
when I declared I wanted to be a doctor like my dad, her response
was, “You have to be really smart to be a doctor. Maybe think about
becoming a nurse and marrying a doctor.”
I know I’m not the only one whose parents, in the spirit of good-
will and caring, innocently overrode our desires. What they didn’t
realize is that they were conditioning us to seek outside approval
rather than inside guidance. That is not a small thing. It’s said in
Human Design that the world is such a mess because of all the
Defined Sacrals (Generators and Manifesting Generators) doing the
things they don’t have a yes for. Can you imagine how much creativ-
ity, vitality, and aliveness would flood the planet if people with
Defined Sacral Motors were listening to and following their yes?
Conceptually knowing that you’re designed, with a Defined
Sacral, to be monogamous with your Sacral yes and no, is one thing.
Actually, living in holy matrimony with your Sacral truth is quite an-
other. It requires trust, the kind of trust that many of us lack. It re-
quires trust in the universe to provide people, situations, and events
to respond to at the right time. This involves first, waiting for some-
thing to show up; second, knowing what your response is; and third,
honoring your response.
I was invited earlier this year, along with a small group of author
colleagues, to enter a mentorship program with Marianne
Williamson. I got a yes. And then my mind started talking to me. Or,
you could say, I started listening to my mind. I ended up talking my-
self out of it. For the first couple of months, hearing the stories from
my friends who had opted to participate, I concluded I’d made the
right choice for myself given where I was on my journey. As the
months passed and I heard how the group was evolving, I had a
clear understanding of where my yes had come from and the sinking
feeling that I had truly abandoned my truth. Of course, I inquired
and came to peace with the whole process. And yet, I’m left with the
distinct awareness that there are consequences for not following my
internal guidance system. Perhaps you have a few stories yourself of
talking yourself out of something that your gut was guiding you to
do!
Before we zoom in on the Defined Sacral’s gifts, I want to under-
score that this group has a huge planetary job. We are designed to be
the workforce of humanity – and love it. Not as trapped slaves des-
tined to toil. Instead, as part of the natural passion of life taking form
and creating.
In my book, Understanding Your Clients through Human Design, I
go into detail about the Generator and Manifesting Generator Types.
I refer to them as working dogs. Some people took offense to that.
And in my mind’s eye, when I think of that analogy, I imagine my
dog Métier, a French Shepherd called a Beauceron. She looked like a
cross between a Great Dane and a Doberman Pincher. Long legs.
Beautiful sleek body. She was a working dog. She had tons of energy.
She had energy that needed an outlet, energy that needed a focus.
She needed to be mastering some task to engage her dynamic, cre-
ative mind. When I picture her, I see sheer beauty. The magnificence
of her focused movement as she went to catch a ball, for instance,
was a display of pure joy.
That, my dears, is the possibility of you with your Sacral on task,
doing what you love, in harmony with the universe. There’s nothing
more exhilarating than to experience or to witness vitality in action.
 #36 Picture of Me and Métier

The Defined Sacral Gifts

I believe I’ve just given you a picture of the gifts, but let’s break it
down.

You have access to sustainable vital life force energy.

You have an Inner GPS.
You are in a dance with the universe.
You have gifts specific to the gates.

You Have Access to Sustainable Vital Life Force Energy

Oh my gosh. You have this amazing capacity to go and go and go

and go – if you’re on track with yourself. Like the working dog, you
are rejuvenated by using your energy to full capacity. It’s good for
you. And what you can create is glorious. You feel good when you’re
being used in alignment.

You Have an Inner GPS

Unlike any of the other Types in Human Design, you’ve been

gifted with an internal GPS, a Global Positioning System. Your Sacral
lets you know if you’re going in the right direction – or not. It is
trustworthy. There’s nothing you have to do but wait to see what
your Magnetic Monopole attracts to you and then let your Sacral re-
spond with a yes or a no. How amazing is that!

You Are in a Dance with the Universe

With the Inner GPS comes the mechanism of the Sacral Motor re-
sponse, which is in a dance with the universe. You can trust the uni-
verse, along with your Magnetic Monopole, to bring you the circum-
stances, situations, people, and events that will turn on your Sacral
yes, light your fire, call you to master a task, and bring profound sat-
isfaction to your life. It may sound too good to be true, and it’s not
necessarily what we see when we look around, but that has more to
do with the Sacral challenges than what’s possible.

You Have Gifts Specific to Gates

When we look at the gifts specific to Gates, it’s important to note

that Gate 34 can go toward either the Identity Center, the Spleen
Center, or the Throat Center. While its focus is to empower, depend-
ing on where it is directed, it will either empower the authenticity of
the G, the survival capacities of the Spleen, or the putting-words-
into-action capacity when it connects to the Throat.
 Chart #37 Sacral Center: Defined Gates

Sacral to the Throat:

Gate 34 Power

Your energy flows toward empowering your voice.

Sacral to Identity Center:

If your Sacral is connecting to your Identity Center, you will be

focused on direction and authentic action.

Gate 5 Rhythm

You have the energy to create patterns or rhythms for your ener-
gy flow. You are supported by daily rhythms.

Gate 14 Power Skills

 You have the amazing gift of energy flowing to generate re-
sources, especially for others.

Gate 29 Perseverance

Your energy supports you to surrender and persevere to whatev-

er you have a yes to do.

Gate 34 Power

Your energy empowers your authentic action.

Sacral to the Emotional Solar Plexus:

If you have Gate 59 or the whole Channel 59-6, your Sacral is en-
ergy is being channeled toward the Will Center.

Gate 59 Penetration or Sexuality

This tribal sexual life force energy is powerful. It supports your

efforts to create or bond. This life force could be potent in partner-
ships or business. My mother and father both had Gate 59. They cre-
ated seven children.

Sacral to the Root Center:

If your Sacral is directed toward your Root Center, you have

what is called formatting energy. That is powerful as the Root acti-
vates the Sacral into action – or not.

Gate 9 Focus

With the Gate of Focus, you have the possibility of using energy
to concentrate. But remember, the opposite possibility, a lack of fo-
cus, is also there. People with this gate can easily be diagnosed with
ADD, although, in fact, this is their Design.
Gate 3 Ordering or Difficulty at the Beginning

If you have this mutative energy, you are trying to bring order to
something new arising, to bring something new into form.

Gate 42 Finishing Things

If you have the Gate 42, you will be using your energy to com-
plete what has been started.

Sacral to the Spleen:

27 Nourishment

If you have Gate 27 Nourishment, your Sacral energy will be

headed toward the Spleen Center. This is strong tribal, feminine, and
nourishing energy. Your energy will be used to nourish and protect
people.

Gate 34 Power

You will use your energy to empower your survival.

As you can see there is a lot of energy coming off the Sacral
Center going in a lot of different directions. Which Hanging Gates or
Channels do you have in your chart – in your multi-dimensional ga-
lactic quantum body?

The Defined Sacral Center Grapples

If the Defined Sacral is so great, why aren’t more people fulfilling

their dharma and realizing their dreams? Let’s look at the grapples
you might face with your Defined Sacral.

Your inner GPS is disconnected.

You burn out.
People take advantage of your energy.
 You get frustrated and give up.
You don’t wait to respond.
Grapples with specific gates.

Your Inner GPS Is Disconnected

Your connection to your Sacral response is key to your health and

well-being. If you are not honoring it, you will have problems. Were
you taught to look outside of yourself for answers? Were you told to
go to your head, rather than checking within? Neither of these op-
tions are sound in terms of guidance. You must be your own sov-
ereign. You came here with a powerful, intelligent quantum vehicle
that is here to support you to live your unique life – not someone
else’s. Your inner GPS is here to help you do that.

You Burn Out

When you are doing things that you have a no for, you will not
have access to your sustainable energy. Eventually, you will burn
out, perhaps surprised that the energy you’d come to count on is no
longer available. The other way you can burn out is if you don’t use
your energy. Use it or lose it. Your Sacral Motor is like a car battery
that dies when your car sits in the driveway without being used.
When you go to drive it, nothing. Nada. There is no juice. Think
again about the image of working dogs. If they are not actively en-
gaged in life, burning their energy sniffing new smells, running up
hills, or learning new skills, they destroy the house or chew on them-
selves. Don’t be like that!

People Take Advantage of Your Energy

Another grapple that Defined Sacral Motors encounter is that

people see your energy, and they hijack it. They get you to do things
out of guilt or obligation. You – not being monogamous with your
Sacral yeses or noes – override your clarity, or don’t check in with
yourself in the first place and drain your energy that way. Once
everyone gets clear on the importance of supporting Defined Sacrals
to follow their truth, everyone will benefit.

You Get Frustrated and Give Up

With the Sacral Motor of the Generator and Manifesting

Generator Type, there is a natural process of being initially excited,
jumping in, then hitting a plateau. This is part of your mastery curve
as you integrate and synthesize before taking the leap to the next
level of mastery. In this pause, you must learn discernment. Are you
in fact finished with this project, job, or relationship, and are you get-
ting a clear yes to abandon it? Or is this a necessary pause that will
enable you to ultimately break through to the next level of mastery?
If you stop short without allowing yourself to work through the
frustration, you will not get that gratification and satisfaction you
seek. Writing this book, I encountered regular bouts of frustration.
Not knowing what to say or how to say it. Caught in a doubt spin, I
wondered if I was being clear. Had I stopped writing at any one of
those points and thrown in the towel, I would not have the deep
sense of satisfaction I feel as I come to completing these chapters. I
would not have taken this opportunity to live my dharma and make
my unique contribution.
There is also a frustration that Sacral Motors can encounter when
they feel like there is nothing for them to respond to. They don’t
know what to focus on so they can jump in to try to make something
happen. This brings us to the next grapple.

You Don’t Wait to Respond

Perhaps this should have been discussed as the first grapple. It is

very easy to neglect following your Generator Strategy. It’s com-
pelling to act instead of waiting to respond. Let’s be fair. We’re
taught to go for it. We’re taught to go after what we want. We’re pro-
grammed to be like Manifestors. We don’t know about trusting the
Universe. We go to our heads, think something would be a good
idea, jump in, and then things don’t work out. This creates a cycle of
frustration and unfulfilled desires.
 On the other hand, we may over-wait and miss opportunities, es-
pecially if we’re not tuned in, or if we’re prone to overriding our
Sacral responses.
I can remember playing summer softball in a league as a teenag-
er. I was not a great hitter. I learned to stand and wait. I tolerated
pitch after pitch, not swinging, trusting that more often than not the
majority of pitches would not make it into the strike zone. I became
known for someone who consistently got four balls thrown and
walked to first base. Now, there are two sides to this. You could say I
learned to wait with the hopes of a walk, rather than to wait for a
pitch that was a yes for me. That creates its own problematic strate-
gy. Sometimes being powerful and hitting the ball out of the park
with your yes is as scary as waiting. When I think of this analogy in
terms of the Marianne Williamson mentorship, perhaps I was letting
balls go by without swinging instead of going for the one that could
have hit a home run, or at least a base hit. It doesn’t serve us – or the
world – to shut down our Sacral responses, to play small. We have to
wait in anticipation, ready to recognize the opportunities the
Universe is offering, then go for it.
Here I think about this excerpt from Marianne Williamson’s fa-
mous quote: Our Deepest Fear:

Your playing small

Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As Children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.

Grapples with Specific Gates

 I’m going to go through the grapples that can occur with each of
the Gates. These could be true whether or not the whole Channel is
defined, and whether or not the Sacral Center is Defined or Open.

(See Chart #35 Gates off the Sacral Center.)

Gate 34 Power

This is the busiest gate in the chart. If you have a Defined Sacral
and are not following your Sacral yeses or noes, you can be very
busy dissipating your energy and feeling powerless. You can easily
burn out. All that powerful life force energy goes to waste, leaving
you very frustrated.

Gate 5 Rhythm

If you are not honoring a daily rhythm, you are undermining a

source of support that can sustain you. If, on the other hand, you are
demanding others follow your rhythm, you can run into problems as
well. If you are a mother with the Gate 5 and you have an infant
with Gate 15, Extremes of Rhythm, you may run into some
challenges!

Gate 14 Power Skills

You have magical energy to create resources. If you are not, then
something is going on. You need to take a look and see if you are not
following your Sacral yeses.

Gate 29 Perseverance

With this Gate, you tend to say yes to things very easily. You
must be diligent with yourself to follow your Strategy and Authority.
If you do not, you might find yourself trapped into doing something
you said yes for but which you actually don’t have the energy for
and burn yourself out. If you are not following your yeses, your
body takes the hit. Your body will rebel. If you are physically not
well, look and see what you have said yes to that you are not in in-
tegrity with and do whatever you can to get out of it.

Gate 59 Penetration

This powerful tribal energy can get you into trouble if you’re not
following your Strategy and Authority. This is the energy of unwant-
ed pregnancy, or wars. Be clear before you take actions that might
create unwanted results.

Gate 9 Focus

You have the task of focusing. However, you can be very unfo-
cused. When you follow your Strategy and Authority, you’ll get help
regarding what is in alignment to focus on. Otherwise, you may dis-
sipate your energy focusing on all kinds of things that aren’t impor-
tant. This can have detrimental consequences, and potentially lead to
a diagnosis of ADD.

Gate 3 Ordering, Difficulty at the Beginning

My Conscious Sun is in this Gate. With this energy you are here
to bring something new, but it takes time for that new thing to take
root. The analogy I like to use is that it takes time before a child can
be productive in society. During the waiting time, it’s easy to get dis-
couraged or doubt yourself. This energy requires confidence and pa-
tience. You must make sure you are following your Strategy and
Authority so what you’re bringing in has a chance to come into
fruition.

Gate 42 Finishing Things

This is the energy of Finishing Things – or not. I have this energy

and had a terrible time finishing things as a child. As I look back, I
can see that much of what I was trying to finish, like getting Girl
Scout badges, or sewing dresses for 4H, was really not something I
cared about. I didn’t have a yes. I was trying to fit in and please my
mother. I was trying to be a good girl. How terribly exhausting. The
problem is that it set a pattern of resistance that I’ve had to break. If
you have this Gate Defined, you have the gift of coming into the
middle of something and finishing it. You just have to make sure you
have a yes for what you’re doing, or risk being caught in resistance
that you then make yourself wrong for.

Gate 27 Nourishment

This gate is tricky. On the one hand it’s so lovely, this desire to
support and care for others. On the other hand, it is a slippery slope
into codependency if you’re taking care of others and not including
yourself in the picture. It’s crucial that you follow your Strategy and
Authority to make sure you are on track with yourself. Otherwise,
you can get trapped in situations where you risk burnout and resent-
ment. You can easily build an identity around being a martyr here
and lose out on truly being a support in the right time and right
place.

Working with the Defined Sacral Center

Appreciate what you’ve been given.

Understand how your Defined Sacral Motor operates.
Develop trust in your Sacral guidance and in the universe.

Appreciate What You’ve Been Given

When you are working with your Defined Sacral, you first and
foremost must begin with awe and appreciation for the gift you’ve
been given. This appreciation helps you realize the jewel you possess
and supports you in honoring and deepening your relationship with
you Sacral Center. You’re asking yourself to make a turn from a con-
ditioned, obligated, head-guided pattern, to one that leaves you free
to be authentic and tell your truth in the moment. The decision to
honor your truth liberates you from a victim path. It supports your
sovereignty.
Understand How Your Defined Sacral Motor Operates

Next, you’ll want to be clear on how the Sacral Center operates.

Just as you would look at a car manual when you get a new car, be
clear that you are designed to:

Be vigilant about waiting to respond.

Have people ask you yes and no questions.
Honor your yes and no or uh-huh, uh uhn Motor sounds.
Work with your frustration cycle.

These are the foundations of your Strategy as a Generator or

Manifesting Generator. Take these seriously. Just as you would make
sure to have oil, water, and gas in your car, take care of your Sacral
Motor. Don't let it burn out. Don’t let it run out of gas.

Develop Trust in Sacral Guidance and the Universe

To follow this path requires a surrender. There is a letting go and

having faith that things will come when the timing is right that you
must come to trust. Think of all the times something has shown up
that you couldn’t, in your wildest dreams, imagined. Maybe that
was a partner, maybe that was a job, maybe it was an opportunity.
This happens all the time, but because we’re so conditioned to be-
lieve we are the doer, our ego feels it must figure everything out.
This is an impossible job for the limited Ego. We must catch this in-
sidious propensity and build the muscle of listening to our Sacral
and following its responses.

Helpful Tools

Come into the present.

Make a decision.
Develop a strong witness.

Come into the Present

 I’ve written about this in many of the chapters under Helpful
Tools. The quickest and easiest is to sense your arms and legs, to
sense your belly. You could also use the essential oil Mugwort
Technique listed in the Resource section to clear blockages in your
arms and legs. This will help ground you in the present. Some peo-
ple like to focus on their breath as a way to come to the present.
However, you do it, do it! Make coming into the present a regular
practice.

Make a Decision

Decide that you are going to care for yourself and your Sacral
Motor. Think about when you own a car. If the engine light comes
on, you take it in to the mechanic. If the gas light comes on, you
make sure to fill it. If the oil light comes on, you put in more oil. You
pay attention to the signs. Make a decision to pay attention to the
signs! Get clear on your agreements with yourself like:

The next thing I have a yes for I’m going to do.

Today I’m following my yeses and will keep track in my journal
daily.

The more you follow your yeses, the more confident you become.
When I was starting my Rosen Method Bodywork practice back in
the 80s, I made a commitment to myself. I went inside and asked
myself for the amount I was going to charge. When I got a number, I
agreed I would charge that to the next person who called. It was
quite scary at first, because the number that came up was larger than
my mind thought was reasonable. But I had made the commitment.
Almost immediately the phone rang with a potential client. I said the
number. They didn’t skip a beat. I found this to be true over and
over. When I got clear, the universe would respond immediately. If I
played small, no one called. You are in a dance with the universe. Be
in integrity with yourself.

Develop a Strong Witness

 You need a strong witness to be awake to the signs your Sacral is
giving you. Is your energy low? Pay attention. You don’t drive on a
long trip with no gas where there are no gas stations. Don’t push
yourself. Witness your body – is it rebelling? Are you losing focus?
Are you overactive without direction? Are you just being busy for
the sake of filling space? Is there something you said yes to that you
didn’t mean? Did you override your heart’s desire to please some-
one or fit in? You cannot afford to squander your energy. Your Sacral
is a beautiful resource; if you use it wisely, you can follow your
dreams.

THE OPEN SACR AL CE N TE R

The Open Sacral is complex. I feel so much love for people with
Open Sacrals, and so much tenderness toward them. If you have an
Open Sacral, the world you face can be challenging if you don’t un-
derstand that you’re constructed differently than the majority of hu-
mans. Like all the Open Centers, you have capacities that expand be-
yond the Defined Sacral, but to access those capacities, you must be
skillful. The risk of burnout looms large for you, and challenges
abound.

Open Sacral Center Grapples

You’re vulnerable to overwhelm.

You’re under pressure to do.
You’re vulnerable to burn out.
Timing can be a challenge.
You don’t know when enough is enough.
It’s easy for you to merge.
You need more rest.
Know the grapples particular to your Hanging Gates.

You’re Vulnerable to Overwhelm

 With your Open Sacral, you are taking in all the energy of the
Defined Sacrals that surround you. That’s 75 percent of the popula-
tion bombarding you with energy. You’re not only taking it in but
you’re amplifying it. It’s almost like getting hit by lightning with so
much voltage coming at you. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, not
knowing what’s hitting you. You have to get out of the Generator
field to dissipate all that voltage and come back to yourself. That
could be hard to do when you’re surrounded by Generators in your
family.

You’re Under Pressure to Do

Generators are doers. They are here to do. They are here to build
things and be active. Generators are created to work. They need to
use their energy in order to renew it. Remember the working dog
analogy? Open Sacral Types are not here to work in the same way.
But we live in a Generator-dominant world where doing is the norm,
and the expectation. It’s easy to be conditioned to feel that you must
do or else you’re not valuable or you’re lazy. Each of the Open Sacral
Types, the Manifestors, the Projectors, and the Reflectors, have a spe-
cial task that does not involve exerting energy over time in a sustain-
able way. Even so, they are under continuous pressure to act like
Generators and Manifesting Generators. They are pressured to fit in,
even though that is not their highest offering. In fact, it’s detrimental
to their health and well-being in the long run to act like a Defined
Sacral person.

You’re Vulnerable to Burn Out

Invariably, Open Sacral Types get inducted into the Generator

world and get busy doing. Remember, they can do more than any
Defined Sacral person can, as they’re taking in and amplifying the
energy. They just can’t sustain it. By the time most Open Sacrals are
in their 30s, unless they have been wise with their energy, they start
to burn out. Their bodies give way. They get sick. They lose energy.
It’s really painful to watch, knowing that the gift they have to give is
being lost out of the pressure to conform.
Timing Can Be a Challenge

Another challenge Open Sacrals have is timing. With a Defined

Sacral, you have an inner GPS telling you when to act, and when to
respond. If you have an Open Sacral, you do not have this gift. If you
want to be successful, if you want to be heard, if you want to bring
your gifts into the world, right timing is key. This can be really dicey.
Who is taught to wait to speak, like our Projectors must with their
Open Sacrals and no Motor to the Throat? How do the Manifestors
know when to time their impact? It’s very challenging to discern.
And with Manifestors’ big energy, they can be like a bull in a china
shop, making messes if they’re not careful.

You Don’t Know When Enough Is Enough

With your Open Sacral, taking in all the energy around you, you
are vulnerable to not knowing when enough is enough. Think of a
kid who is overtired and loses it. You can go, go, go, and then you
crash. You must learn to keep an eye on yourself and your limits or
risk going over edges that are not healthy or helpful.

It’s Easy for You to Merge

I’ve said this in a number of ways, but it bears repeating here. It

is very easy for you to merge with the Defined Sacrals and get lost in
their world. You can easily feel like you’re not doing enough. You
can believe you are a Generator. You can make yourself work like a
horse until you give out. You can think your dharma is to find the
right work, that that will bring you happiness. You can teach your-
self to have yes or no responses when that is not your way.

You Need More Rest

With your Open Sacral, you need more rest than those with
Defined Sacrals. You need to discharge all the energy you pick up in
the day. You need to rest before you fall asleep. You may need to
sleep separately sometimes. You just cannot underestimate your
need for renewal. This is crucial to your health and well-being.

Know the Grapples Specific to Your Hanging Gates

Unless you have a completely Open Sacral, you will have Gates
coming off your Open Sacral Center. Please refer to the Defined
Sacral Grapples where I delineate them. Just know, that where I say
the Defined Sacral must have a yes for what they are doing, replace
that with your particular Strategy and Authority. For instance, if you
are a Projector, it must feel good to you. If you have Emotional
Authority, you must wait out your wave.

Open Sacral Gifts

With the bevy of challenges, what gifts does your Open Sacral
bring? In part, your relationship to your Sacral Center will be influ-
enced by your Type (Manifestor, Projector, or Reflector), but in gen-
eral, here are some of the gifts you have available when you have
made peace with your Open Sacral.

The gift of relaxing

The gift of ease
The gift of wisdom

The Gift of Relaxing

Liberated from the Sacral Motor, you are not designed to be in ac-
tion in an ongoing, sustainable way. With this comes the gift of relax-
ing. You can witness the Sacral doing energy without having to par-
take. You can have a healthy boundary and know what is yours to
do and what is not. You are not driven to work. This is the pause in
between the notes in music. In this pause, you take in the activity of
life and watch in awe. It’s like watching the sunset or watching a
beehive. You bring the inhalation to the Defined Sacrals’ exhalation.
You bring balance.
The Gift of Ease

With that balance, with that pause, you have the capacity to bring
ease. No hurry. No worry. When you’re not hijacked by the pressure
to do something, your presence is calming. It’s almost like you can
operate in slow motion. Again, you don’t have to do the work of the
world. You’re more about being than the act of doing.

The Gift of Wisdom

With that said, depending on your Type, you bring a wisdom.

Whether it is the Manifestor’s gift of initiating, the Projector’s gift of
guiding, or the Reflector’s gift of reflecting, you enrich people’s lives
with your particular interface with the world. With your Open
Sacral, you can be wise about when to impact, guide, or reflect, de-
pending on the energy you’re taking in and amplifying. This comes
with a sense of clear boundaries and a knowing who you are and
what your limits are. You are free from being hijacked into the cul-
tural marathon, striving to get somewhere and accomplish
something.

The Sacral as a God Portal

You rest in Open Awareness.

All activity arises within you.

You Rest in Open Awareness

Once you have cleared your filters of the story that you are here
to be a Generator and need to work to in order to find happiness,
you are free to rest in Open Awareness. There is nothing between
you and the activity of the world, yet you are untouched by it. You
can rest in your Beingness. This is a sought-after state on many spiri-
tual paths, and you have direct access to it.

All Activity Arises within You

 In this state of Openness, all activity arises within you. You wit-
ness the activity and are wise in knowing when to engage it or not.
You’re like the sky, with the birds and the clouds passing through,
the planes and the insects, yet you stay clear and unaffected. There
are many spiritual teachers with Open Sacrals who have or have had
incomprehensible activity and productivity around them. It’s as if
they have the capacity to draw people to them to manifest their wis-
dom and visions. It seems their presence is the space within which
activity happens. Muktananda, Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo,
Ammachi, to name a few, are all spiritual teachers with Open
Sacrals.

Working with the Open Sacral Center

Appreciate your Open Sacral.

Honor and respect your Type, Strategy, and Authority.
Clean the Sacral Filter.
Learn to respect your need for alone time.
Get rest.
Connect to your essential self.

Appreciate Your Open Sacral

Your first job when working with the Open Sacral is to appreciate
that you are different than 70 percent of the population. You cannot
expect yourself to be like them. Once you stop fighting your differ-
ence and embrace your Design, you start to value yourself at a new
level. Your Open Sacral gives you capacities that are unavailable to
those who are driven with a Defined Sacral. Know that you are
bringing an essential element to humanity, regardless of whether
others recognize it or not.

Honor and Respect your Type, Strategy, and Authority

To access the gift of your Open Sacral and to ward off burnout,
you must get clear on your Type, Strategy, and Authority. What are
you here to do? Impact? Guide? Reflect? How are you designed to
do it? Wait? Jump in? That is unique to you and your design. Your
Strategy and Authority will protect you and support your bound-
aries with an Open Sacral. Don’t mess with yourself!

Clean the Sacral Filter

I’m not going to kid you; this is a job. The conditioning to be like
Generators is insidious. With a strong witnessing observer and using
inquiry, you can sort through the garbage you’ve taken on that
doesn’t belong to you. I’m not sure you really have a choice if you
want to live a healthy, fulfilling, and vibrant life.

Learn to Respect Your Need for Alone Time

With an Open Sacral, you are continuously taking in the energy

of the Generator field. You need time alone to decompress, to dissi-
pate this built-up energy. Get away. Go to nature. Make sure you get
the space you need.

Get Rest

In addition to getting out of the Generator field, you also need

more rest than people with Defined Sacrals. This is essential to your
health and well-being. My mom was a Manifestor. I used to think
she had a bigger battery pack then all seven kids put together. She
could accomplish so much. Now, I know why. She was taking in all
of our Generator energy. But true to her Type, she initiated activity.
She didn’t do everything herself. She had us doing our own laundry
once we turned nine. She had a revolving list of chores for the kids,
and we all made our own lunches. She was no sluff off by any
means. But she did sleep in in the mornings. My dad was in charge
of getting us breakfast. And she regularly took her afternoon power
naps. She intuitively knew she needed that rest time in order to man-
age the family of nine.

Connect to Your Essential Self

 Instead of connecting to what you need to be doing, take time to
connect to your Being, to the pause. This is where you tap into your
power. It is from this pause that you take action, guide action, or re-
flect. Give yourself the gift of you in all your power and glory!

Helpful Tools

Develop a witnessing observer.

Do The Work of Byron Katie.
Prioritize self-care.
Prioritize rest.
Go into nature.
Practice the inner smile.

Develop a Witnessing Observer

Begin to watch your thoughts and beliefs, particularly thoughts

like I should do more; I should work more; I should participate more. This
will give you a clue that you are merging. Check to see who you are
around. Are they feeling pressure to do? Can you allow yourself to
pause and not act reflexively? Can you be bigger than the merge?
Can you differentiate?

Do The Work of Byron Katie

I’m partial to Byron Katie’s work, but you can do any kind of in-
quiry that helps you to question those thoughts and beliefs like:
Something is wrong with you. I should be different. I should be able to do
what other people do. This will help you to clean your filters and be
more in alignment with the truth of who you are.
(See the Resources section for Byron Katie’s full inquiry process.)

Prioritize Self-Care

When you prioritize yourself and put self-care on the front burn-
er, you are setting yourself up to succeed. Self-care will protect you
against burnout, help you to diffuse the Generator energy, and sup-
port you to relax into being.

Prioritize Rest

Going to bed early, taking naps, and meditating are all forms of
self-care as well. They protect your energy and support your clarity.
If you are tired, your witnessing capacity is diminished and your
vulnerability to merge with the Generator field heightens. You don’t
have awareness of when enough is enough and you risk getting de-
pleted, which you can’t afford.

Go to Nature

One of the best ways to diffuse the Generator energy you’ve tak-
en on is to spend time in nature. Here your Sacral has a chance to
merge with the natural activity of life without engaging in doing.
Here you can rest and replenish. Make nature an integral part of
your self-care routine.

Practice the Inner Smile

The Qigong practice of directing the inner smile toward yourself

is so simple and so healing. When you smile at yourself you slow
down, you disengage. You support the pause. You enable yourself to
check into your inner experience. You could also do the exercise of
sensing your arms and legs. Connecting with your perineum.
Anything that brings you into your body, into the present moment,
will help you differentiate from the rapid pace set by the Generator
Motors. Pause. Smile. Breath. You are okay just as you are. You don’t
have to do anything but receive the magnificent vitality of the world.
Rest in your being. Smile.
RECAP
Okay. So now you know just how crucial the Sacral Center is to hu-
manity and the future of humanity. How we use our energy matters.
Being aligned with our doing energy matters. We can’t afford to have
people with Defined Sacral Centers doing things they don’t have a
yes for. It doesn’t serve the individual; it doesn’t serve the communi-
ty. And we all lose out when people with Open Sacrals feel they have
to emulate Defined Sacral energy. This is a no-brainer once you see it
clearly. We just need to know who’s who and support each person
accordingly. Simple. Right?
Take a few minutes and reflect on your relationship with your
Sacral Center. Are you respecting your energy? Are you tending to
it? Are you listening to your inner GPS? Are you honoring your
emotional waves? If you’ve got an Open Emotional Solar Plexus, are
you learning to differentiate what feelings are yours and which be-
long to other people? Can you recognize when you’re merging?
Next, we turn to another Motor, the Emotional Solar Plexus. This
is big energy. It’s our emotional power. Get ready for the next dive.
Let’s see what you discover about your emotional self!
 12

GETTING TO KNOW
THE EMOTIONAL
SOLAR PLEXUS

Chart #38 The Emotional Solar Plexus Center

INTRODUCING TH E
EMOTIONAL SOLAR P LEXUS
(ESP)

T
he Emotional Solar Plexus is a powerful, mysterious, hard-to-
get-a-handle-on Center. It’s not one we have mastered as a
species, and it’s mutating so we’re all in-process with it. I’m
going to offer my best hand in talking about it, knowing and
accepting that I am going to fall short. So, walk with me here, with
your light joining mine, and let’s see together what our awareness
can reveal.
The Emotional Solar Plexus is the triangle on the lower right of
the chart. If it is Defined, it is colored in brown; if it is Undefined, it
is white. This is the only Center that is both a Motor and an
Awareness Center. Through this Center we process, our, you guessed
it, emotions. Here we experience our passions, our desires, our
moods, our sensitivity. Through the Emotional Solar Plexus Center,
we connect to people with social awareness – or not. This is an ex-
tremely creative energy. In fact, in her Quantum Human Design™
language, Karen Curry Parker refers to it as The Creative Center.
Most of us are messed up around our emotions. We’re at the ef-
fect of them, without even realizing we have a choice. In the same
way we believe that the thoughts that arise are ours, we believe that
the feelings that arise within us belong to us. We attach to them and
identify with them. We believe we are our feelings. We typically say,
“I’m upset. Or I’m angry. I’m happy.” Karen Curry Parker points out
that the I is the domain of the Identity Center. Not the Emotional
Solar Plexus. You are not actually angry. You’re having the feeling of
anger rising.
So, maybe you’re having some reactions here. Some feelings?
Hang with me. Most of what we identify as feelings are egoic re-
sponses. The Emotional Solar Plexus, ESP for short, is the Center for
desire. Desire is an important force for humans. We create out of de-
sire. In fact, to desire is a sacred, naturally rising movement. When
desire connects with the heart we manifest. So, I am not dissing de-
sire. I am deeply respecting the desires that are based in our essential
selves and are a natural arising connected to all of life. Ahhhh. I
warned you this was going to be hard to talk about.
Let’s talk about Buddhism. In Buddhism there are the Four Noble
Truths:

There is suffering.
There is a cause of suffering.
There is an end to suffering.
There is a path that leads to the end of suffering.

In the conversation about the G Center, we talked about suffering

as a mistaken identity. Erroneously, we believe that the ego, the I, is
who we are. The cause of that suffering rests in the ESP. It is the de-
sire of the Ego, the I, to want to have a particular experience or to try
to avoid a particular experience. In other words, when we step into
the world of subject/ object duality, we engage in and are run by the
mechanism of attachment and aversion.
The Emotional Solar Plexus is caught in that mechanism of mov-
ing away from pain and toward pleasure. As humans, we are mutat-
ing out of that mechanism, to a spirit-based, heart’s desire orienta-
tion. This will ultimately shift how we experience our feelings, and
ourselves as human beings. This is the 2027 Solar Plexus Mutation
that we are just beginning to slam into. All the divisive polarity and
unrest that is surfacing is like the last hurrah of the ESP! We are
heading toward manifesting from a new way of creating, where
there is nothing between you and the thing you desire because your
desire will be spirit-centered, born from Oneness.
Currently, we are still caught in a fear-based reality, holding onto
our Spleen Center’s hyper-awareness of the threat of life and death.
Our desires then are born out of fear and lack...wanting something
or not wanting to have something. As we shift from that distorted,
ego-centered orientation, to an evolved, spirit-based Emotional Solar
Plexus orientation, we begin to create not out of a hole but out of
wholeness.
My teacher, Faisal, used to say, “What you have, I give to you;
what you don’t have, I take away.” We are shifting to knowing the
truth of who we are. We are moving toward having and embodying
ourselves as the magnificent multi-dimensional, galactic quantum
beings that we are. We will no longer be manifesting out of lack.
Perhaps you’ve already had tastes of this? My wife and my move to
Maui was born in this spirit. In the spring of 2014, she said, “I want
to go to Hawaii.” (Mind you, she has the 55, Gate of Abundance
which comes off the ESP). I, being the grounded one, refrained from
rolling my eyes, while internally that felt impossible given our cur-
rent situation. Within a half-hour, I had an email inviting us to go to
Maui that summer. The rest is history. We’ve lived here for the past
six years!
Mostly though, the world has not yet made that shift. We’re in for
a recalibration. At this point, the cultural belief is that we should be
happy. Something is wrong if we’re not, and there are pills for those
who aren’t. I don’t know the statistics, but it’s staggering what por-
tion of the population is on mood regulators. Another large chunk of
humanity is self-medicating with alcohol or street medicine.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not bypassing the fact that people are
suffering, and that they need help. I’ve suffered, obviously. I know it
firsthand. It’s real. It’s painful, and it can be devastating. I think
we’ve just gotten a bit confused about what’s going on. We’re trying
to treat one side of the duality stick, doing everything we can to be
happy. It’s never going to work. It’s hopeless. As long as you’re on
the stick, as my friend Pali says, the other side – the polarity of un-
happiness – lies in wait. Einstein roughly quoted: you cannot heal at
the level of the problem. You have to step off the stick, you have to get
out of duality. Once we’re off the polarity stick then there is bliss. My
take is that we can work with the Defined Emotional Solar plexus to
witness the movement on the stick, and that the Open Emotional
Solar Plexus is pointing the way to the new normal. More on that in
a bit.
I do not claim to be an expert in this. I cannot say I have stabi-
lized in bliss. I can say that I’ve been steeped in teachings for forty
years that point to this bliss/ emptiness – whether it’s Hinduism,
Buddhism, or Christianity. I’ve had my own experiences of this
awareness, which make it undeniable and recognizable. And I have
been around enough high beings who live this. Byron Katie,
Ammachi, and Ram Dass have shown me this bliss. I’ll talk about
Katie and my experience of her non-emotional, stable bliss later in
the chapter. For now, let’s stay back with where we are and the
workings of the ESP as we know them.
The ESP connects with the other three Centers that are Motors –
the Will Center, The Sacral Center, and the Root Center – as well as
with the Throat Center. The ESP has seven Gates that come off it;
each one has a theme that differentiates the various facets of desire.

The Themes for Each Gate

Chart #39 Emotional Solar Plexus Defined Gates

Gate 6 Friction

The desire for intimacy and the fear of exposing yourself/ being
vulnerable

Gate 37 Community, Friendship

The desire to belong and support a tribe and the fear that your
needs won’t be met
Gate 22 Grace

The desire to be heard and the fear of not being heard

Gate 36 Crisis

The desire for new experiences and the fear of inadequacy (espe-
cially in regard to sexuality)

Gate 55 Abundance of Spirit

The desire to experience spirit through your passion as the source

of your supply and the fear of not knowing which passions to follow
to tap that source

Gate 30 Desire, Clinging Fire

The desire to feel and the fear of feeling (this is the most intense
gate in the whole chart and amps up everything in the chart.)

Gate 49 Revolution

The desire to be in integrity in a relationship and the fear of your-

self or others being out of integrity in relationships

CONNECTIN G TO THE ES P
CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION
Let’s take a moment to drop in and connect with your Emotional Solar
Plexus.
Begin by settling.
Just relax.
Take a deep breath and let go.
Let go of any thoughts or feelings of the past.
Take another deep breath, and let go of any thoughts, fears, or desires about
the future.
Just rest here now.
Feel your sitz bones on your chair.
Let yourself be held and supported.
Sense your arms and legs.
Take a few breaths as you focus on them.
Now sense into your belly.
Allow yourself to come into the present moment in your physical body.
Can you gently smile at your physical body?
Can you allow yourself to have gratitude for your precious human birth?
Now expand your awareness.
Let yourself fill all the space above you, below you, to the left of you, to the
right of you, in front of you, and behind you.
Finally, expand into the space within you.
Feel yourself as a multi-dimensional being.
Feel yourself with nine Centers.
Now bring your awareness to your Emotional Solar Plexus.
Is it Defined? Or Undefined?
Don’t worry about a physical location in your body – we’re investigating
our quantum body.
What, if anything, are you feeling?
What are you desiring?
Is there anything you’re trying to avoid feeling?
Can you just allow whatever is here.
Would it be ok to be present to what you want?
See if it would be okay with your ESP to ask it a question.
If yes, ask it if it has any information for you.
Does it have a message for you to help you understand and work with it?
Take your time.
Rest.
Wait.
Allow it to speak.
When you have your message, thank your ESP.
And even if you didn’t get a message, thank your ESP.
Know that this is the beginning of an evolving relationship.
Smile again at your ESP.
Now bring your awareness back to your sitz bones.
Sense your arms and legs.
Sense your belly.
Gently open your eyes.
Take a moment to write down any discoveries. Make an intention to get to
know your Emotional Solar Plexus.

THE DEFINED ES P
A little more than half of us have a Defined Emotional Solar Plexus,
53 percent. This is where that drive to avoid pain and to get pleasure
resides. When we get what we want, we feel good, for the moment
anyway. Then inevitably the feelings shift, and we either are dissatis-
fied with what we’ve got, or we want more. It’s like an infinity pool
that keeps going – in this polarity, there is no resting. This emotional
drive is also one of the ways we navigate life – by orienting around
what we want and moving away from what we don’t want. If you
have a Defined Emotional Solar Plexus, this dynamic is at play
continuously.

The Emotional Wave

Inherent in the mechanics of the ESP is what’s called an emotion-

al wave. Which Channel or Channels connect to the ESP determines
the kind of wave. The three kinds of waves correlate to the three
Types of Circuits: Individual, Tribal, and Collective.
 Chart #40 Individual Emotional Wave

Individual Emotional Wave

If you have either of the Individual Circuitry Channels 22-12

Openness or 39-55 Emoting, you will have an Individual Emotional
Wave that will travel from one end of the feeling spectrum to the
other. This wave is passionate and moody. The wave formation is ba-
sically even with short bursts of emotions going up or down. The
lower end of the wave may have a melancholic quality that must be
honored and respected, not dismissed or repressed. Great wisdom is
housed in the lower portion of the wave, if you can tolerate it and al-
low it.
 Chart #41 Tribal Emotional Wave

Tribal Emotional Wave

If you have any of the three Tribal Channels Defined, the 19-49
Synthesis, the 59-6 Reproduction, or 37-40 Community, then you will
have a Tribal Wave to navigate. This wave is prone to explosions and
outbursts following the buildup of upsets.
 Chart #42 Collective Emotional Wave

Collective Emotional Wave

If you have one of the Collective Channels Defined, the 36-35

Transitoriness or the 41-30 Recognition, you will have a Collective
Wave to work with. This wave has high highs and low lows. The
lows hit when you have an expectation that isn’t met – it’s like the
bottom of the world falls out and you crash.
Regardless of which kind of wave you have, with a Defined
Emotional Solar Plexus, your Authority is automatically Emotional.
This means when you make decisions, you must wait out your par-
ticular emotional wave. You are not designed to make decisions in
the moment, rather over time, once the wave has leveled out when
you’re not in the throes of the emotional winds, and you have clear
knowing. I have a Collective Emotional Wave and am still discover-
ing what that’s like for me. It’s something you’ll have to play with
and explore to find out for yourself what that means for you.

Gifts of the Defined Emotional Solar Plexus

 You have consistent access to your feelings.
Through your Defined Channel(s), you have a focus for
your feelings.

You Have Consistent Access to Your Feelings

When your ESP is Defined, you can have access to what you feel.
You may not respect what you feel or like what you feel, but you
have feelings. In that privileged kind of way, it’s hard to imagine the
experiences of someone who doesn’t have consistent access to their
emotions. This is the water you swim in, the air you breathe. It is the
norm. Your feelings are familiar to you, so much so that you may not
even be aware of them. Just to be clear, this is the theme of feelings,
so it is possible to feel the absence of feelings, which is different from
what the Open Emotional Solar Plexus feels. The absence of feelings
could look like numbness or dissociation. It’s more like trying not to
feel by putting defensive structures up.

Through Your Defined Channel(s), You Have Consistent Access to Your

Feelings

Look to see which Channel or Channels are Defined off your ESP.
Does it make sense to you that your emotional energy gets focused
through that theme?
 Chart #43 ESP Defined Channels

Channel 41-30 Recognition

I have the Channel 41-30 and the consistent focus of my feelings

is the drive to see what’s possible for humanity. If you have this
Defined, do you relate to that?

Channel 39-55 Emoting

My wife has the Channel 39-55. She is continuously provoking or

poking at societal expectations and norms. She naturally defies what
we believe we can have or manifest. That she could think of taking a
trip to Hawaii when we were clearly in a financial dip rattled me.
Somehow what I consider reality doesn’t register for her. It doesn’t
stop her from desiring what she desires and expecting it to come
forth.

Channel 37-40 Community

 If you’ve got the Channel 37-40, your emotional energy will be
guided toward agreements and serving the tribe. You’ll be focused
on whether or not the bargain is balanced, and if you are being com-
pensated adequately for your efforts.

Channel 19-49 Synthesis

If you’ve got the Channel 19-49, you will be occupied with rela-
tionships and the level of integrity in the relationship. You may be
using your emotional energy to control who gets what resources.

Channel 59-6 Reproduction

If your Defined Channel is the 59-6, your emotional energy will

be focused on intimacy and creating intimacy or building intimacy
through sexuality, children, and businesses.

Channel 22-12 Openness

If your Defined Channel is the 22-12, your focus will be on listen-

ing and articulating the depths of emotions you experience.

Channel 36-35 Transitoriness

If you have Definition in the Channel 36-35, your energy will be

focused on new experiences and using your plethora of skills.

Defined Emotional Solar Plexus Grapples

Emotional uncertainty
The belief you should be happy!

Emotional Uncertainty

When you have a Defined Emotional Solar Plexus, you live with
emotional uncertainty. First of all, you’ve got the wave to deal with.
You never know what you’re going to feel. You never know where
you’re going to be on your wave. You never know what’s going to
trigger you.
If you have an Individual Wave, you never know when melan-
choly is going to hit. You never know when you’re not going to be in
the mood to be around people and need to take space.
If you have a Tribal Wave, you can stuff your feelings. You think
you’re okay with something that has happened, then something else
happens. You stuff that, too. You think you’re handling it, but the
pressures build, and then someone breaks a promise or shows up
out of integrity and it’s crushing: You lose it.
If you’ve got a Collective Wave, you never know who is going to
let you down, or what you’re going to hear or experience that devas-
tates you. You’re fine one moment and the next moment you’ve
crashed and you’re a wreck. In each of those scenarios, it’s not just
you that’s impacted – it’s the people around you, and the field. Your
emotions fill the field.
One of the grapples is learning to navigate and work with your
emotional self, with your wave.
To complicate matters, with the emotional wave, decision-mak-
ing is a challenge. You don’t know what to do. It takes time to know.
That’s hard. It takes skill and awareness to sort it all out. Even those
of us who have been studying Human Design for years are still try-
ing to sort it out. There is no certainty in emotions. They're mercur-
ial; they come and go. How do you make decisions in the midst of
erratic fluctuation?

The Belief You Should Be Happy!

It’s big business to be happy. Everyone should be. I’m sure you
got that memo. If you’re not, something is wrong with you. That’s
the atmosphere the Defined Emotional Solar Plexus has to contend
with. You have waves. You lose it. You’re not supposed to fluctuate.
You can think something is wrong with you. People with a Defined
Emotional Solar Plexus can believe they either need medication for
their melancholy, or they need to work on their self-control.
Most of us don’t realize that the emotional wave is a chemical
process. It’s part of our biology. It happens. It comes with the
Defined ESP package. It’s not wrong or bad. In fact, humans are de-
signed to feel the whole range of feelings, but that is not what we’re
taught. So, we go to war with ourselves. We feel shame. Or we
shame others. There is a pressure not to feel what you feel – and here
it comes!
Depending on our adaptive coping mechanisms, we learn tactics
to avoid our feelings. But this ultimately cuts us off from ourselves.
So how do we work with this emotional self that we have no appar-
ent control over? How do we live an empowered life, not at the ef-
fect of our emotional waves?

Working with the Defined ESP Center

Witness your wave instead of identifying with it.

Take responsibility for your emotions.
Wait out your wave before you make decisions.
Stay in your body and go to your heart.

Witness Your Wave Instead of Identifying with It

The wave happens. It’s a chemical process. You can either identi-
fy with it and be tossed around, at the effect of it, or you can learn to
witness it.
Byron Katie used to say something like, “Can you just let the feel-
ing have its life? Can you not dissipate it or try to get rid of it by
putting it on someone? What happens if you just witness it?”
The first time I experienced letting a feeling have its life was
twenty years ago. I was standing in the kitchen and something my
wife said devastated me. I had one of those crashes where my expec-
tations were dashed, and I went into shock and fury. I wanted to lash
out at her, make her wrong, attack. All of those feelings felt duly jus-
tified. Instead, I heard Katie’s words. I stood there. I wasn’t going to
give the feelings away. I wasn’t going to project them onto her. My
face contorted. A sound I could never have made on my own voli-
tion rose through my tightened throat. I watched and listened with
heightened awareness. A haunting sound of excruciating pain and
grief permeated the kitchen. I was not my grief; it was the grief of the
world pressing up and out through me. The air was still. She was
motionless. It was utterly exquisite. It was sacred. And then it was
over. I was clear. There was no entanglement with her. It was all
about me. And that was the empowered place.
Research shows that emotions only last a few minutes. They pass
through, unless we hold on to them, make a story about them, store
them in our bodies packed in tension. If we feel them, they pass
through. So much trauma stays with us because we’re not able to
feel the feeling in the moment. We leave. We dissociate. We disem-
body. To witness the wave, you must stay present to it. You must be
willing to feel the wave. To welcome it. This is not something most
have us have been taught. We’re afraid of our lows. We’re low-pho-
bic! To recognize that feelings are just feelings – that they’re not actu-
ally who we are – is the work of developing emotional intelligence.
To see a feeling for what it is, a feeling, opens the door to tremen-
dous freedom. The task, if you’ve got a Defined Emotional Solar
Plexus, is to establish a strong witness, detach from identifying with
your feelings, recognize your feelings for what they are, and allow
your feelings to have their life.

Take Responsibility for Your Emotions

With a Defined ESP, you are generating emotions – positive and

negative – all the time. You have to recognize that whether you real-
ize it or not, you’re impacting the field. You’re affecting everyone
around you. Taking responsibility for your emotions is a kindness to
others as well as to yourself. With each of the waves, this might look
slightly different.
If you have an Individual Wave, recognize and respect when you
are on the low end of the wave. Don’t force yourself to be around
people. Take down-time. Connect with your creativity. This is a rich
harvest time.
Take time alone when you are on your low end. With an
Individual Wave, you have the energy of a Rilke or a Goethe. Write
poetry, play music. You’re designed to experience the depth and
breadth of humanities' feelings and express it. Don’t be afraid of
your feelings. Think of it like Rumi’s poem, “The Guest House.”
Here are a few lines:
 This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

— Jalaluddin Rumi,
translation by Coleman Barks (The Essential Rumi)

If your wave is Tribal the more, you’re aware of when you’re

stuffing your feelings, the more honest you can be, the more chance
you have of alleviating the stress before it hits a full blowout. If you
can be in dialogue with your partner so there is compassionate
awareness of the dynamic, you can work together to build trust in
speaking the truth as it arises. Be clear and let your partner know
that broken agreements are heartbreaking for you. This way you can
consciously set up what the boundaries are and what your needs are
in the relationship. This is necessary whether the partnerships are
personal or business. If you can, share with your partner that if you
do lose it, the best way to de-escalate the situation is through touch.
A hand on the shoulder calms the system down, brings you back to
reality.
If you have a Collective Wave, know that your crashes are as jar-
ring to the people around you as they are to you. One minute every-
thing is fine, the next minute you’re shut down and furious. Being
responsible is recognizing your expectations have been dashed and
that you’re having a chemical response. Stop. Breathe. Come to your
senses. Come to the present. The sky may feel like it’s falling, but ac-
tually, it isn’t. This too shall pass.

Wait Out Your Wave before You Make Decisions

 We spoke about this quite a bit. And yet it is one of the big pieces,
maybe lifelong learning, to come into alignment with your
Emotional Authority. Learn to wait out your wave before you make
decisions. This is a conscious choice that must be made over and
over until you create a new habit pattern. Eventually, it becomes
standard practice, at least most of the time. The challenge comes
when you’re feeling pressured by others to make a decision. This is
especially tricky if you’ve got an Open Root Center and feel under
pressure to act.

Stay in Your Body and Go to Your Heart

When we’re in our bodies, we’re in the present moment. When

we’re in our hearts, we have space for duality to exist in Oneness. In
the heart, having compassion for the full gamut of feelings – the
drive for what we want, and the aversion to what we don’t want –
we can allow all of it without identifying with any of it. In the heart,
we recognize truth. The drive to fill a hole with something external
falls away. In the heart, we move toward the new Emotional Solar
Plexus stability that awaits our arrival.

Helpful Tools

There are so many tools that could be helpful with the Emotional
Solar Plexus, depending on where you’re getting glitched. Here are a
few you might consider:

Use inquiry tools.

Express yourself!
Use an essential oil protocol to clear the ESP.
Sense your arms and legs.

Inquiry #1 Leslie Temple Thurston Squares

Divide a page into quarters.

In the top square write: The Desire to have (name what you want).
In the second top square write: The Fear of having (name what you
want).
In the bottom square write: The Desire not to have (name what you
want)
In the remaining square write: The Fear of not having (name what you
want).
Make a list under each of these.
Usually, we’re unconscious of at least one of the squares.
Be sure to fill in all four squares.
Find the piece you may be resisting.
Once you see the whole picture, the duality collapses.

You’re looking for your desires/ aversions. You could do any

number of squares.

For example:
The Desire to be happy.
The Fear of being happy.
The Desire not to feel happy.
The Fear of not feeling happy.
Play with it and see what you discover.

Inquiry #2 Five and Five

I love this inquiry practice. It’s a safe and easy way to stop and
connect with what you feel. With a partner, decide who is the
Listener, who is the Inquirer. The listener does just that, listens. They
keep their focus on their felt sense while they’re listening. They are
holding space so the Inquirer can hear themselves. There is no en-
gaging the Inquirer with head nods or supportive grunts. Those in-
teractive relational expressions pull the attention away from the
Inquirer. Let the Inquirer have their inquiry! Set the timer for five
minutes. The Inquirer looks within and inquires. You may have a
theme you’re inquiring into, like What am I feeling about a situation or
person? Or you may just see what is present for you now. It is not a
performance. It is not a way to connect with the other person. It is
time to meet you where you are. Time to discover what you haven’t
had time to feel and know what’s going on for you. At the end of
five minutes, thank your partner and switch.
You could also do this as a writing assignment. Just free write for
ten to twenty minutes and see what you’re noticing in the moment.

Express Yourself!

A fantastic way to connect with your Emotional Solar Plexus is

through expressing your creativity. Are you called to paint or write
or dance? Maybe you’d like to try an Improv class? The emotions are
asking to be heard, to be given voice. When you express your cre-
ativity, you allow the energy of the feelings without having to attach
to or identify with them.

Use an Essential Oil Protocol to Clear the Emotional Solar Plexus

To cleanse the Solar Plexus, Greg Toews uses this protocol.

1. Choose any one of these oils: Juniper, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus

Maccarthii, or Aura Cleanse.
2. Begin by thinking of something you’re grappling with
emotionally. What would you like to feel if that distress was
resolved? Can you let yourself feel that for a moment? Now
let go of all of that.
3. Take the oil you have chosen, and begin breathing it in
through your nose, breathing out through your mouth. As
you breathe the oil in through your nose, focus your
awareness for three to five breaths on each of the following
areas: Start with the front solar plexus (just beneath the rib
cage). Shift your focus to the back solar (same location on
the back). Finally focus on the liver (below the rib cage to
the right). You can cycle through this many times to deepen
the cleanse. Now check-in with the situation you were
grappling with. How does it feel? Do you notice any shifts?

Sense Your Arms and Legs

 I’ve spoken of this earlier in the book. When you sense your arms
and legs, you bring yourself into the present. This supports the
blood flow to the brain. It’s a simple process that has a big impact.
When you’re present, you have more capacity to allow your feelings.
When you’re present, you can witness what’s arising without identi-
fying with it.

THE OPEN EM OTION AL

SOLAR PLEXUS
I’m flooded with feelings as I come to write about the Open
Emotional Solar Plexus. It is such a powerful Center to have Open.
It’s so complex and so compelling. When I do a coaching session for
someone who has an Open Emotional Solar Plexus, my curiosity
shoots through the roof. What’s it been like for you? How have you
managed to take in and to amplify all the feelings around you?
Roughly 47 percent of you have an Open Emotional Solar Plexus. By
definition, you do not have an emotional wave. You do not have con-
sistent access to your feelings. Let me clarify that: Where you have
Hanging Gates coming off the ESP, you will have consistent access to
those feelings and emotional drives, perhaps even amplified. You are
still emotional even without an emotional wave.
Sometimes I say that to clients, and they protest. They say they
were the emotional ones in their family. They had big feelings.
Maybe even out of balance. I always find this fascinating. Technically
speaking, with an Open ESP, you don’t have an emotional wave and
yet you are taking in and amplifying the emotions of others. There is
a way you go into Oneness with people’s emotions. What this often
looks like is that you express the feelings of those around you, be-
lieving they are yours. Of course, you’re amplifying them. So, if your
brother is mad, you’re going to be even madder. Again, this is me-
chanical – not something you’re consciously doing. You get whacked
by big feelings. They hit you and take you over. Not like the wave.
When you leave the auric field of the person/people who were dis-
tressed, unless you grab hold of those feelings and keep them, the
feelings dissipate, and you are left with your stabilized self when
you’re alone.

The Grapples of the Open ESP

You feel everything and everyone.

You may not tell the truth.
You may feel something is wrong with you because you’re
completely unemotional.

You Feel Everything and Everyone

Think of that wide-open Open ESP like a magnetic vortex taking

in and attempting to process all the feelings around it. If people are
upset about the election, you get blasted. You can feel upset and not
even know why. You go to a movie and cry your eyes out – you’re
picking up on everyone’s feelings. If Defined ESPs are batted around
by their waves, you are tossed around by people who have a
Defined Emotional Solar Plexus. Growing up you may have ex-
pressed the emotions for the whole family, which sometimes looks
like acting out. Your filters can get very clogged up with emotional
garbage that just sits and rots. You’ve got the challenge of sorting
through what’s yours and what belongs to others. Recognize what
conditioning you’ve identified with and what belongs to you. It’s
kind of a mess and requires a lot of work to get it cleaned up and
straightened out.

You May Not Tell the Truth

With an Open Emotional Solar Plexus, unless you have found a

way to manage the intensity of feelings coming your way, you can be
nice as a defense against being blasted. It follows that you may not
tell the truth if you’re afraid of upsetting people and having to
process their upset. With this, you can tend to be nice, again to avoid
getting the ire of others.
You May Feel Something Is Wrong with You

You may feel something is wrong with you because you’re com-
pletely unemotional. Sometimes people report feeling like they
know they are different from other people. They don’t have feelings
in situations where it’s socially appropriate, say at someone’s death.
They can have a flatline quality around feelings and think they’ve
got Asperger's or that something is wrong with them. Often it is a
tremendous relief to discover this is how they are designed.

The Gifts of the ESP

Being unemotional
Empathy

Being Unemotional

The same quality of being unemotional that can be experienced

as a challenge can also be recognized as a gift. If you have an Open
Emotional Solar Plexus, you may appreciate your even keel, espe-
cially if you have learned to witness rather than identify with the
feelings of others. There is a kind of steady peace you can access
when you’re on your own that is lovely.

Empathy

With the capacity to take in people’s feelings, almost like mainlin-

ing, you can be the ultimate empath. You know what people feel as if
they were your feelings. This is a brilliant skill as a therapist or coach
to understand what is going on with others. Sometimes people with
an Open Emotional Solar Plexus feel the opposite of empathy – like
nothing. Somehow, they have found a way to either process or de-
fend against the onslaught that their ESP must handle daily.

Open Emotional Solar Plexus as a God Portal

 When we come to the ESP as God Portal, my personal feeling is
that people with an Open Emotional Solar Plexus are pointing the
way for what is to come. You are on the edge of a mutation where
we are shifting to living without a wave. We’re moving out of the
dualistic drive of feelings into differentiated Oneness with spirit. The
quality is one of deep neutrality and stillness. This is profoundly cre-
ative energy but from a different source. It doesn’t come out of a
drive. Rather, it comes from allowing the function of the IS. Here are
the attributes I witness in the God Portal aspect of the Open
Emotional Solar Plexus:

You are touching into spirit awareness/ Oneness.

You access the ocean of stability and bliss.

You Are Touching into Spirit Awareness/ Oneness

When you clear your filters of the accumulated garbage that is

not yours, you are left with sheer openness: A purity that is beyond
the dualistic drive to gain or avoid. You are no longer operating out
of the attraction/ aversion paradigm. This is like the ocean beneath
the waves. You have the potential to tap into the dynamic bliss/
emptiness that is the essential aspect of feelings.
This is the quality spoken of in spiritual traditions. It’s a very
alive, present, and unemotional state of being. I witnessed this first-
hand with Byron Katie. I was traveling with her, working with her,
sharing hotel rooms with her. I never once saw her have an emotion-
al reaction. Did she show emotion? Not exactly. I once saw tears run
down her cheeks listening to a song. Was she fierce? Yes. Clear? Yes.
Was she cold? No. The opposite of cold. It just wasn’t warm in the
way we think of feelings. It was warm as in ultimate intimacy.
Complete contact. No separation. At the time, I thought it was inhu-
man. I was sure she must be from another planet. Humans don’t act
that way. But, through Human Design, I have a context for it. When
you let yourself be free of the need to have emotions to fit in as a hu-
man, you open the door for the rest of us to let go of our attachment
to feelings. Here you become the ocean of stability. Dynamic, alive,
present, not trying to fill a hole. You are complete. From this place,
you are available to create outside of the realm of duality.
 I just thought of another Byron Katie story I can share here that I
think will speak to the creation from stillness possibility (rather than
going after something from an egoic desire to create). It’s kind of out
there.
It was 1998. I had just finished taking her first-ever School for The
Work, which at that point was a three-week intensive. I’d arranged
for Katie to go to Fairfield, Iowa, the Transcendental Meditation
Mecca of the US to give a workshop. My brother lived there, and he
and his wife hosted us in their home. They were steeped in Eastern
spiritual traditions, followers of Ammachi, and immersed in stories
of saints. When we got there, my sister-in-law explained that it was a
boon to share a bed with saints and asked if she could spend a night
with Katie in their large king bed. I was astounded by the audacity
of the request, but with Katie, everything goes. Of course, if there
was a boon to be had, I wanted to partake!
The night I shared the bed with her I was so intimidated and
freaked out that I could scarcely move. Her energy was so powerful.
I’m a super-sensitive energy person anyway, and this was almost un-
bearable. Remember, she wasn’t new to me, I’d been hanging out
with her day and night for three weeks. I lay there just watching her.
What I saw I will never forget. It may sound crazy as I say it, but it
was 100 percent real. With each breath, I watched as the entire uni-
verse, like a vortex, gathered and came into her. With each exhala-
tion, the entire universe was created. And the wild thing was, it was
created out of numbers. Numbers poured out with her breath! Katie
inhabits her galactic quantum body. I believe this is where we are
headed.

You Access the Ocean of Stability and Bliss

I touched on this above but let me speak directly about it. When
your filters are clear, you are not at the effect of other people’s emo-
tions. You are not identifying with the emotions arising in the field.
You are thus stable, like the ocean beneath the waves. As you touch
into this, there is a dynamic aliveness, a shimmering. We could say it
is an emotion not touched by the Ego. It is sheer bliss. The bliss of
the universe that has no beginning and no end. This is a quality you
emanate. It’s a quality of unshakable peace. When you are stabilized
here, you bring this emanation to the rest of us. In this grounded,
shimmering bliss, all feelings are allowed and welcomed. The curi-
ous thing is the emotional wave can’t sustain itself in this field. It’s as
if the emotional wave is absorbed and transformed instantaneously
in this light. Your presence through your Open Emotional Solar
Plexus becomes a big alchemical transmuter.

Working with the Open ESP Center

Okay, coming back to earth here. How do you pragmatically

work with your Open Emotional Solar Plexus?

Appreciate your amazing openness.

Understand how it functions.
Clean the filters.
Don’t identify with others’ feelings.

Appreciate Your Amazing Openness

First off, recognize that you operate differently than people with
a Defined Emotional Solar Plexus, which is considered the norm.
Appreciate the possibilities your Openness holds for tapping into a
new paradigm.

Understand How Your Open ESP Functions

To access the full possibility of the Open Emotional Solar Plexus,

you need to be clear about how it functions. Your Open ESP is taking
in everyone. It absorbs all the feelings around you and amplifies
them. Be clear on this. The feelings are arising in the ocean of feel-
ings and are not personal to you. If you identify with the feelings,
you will be tossed around by them. If you don’t identify with them,
but rather let the feelings flow through you, they can be met not as
objects to defend against but rather with humanizing compassion.
This requires anchoring in your witnessing observer.
Take a few minutes to look and see which Gates you have
Defined off your ESP. Read about them in the section on Themes for
Each Gate. Get familiar with what feelings you do have consistent ac-
cess to. That will help you begin to differentiate what’s yours, and
what you’re merging with in others.

Clean the Filters

Your job is to get clear on what is yours and what is not. Whether
it’s conditioning from the past or people in the present that you are
merging with, you need unobstructed filters. To accomplish this, you
need a strong witness and a willingness to let go into openness. It re-
quires letting go of the victim/tyrant/savior identity. It also requires
doing some deep inquiry and truth-telling. The Open Emotional
Solar Plexus can be a place where trauma is stored. Don’t be discour-
aged if this takes time and support from someone who can midwife
you in your process.

Don’t Identify with Other People’s Feelings

The bottom line is you must learn to be the screen door and let
other people’s feelings pass through you. You’ll need to stop merg-
ing with people and identifying with their feelings. This may put
you into a kind of freefall. These feelings have been placeholders for
identity, and there will be a sense of loss of identity as they fall away.
What is left is your shining, bright, essential self.

Helpful Tools

Witnessing Observer
Inquiry
Be in your body
Somatic therapy and bodywork
Movement and exercise

Witnessing Observer

Maybe you’re getting tired of hearing me talk about developing a

witnessing observer. The witnessing observer creates the stability to
look at the pain. The witnessing observer examines the causes of
pain, the patterns that drive the pain, as well as the attachment to the
pain. The whole picture needs to be seen, and the witnessing observ-
er – or you could call it The Diamond Body – is key. Once you see
something, you have options. If you can’t see it, you’re at the effect
of whatever is being played out.

Inquiry

Inquire into your feelings and the story you may have about your
feelings. Have you attached to the belief that you are the emotional
one in your family? Use Byron Katie’s work to investigate if that is
actually true. Who would you be without the story that you are emo-
tional? What would it be like to stand still and let emotions move
through you rather than jumping on the wave? Try different inquiry
techniques to see if one works particularly well for you.

Sense Your Arms and Legs

This, of course, is the call to be in your body which keeps you

grounded in the present moment. When we are in our body, we can
tolerate the feelings that we had to dissociate from when we couldn’t
tolerate them. This is huge. What we can feel, we can digest. When
we are out of our bodies, there is no chance of doing the work neces-
sary to unravel past patterns that keep us locked in pain and trauma.

Somatic Therapy and Bodywork

If you find yourself cut off from yourself and unable to connect to
your body, you might consider going to get either bodywork or
working with a Somatic therapist. There are many kinds of body-
work and healing modalities including acupuncture, Ayurvedic
treatments, qigong, etc. In terms of bodywork, I’m partial to Rosen
Method Bodywork, Anat Baniel Method (or Feldenkrais), or cranial-
sacral work. Anything that compassionately brings you back online
works. As for Somatic therapies, Somatic Experiencing or NARM
(Neuro Affective Relational Model) are good choices. For many peo-
ple, this journey into the Emotional Solar Plexus is scary. Our emo-
tions are a place where we broke the connection in order to protect
ourselves. To have support can be deeply healing, allowing us to re-
connect to ourselves and others.

Movement and Exercise

You set things in motion when you move. You tap into the bio-
physical patterns where trauma and emotions are held. Taking a
walk, going for a run, dancing, and martial arts all open the inner
flow, releasing trapped emotional energy.

RECAP
So you’ve explored the waters of the Emotional Solar Plexus. What
did you discover? Maybe something surprised you. Maybe some-
thing makes sense in a new way. For many of us, the Emotional Solar
Plexus is a big learning ground. On the one hand, we’ve been taught
not to listen and pay attention to what we feel. Seeing as feelings are
central to manifestation, this makes it really hard to call forth and
create our heart’s desires. On the other hand, we easily over-privi-
lege our feelings. We identify with them as in I am sad. I am hurt. I
am afraid. When, in fact, feelings flow through us. We have them.
We are not our feelings. There’s a lot to explore here. I hope you take
the time to get to develop a relationship with your Emotional Solar
Plexus. It’s well worth the effort.
Our next exploration is the last Motor, the Root Center. This pow-
erful energy is the driver of the chart. It’s raw adrenalized energy.
Let’s see what your chart reveals about your Root Center!
 13

GETTING TO KNOW
THE ROOT CENTER

Chart #44 Root Center

INTRODUCING TH E ROOT
CENTER

W
e’ve come to the eighth Center in our exploration – the
Root Center. It is square at the bottom of the bodygraph. If
it is colored brown, it is considered Defined. If it is white, it
is Undefined, or Open. This Center functions as the adrena-
lized spark that drives us to take action. One of the Four Motors, the
Root Center is connected to two other Motors – the Sacral Center
and the Emotional Solar Plexus – as well as to the Spleen Center. The
Root Center is a powerful force to be respected and worked with
skillfully.
Depending on which Gate or Gates are activated, you will experi-
ence different kinds of pressures. Channels connecting to the Sacral
Center from the Root Center fuel sustainable action; thus, you will
feel the drive to act. Channels connecting to the Emotional Solar
Plexus fuel powerful feelings and emotional responses, driving you
to connect with what you feel. Channels connecting to the Spleen
Center fuel the drive to survive and thrive. As you deepen your
study into Human Design, you come to appreciate and respect this
energy and the various ways it manifests.
Like the Head Center, this is also a pressure Center, a raw, adren-
alized, stress-pumping station. Whether your Root Center is Defined
or Open will determine how you process and navigate the potent
stress energy that is looking for an outlet for its drive. Each of us has
the task of discovering how to use that stress for our benefit rather
than be used and abused by it.
The key to this Center is timing. Appropriately, Karen Curry
Parker’s Quantum Human Design™ name is The Divine Timing
Center. Can we align with divine timing to drive us in our quest to
spark life and bring it into form?
Before we look more closely at the Defined and Open Root
Centers, let’s take a moment to connect with this powerful force.
CONNECTIN G WI TH YOUR
ROOT CENTE R – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

Take a breath.
Let out a Sigh.
Feel your sitz bones resting on the surface of your chair.
What do you notice?
Are you sinking into the chair?
Or is your body pulled up away from it?
See if you can let yourself take another deep breath and sink onto the chair,
letting it fully support you.
From this place begin to sense your arms and legs.
Feel into them.
Are they tense?
Can you let them be heavy?
Now relax.
Give yourself some time to be present with them.
Notice what happens as you do.
Do you drop more deeply into your body?
Relax. Breathe.
Now bring your awareness to your belly.
Take a few deep breaths as you focus on your belly.
From your belly, expand your awareness out to the entirety of your body-
graph – including all the Centers we have covered to this point.
Smile into your quantum body.
Take a moment to appreciate yourself. The whole of you.
Now turn your focus to your Root Center.
Many of us avoid feeling this area; others are obsessed with it.
Can you allow yourself to be present to whatever sensation, feelings,
thoughts you have in the present moment when you focus on your Root
Center?
Take another big breath. Sigh.
Do you have a Defined Root Center? Or an Open one?
Does that mean anything to you at this point?
Are you available to dive into the mystery of your Root Center to see what
you might discover about yourself?
Set the intention to befriend your Root Center – regardless of what you
discover.
Send love to your Root Center.
Take one more deep breath.
Sense your arms and legs.
Open your eyes.
Gently bring your awareness back to the room.
Take a few moments to journal about your experience. How do you feel
about your Root Center? What is your relationship to it? Set an intention
to understand and befriend your Root Center.

THE DEFINED ROOT CE N T E R

The majority of people have a Defined Root Center: 60 percent of us.
If you have a Defined Root, it is truly a boon. You have consistent ac-
cess to adrenalized, initiating energy that drives life. You’re designed
to tolerate pressure, focus it, and use it in the service of empowering
humanity. Of course, there are challenges as well, so you will want to
be aware of how to best utilize this gift you’ve been given.

The Defined Root Center Gifts

When we look at the Defined Root there are three major gifts:

You have consistent access to your adrenalized drive.

You have tolerance for pressure.
You have the ability to focus your drive.
You Have Consistent Access to Your Adrenalized Drive

With a Defined Root Center, you have access to your Root Motor.
This adrenalized drive enables you to take action, to initiate. There
are two things to be aware of here. The first is that this Motor is not
always on, rather it pulses on and off. So, while you have consistent
access, you rely on timing, like the spark of the timing belt in your
car, to activate the Motor. The second thing to realize is that your
adrenalized drive is specific to the Channel that is Defined and de-
termines the nature of that drive. Nine Channels come off the root,
creating the Root Center Definition. Let’s take some time and tease
apart those apart, so you’re clear on the gifts each of these adrenal-
ized drives brings.

Three Channels Connecting the Root Center to the Spleen Center:

Chart #45 Root to Spleen: Defined Channels

Channel of Judgment 58-18

 If you have both Gate 58 Joy and Gate 18 Correction Defined in
your chart, it creates a Channel connecting the Root to the Spleen
Center. You bring the gift of joy and vitality to humanity by upgrad-
ing whatever is in front of you. You understand that our vitality is
key to our survival and from this conviction, you are driven to bring
joy to humanity.

Channel of Struggle 38-28

If you have Gate 38 The Fighter and Gate 28 Struggle Defined in

your chart, your Root Center connects to your Spleen Center
through the Channel of Struggle. You are here to discover which
struggles are yours to take hold of and resolve. This is a powerful en-
ergy that enables you to enter entanglements and find solutions.
I have this in my chart, and I am constantly taking on and work-
ing with struggles. Some of those struggles are mine alone, like writ-
ing this book or figuring out how to put together the shelving for
our garage. Ask my wife; I have an inordinate amount of patience
for these projects! Some of those struggles involve other people. I
have a lifetime of helping people with their struggles. First with their
bodies, as a bodyworker, then as a therapist, with their emotions,
and finally, as a spiritual mentor, with their soul connection. The cur-
rent iteration is helping people learn about their Human Design as a
way to work with their struggles and align more deeply with them-
selves. This is a gift I am driven to bring. When you are in alignment
with your Channel of Struggle, your struggles are deeply rewarding
and pleasurable adventures.

Channel of Transformation 54-32

The final Channel from the Root Center to the Spleen Center is
activated when you have Gate 54 Drive Defined and connecting with
a Defined Gate 32 Big Dreams, or Duration. With this fortunate con-
figuration, you have the gift of ambition and the motivation to im-
prove your life. This is the fuel for transformation, whether it is in
business or on the path of awakening. Driven by survival, you have
a serious capacity to go for what you want and transform your life. I
consider it great good fortune to have Definition here.
Three Channels Connecting the Root Center to the Sacral Center:

The following three Channels are called format Channels. They

are particularly impactful as they connect the spark of initiating ac-
tivity with sustainable action in a particular pattern. This is a power-
ful creative force since the Root and the Sacral Motors are designed
to move energy.

Chart #46 Root to the Sacral

Channel of Maturation 53-42

If you have this Channel, you have the gift of cycles – the capaci-
ty to start something and bring it to full completion. Your life is one
that has a theme of cycles with marked beginnings, middles, and
endings. To use this gift well, you must start the cycle in alignment
with your Strategy and make sure you fully bring a cycle to resolu-
tion before beginning the next cycle.

Channel of Mutation 60-3

 As the Root Center pumps energy in this powerfully Individual
Channel from Gate 60 Limitation to Gate 3 Difficulty at the
Beginning, or Innovation, there are bursts of unpredictable mutative
energy, attempting to birth something new. If you have this Channel,
you have the gift of creating a lotus out of the mud, bringing a
unique offering into form for the evolution of humanity. Charity has
this channel. She is driven to work within limitations to bring some-
thing new. In this case, she is working within the limitation of
tragedy, the death of a spouse, and bringing new ways to under-
stand and work with devastating and life-altering loss.

Channel of Concentration 52-9

If Gate 52, the Gate of Stillness, is Defined in your chart and con-
nects with the Defined Gate 9, Focus, you have the gift of a very logi-
cal, detailed Focus drive. There is a powerful groundedness here as
the root pulses are translated in a methodical energetic pattern. It re-
quires a certain level of dynamic stillness as you allow your Sacral
response to find your correct focus. Once you do, you are in the
groove, and your concentrated focus can be powerfully influential.

Three Channels Connecting the Root to the ESP:

The final three Channels connect the Root Center to the

Emotional Solar Plexus. Here the pulse of the Root Center is driving
toward feelings. There is a pressure to have emotional awareness. If
you have any of these Channels Defined, you have a particular way
of dealing with emotional pressure and stress.
 Chart #47 Root to ESP Defined Channels

Channel of Synthesis 19-49

If you have Gate 19 Sensitivity Defined and Gate 49 Revolution,

you have deeply emotional tribal energy and are driven to connect
relationally in integrity in order to bring joy.

Chanel of Emoting 39-55

If you have the Individual Channel of Emoting with Gate 39

Provocation and Gate 55 Abundance, you are driven and driving
others to realize that Spirit is the source of our supply. You do this by
being provocative – sometimes in a playful teasing way, sometimes
in a more intense way. This is mutative energy that is meant to
empower.

Channel of Recognition 41-30

 This Channel marks the beginning of the Human Design New
Year. It is the energy of the restless Root Center fantasizing what’s
possible for humanity and then the emotional Gate 30 reaching to
have that experience. With this Channel Defined – you have Gate 41
Fantasy and Gate 30 Clinging Fire Defined in your chart – you are
driven by this desire to follow your dreams. This is intensely potent
energy. You bring the gift of visions and the passion to carry them
out.
I have this Channel in my chart. Along with the theme of strug-
gle, this driving force to see what’s possible for humanity and the
passion to bring it to fruition has been a central stream running
through my life.

You Have a Tolerance for Pressure

With a Defined Root, you are comfortable with a certain kind of

pressure. You may not even realize it, it’s so familiar to you. For ex-
ample, with the Defined Channel of Struggle, I’m comfortable with a
certain level of stress or pressure while I work with some challenges.
It comes with the territory. If you have the 54-32 The Channel of
Transformation, you’re comfortable with doing the work it takes, the
stress involved to fulfill your dreams.
When you follow your Strategy, you have the capacity to know
what action to initiate and are solid in that. You’re not easily pushed
around by other people’s pressure to initiate an action that you don’t
resonate with. You likely won’t do it. Unlike the Open Root Center,
in general, you are not daunted by stress. However, in order to main-
tain this sense of ease with adrenalized pressure, you must follow
your Strategy or risk initiating action that is not in alignment for you
and so creating a stress response that can lead to health issues.

You Have the Ability to Focus Your Drive

I think we pretty well covered this when we went through the

drives in the nine Channels. The important thing to recognize here is
that with the Defined Root, you have the gift of focusing that raw,
driving force. We could say channeling it in a consistent stream. You
have an outlet for it. You’re broadcasting this focused, creative ener-
gy that inspires others to act. Just realize the gift you have – the
Open Root can be at a loss when it comes to accessing that initiating
energy and focusing the Root Drives into usable forces.

The Defined Root Grapples

The Defined Root Motor is powerful energy impacting the whole

of the chart. It is a pressure Center, pushing us to create. If we are off
track with our Defined Channels, it can be equivalent to a train
wreck. Let’s just say it’s not pretty. Actually, it can be really bad.
There are a few things that you may grapple with given your
Defined Root.

You are at the mercy of timing.

You didn’t follow your strategy and you’ve gone off track.
You risk burning yourself out.

You Are at the Mercy of Timing

Yeah, the Defined Root Center is a Motor that pulses on and off.
When it is off, you may feel like the rug’s been pulled out from un-
der you. You simply can’t make yourself do something you know
you need to do and that you’re capable of doing. I felt that as I start-
ed writing this book. It took me a month before my Root Center acti-
vated, and I was able to engage my Gate of Struggle and my Gate of
Fantasy to initiate writing. All the while, pressure was building as
my timeline shortened. You most likely will encounter this phe-
nomenon in some way if you have a Defined Root. You can easily
lose patience. It can be very frustrating. And, if you don’t have per-
spective and awareness about what’s going on, you can attack your-
self or think something is wrong with you.

You Didn’t Follow Your Strategy and You’ve Gone Off Track

We looked at the gifts of the nine Gates that define the Root
Center. Let’s now take a brief look at the specific challenges that can
arise when you’ve neglected to follow your strategy. (See Charts #45 -
47.)

Channel of Judgment 58-18

If you have the Channel of Judgment, you are committed to shar-

ing what needs to be corrected in order to bring more joy to humani-
ty. Your intent is so good. If you speak your corrections before they
are asked, they will most likely be experienced as criticism and re-
sisted. This can leave you feeling misunderstood, frustrated, and un-
appreciated. Your gift is rejected, and it can feel like you are the one
being rejected.

Channel of Struggle 28-38

There’s nothing more gratifying than a good struggle. There is

nothing more draining and depressing than a bad struggle. If you
don’t follow your Strategy and instead end up entering struggles
that are out of alignment – you will suffer. You can feel victimized
and trapped, caught in a situation, feeling there is no way out. This
is downward spiral material. If you have clients in this space, help
them get out!

Channel of Transformation 54-32

Although you are designed to succeed, you can get lost in ambi-
tion, allowing the fear of failure to drive you to overwork. If you
stop listening to your intuition and aren’t following your Strategy,
you will burn out, and the success that you know is yours for the
taking will elude you. This can be devastating.

Channel of Maturation 53-42

If you do not enter a cycle following your Strategy, you will be

caught in a pattern of dissatisfaction and struggle. Likewise, if you
don’t fully complete a cycle, resolving any issues, you won’t be able
to move on to the next cycle. There will be a feeling of stagnation
and frustration.

Channel of Mutation 60-3

If this individual and deeply mutative Channel is Defined in

your chart, you are called upon to have patience. There is continual
pressure to work within limitations to bring something new into the
world. If you try to force it or are unable to see that the seed under
the ground is actually growing but not yet visible, and there’s noth-
ing you can do to push it, you can end up frustrated. You can feel
like something is wrong with you when you can’t make something
happen. You are easily prone to depression and moodiness when the
pulse is off.

Channel of Concentration 52-9

This is a tricky one. If you have this Channel Defined in your

chart, you can feel rattled and uneasy. You can be agitated and dis-
satisfied when you have not yet landed on the thing you’re to focus
on. Not finding your focus could simply be a timing issue. Or it
could be a result of not following your Strategy. In this case, you
may be trying to force that Root Center energy into a Channel to re-
lieve the pressure. Either way, it’s not comfortable or gratifying.

Channel of Synthesis 19-49

This Channel can be a bit dodgy. If you are not feeling integrity in
your relationship you can be a bit dominant and rejecting – either of
yourself or others. This is the divorce channel. If someone crosses the
line they’re out. Unless, that is, you have the tools to see a bigger pic-
ture and find a way to bring the relationship back into integrity.

Channel of Emoting 39-55

If you are not on track with your Strategy, your provocations can
fall short and end up being irritating or ignored. This is a deeply
moody channel, sloshing between the glass half-empty, glass half-
full feeling. You can be a victim of your feelings of lack and bring
everyone down with you. Or you can witness your range of feelings,
respect them, and use them to deepen your creativity and mutative
power.

Channel of Recognition 41-30

With the Collective Channel of Fantasy which has an emotional

wave with crashes, you are grappling with two challenges. The first
is the challenge of following your Strategy to determine which expe-
riences you are going to go after. If you jump in without the guid-
ance of your Strategy, you can follow an impulsive desire. It’s easy
for you to create messes for yourself and end up dissipating your
passion. You’ve got to take your time to allow your fantasies without
acting on the urges until you know they are right for you. The sec-
ond challenge is the low side of your emotional wave. When the root
energy is off, when your passion is fizzled, when the wind is out of
your sails, you can hit skid row. If you’re not clear what is happen-
ing, you’ll believe the distress and be victimized by your emotional
intensity. If you’re not using your awareness to lovingly embrace the
crash, without identifying with it, you’ll enter hell realms. This can
be experienced as excruciating pain, like bone hitting bone.

You Risk Burning Yourself Out

The final grapple with the Defined Root is the direct result of not
following your Strategy: You burn yourself out. You get caught in a
cycle of trying to offer corrections that nobody receives. You take on
struggles that do not belong to you. You try to get ahead out of fear
but end up driving yourself to exhaustion. You don’t start and com-
plete cycles according to your Strategy and end up exhausting your-
self by spinning in circles. You try to birth new projects or ideas but
exhaust yourself by pushing instead of allowing. You don’t listen to
where it would serve you to put your focus, so you end up with
Root Pressure that has no outlet. You become so rigid about relation-
ships that you end up in conflict or alone. You don’t follow your
clarity about when and how to provoke people and end up trying to
impact people to no avail. You follow one fantasy after another with-
out direction and end up with nothing to show but a depleted
system.
In all these cases, you are facing the possibility of a health crisis.
Adrenalized stress is nothing to mess with. You do not want to mis-
use it. It’s crucial to be on track with it.

Working with the Defined Root

Appreciate your Defined Root.

Respect your Defined Root.
Utilize your Strategy and Authority to stay on track!

Appreciate the Defined Root

As with the other Centers, you must appreciate the gift you’ve
been given with the Defined Root. Your Definition here provides a
consistent way for the raw, powerful Root Center energy to initiate
action to move through the chart. This is not a small thing. Be in awe
that you have this support. Get to know which Channels you have
off your Root Center. Befriend them. Work with them. Allow them to
support you rather than deplete you.

Respect Your Defined Root

Your Defined Root is powerful energy. It’s like a class five rapid
on a river with crashing water pushing its way to the ocean. Respect
the river. Respect the Root Center current. Be conscious that it has a
pulse. It ebbs and flows. Learn to respect the pause in the pulse. Do
not push when the support isn’t there. Learn to rest and wait. Be pa-
tient with yourself. Trust.

Utilize Your Strategy and Authority to Stay on Track!

Part of trusting is learning to follow your Strategy and Authority.

Just because you have the urge to act, to speak, to share, to start
something, don’t. Don’t send the text when you’re angry. Don’t walk
out on the marriage the moment you perceive you’ve been wronged.
Don’t leap at the next experience. Wait. Learn to tolerate the pressure
and stress even more. Be disciplined. Deepen into your Strategy. If
you have a Sacral Motor, listen deeply for the yeses and noes. Don’t
betray yourself for an urge.

Helpful Tools

There are three tools I think about with the Defined Root Center,
though I am sure there are many more. And any of you who have
had the experience of being off track and burning out will no doubt
have been pressed to find skillful ways to manage this pressured,
adrenalized stress.

Cultivate Awareness.
Relax your perineum.
Unwind.

Cultivate Awareness

The first thing required in order to optimize this force and avoid
burnout is Awareness. It sounds so simple but is something we so of-
ten neglect. You have got to know yourself. You have got to know
what’s going on inside of you. You have got to understand first and
foremost how your energy works.
Begin by being clear on how your Type functions – what is your
Strategy? This is not conceptual. It’s serious stuff. I’m a Generator.
Let’s say I have an urge to act. Am I responding to a Sacral yes or no?
Or am I bypassing that guidance system? Next, look at the Definition
in your Channels. I know I’m designed to struggle. Okay. I don’t
have to fight or resist struggle. I can work with it. Use it. Is this a
good urge? A good struggle? I have Emotional Authority – I have to
wait out my wave to make sure. No jumping in the moment and fol-
lowing the urges as they arise. With my passion and penchant for
struggle, I can easily dissipate my energy in a thousand directions
and end up empty-handed and exhausted. I can push send on that
email in a moment of heated desire to get something or avoid some-
thing. This creates messes that then take time to clean up.
Exhausting.
How are you designed? Be clear with yourself. Are you designed
to be moody? If so, own it. Get to know it. Embrace it. Learn to rec-
ognize the low end of your wave and how to navigate it. If you’re
designed to be ambitious, go for it. Just make sure it’s aligned with
your Type, Strategy, and Authority. Don’t bypass how you’re de-
signed. Don’t mess with yourself. It’s costly to burn out your body.
Just ask anyone who’s ended up trying to be someone they’re not or
neglected who they are. They’ll tell you how they ended up with
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia. Listen to yourself.
Know yourself. Love and respect who you are as you are. Awareness
is the ultimate self-care.

Relax Your Perineum

This might seem like an odd tool, but in fact, it is one everyone
can and should utilize on a regular basis. It’s like a stress cure-all. If
you’re not clear, the perineum is the muscle between your sex organs
and your anus. Take a moment. Is your perineum tight or relaxed? It
may take some time to discern. The first step is simply bringing your
awareness to that part of your body, breathing, and relaxing into it.
Send your perineum a gentle inward smile.
I learned about the potency of the perineum and the power of re-
laxing it in my Diamond training with Faisal Muqaddam. He ex-
plained that when you are afraid, the perineum grabs, impacting the
entire body. It’s like an octopus with arms that reach up the spine to
the head, contracting the whole body. Many times, headaches can be
relieved by relaxing the perineum. If your perineum is tight, you go
on automatic pilot. You abandon your awareness. You become sur-
vival driven. Just because the Root has an urge does not mean it’s a
good one for you in the moment. But you don’t know that because
you’ve left the scene – you’re not there to discern. Before you act,
make a habit of checking your perineum. Bring your awareness to
your perineum right now. Use this tool and see how your life
changes.

Unwind
 Well, what does it mean to unwind and how do you do it? I think
more than how do you do it is the understanding that it is vital. You
must have the intention to unwind. Then you can follow your Type,
Strategy, and Authority to determine the how. The way for you to
best unwind at any given time will become clear.
Open to discover what helps to lessen your stress – what enables
you to relax and let go. Maybe you unwind through the body, get-
ting bodywork, having an acupuncture treatment, running, swim-
ming, dancing, yoga, qigong. Maybe you unwind through emotional
release work, or expressing yourself in art, listening to music, watch-
ing a movie. Maybe you unwind by looking at your mind, doing
Byron Katie’s work, or meditation. Maybe you take a frequency ap-
proach and use essential oils or Reiki. Or maybe you go to the beach
and put your feet in the sand.
However, you do it, make unwinding a daily part of your self-
care.

THE OPEN ROOT CE N TER

Are you one of the 40 percent of the population with an Open Root?
My sister Heidi, who has been in my Human Design training, sent
me her thoughts on her Open Root Center. She writes how she never
realized just how influential it was in her life. She's lived at the effect
of the pressures that overwhelm her daily. Only now, by understand-
ing what’s happening through the Human Design lens, is she able to
use her Open Root as a resource rather than be overrun by it.

Having an Open Root is a Big Deal

The minute I see an Open Root Center in a chart, my curiosity

shoots up and I wonder how the person is navigating the bombard-
ment of pressure and stress that they inevitably face. I could easily
jump right into all the grapples of the Open Root – they are so com-
pelling – but I don’t want to overwhelm you out of the gate. I don’t
want to sugar coat it either. The truth is, no, it is not easy to have an
Open Root. You are driven by other people’s adrenalized energy
without even knowing it. However, once you see that the pressure is
not yours, you can find skillful ways to work with it. Discover, as
Heidi did, the remarkable support your Open Root offers.
All the Centers require attention or awareness to use them opti-
mally, although you have a bit of fudge-room with the Defined
Centers. The Open Centers, not so much. They demand integrity, or
you suffer big time. This is crash and burn territory. as you read the
grapples of the Open Root, hold the knowing that this is not the end
of the story. There is help. You are not screwed.

The Open Root Center Grapples

Here we go. Take a breath and just sit back for a moment as you
read this. Keep in mind that the Root Center, like the Head Center, is
a pressure center. That gives you a clue about the potentially treach-
erous waters you’re stepping into. I’m going to talk about three ma-
jor grapples that come with the Open Root:

You take in stress from the environment.

You’re vulnerable to burnout.
You have trouble starting things.

You Take in Stress from the Environment

Open Centers are receptor sites. They take in the energy around
them and amplify it. In this case, with your Open Root, you’re taking
in all the adrenalized pressure from the people around you. People
with Defined Root Centers are blasting their stress consciously or
unconsciously, like raw, loud, rock and roll music.
The result: You’re like a pressure cooker. Always stressed about
what you need to do or what needs to be done. Unless they have
learned to work skillfully with it, people with Open Root Centers are
not fond of pressure. That is an understatement. People with Open
Roots tend to be pressure adverse. Is this you? Do you feel bombard-
ed with the mere mention that something needs to be done?
 What typically happens is that you try to dissipate the pressure
by doing. The kitchen needs cleaning – you do it. Your system is
searching for ways to alleviate this pressure, to get the stress out of
your body. Only it never works. No sooner than you complete a task
than the next task appears as a pressure to be relieved. It’s an endless
cycle which, in and of itself, can lead to burnout.
The real kicker is that those pressures are most likely not even
yours. That Open Root Center merges – becomes one with – takes in
the field. Who needs the laundry sorted? Is that what you need to do
in this moment?
Often people with Open Root Centers report feeling pressured by
their partners. More often than not, the partner/ parent/ colleague is
merely stating what needs to be done – not that they expect you to
do it. But, that’s not how your body registers it. And, in an almost
automatic pilot way, you set to the task.
The other option you might take is to go to overwhelm and do
nothing. The adrenalized energy is too much for your system to han-
dle and you go completely into off mode. In the bigger picture, going
offline has its own detrimental fallout as you don’t show up for what
is yours to do either.
One interesting way this energy can manifest is by acting out.
This can look like becoming a daredevil, using other people’s im-
pulses to do things that may not be safe for you.

You’re Vulnerable to Burnout

Is what is occurring a result of overreacting? Is it a matter of not

discerning what is yours to do from what others might want to be
done? Is it that you are doing whatever you can to try to dissipate
the pressure? Burnout. You hit the place where you’re confused,
overwhelmed, drained, and you can’t go on. You don’t understand
that you’re responding to everyone else’s pressure. You don’t get
why you never get a break – the work is never done.
Picture Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill only to have it roll
back down again. Over and over, he is relentless. And the rock never
gets up the hill to a resting place. Does this sound like you? If so, you
are seriously vulnerable to stress disorders. And they are not fun.
I’ve watched clients struggle with their health, honestly to no avail,
until they get clear what’s going on. As a side note, with this bom-
barding energy, there can be panic attacks as you leave your body
and flip into fear – feeling what needs to be done and knowing it
isn’t going to be.

You Have Trouble Starting Things

Those are big enough challenges, right? The next one can be a
daily conundrum. Let’s face it, you’re in a Catch-22 situation. On the
one hand, you’re feeling everyone’s pressure and are trying to dissi-
pate it by running around pushing that rock up the hill. On the other
hand, with that Open Root Center, you are not designed to initiate
action.
Okay, let me say that another way. You don’t have a Defined
Channel that allows the pressurized raw Root Center energy to flow
through you in a consistent way (on and off though it may be) to ini-
tiate action. WTF?
I have a Defined Root. I can only imagine what that is like. The
daily challenges that are givens for the Open Root Center are a bit
daunting from where I stand.
Most of you will have one or more Hanging Gates coming off the
Root Center. These give you something to hold onto. Some direction
for your pressure. When we talk about working with the Open Root
Center, you’ll see how you can set yourself up to make initiating
more doable. Believe me, it’s not a lost cause. As with all Open
Centers, it simply requires more skill.

The Open Root Gifts

Finally, we can talk about the gifts of the Open Root Center!
There are a few worth noting:

You’re here to be wise about which activities to do.

You have the whole palette of options to work with stress.
You can get a lot done.

You’re Here to Be Wise about which Activities to Do

 Open Centers are the wisdom Centers. You’re here to be wise
about how to direct and use pressurized energy, a.k.a. stress. Stress
hormones can debilitate us, or they can activate us into action. When
you are in alignment with your Root Center, following your Strategy
and Authority, you have the capacity to use the pressure to your ben-
efit. But you must be clear on what’s yours to do, and what the pres-
sures are that you’re taking on from others. You must also be clear
about the correct timing,
I was looking at a chart with an Open Root recently and was ex-
ploding with curiosity as to how that was working for this MD.
Turns out he’s a surgeon, and all that highly adrenalized energy is
well-used in his work. How are you using your Open Root to your
benefit?

You Have the Whole Palette of Options to Work with Stress

Not only can you use pressure to your benefit, you’re also not rel-
egated to a particular pathway to deal with stress. You have a whole
range of options: Will you manage your stress through an emotional
response by connecting the Root through the Emotional Solar
Plexus? You could manage stress through a survival response, call-
ing on the support of the Spleen Center energies. Or do you want to
turn to the Sacral Center and guide your stress toward how you
want to operate in the world? You have options. When you have
enough clarity, you can use them, rather than being tossed around
by the pressurized influx of adrenalized energies.

You Can Get a Lot Done!

I am always astonished when I hear my sister has cleared out her

cellar or had a big garage sale. How does she do that? She can go
from couch potato to cat-in-the-hat. It’s incomprehensible. If you
have the Open Root Center, one of the possibilities is that you can
take in all that adrenalized energy, focus it, and achieve crazy results.
Wow. Again, I think of Karen Curry Parker with her Open Root and
all she accomplishes. I know she’s a Manifesting Generator, but it’s
almost as if she’s housing more than one person!
The Open Root as a God Portal

So, what happens when you clear your Open Root Center from
conditioned beliefs? What happens when you stop buying into the
pressure to initiate? What happens when you’re clear about whose
pressure you’re responding to? What happens when your pressur-
ized pain shifts and your Open Root Center becomes a God Portal?
These openings are by far my favorite explorations when it
comes to Human Design. The question could be reframed to some-
thing like this: What happens when you shift from identifying with
your egoic patterns and instead identify with the openness of the
Open Root? What happens when you allow the energy of creation to
move naturally from an essential knowing place?
Not being someone with an Open Root, here are some of my
thoughts; see how they resonate with you.

You allow yourself to be moved.

You have a natural ease in the midst of pressure.
You ground on the Openness.

You Allow Yourself to Be Moved

Instead of trying to figure out what to do, or reacting to pressure

or resisting overwhelm, in the God Portal of the Open Root, you al-
low yourself to be moved. You enter a state of Oneness, and like a
plant that naturally turns to the sun, or a river that shifts direction
when it floods, you are surrendered at the moment. You trust the
movement and the pauses. You are without an egoic agenda. You are
the pulse of vitality itself.
I saw this in Byron Katie. She did not need to do anything. And
yet, there was always some new thing being initiated and so much
got done. It was as if her work – her program – had its own life force
that she was merely not interfering with. Whatever pressure we ex-
perienced was transformed to life force energy itself, flourishing on
its own accord.

You Have a Natural Ease in the Midst of Pressure

 When you are the God Portal of the Open Root, pressure is no
longer an issue. Actually, it’s not even a thing to contend with. You
are so comfortable with the flow of energy in its myriad of forms that
you become the delighted witnessing observer to all of it. What we
call pressure becomes the life force hum that calls the hummingbird
to the flower. I have the thought about being in the God Portal, in
unimpeded Oneness. Perhaps that raw, vital energy of the Root
Center is itself transformed and no longer needs to flow through
specific channels. There’s a wholeness that is vitality itself.

You Ground on the Openness

When I studied qigong with Ming Tong Gu, he began each ses-
sion with a meditation where we merged with the quantum field. We
first brought our awareness to the top of our head, allowing our
awareness expands to encompass all space above us. Next, we
brought our awareness to feel our feet touching the earth, allowing
our feet to expand down into the infinite space beneath us. The med-
itation continued in all directions until we were filling all space.
From this place, we began the practice.
I share this because I think we can easily imagine stabilizing our
Head Center by grounding on the space within which thoughts
arise. I’m suggesting the same thing is possible here: With your
Open Root Center, you can use your witnessing mind to ground on
space, on the Openness of your Root. You can witness the movement
of pressure and remain unmoved. You can be free from the ego’s at-
tempts to avoid stress or its efforts to make something happen. In
the midst of the stress storm, which we’re currently experiencing at a
heightened level, you can be at peace. That is the possibility of an
unimpeded Open Root Center.

Working with the Open Root Center

Powerful medicine. How do you get there? How do you, in the

least, work with the challenges of your Open Root and optimize the
gifts? Here are some possibilities:
 Appreciate your Open Root.
Understand how your Open Root operates.
Work with the specific Gates off the Open Root Center.
Discern what’s yours.
Make friends with the pressure and Ground on your
openness.

Appreciate Your Open Root

First and foremost, you need to understand and appreciate the

opportunities your Open Root offers. Even the challenges are ulti-
mately in the service of accessing your Open Root Center genius.
After all, without the pain, you’d be content to live someone else’s
urges and dreams. We need you, as you, living you, bringing your
contribution! Watch out for the tendency to diss yourself for the
Open Root challenges that you come by naturally. Shift your mindset
to one of wonder and awe, and unabashed curiosity about your
Open Root Center. Send it love. Smile at it. Decide to get to know
and make friends with your Open Root. Discover what mysteries lay
in wait as you honor and care for your Open Root.

Understand How Your Open Root Center Operates

In order to optimize your Open Root Center, you must under-

stand it. You have the job of recognizing and coming to terms with
the fact that you naturally take on people’s stress and pressure, and
that you must discern what’s yours. Your work is to clear your filters
so that you are not at the effect of others, nor acting out unconscious-
ly to avoid or relieve stress.
With your Open Root Center, you are vulnerable to burnout.
Your job is to be diligent about your self-care, recognizing when you
are at risk for burnout, and coming into alignment with yourself.
This is serious business. It takes effort. You matter.
It would serve you to learn about the Gates you have coming off
your Root Center. Those are energies you lean toward and, with an
Open Root, can take on even bigger significance than they do with a
Defined Root. These Defined Gates can give you some semblance of
ground as you’re tossed about.
Work with the Specific Gates off the Open Root Center

Part of understanding how the Open Root operates is under-

standing the Gates that come off your Open Root. On the one hand,
each of these Defined Hanging Gates gives you something to ground
on. On the other hand, they act as a funnel for the Open Root and
can intensify the theme of that Gate. Each one of these Hanging
Gates is searching for its electromagnetic hookup so that the Root en-
ergy has a place to flow, like rushing water looking for a riverbed.
If your Root is completely Open, the need to follow your Strategy
and Authority is heightened. You need to increase your awareness to
discern whose pressure you’re picking up on. You will do well to
spend time in nature to dissipate built-up pressure in order come
back into balance.

Chart #48 Open Root Center Defined Gates

Gate 58 Joy

With the Gate of Joy, you have a grounded understanding that

what brings joy is good for all of humanity. You’re searching for peo-
ple with Gate 18, the Gate of Correction, who can help you to logical-
ly upgrade things. You know that something can always be better.
Trust your joie de vivre and your logical sensibility. You know when
something is unhealthy or when patterns are off. Your love of beauty
is a beacon, guiding humanity to the next level of vitality.

Gate 38 Fighter

With the Gate of the Fighter, you are under pressure to figure out
what is worth fighting for. What is your purpose? This is Individual
Knowing Energy so you are committed to standing up for the rights
of the individual. Be clear which fights are yours to fight! You’re
looking for people with Gate 28, the Gate of Struggle, to bring
awareness to what struggles are worth engaging in. Pay attention to
your Strategy and Authority. Let them guide you. Beware of picking
fights just to dissipate this pressure. This is one of the Gates of deaf-
ness – meaning you are designed to tune out other people’s opinions
so you can do your mutative work.

Gate 54 Ambition

With the Gate of Ambition, you have big aspirations and dreams
that you are under pressure to manifest. This is Tribal energy so your
focus is typically on business, though it could also be on enlighten-
ment. You could be frustrated with an Open Root trying to push and
make your dreams happen. You’re searching to hook up with Gate
32 Continuity. That will help you focus on which big dreams to fol-
low. Use your Strategy and Authority to help guide your focus and
right timing. Be alert. You can tend toward trying to make your
dreams happen. That’s just not going to work with an Open Root!

Gate 53 Starting Things

Gate 53 is under pressure to start things. This can be a little chal-

lenging with an Open Root. How are you supposed to do that? You
also can be flummoxed when you do start things and don’t finish
them. Head’s up – you’re not designed to finish everything you start.
Follow your Strategy and Authority to help you out. Look for some-
one with the Gate 43, Finishing Things, to help you out. Give your-
self a break. Don’t think you should be able to do it all.

Gate 60 Limitation

With Gate 60, you’re under pressure to bring something into

form. You’re working with limitations. You’re working within a
structure. This is Individual Knowing circuitry. It’s mutative energy.
You’re bringing something new. But you’re not throwing the baby
out with the bathwater. This is the lotus coming out of the mud.
You’re looking to Gate 3 to help you create order out of the mess
you’re working with. This is intense pressure, and you can get de-
pressed when you’re not seeing the results you’re under pressure to
produce.

Gate 52 Stillness

The Gate of Stillness is sometimes called The Mountain. Think of

the mountain pose in yoga. It is a dynamic stillness. You are under
pressure to discover where to focus the powerful energy of the Root
Center. I think of the bow pulled back searching for the target. You’re
looking for Gate 9 Focus to help you guide your attention. This can
take some strength on your part. You have that Open Root amplify-
ing everyone’s energy and you’re looking for some outlet for it. You
have to wait. Use your Strategy and Authority to know when and
where to focus!

Gate 19 Sensitivity or Wanting

With Gate 19, you can be exquisitely sensitive. This could show
up in any number of ways. Perhaps you can’t tolerate the seams on
socks so have to wear them inside out. Perhaps you can’t tolerate be-
ing touched in certain ways. Maybe it’s a sensitivity to foods. You’re
under pressure to have your needs and your wants met as well as
the needs of the tribe. You’re longing for intimacy but may have a
hard time getting it if you’re not hooking up with the Gate 49.
Follow your Strategy and Authority to inform you where and how to
get your needs met.

Gate 39 Provocation

With the Gate of Provocation, you are designed to provoke peo-

ple. Funny right? Actually, it’s kind of serious. You’re provoking
people to connect with Spirit. You’re helping people understand that
Spirit is the source of our supply. This is Individual Knowing energy,
so it’s deeply mutative. You are here to transform the world with
your mutative provocations. Be clear that you need to be provoking
the right people in the right timing. When you do, it’s like an infec-
tious spark that wakes everyone up. On the other hand, if you are
provoking just to relieve the pressure, it’s not fun for anyone. There
can be a vulnerability to eating disorders or hoarding with the 39.
You’re looking to connect with Gate 55 Abundance of Spirit in order
to relieve the pressure through feelings. This is another one of the
Gates of deafness, indicating that you are not designed to be easily
influenced. Be clear on following your Strategy and Authority and
enjoy the ride!

Gate 41 Fantasy

The Gate of Fantasy marks the beginning of the Human Design

New Year. You are under pressure to fulfill your desires. With this
Collective Sensing energy, you are imagining what’s possible for hu-
manity. You want to experience it. You want to feel it. You’re looking
to Gate 30 Desire to help you focus what you want. Otherwise, you
can be lost in the wanting without Focus. Let yourself daydream. Do
vision boards. Let go of attaching to an outcome and rest in the de-
light of imagining possibilities.
When you understand that your Open Root isn’t designed to
start things, you must learn how to navigate life when you cannot
get going – and need to. Your Hanging Gates can help you out a bit
here as they point to where you are electromagnetically drawn. Say,
for instance, if you have an Open Root with the Gate 52 Stillness,
you will be drawn to someone with the Gate 9 Focus. Your Root
Center then gets activated. While you are with this person, you will
have access to the energy of Focus and will have the energy to put
your stillness in action through Focus.
This is no small thing. One of the things to keep in mind when
you are struggling to start something (like a writing project) is to de-
liberately be around someone who activates your Hanging Gates, or
who has a Defined Root. If it is your child or your partner, sit in the
room with them while you write, for instance. If you don’t have any-
one who fits that picture, or if you have no Hanging Gates whatsoev-
er, go to a cafe. There you will undoubtedly either be in the presence
of someone with a Defined Root, which will give you access to initi-
ating energy, or you will connect electromagnetically with someone
and access that spark to start.

Discern What’s Yours

Developing a strong witnessing observer will help you begin to

differentiate what’s yours and what stress belongs to someone else.
The pressure may come from someone in the present moment, but it
could also be a pressure you grew up with and merged with. Say
your mom always felt under pressure to care for people. You may
now have that wired into your system that you have to care for oth-
ers before you can care for yourself.
Your first task is to recognize if the urge is not yours. Your second
task is recognizing what pressures are yours. What is yours to do?
Commit to only doing those. That is the clear path to avoiding
burnout.
How you know what is yours to do goes back to your Type,
Strategy, and Authority. Maybe you’re a Generator, like my sister,
who had spread herself thin feeling the pressure to be in numerous
groups. She had to find which group she had a yes to and where she
had a no. Heidi could easily stay with the things she had a Sacral yes
for, but she was threatened by her Sacral noes – riddled with guilt
and the fear of rejection if she honored them. In her note to me, she
wrote that with her Open Root, All those pressures were coming at me,
all the time. However, when I differentiated the pressures by examining and
inquiring about my motives for allowing them to run me into the ground
with overwhelm, they weren’t so intimidating, especially after I had cleaned
out some of the pressures by using my Sacral. In fact, I could make use of
the pressures which were still there because they were necessary pressures.
Useful, even.
To sum it up: Discern what pressures are not yours and honor
what is yours to do. This is ongoing work until you no longer are
tossed around by other people's pressures!

Make Friends with the Pressure and Ground on Your Openness

I know this is a tall order. I’m asking you to learn to tolerate the
pressure without acting on it. Wait. Feel it. Allow it. Stop making the
futile effort of trying to relieve it. Shift your mindset around pres-
sure. Practice grounding on the Openness as a refuge. Watch the
urges come and go.
Learn to honor your Strategy above the pressure. Then you have
a chance to protect yourself from burnout and actually be in align-
ment with yourself. Go for it!

Helpful Tools

Here are some tools that may help you make the shift away from
identifying with the pressure to identifying the space within which
the pressure arises:

Develop your witnessing observer.

Separate yourself from the pressurized field.
Make use of deconditioning tools.
Relax your perineum.
Unwind.
Seek people and places to support you in starting things.

Develop Your Witnessing Observer

This is foundational to clearing your Root Center filter. You must

have the awareness to know, first off, when or if you’re stressed. This
may not be obvious at first because you’ve been so conditioned, and
the stress has become so familiar. Once you recognize that you are
stressed, you can begin the inquiry process: Is this mine? Is this a
conditioned stress? Or is it stress from the present moment? Once
you have the answers to those questions, you can take the next steps
to work with it. If you’re picking up stress in the present moment…

Separate Yourself from the Pressurized Field

Take a break from the situation. Get out of the field where the
pressure is occurring. Give your system a break. It’s particularly
helpful to go to nature where you can let go with more ease. Tell
your husband or your wife you need a time out. Ask them if they
mean to pressure you.
If, in your inquiry, you discover the stress is something condi-
tioned, something you carry around with you from the past…

Make Use of Deconditioning Tools

We’ve talked about a number of tools that are good for cleaning
the filters of the Open Centers. Choose a tool that works for you. You
may find it changes over time, but just start. Here are some
possibilities:

Deconditioning Tool #1
Make a list of the ways you feel pressure. You could do it from
a Byron Katie standpoint, writing:
I need to___ .
Or,______ needs me to ____.
If I don’t do ____, _____ will happen.
Then ask the four questions and do the turnaround.
(See Resources.)

Deconditioning Tool #2
Use Leslie Temple-Thurston’s Square technique:
Divide a page into quarters.
In the top square, write: The Desire to feel pressure.
In the second top square, write: The Fear of feeling pressure.
In the bottom square, write: The Desire not to feel pressure.
 In the remaining square, write: The Fear of not feeling
pressure.
Make a list under each of these.
Usually, we’re unconscious of at least one of the squares.
Be sure to fill in all four squares.
Once you see the whole picture, the duality collapses.

You’re looking for your motivation. You could do any number

of squares. For example:
The Desire to burn out.
The Fear of burning out.
The Desire not to burn out.
The Fear of not burning out.

Play with it and see what you discover.

Deconditioning Tool #3
You can work with deconditioning your patterns by doing
Vajrayana Meditation practices with the guidance of a teacher.

Deconditioning Tool #4
Do private work with someone.
If you need support, you could do in-depth inquiry work with
a Diamond teacher, a therapist, or a coach.

Deconditioning Tool #5
You can decondition your patterns at a frequency level with
essential oils or with healers who do this clearing work.

It doesn’t really matter how you do it. Just do it!

Relax Your Perineum

I spoke about this as a tool for the Defined Root. I can’t overem-
phasize this enough. I’m going to repeat the two paragraphs I previ-
ously wrote, to make sure you get it here as well:
 This might seem like an odd tool, but in fact, it is one everyone
can and should utilize on a regular basis. It’s like a stress cure-all. If
you’re not clear, the perineum is the muscle between your sex organs
and your anus. Take a moment and feel it. Is your perineum tight or
relaxed? It may take some time to discern. The first step is simply
bringing your awareness to that part of your body, breathing, and re-
laxing into it. Send your perineum a gentle inward smile.
My teacher, Faisal, explained that when you are afraid, the per-
ineum grabs, impacting the entire body. It’s like an octopus with
arms that reach all the way up the spine to the head, contracting the
whole body. In fact, many times headaches can be relieved by relax-
ing the perineum. If your perineum is tight, you go on automatic pi-
lot. You abandon your awareness. You become survival-driven,
which in this case is urge-driven. Just because the Root has an urge
does not mean it’s a good one for you in the moment. But you don’t
know that because you’ve left the scene – you’re not there to discern.
Before you act, make a habit of checking your perineum. Bring your
awareness to your perineum right now. Use this tool and see how
your life changes.
Add to this practice sensing your arms and legs. We need you to
be in your body. Sensing your arms and legs is your best defense
against dissociation.

Unwind

Let’s just add here, anything you can do for self-care to relax will
be of great benefit for you: Meditate, get bodywork, drink relaxing
tea, take an Epsom salt bath, go for a run, do yoga or qigong, dance,
walk barefoot on the earth, garden, or swim in the ocean.
Consider doing things that support you to release tension and
give your nervous system a break. You’re looking to shift from a hy-
per-aroused, turned-on, sympathetic nervous system mode to a rest-
ing, parasympathetic mode where your ego can take a break.

Seek People and Places to Support You Starting Things

Finally, when you need to start things, don’t be victimized by

your Open Root Center. Take action! Make a conscious effort to be
with people who will activate your sacral – either because they have
a Defined Sacral Center or because they create an electromagnetic
hook-up. You’ve got this. Take care of yourself!

RECAP
I hope you’ve gotten a taste of the power of the Root Center. It’s defi-
nitely an energy to pay attention to, whether you’ve got a Defined
Root or Open Root. What have you discovered? Were you surprised
by any of the information? Did it help you make sense of yourself
and your ability or lack of ability to get things done? Did looking at
the Hanging Gates and Channels off your Root help you differenti-
ate yourself or the people you’re working with? Take some time and
write down your revelations. The Root Center is worth getting to
know and working with on a regular basis. Becoming skillful with
your Root energy can have a big impact on your relationships, your
work, and your health.
Next we turn to the last of the Centers, The Spleen Center. Here
you’ll look at fear in the chart as well as time, intuition, and well-be-
ing. Enjoy!
 14

GETTING TO KNOW
THE SPLEEN CENTER

Chart #49 Spleen Center

INTRODUCING TH E SPLEE N
CENTER

T
he Spleen Center is the immune center for our quantum body.
It has the job of making sure we are safe and healthy. It is on
the alert for possible danger and is ready to protect us if need
be. It is the Center for intuition, time, health, and well-being.
This Center houses our survival fears. Karen Curry Parker calls this
The Mastery Center.
The Spleen Center operates in the moment. It is an Awareness
Center that is tuned in to what is happening now. It utilizes our sens-
es – taste, touch, sound, sight, and smell – to alert us to what’s going
on in the environment, ever ready to act spontaneously. It’s the trian-
gle on the bottom left of the chart and is colored in brown when it’s
Defined. It has seven Gates with nine Channels going to five Centers:
The Throat Center, the Identity Center, the Will Center, the Sacral
Center, and the Root Center. Before we delineate the Defined and
Open Spleen Centers, let’s take a deeper look at the four major
themes: fear, intuition, well-being, and time.

The Theme of Fear and Survival

Think of an animal in the wild. Think of the level of alertness that

is required to keep it safe. Think of the caveman. He is constantly lis-
tening, sensing, and on guard. His system is on high alert, poised to
face the ever-present threat of an unknown danger. Is there a saber-
toothed tiger lying in wait outside his cave?
The truth is, we are not animals living in the wild, nor are we
cavemen with saber-toothed tigers lurking around the bend. While
there are real threats, most of us do not live moment to moment un-
der siege with the ever-present threat of death. But our brains have
not caught up to this fact. I remember when I had a brain injury, and
I was living in terror. Every sound, sight, and smell was an assault.
My neurologist explained that my amygdala, that part of my brain
that was wired for survival, was switched on. I was back in caveman
time, reacting as if those tigers really were lurking and out to get me.
That’s an extreme example, but I’ve spent my life living under a
perceived threat. From a Human Design perspective, most of us
have. It’s as if our collective amygdala has been chronically switched
on and we are all conditioned to operate in response to the fear of
survival. In the evolutionary process and the Emotional Solar Plexus
Mutation of 2027, we are collectively shifting from orienting around
the survival fear of the Spleen Center to the well-being desire of the
Emotional Solar Plexus Center. That means, as I understand it, that
we will not be motivated by fear in the same way we have been but
by what feels good to us – or not. I see this in kids who are already
showing this shift. They just can’t be hijacked by the fear of survival
in the same way I was as a child. They’re more concerned about how
things feel to them.
While fear has played an important role in keeping us safe, we’ve
perhaps been caught in a trauma pattern and gone overboard with
it. We’ve left the moment, the now, where we are safe. “Just at this
moment, except for your thinking, are you fine?” Byron Katie would
ask. She would often have us bring up the scariest scenarios we
could imagine and have us inquire into them. Katie had numerous
ways to guide us to meet our fears face to face. Some of them were
terrifying! Later I would study the Tibetan Buddhist master Machig
Lobdrön who lived in the early 1100s. Machig did a similar thing,
taking students to meditate in charnel grounds, where dead bodies
were being eaten by vultures. She was also helping people liberate
themselves from the clutches of their fears.
The Spleen Center is here to alert us through intuition that there
is a real danger that must be addressed in the moment. But most of
our daily fears are not real in-the-moment threats. They are from the
past or projections onto the future. Our ego attaches to those fears,
feeding them, keeping them alive, and scaring us with them. The
Ego, after all, prefers the scary perceived known to the threat of the
unknown. As we clear those fears, we are liberated from a fear-based
structure and step into the spontaneous present that is our true
nature.
As an Awareness Center, the Spleen Center shows us where we
have consistent access to specific fears depending on which Gates
are Defined. With each of these fears, the antidote is to come into the
present moment, see the fear for what it is, thank it for sharing, and
move on.
The best way to understand this is by remembering the story
about the rope and the snake:
A man was walking down a path and saw a poisonous snake in
the middle of the road. He stopped in his tracks terrified, fearing for
his life. Another fellow was walking toward him, unaware of the
danger he was stepping into. The first man tried to alert him: “Watch
out! There’s a poisonous snake. Don’t go any further.” The second
fellow looked at him and said, “That’s not a snake; it’s a rope.” And
continued to walk by.
You see, we respond to these fears as snakes with a flight/ flight/
freeze reaction. They are fears in the moment, but we get hijacked by
them and stop our forward motion. The Spleen Center holds the en-
ergy for spontaneity, joie de vivre, health, and well-being. But when
we’re fearful, those life-giving states elude us.

The Fear Gates of the Spleen Center

Here are the Fear Gates of the Spleen Center. Look and see which
ones you have Defined in your chart. Begin to recognize that what
you perceive at the moment as real threats are actually harmless
ropes. Don’t be stopped by them. Thank them for sharing, take ac-
tion, and move forward.
 Chart #50 Spleen Center Defined Gates

Gate 48 Depth

The Fear of Not Knowing Enough and the Fear of Inadequacy

If you have this Gate Defined, you are deep. You are driven to
gather knowledge in order to be safe. If you can get enough knowl-
edge, you’ll be able to assuage your fear. The problem is, the more
knowledge you have, the more you’re aware of what you don’t
know. This can lead to insecurity and a need to continuously learn
more – even though, in reality, you know more than anyone.

Gate 57 Intuition

The Fear of the Future

If you have Gate 57 Defined in your chart, you have consistent

access to your intuition (or not!). You can hear the truth in the mo-
ment. It is a powerful, glorious superpower. The problem is because
you intuit so much, you project onto the future and scare yourself.
You could be right, but fear has a way of clouding your vision.

Fifteen years into our relationship, my wife left me. I called

Katie sobbing:
Me: She’s gone, Katie. She’s left, and she’s never coming back.
Katie: Oh, sweetheart, is it true?
Me: (sobbing harder, barely able to get the words out) Yes, it’s true.
This one is true.
Katie: Can you absolutely know it’s true she’s not coming back?
Me: Yes! She’s gone! I know it’s the end. (More sobbing)
Katie: Oh. So, you know the future?
Me: No. I don’t know the future.
Katie: We zero percent know the future.

That stopped me in my tracks. Brought me out of my future sto-

ry, back to the present moment. No, we don’t know the future, but
we can sure scare ourselves with it. Just so you know, that was al-
most twenty-five years ago. My wife and I are still together.

Gate 44 Alertness, Coming to Meet

The Fear of the Past Repeating

If you have Gate 44, you have the gift of looking at past patterns
and sensing what worked and what caused pain. Your goal is to sup-
port the survival of the tribe by bringing awareness to what past pat-
terns didn’t serve and help bring new patterns that do. The fear is
that the past patterns will repeat themselves without the necessary
transformation.

Gate 50 Values

The Fear of Not Taking Enough Responsibility for Your Loved Ones, Not
Caring Well Enough for the Survival of the Tribe
 If you have this Gate, you feel responsible for others’ survival
and well-being. You may take on more responsibility than you
should out of fear. There can be a pull to be a martyr or to be co-de-
pendent. I have this Gate. The whole Channel, actually. I know this
tendency well. One of my many sobering revelations with Katie
came around my feeling that I was responsible for my clients’ well-
being. She pointed out how arrogant that was of me. How demean-
ing and untrusting of them for me to think they needed me. This
may sound odd, but it was a powerful revelation. In fact, it freed me
to support my clients to turn and trust themselves rather than be de-
pendent on me as the source of their well-being.

Gate 32 Continuity

The Fear of Not Realizing Your Big Dreams and the Fear of Failure

If you have Gate 32, you intuitively know what can be trans-
formed – which big dreams to follow. But the fear of not realizing
those dreams can hamper you, stopping you from even trying.

Gate 28 Struggle

Fear of Life Being without Purpose or Meaning

With this Gate, you can feel the utter purposeless of life. In
Chapter 2, I spoke about my experience of Neptune in Gate 28, the
Gate of Struggle. My spiritual path is to struggle. When I got caught
in the fear that life has no purpose, I went through a dark night of
the soul. This fear of no purpose can be disheartening to the point of
despair until it’s met and seen for what it is.

I tell Katie I need a purpose in life.

She asks: Is it true?
Me: Yes.
Katie: Can you absolutely know it’s true?
Me: No.
 I realize I am fine in the moment without a story that I need a
purpose. She tells me her purpose is to sit in her chair, noticing her
hand waves as she talks to me. She always knows her purpose – it’s
exactly whatever she is doing/ being in the moment.

Gate 18 Correction

Fear of Being Judged and the Fear of Things Not Being Correct

If you have this Gate, you have the superpower of seeing what
patterns need to be corrected or upgraded. You also have the chal-
lenge of not speaking what you know unless you are invited or rec-
ognized. If you do speak what you know before it’s invited, what
you say is perceived as criticism and not received. People can feel
judged by you, and you are vulnerable to feeling judged for what
you’re offering. This can be a dodgy Gate in relationships until you
understand the dynamic and can work consciously with it.
I’ve spent a lot of time introducing the fear aspect of the Spleen
Center. Let me introduce the other three themes and then go into
more depth with them in the Defined and Open Spleen sections.

The Theme of Intuition

The Spleen Center is the home of intuition in Human Design. If

you have a Defined Spleen, you have consistent access to your intu-
ition. If you have an Open Spleen, not so much. How your intuition
shows up will depend on which Gates or Channels you have de-
fined. Also, in Chapter 15, you’ll find an introduction to electromag-
netics between charts/ people. For example, if you have a Hanging
Gate coming off the Spleen Center and you’re with someone else
who has the opposite end of that Channel Defined, you will both
have access to intuition while you’re together.
The Spleen Center is one of the Authorities, one of the decision-
making Centers. If you have Splenic Authority, it’s crucial that you
listen to and follow your intuition.
Some people say that intuition only speaks once and in a soft
voice. If you miss it or don’t follow it, you lose the guidance. My
teacher Faisal used to say he waits to hear it three times. That way,
he knows it’s not the ego speaking. In any case, we each have the
task of discovering how our intuition operates and learning to trust
and follow it.

The Theme of Well-being

With the immune system playing such a big part in the Spleen
Center, it stands to reason that well-being is a function of the Spleen
as well. When we are aligned with our Spleen Center, we have an
aliveness, an in-the-moment presence that is compelling and invigo-
rating. There is a natural vitality, different from the Sacral Center. It’s
the vitality of an alert, healthy body that is joyful and free of fear.
There is lightheartedness and ease as we handle survival issues.
When we are not aligned – when our bodies are stressed with fear –
we suffer immune disorders and body failure.

The Theme of Time

The Spleen is the Center of time. It is naturally spontaneous as its

intuition is meeting every moment fresh and making moment by
moment adjustments to what’s needed for well-being and ease. The
question becomes for the Defined Spleen: Are you free to be sponta-
neous? The issue of time shows up differently for the Open Spleen,
which can tend to lose track of time.
The Spleen Center has many aspects and has a big impact on our
lives. Taking the time to come into alignment with this Center makes
a lot of sense, especially if we want to be healthy and happy! Let’s
take a few minutes to introduce you, in an embodied way, to your
Spleen Center.
CONNECTIN G TO THE
SPLEEN CENTER – GUIDE D
MEDITATION

We begin, as always, feeling the weight of our body as our sitz bones rest on
the chair.
Let yourself sink in.
Take a breath.
Just relax.
Sense your arms and legs.
Breath into your belly.
Feel your skin sensing the air around you.
Is there a breeze, or is the air still?
Take a deep breath and come into this moment now.
Let go of the past and the future.
Rest.
Feel your feet touching the floor.
Allow them to expand down beneath you.
Keep expanding your awareness beneath you, allowing it to extend to the
center of the earth and beyond, out into infinite space.
Now feel the crown of your head touching the sky.
Allow your awareness to expand above you, up into the milky way and
beyond.
Allow it to fill the entire galaxy into infinite space.
Now bring your awareness to your front body.
Sense the front of your body as you allow it to expand to fill the space in
front of you.
Now sense the back of your body.
With awareness, expand your back body into the space behind you.
Allow it to fill the space behind you, reaching into infinity.
Turning your attention to the left side of your body, allow your awareness
to expand out into endless space; the right side of your body, allow it, like-
wise, to expand out into infinite space.
Allow your entire body to expand in all directions into infinite space.
Take a breath.
Smile inward.
Acknowledge that you are a quantum being in a multi-faceted holographic
quantum body.
Welcome the whole of you.
Turning your awareness to your Spleen Center, what do you notice?
If your Spleen Center is Defined, do you feel any substance in your
awareness?
If it is Open, what do your notice when you place your awareness on your
Spleen Center?
Perhaps you know the Hanging Gates coming off the Spleen.
If you have them, can you sense into them?
Is your Spleen Center filter gummed up with fears?
If so, are they yours? Or someone else’s you’ve merged with?
Do you recognize them? Are they familiar?
Just for now, can you let them arise and pass without identifying with
them?
Check in with yourself. Note your level of health and well-being.
Where would you place yourself on a scale of one to ten, with one being un-
healthy and ten being healthy?
Check your joie de vivre.
How do you feel about it?
Wherever you are, can you just welcome yourself, recognizing that you are
an ever-evolving mystery, worthy of knowing?
Taking one last moment to connect consciously with your Spleen Center,
ask if there are any intuitive hits, anything you should know?
Then listen.
Just listen.
And wait.
Watch the tendency to want to rush and fill the space with thought.
Listen.
My Spleen says, “Spend more time with me.”
I can feel the comfort of resting in and with it. The ground it brings.
Now take a few deep breaths.
Invite yourself to come back into body awareness.
Sense your arms and legs.
Breathe into your belly.
With a gentle smile, open your eyes.
Notice the room around you.
Take it in. Hear the sounds (for me, it is the birds cooing).
Allow your senses to be awake and receptive.
And, as Ram Dass would say, Be Here Now.
Take a moment to write what you noticed in your journal. Commit to get to
know your Spleen Center. Decide to be in alignment with it.

THE DEFINED SPLEE N

CENTER
If you are one of the 55 percent of people with a Defined Spleen, you
have consistent access to your intuition. You are designed to use
your body awareness to be awake to what’s happening in your envi-
ronment. You are designed to spontaneously respond as needed to
the situation at hand. If you are listening to your intuition and fol-
lowing your Strategy and Authority, you can have a vibrantly
healthy body with a strong immune system. If, on the other hand,
you are not following your intuition nor following your Strategy and
Authority, you risk burning out.
Depending on which Channels are Defined to which Centers,
your intuition flows in that theme. We’ll look more closely at these in
the gift section, as consistent access to these energies empowers you
to recognize and use your intuition.

Defined Spleen Center Gifts

You have consistent access to your intuition.

You use your senses to be aware and alert in the now.
You have a strong healthy immune system and a feel-good
glow.

You Have Consistent Access to Your Intuition

 When you have a Defined Spleen Center, you have consistent ac-
cess to your intuition. This is a gift, as long as you are listening to
your inner guidance and following it. The Channel or Channels
Defined from your Spleen determine your particular connection to
your intuition. Look at your chart and see which of the Channels be-
low are defined in your chart. Contemplate how the themes resonate
with you.

Spleen Center Connecting to the Throat Center:

(See Chart #25.)

48-16
57-20

48-16 Talent

If your Spleen Center connects to the Throat Center through the

48-16, you will have access to bringing your talents into form.

57-20 The Brainwave

If your Spleen Center connects to the Throat Center through the

57-20, your intuition will be geared to the Throat, and you will have
the capacity to speak your intuition.

Spleen Center Connecting to Identity Center:

(See Chart #29.)

The Channel of Perfected Form 57-10

If your Spleen Center connects to the Identity Center, Channel 57-

10 Perfected Form, you will have intuitive awareness regarding lov-
ing yourself. You know what feels good to you and are here to live
true to yourself, in the moment. In doing so, you empower others to
live true to themselves.
 Chart #51 Spleen Connecting to the Sacral Center

Spleen connecting to the Sacral Center:

57-34 Power
27-50 Preservation

The Channel of Power 57-34

With the 57- 34, the energy of the intuition is connecting with the
Sacral Center. You are using your intuition in response, connecting
your gut yeses and noes with your intuition. This is a powerfully
grounded survival response in the moment. You are using your keen
sense of inner hearing, almost like a radar to scan the environment
for danger, keeping you alert to anything that might pose a threat to
either your physical survival or your survival as a unique individ-
ual. Your focus is strictly on your survival without concern for oth-
ers. You model for others how to survive and thrive through paying
attention to your body awareness.
We could say this is the Be Here Now channel. It is the only
Channel that Ram Dass has Defined in his chart!
The Channel of Preservation 27-50

On the other hand, if you have the 27-50 the Channel of

Preservation Defined, you are concerned with the preservation of the
tribe. Your intuition will guide you to share and teach values that
will ensure the tribe’s well-being and sustainability. You will know
what will be nourishing, in terms of both food and education.

Chart #52 Spleen to Will Center Defined Channel

Spleen Center Connecting to the Will Center:

The Channel of Surrender 44-26

The Channel of Surrender is Tribal energy, with the intuition

moving toward surviving in the material world. This is the energy of
sales. Your intuition will guide you in looking at the past to see
what’s been beneficial for the tribe, and what no longer serves. With
that, you will use your will to convince the tribe that what you have
is worthwhile for their survival and well-being. If you have this
Channel, you have the uncanny capacity to get things accomplished
in a short time.

Spleen Connecting to the Root Center:

(See Chart #45.)

The Channel of Transformation 54-32

The Channel of Struggle 38-28
The Channel of Judgment 58-18

These three Channels combine the raw, adrenalized Root energy

with the intuition and survival-in-the-moment energy of the Spleen.
This is a powerful, intense pressurized combination.

The Channel of Transformation 54-32

If you have Gate 32 Big Dreams or Duration Defined and con-

nected to a Defined Gate 54 The Drive, you have the Channel of
Transformation. You have the intuition to know what big dreams to
follow with the ambition and drive to make those dreams come to
fruition. Driven by survival, you can go for what you want and
transform your life, whether it is in business or in the arena of
awakening.

The Channel of Struggle 38-28

If you have Gate 28 Struggle Defined and Gate 38 The Fighter

Defined, you have the intuition to know what struggles are worthy
of fighting for. Is it a struggle for survival? This could look like phys-
ical survival or the survival of yourself as an individual. Is it a health
struggle? Is it a struggle around how to use your time? Is it a strug-
gle for you personally? Or are you called to help others with their
struggles? If you tap into your intuition and follow your Strategy
and Authority, you will be guided to worthwhile struggles and to
fight for the rights of individuals in ways that revitalize you rather
than drain you.
The Channel of Judgment 58-18

If you have both Gate 18 Correction, and Gate 58 Joy Defined in

your chart, it creates a Channel connecting the Spleen Center to the
Root Center. You are using your intuition to see what needs to be
corrected or upgraded to bring the gift of joy and vitality to humani-
ty. You understand that our vitality is key to our survival, and from
this conviction, you are driven to bring Joy.

You Use Your Senses to Be Aware and Alert in the Now

With a Defined Spleen Center, your intuitive Spleen is awake and

turned on, giving you an awareness of your environment through
your senses. Imagine a cat relaxing on the porch in the sun. She may
look like she’s sleeping, but you’ll see her ears twitch, or an eye
open. You’ll see her tail swish. She is relaxed but totally alert, ready
to move at a moment’s notice. You have access to this animal-like
sensitivity. Actually, because of it you can relax, trusting that your
awareness will alert you. This is not only true for danger, but for
positive things as well. The cat hears the can opener and runs to the
kitchen to be fed. You can use this in any situation. It’s an under-the-
radar gift, and it gives you a groundedness that Open Spleens are
drawn to and want to be around.

You Have a Strong, Healthy Immune System and Feel-Good Glow

This is a really beautiful gift to have, especially in this day and

age of pandemics, viruses, and autoimmune diseases. Of course, it’s
not a given – you have to follow your Strategy and Authority. But
the vitality that you can consistently radiate is lovely and heart-
warming. It validates the vitality of life. It’s like looking at a garden
of thriving flowers. It’s relaxing and brings a sense of ease into the
environment. The message is all: All is well; you’re safe.

Defined Spleen Center Grapples

There are a couple of grapples worthy of noting here:

 You can take your health for granted.
Your mind can override and distract your intuition.
You can shut down your intuition and live the polarity.

You Can Take Your Health for Granted

You are endowed with a strong immune system. Because of that,

you have the capacity to push past feeling unwell. You may end up
really sick before you recognize you’ve ignored your body’s mes-
sages. This is a challenge for the Defined Spleen. You take your
health for granted and don’t listen to intuitive messages that tell you
it’s time to take care of yourself. I know this one personally – it’s the
sheer denial of symptoms.

Your Mind Can Override and Distract Your Intuition

Yes, you have consistent access to your intuition. However, are

you listening to it? Are you following its alerts? Our minds are so
loud, and the superhighway bundles of neuropathways all seem to
lead to the brain. We listen to what’s in our heads, rather than
putting our ears to our intuition. The challenge here is to really hon-
or your intuition and reorient your focus from your brain back into
your body where this awareness lives.

You Can Shut Down Your Intuition and Live the Polarity

We have discussed that where you have Definition, the theme

shows up in a polarity. With the Spleen Center, you can either have
access to your intuition, or you can cut off access to your intuition.
It’s easy enough to cut off from your intuition when you are dissoci-
ated – when you are not grounded in your sense perceptions. If you
want the gift of your Defined Spleen, you must do the work of being
and staying present in your body!

Working with the Defined Spleen Center

Appreciate your Defined Spleen.

 Commit to being in your body.
Shift your mindset away from fear to relaxed alertness.

Appreciate Your Defined Spleen

When you’re working with your Defined Spleen Center, begin by

appreciating the gift you’ve been given. You have a strong immune
system and the potential for vitality and well-being if you’re on track
with yourself. You have access to your intuition. You can be ground-
ed in the now, with an awareness that serves to keep you safe.
Remember, do not take these for granted! Care for your natural
riches.

Commit to Being in Your Body

When you are in your body, you are in the present. In the present,
you have access to your intuition and body awareness. You’re awake
and alert. You have a natural safety. However, being in our bodies is
not as easy as it sounds in this day and age. We live in a mental cul-
ture and are bombarded by electronic devices and stimulation from
every direction. Commit to yourself to honor and embrace your pre-
cious body. Our bodies are a gift that can easily be neglected. Get
bodywork, do qigong, exercise, eat well, get enough rest. Do what-
ever you need to do to calm your system and make it safe for you to
be at home in your body.
One thing to remember is that fear sends us out of our bodies. So
yes, you’ll need to wake up to your fears and work with them
consciously.

Shift Your Mindset from Fear to Alertness

None of these things are easy. But there are big rewards if you
can meet your ego and take charge of the fear and trauma. Shift your
mindset away from fear into that natural, alive alertness. Your re-
laxed alertness is more effective than fear in protecting you. Come
into the present. One way to do that is to get into your body. Another
way is to meet your fears and see them for what they are. Remember
the story of the snake and rope? Don’t buy these fears. They are not
your friends. At one point, they served to protect you. They’re com-
mitted to keeping you safe by keeping you small.
Having fear arise does not mean you have to identify with it and
give it center stage. You can acknowledge it, thank it for sharing, and
move on. You can have compassion for your fear in the same way
you have compassion for a child who has fallen and skinned their
knee. One thing to note: With a Defined Spleen Center, you are
broadcasting your fears into the field. Be clear on this. Take responsi-
bility for your fears. Clean them up. They’re like a virus. Don’t ex-
pose others to your fear.
I mentioned earlier that following my car accident, I had a head
injury. My amygdala was stuck in the on position. I was continuous-
ly barraged by light, sound, and movement. I tried using my cogni-
tive mind to liberate my fears. I went to my cure-all, The Work of
Byron Katie. But my mind wasn’t working right. I couldn’t touch the
level of trauma that had been activated by using my mind.
Homeopathy helped. High doses of arnica walked me off the ledge
on many occasions. The only problem was that it didn’t stick. Anat
Baniel’s Method of using awareness combined with gentle move-
ment and touch was phenomenal in bringing my brain back online
and bringing me into the present. But again, I kept getting triggered.
It wasn’t until I did a Medical Qigong Intensive with Ming Tong Gu
that the switch flipped.
I was terrified I was never going to get my life back. When was I
going to be able to work again? When was I going to be able to go
into a restaurant? In the first circle of the workshop, I made a clear
intention to heal. I remember the moment it happened. I was doing
the Lift Chi Up, Pour Chi Down practice with the group. I was facing
a thangka, a cloth image of the Tibetan Bodhisattva of Compassion,
the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara. I imagined I was
Avalokiteshvara, lifting my thousand arms, pulling in through the
palm of each hand the healing I needed. As I pressed my palms out-
ward, I imagined all the pain and trauma trapped within leaving. I
was consciously receiving healing, releasing pain. At the end of prac-
tice, we laid down to integrate. A wave of healing blue light poured
through my body. I experienced myself as larger than my body. The
pain in my head was a dot compared to the expanse of who I was.
The switch flipped. I was no longer identifying as my head in pain.
The fear dissipated. I could have pain, but I wasn’t the pain. That
truth – that awareness – has never left me.

Helpful Tools

Do anything that helps you get in your body.

Meditate.
Inquire into your fears.
Incorporate Tapping.

Do Anything that Helps You Get into Your Body

There are numerous ways to help you get into your body, from
bodywork to body-based modalities: yoga, qigong, conscious breath-
ing. Any movement with awareness will be helpful. Discover what
works for you and commit to being connected to your body. Sensing
your arms and legs is always a good tool to help you come into your
body. The essential oil Mugwort Technique works well, too.
(See Resources.)

Meditate

Meditation is a sure way to help you calm your mind and guide
you into the present. You might try Katie’s meditation, where you
put your fears on a cloud one at a time and watch them pass. See
other meditations in the Resources. Choose the meditation that is
best for you.

Inquire into Your Fears

Inquiry #1:
Make a list of your fears daily – are they real? Look them in
the eye.
Inquiry #2:
The Work of Byron Katie
(See Resources.)
 Inquiry #3
Use the Squares Technique
(See Resources.)
Inquiry #4
Do the Five and Five inquiry into your fears
(See Resources.)

Tapping

Tapping helps get the body energies flowing, clearing stagnation.

This can be very helpful with fear.
(See Resources.)

THE OPEN SPLEE N C E N T E R

If you are one of the 45 percent of the population with an Open
Spleen Center, you’re likely to have a more sensitive body. You tend
to be more aware of when you’re getting sick than people with a
Defined Spleen. You are taking in and amplifying the fears of people
around you. You have to learn which fears belong to you and which
fears you’re taking on that don’t belong to you. Take a moment to go
back to the section above on the Theme of Fear and Survival to see
which Gates you may have Defined off your Open Spleen. Those are
the fears you will have consistent access to and will need to recog-
nize as they arrive. You’ll need to see them for what they are and
meet them head-on. Let’s look more closely at your grapples, gifts,
and God Portals.

Open Spleen Center Grapples

You tend to be vulnerable to illness and have a sensitive

immune system.
You can take in other people’s ill health and identify with it.
 You tend to lose time or be pressured by time.
You can take in and amplify everyone’s fears and anxiety.
You can feel like you don’t have what it takes to survive.
You tend to hold onto things longer than you should.
You shouldn’t try to be spontaneous.
You can’t rely on your Spleen for decisions.

You Tend to Be Vulnerable to Illness and Have a Sensitive Immune System

With your Open Spleen, you may have a more sensitive immune
system. This could look like being aware that you’re starting to get
sick long before symptoms show up. You may be more affected by
medicines. You may need a lower dose of supplements than some-
one with a Defined Spleen. Often people with Open Spleens do bet-
ter with energy medicine because of their heightened sensitivity. Do
you recognize this in yourself? My wife has an Open Spleen, and
she’s got a delicate ecosystem. If she eats something that’s not right,
it impacts her whole body: Her sleep will be off, her system feels un-
der attack. She can only take one or two supplements at a time, and
they have a strong effect on her.
If we think of cars for a moment, my first car was a little yellow
VW Bug, which took very little maintenance. Even when it had is-
sues, I could do hacks to keep it running. At one point, I had to cover
the engine with plastic when it rained to make sure it started. When
my wife had a BMW, there was no wiggle room. She had to take it to
a particular auto shop, and it needed a higher level of tuning and
care. When torrential rains caused a rising creek to flood the engine,
the electrical system was damaged beyond repair.
The moral: If you have an Open Spleen, take good care of your-
self. Respond to the signals that something is off and honor your
needs. Also, don’t park your BMW by a creek!

You Can Take in Other People’s Ill Health and Identify with It

This is a tricky one. Not only are you sensitive regarding your
immune system, you also can feel poor health in others and misiden-
tify it as your own lack of health or well-being. It’s almost like a bug
you pick up simply from feeling it in someone else. Knowing this
can help you begin to differentiate and be on guard for that tenden-
cy. Good boundaries are important for you.

You Tend to Lose Time or Be Pressured by Time

Have you noticed that you tend to lose track of time? Maybe
you’re one of those people who are perpetually late? Or maybe,
you’re overly concerned about time and experience it as pressure? I
used to take it personally when certain friends would be chronically
late. I couldn’t understand it. It seemed so insensitive and disre-
spectful. Then I learned about the Open Spleen. With that Open
Spleen, you tend to operate out of time. You don’t have access to
time in the same way someone with a Defined Spleen does. Or you
could be hyperaware of time. My wife is compelled to be early to
everything. If we are running late there is a life or death feeling
about it. She’ll go sit in the car with the motor running while she
waits for me. It’s quite serious for her. The point is that there will be,
most likely, a marked relationship to time.

You Can Take in and Amplify Everyone’s Fears and Anxiety

With your Open Spleen Center, you are taking in and amplifying
the fears and anxiety of the world around you. As I write this book,
the world is in the midst of a fear attack. We are in the middle of a
global pandemic with massive economic consequences. In the
United States, there is growing social unrest. The insidious racism
we’ve pushed under the carpet is bursting into the light. At the same
time, a political crisis with our presidential elections threatens our
democracy. You are taking in all this energy and trying to process it
through your Open Spleen. Not to mention the fears of anyone
you’re in a room with at any given time. This is no small thing and
requires you to look directly at the fears that arise. Your health and
well-being are at stake if you attach to the fears that surround you.
This is the sea you swim in. Once you’re aware of it, you can make
more conscious choices.

You Can Feel Like You Don’t Have What It Takes to Survive
 When you come into the world with an Open Spleen Center, you
may feel like the world doesn’t have your back and that you don’t
have the resources it takes to survive. This is not the case, but it has a
bit of the flavor of a girl being born into the patriarchy. What hap-
pens is that you tend to be attracted to people with Defined Spleens
in an effort to feel some stability, some safety. My wife tells the story
of her mom taking her to kindergarten. On the first day, my wife had
a terrible panic attack. She was filled with so much anxiety that her
mother kept her home that year. Often people with Open Spleens are
attracted to Defined Spleens as they naturally long to feel safe.

You Tend to Hold on to Things Longer than You Should

As a result of the insecure feeling that people with Open Spleens

can have, they tend to attach to people and things longer than is safe
for them. A job or a relationship can give a sense of security even if
you know it is not healthy for you. That distorted intuitive sense
latches on and convinces you that you must stay or something dire
will happen.

You Shouldn’t Try to Be Spontaneous

With an Open Spleen, you’re not designed to be spontaneous. I

know that sounds funny, but if you think about it, you’re influenced
by the people around you. This is especially true for people with
Open Spleens when they’re around people with Defined Spleens.
Let’s say you’re with someone, and you feel safe. You make a deci-
sion based on that feeling of safety. That person leaves the field, and
suddenly, you don’t feel safe with that decision. Your Open Spleen is
variable. It’s in this context that it’s better to take time before you
leap into a decision that might not be the best for you. Let me use an
example of going to see a doctor. The doctor recommends a standard
dose of ibuprofen for your headaches. You know that you’re sensi-
tive to medications, but you feel safe with the doctor and so you take
the dose recommended. It’s too much for your system. Your stomach
flares up, and you have a huge reaction.
While it’s true for everyone, with an Open Spleen, you have to re-
member that you know better than anyone what’s good for you.
Don’t let yourself be pushed into something because it feels safe in
the moment. This feeling of unsafety is so unconscious that it’s cru-
cial to recognize when you feel unsafe and to stay present in your
body rather than check out.

You Can’t Rely on Your Open Spleen to Make Decisions

This brings me to the last grapple: You can’t rely on your Open
Spleen to make decisions. And it’s not because you don’t have intu-
ition. You can be more intuitive than any Defined Spleen person. It’s
just that your intuition can be variable. You never know when it’s
going to come or how it’s going to show up. Will you have a vision?
Maybe you’ll just know something. Maybe a smell will trigger a
download of information. Then again, maybe you’re picking up on
someone else’s intuitive hit that’s not yours at all. You’re better off
using your Strategy and Authority to make your decisions if you
want to be in alignment with yourself.

Open Spleen Center Gifts

When healthy, you discern what is yours and what is not

yours.
You have a fine-tuned sense of what’s healthy for others.
You can be a deep wisdom healer.
You can be exquisitely intuitive.

When Healthy, You Discern What Is Yours and What is Not Yours

I spoke at length regarding the challenges of your sensitive sys-

tem, but there is an upside. If you are healthy, not merging with oth-
ers, you can discern what is yours and what is someone else’s. This
protects you from taking on their fears, their ill health, their lack of
well-being; however, that might show up. You are capable of having
a clear boundary.

You Have a Fine-Tuned Sense of What’s Healthy for Others

 With that clear boundary, you can allow the energy of people to
flow through you without attaching to it. As you do, you get large
amounts of information about them and what’s going on with them.
You can know what would or would not be healthy for someone.
When I get absorbed, say while I’m writing this book, I can forget
my body and just go without stopping. My wife feels me going out
of balance and tells me it’s time for a break or it’s time to go to the
beach. If she merges with me, she can go to exhaustion.

You Can Be a Deep Wisdom Healer

With your clear boundary and your clarity about what is happen-
ing for another, you have the potential to be a deep wisdom healer.
You’ll need to follow your Strategy and Authority to know when
and with whom to share your wisdom. You can be an extraordinary
bodyworker, therapist, psychic healer – anything that requires tun-
ing in deeply to someone’s system.

You Can Be Exquisitely Intuitive

When you feel safe, when you’re not tossed around by the fears
and anxieties of others, you can take in and amplify the well-being of
the world. From that ground, you can be alert from a wise and open
place. Here I picture the cat again, at rest, yet aware of its surround-
ings. This is a lovely quality that opens you to what is present and
what is needed in the present. We call this intuition.

The Open Spleen Center as a God Portal

You open to the space of awake awareness, non-reactive

alertness.
You ground in clarity.
You understand there is no death.

You Open to the Space of Awake Awareness, Non-Reactive Alertness

 When you have cleared your filters of fear and anxiety and are no
longer identifying as a fear-based person, something magical hap-
pens – you open into a state of awake awareness. This is a place
where you are no longer reacting to threats and can move from a
place of clarity. There is a heightened alertness that responds natu-
rally to what is arising. Byron Katie used to ask us if our child was
drowning, would we rather have someone who is gripped by terror,
or someone who is at peace, clear, and unafraid to save our child?
Obviously, when you’re freed from fear, you act with more ease and
clarity. You’re not clouded by the fear distortions. You have more in-
tuitive capacities available to you. When you’re not reactive, you can
take in the full picture and respond from clarity and wisdom.
I remember Katie telling the story of being in what we would
consider a bad part of Los Angeles. A fellow came up to her with a
gun. He pointed it at her, and said, “I’m going to kill you.” Katie,
fearless, told him she didn’t think that was a good idea. She ex-
plained that he would feel badly afterward. I can’t remember what
else she said, but basically, it wasn’t about her at all. Of course, she is
alive today. He put the gun down and they hung out together.

You Ground in Clarity

When there is nothing between you and the world, through your
Open Spleen Center, you open into a clarity that is beyond the mind.
It is a Oneness that understands that fear is a wave, not a particle.
When you grab hold of fear and identify with fear, it shifts into dual-
ity and becomes a particle, a thing, an object. It looks real. With clari-
ty, you understand the workings of the immune system, of time, of
intuition. You comprehend true well-being. You realize that there is
no self (person) to be attacked, so there is nothing to attack. There is
no time so there is no pressure around time. There is only the present
moment. You stabilize in wellness, vitality, joy. With your clarity, you
naturally know when and how to move in the world from an intu-
itive knowing. I’ve watched people with this awake awareness. It’s
like watching a sunrise in action. The question of safety doesn’t even
arise. The past, the future is non-existent. I remember Katie saying
something like, “Even the present is a past story.” This is a radical
portal that is almost inconceivable from where most of us sit. And
yet, the wisps of possibility touch us.

You Understand there Is No Death

Here is another portal that may seem out of reach, but it is quite
real. When you have transcended the fight/ flight/ freeze response
and are liberated from the story of time – from the experience of a
past and future – there is only the safety of the now. In this space,
there is no death. I can remember some of the most shocking pieces
of The Work people did with Katie were around death. Especially
the death of a loved one. Katie would ask, “Is it true that they’re
dead?” I’d watch over and over as she led people through this pas-
sage. Except for your story, can you know they’re dead? I’m not going to
walk you through this one, but instead, refer you to her website
where she has numerous videos of working with the death of loved
ones. Here you can do the work alongside her and come to know the
truth for yourself. www.thework.org
Meanwhile, I’ve watched Charity, with her Open Spleen, be clear
about her husband Ollie’s death. Before his death, she says she was
always afraid. With his death, her fear evaporated. She became crys-
tal clear that death wasn’t the end. Her clarity informs her work with
widows. It guides her in her life. Charity has an awakened aware-
ness that is beautiful to behold.

Working with the Open Spleen Center

Appreciate it, don’t fight it.

Know how it works.
Clean the filter.
Witness fear without identifying with it.

Appreciate It, Don’t Fight It

I know there are a lot of challenges that come with an Open

Spleen. But if you can come to peace with your Design, you’re going
to be better placed to use your Open Spleen for your well-being
rather than being used by it and risking burnout and poor health.
What happens if you appreciate your Open Spleen? What would
your world look like if you saw its gifts and understood it as an as-
set? When you stop fighting and instead appreciate your Open
Spleen, it becomes a superpower, an asset. Instead of being in the
world fearfully, you’re in the world open. It’s quite a shift.

Know How It Works

Appreciating your Open Spleen is a start. But to access its super-

power potentials, you must be clear on how it works. Remember, the
Open Spleen is taking in the fears, anxieties, and health (both ill
health and well-being) of others. You’ll need to be aware of what’s
yours and what belongs to other people. Without this knowledge,
you cannot experience the gift of ease and joie de vivre.
Keep in mind as well that with an Open Spleen, you are more
sensitive in your body. You must pay extra attention to how you feel,
what works for you, and what doesn’t. You do not do well with toxic
food or environments.
With your sensitivity to others, and your vulnerability around
safety, be aware that you may be attracted to people that will give
you a sense of ground. Remember, that doesn’t mean they are good
for you. Keep your eye on the part of you that may hold onto people
and things longer than you should.
Also, keep in mind that you may try to make spontaneous deci-
sions in order to relieve the pressure of fear. This will inevitably
backfire. Take your time. Refrain from being impulsive. Ground on
your Strategy and Authority when making decisions rather than
what feels right in the moment.

Clean the Filter

When working with any Open Center, there is always the issue of
cleaning the filters. The filter of the Open Spleen gets clogged with
past fears, current fears, future fears, collective fears, and ancestral
fears. We look to fear to keep us safe. This is an old pattern that we
are shifting. As you work with your Open Spleen, remember that the
present moment is the safest place to be. We become unsafe when we
leave our bodies. At that moment, we abandon our sense faculties
and awareness. We left our bodies as an adaptive strategy when we
couldn’t tolerate what we were experiencing. We didn’t have the ca-
pacity as young people to make sense of and process the challenges
that permeated our world. But now, with a witnessing observer, you
can allow yourself to witness the fear or anxiety without identifying
with it, without becoming one with it. This is a huge step toward lib-
erating ourselves from out-of-date patterns.

Witness Fear without Identifying with It

Yes. I just spoke to this. The big task in working with the Open
Spleen is witnessing without identifying. Let’s say you’re with a
friend who is having a meltdown. They’re terrified about having
mandated vaccines, for example. Are you going to merge with that
fear? Are you going to scare yourself with a future story? Or can you
allow your friend to have their experience while you maintain your
boundary? Maintaining a boundary doesn’t mean you sit back and
don’t take action. When you’re not afraid, you know what action to
take, if any. But if you fall into the fear soup, you can only react;
you've lost the awareness to respond. When you have a strong wit-
nessing observer, you can see the fear loops for what they are and
disrupt the trance of terror.

Helpful Tools

Develop a strong witness.

Get help.
Utilize energy medicine.
Do what you can to stay in your body!
Enjoy variation.
Meditate.
Do inquiry.

Develop a Strong Witness

 Make an intention to note when you get triggered, anxious, or
afraid. Write down what happened and what triggered you. Make
an intention to step into your witness. This simple act will begin to
shift your perspective from being the victim of your fear to witness-
ing your fear. You can do this.

Get Help

Fear is tricky. It seems so real. And even to approach fear or anxi-

ety can be scary to do alone. The last thing you want to do is activate
more fear without the means to process it. If this is your situation,
get help. Look up a NARM therapist in your area. A NARM thera-
pist can help you ground in the present and look at what’s scaring
you. Or listen to Joe Dispenza meditations. My wife finds these ex-
tremely helpful. There are numerous great resources, including hir-
ing a coach to help you with Tapping. Explore what you need and
give yourself the medicine you need.

Utilize Energy Medicine

There are many forms of energy medicine available today, and

you’ll need to see what resonates with you. Perhaps you could bene-
fit, as I did, from homeopathy. Maybe acupuncture or ayurvedic
treatments and herbs could help balance your doshas. Or perhaps
you’re drawn to do Reiki or some other form of energy healing.
Again, find your medicine. Don’t give up until you know what
works to support you to be in balance with yourself.

Do What You Can to Stay in Your Body!

Never underestimate the power of being conscious in your body.

Do whatever works for you. Is it movement? Getting bodywork?
Qigong? Running? Breathwork? Yoga? Sense your arms and legs.
Sense your belly and your perineum. Your body is your friend. You
need it for your survival, for your health and well-being. Treat it
well. If you find yourself unable to stay present in your body, get
help. The body is the storage unit for our fears. They lodge inside
our muscles, our organs, our fascia. You cannot just cognitively think
past traumas away. Our habit is to bury our fears or shame ourselves
for not being more mature. From your witnessing observer, you can
see that the fears need to be held, welcomed, and allowed in order to
be liberated. You have to be in your body to do the work of clearing
the filters.

Enjoy Variation

When I asked my wife what tools she would recommend, she

talked about variation. She goes to well-being, to pleasurable experi-
ences to dissipate fear and anxiety, to foster her boundary. She sug-
gests going to nature, listening to music, taking baths. I like these
suggestions. They point to the well-being aspect of honoring and
working with your Open Spleen Center. Maybe you have some fa-
vorite things you do to relax your nervous system.

Meditate

It’s probably obvious by now that this is one of my go-to choices

for just about everything. When you give yourself the gift of medita-
tion, you begin to develop the witnessing observer. You also begin to
dissipate the electromagnetic charge of your thoughts, your feelings,
and your encounters. You begin to make a turn toward yourself.
Leslie Temple Thurston has some incredible guided meditations that
you might consider. You might also consider doing Byron Katie’s
meditation of putting your fears on a cloud and watching them pass.

Do Inquiry

Like Meditation, inquiry is a staple in my toolbox. Inquire into

your fears. See what you discover. Here is a list of possible inquires:

Inquiry #1:
Make a list of your fears daily – are they real? Look them in
the eye.
Inquiry #2:
The Work of Byron Katie
Who or what are you afraid of?
Write a worksheet on your fears.
(See Resources.)

Inquiry #3
Use the Squares Technique
(See Resources.)
Here are some ideas for squares:
The desire to be afraid
The fear of being afraid
The desire to be courageous
The fear of being courageous
The desire to be healthy
The fear of being healthy
The desire to be unhealthy
The fear of being unhealthy
The desire to listen to your intuition
The fear of listening to your intuition
The desire to shut down your intuition
The fear of shutting down your intuition
The desire to be in your body
The fear of being in your body
The desire to dissociate
The fear of dissociating
Inquiry #4
Do the Five and Five inquiry into your fears.
(See Resources.)
Take time to allow your fears to arise. Be present to them. Can
you just be with them?
RECAP
Okay. You’ve taken time to learn about your Spleen Center. By now
you are hopefully more aware of your relationship to fear, time, your
health and well-being, and your intuition. You’ve gotten clear on the
difference between an Open Spleen and a Defined Spleen. You’ve
looked at which Channels or Hanging Gates you have coming off the
Spleen. Maybe you’ve had some revelations about yourself. Take
some time to reflect and consider how the information impacts you.
Is it helpful? Do you have new ways to understand and work with
your fear? Take some time to journal about your awareness. Stay
connected to your Spleen Center. Continue the exploration.
With the Spleen Center, we conclude our foray into the nine
Centers. I hope you have a better sense of your relationship to the
Centers in your Design and how best to work with them, with your-
self or, with others. Understanding the power and the value of the
Centers in our lives, we can now turn to look briefly at how the
Centers interact electromagnetically between people. This is the next
level of complexity and an intriguing aspect of Human Design. In
the following chapter, we’ll begin to see how the puzzle pieces fit to-
gether. This is where we begin to discover how our quantum bodies
impact each other.
 IV

LOOKING FORWARD
 15

ELECTROMAGNETICS

LOOKING AT YOUR C HAR T

IN RELATION TO OTHE R S

U
nderstanding ourselves through Human Design is incredi-
ble, but some of the biggest revelations come when we look
at our charts in relation to others. That was the case for me
when I first found out that my wife, as a Projector, had a fun-
damentally different operating system than I, as a Generator, had.
That gave us and continues to give us insight into our relationship.
As I’ve learned more about Human Design, the exploration of our
differences has deepened to include our differences in Definition and
Openness and to explore how that manifests in our relationship. This
is like having a key to the treasury.
I recently asked a group of students who were completing their
training what their biggest takeaways were. One coach, an amazing
intuitive, said that in her case, it was realizing that her husband has
an Open Head and she’s got a Defined Head. She said, “I’ve been
married forty years, we have a good marriage, and I can see the frus-
tration I’ve had in my marriage has been around this difference. I
don’t understand why he can’t answer a question. I ask him what he
wants for dinner, and he doesn’t have an answer. He doesn’t know.
It drives me crazy.” Her husband happens to be a Manifesting
Generator, and this is where the complexity comes in. She’s learned
that when she asks him yes/ no questions, he can respond, but when
she asks him an open-ended question, he’s lost. It’s like the light has
dawned for her. She said, “He’s walking around holding his head
and saying, ‘I have an Open Head! I have an Open Head!’” Now in-
stead of frustration, they’re having great fun teasing each other
about it.
There is so much to play with here, and there are a few things I
want to make sure to at least introduce you to before I send you off
into the world. We’ve explored the meaning of the Centers and how
to work with them. Now we need to put some pieces together and
see how Openness and Definition in the Centers interact in an inter-
personal way. We should also examine some of the ramifications.
Honestly, this could easily be an entire book in and of itself, but for
now, we’ll touch on some of the fundamentals to get you started.
This is where you learn about yourself in relation to your partner,
your children, and your clients. In addition, you’ll begin to under-
stand the impact of the transiting planets on your quantum body.

DEFINITION TR UM PS
OPENNESS
One thing to remember is that Definition trumps Openness. What do
I mean by that? Where you have Definition in your chart, you will be
impacting people who are Open in the places you have Definition.
You’re providing them access to that Definition, and the theme of
that Definition. They’re taking you in and amplifying what you’re
bringing to the field. Your Definition empowers other people. For ex-
ample, all of my Defined Centers are in the lower Centers: the Sacral,
ESP, Spleen, and Root. I bring ground wherever I go. I don’t have to
try, I just do. That is the feedback I consistently get from people.
If you’re a Manifestor or a Manifesting Generator, you have a
Motor to your Throat Center. You automatically, electromagnetically
empower people. Everyone around you has access to a Motor to the
Throat. You are a walking gift. Remember in Chapter 8, on the
Throat Center, I said that if Human Design were a game, you would
win the game by getting a Motor to the Throat Center. That enables
you to create and to have your communication heard. In effect,
Manifestors and Manifesting Generators help everyone win the
game. They offer invaluable assistance.
So, your Definition empowers the people around you. When I’m
around my wife, her Defined G Center gives me a more solid sense
of identity. My Defined Spleen Center gives her a sense of security.
As a Projector, when she’s around me, she can tap into my abundant
Sacral energy and take action that would not have been available to
her on her own.
Your Definition can also do the opposite. Remember that
Definition works in polarities, in duality. With my Definition in my
lower Centers, I am capable of losing my ground and impacting peo-
ple with my lack of ground. Likewise, someone with a Defined Will
Center can have low self-esteem because they are not exercising
power in a way that is invigorating and enlivening. People with
Open Will Centers can take in and amplify that negative self-esteem.
They’re vulnerable to mistaking it for their own.
Where you have Definition in your chart gives you privilege.
How are you going to use that access to power? You have natural re-
sources that someone with an Open Center doesn’t have consistent
access to. You can find yourself, like my student, getting frustrated
with or not understanding why people can’t do things that are nat-
ural to you. You can be ignorant about their experience, judge them,
think they’re inept, and more. For example, if you have a Defined
Will Center, you can say you’re going to do something and go do it.
Someone with an Open Will Center doesn’t have that luxury. As a
coach, when people are around you, they can break through person-
al limits and accomplish things they just can’t sustain when they’re
out of your auric field. If you’re thinking they should be able to,
you’re not seeing them or able to work with them skillfully. You’re
not differentiating.

Openness Can Get Overwhelmed and Burned Out by Definition

There is another side to this equation. When Definition meets

Openness, the person with the Open Center is, as you’ll recall, taking
in and amplifying the Definition. A few things can happen: If the
person with the Open Center is not following their Strategy and
Authority, they can take in the Defined energy and feel over-
whelmed by it. If they are not discerning in their witness, they can
burn themselves out. For example, with my Defined Sacral, I can go,
go, go, go. I like to take my wife on my go ride. She can easily get
overwhelmed by all that I am doing, and instead of accessing that
Sacral energy, she can go offline into a collapse. Or she can push and
go, not discerning or claiming her limits and burn out. This doesn’t
serve either of us.

Get Out of the Rain!

When you think of your Open Centers, think about being impact-
ed by rain. When I lived in a rainforest in Upcountry Maui, the back-
side of our home had a continual mist of rain, while the front side
was often rain-free. If you have an Open Emotional Solar Plexus, you
can be taking in someone’s emotional distress (the backside of the
house), then step to the front of the house for a break. Once you step
out of the rain, you can be completely free of distress. We often tell
people who have an Open Emotional Solar Plexus to get out of the
emotional field – to take a walk. So, if you’re in the presence of
someone who is upset, it’s like being in a torrential rainstorm. You
have to decide if you want to stay out in the rain, and if so, what
kind of rain protection you are going to use. When you’re in the
presence of someone’s Definition, you’re in their rain, and they are in
yours. It can be a gentle mist or a full-on storm. In either case, it will
be impacting you.

It’s Complex
 The Definition in a person can manipulate and dominate the
Openness in a person, either knowingly or unknowing. If a person
isn’t honoring the Openness of their puzzle piece and following their
Strategy and Authority, they can feel victimized by another person’s
Definition.
It’s not as simple as Definition equals dominance though. The
Open Centers have access to huge amounts of energy – much more
than the Defined Centers have – limitless, actually. It’s just not sus-
tainable. I have this image of Karen Curry Parker describing
Thanksgiving dinner at her house where she’s the only one with a
Defined Throat and she can’t get a word in edgewise. The Open
Throats are so busy vying for attention and escalating their voices to
be heard that there’s no space for her to speak. I’ve had numerous
clients with Open Emotional Solar Plexuses say they were the emo-
tional one in the family. Imagine taking in the feelings for the family
and amplifying them – believing they were yours. Open Centers that
are not operating in alignment with their Strategy and Authority can
unknowingly overwhelm Defined Centers.
On the other hand, someone with Definition may have some
wounding due to having shown up in the world with their
Definition. They may shut down their power to be safe. I’m thinking
of Manifestors with Motors to the Throat Center who are afraid of
impacting people, so they shut down. This is a real loss for everyone.
Coming to know and respect both your Openness and Definition
is helpful when it comes to understanding yourself, your family,
your friends, and your clients. It’s really amazing.

THE WAYS OPE N C E N TER S

ACCESS DEFI N I TION
There are a few ways that Open Centers access definition:
 Being in the presence of someone who has Definition where
you are Open
Having an electromagnetic hookup with someone
Connection with the planetary transits

Being in the Presence of Someone’s Definition

If someone has Definition where you have Openness, you are au-
tomatically taking in their Definition, whether it is a Hanging Gate,
Channel, or Center. You have access to those energies and will be im-
pacted by those themes. When I’m around my wife, I have access to
her Defined Head, Ajna, Throat, and G Center. When she’s around
me, she has access to my Defined Sacral and Spleen Center.

Having an Electromagnetic Hookup

When you and another person have the same Center Open, there
is another way you can access Definition in those Centers, Gates, or
Channels. This is through an electromagnetic hookup. So, say I have
the Gate 20 In the Now, and you have the Gate 57 Intuition. When
we come together, our Hanging Gates create a Channel. The Centers
on either side of that Channel – in this case, the Throat Center and
Spleen Center – become Defined during the time we’re in contact
with one another. Each of us then is granted access to speak our intu-
ition. This is a hookup I often attract and love in my work with peo-
ple. I have this with my wife, as well. It’s lovely. Some of these
hookups are a little more challenging. For instance, if you have the
Gate of Rhythm, Gate 5 and you’re married to someone with the
Gate of Extremes, Gate 15, you may have some challenges working
out your schedule. I worked with one couple who had this configu-
ration. The husband had a job that took him away for weeks at a
time. He loved his job, but his wife needed rhythm and a routine she
could count on. Once they discovered this difference, they were able
to stop blaming each other and instead respect and support each oth-
er's needs.
 Chart #53 57-20 Electromagnetic Hookup

Connection with Planetary Transits

Wherever the planets are transiting, you're picking up on those

energies as well – and amplifying them if they land where you’re
Open. For example, as I’m writing this, Saturn is in Gate 61, and
Uranus is in Gate 24, completing a Channel from the Head Center to
the Ajna Center. So, around the world, everyone who has an Open
Head and Open Ajna and/ or is Open in the Channel – or any part
of the Channel 61-24 – is experiencing an amplification of thinking
and processing energy. We are all attempting to reach into the mys-
tery. We are trying to process what we discover in a way that can be
understood. This is mutative, Individual Knowing Circuit energy
which can have a touch of melancholy. It is an active mind! Your re-
sponse to these planetary transits that give you access to Definition
in those themes will depend on how much Openness you have in
your chart. Where you are Open will impact what’s being bombard-
ed, and how well you are able to process the energy. I was working
with a client who was feeling overwhelmed. We looked at the tran-
sits and she was being blasted by the planetary energy. All but one of
her Centers was being experienced as Defined. This brings a new
level of understanding as to what might be influencing you at any
given time.

Chart #54 Saturn Gate 61 Uranus Gate 24 Channel Defines Head

and Ajna

Electromagnetic hookups can also happen between your chart

and planetary transit. Right now, for instance, Venus is transiting
Gate 46 Love of Body. I have Pluto in my Conscious Gate 29
Perseverance. The two of them form a Channel and the Centers on
either side become Defined. My Sacral Center is already Defined, so
it’s minimally impacted, but my Identity Center gets impacted dur-
ing this transit. And remember, it’s a theme and it works in duality.
With this transit I can either feel more solid in my identity or I can
feel less solid. Each person will experience Definition due to a transit
differently. This is for you to discover for yourself and to learn about
your clients.
OPEN CENTER TO DEFI N E D
CENTER DYNAMI CS .

Open Head – Defined Head Dynamics

The Open Head

You may find yourself full of questions and pressured to find an-
swers. Or you may find yourself overstimulated with ideas. You may
also judge the Defined Head as inflexible or unwilling to look at the
full range of possibilities.
My wife has a Defined Head. I have an Open Head. When I’m
around her, my Head is constantly working to figure things out and
come up with answers. (She has the Gate of Answers.) If she says
she’d like to ____ (whatever it is, go on vacation, get a new car, fix
something) it’s like she’s pushed a computer button, and my mind
starts spinning, I’m under pressure, searching for the answer. She’s
not thinking I have to come up with the answer, but I am. Sometimes
I have to go into the other room to sleep at night because my mind
can’t stop working around her. I also have to take her certainty with
a grain of salt sometimes. If I know how the furniture will work in
our new home and she tells me it absolutely will not work, I just put
it there, and she’s shocked at how well it works. She wouldn’t have
thought of that configuration.

The Defined Head

You may get frustrated with what you perceive as idiocy, espe-
cially when the Open Heads aren’t able to remember things or know
what they want. You may find them flaky. You may be overwhelmed
by their geysers of thought.
Again, my wife. She cannot believe I don’t remember the amount
of the internet bill or the zip code of the last place we lived. It baffles
her that I don’t remember movies or names of actors. If something
isn’t important to me, it’s gone. At this point, we have a lot of fun
with this difference, but it used to be quite challenging.

Open Ajna – Defined Ajna Dynamics

Open Ajna

You may be in awe of the grounded, clear thinking of the Defined

Ajna and judge yourself. You may be wondering why your thinking
is so hit and miss. Around a Defined Ajna, you may find you have
more capacity to process information than when you’re on your
own. You may question the Defined Ajna’s certainty but have no
luck in convincing them they are being rigid, or not allowing in
enough information to make a wise decision.

Defined Ajna

You take for granted that you have a brain that you can count on.
It’s so natural to you. You are baffled by the inconsistency you find
with the Open Ajna and may not trust the conclusions they draw, re-
alizing that they may change what they think at any time. On the
other hand, you may envy the flexibility of the Open Ajna, acutely
aware of the limitations of your Defined Ajna.

Open Throat – Defined Throat Dynamics

Open Throat

You can be amazed at how a Defined Throat seems to be able to

know what they have to say and say it. You may find yourself talk-
ing more around Defined Throats. Especially in a group, you may
find you feel the pressure to speak. When you do, it’s almost like
you’re hearing what you’re saying as you speak. Sometimes you talk
to try to be seen. You can feel like your voice doesn’t have a chance.
You have to learn to not speak until you’re invited, or the timing is
right. Then you may be shocked by the sophistication of what comes
through. You don’t get why people with Defined Throats aren’t more
nuanced in their language or tone of voice. You may take for granted
your capacity to connect with people through your tone and words.

Defined Throat

You can’t believe what comes out of some of the people who
have Open Throats. What are they saying? Why would they be say-
ing it? Do they need to be so loud and emphatic? On the other hand,
you can be in awe of what they say, and wonder how they can speak
with such grace and ease. The quality of their voices can be impres-
sive. You take for granted that you have access to your voice, and
don’t appreciate the struggle people with an Open Throat can have
in speaking and being heard.

Open G – Defined G Dynamics

Open G

You may feel more grounded around people with Defined G

Centers. You’re in awe of how solid they are with themselves. They
have something you don’t. This can trigger a feeling of inadequacy.
You are compelled to search out a variety of experiences. You can
feel like you’re always a bit lost, looking for direction. You’re open to
a wide swath of society, interested and curious how different people
live and operate. You’re a bit like a chameleon, shifting who you are
with each person you meet. If you’re not in a physical location that
feels good to you, nothing seems to go right. You’re constantly look-
ing to prove you’re lovable, which doesn’t easily come to fruition.

Defined G

You watch in amazement at what someone with an Open G will

do to have an identity. The teachers they follow, the classes they’ll
take. The sheer volume and variety of what they are interested in is
astonishing. You’re curious about things but you don’t feel the need
to pursue such a variety of endeavors. You feel solid in yourself. You
are connected to a stream of loving. Whether you feel loved or you
feel loving toward others, either people or animals, the connection is
there. You may struggle with wanting to feel loved for your authen-
tic self, but you have no clue what it’s like for people with Open Gs.

Open Will – Defined Will Dynamics

Open Will

You watch in awe at the capacity people have with Defined Wills.
They say they’re going to do something, and they do it. Their stami-
na and one-pointedness are things to behold. You feel insufficient in
relation to them. You know you could never do all that they do. It
can be a little hard to feel equal to them. Their competence can be a
bit intimidating.

Defined Will

You can’t understand how people with Open Wills can be so in-
ept. Why can’t they do what they say they’re going to do? Why can’t
they figure out how to do things? They constantly let you down. You
can’t rely on people to do things, so you’d rather do them yourself.
You can struggle to support them. They’re baffling to you.

Open Sacral – Defined Sacral Dynamics

Open Sacral

You feel like you come from a different planet. You feel like other.
You may get tired just by being around Defined Sacrals. You feel like
they can’t possibly have the consistent energy they’re exhibiting. You
can feel that you are different than that. You look at Defined Sacrals
and see people who are on a treadmill. They’ve forgotten how to just
be. When you were younger, you tried to be like them and may have
burned out. You have to watch your energy now. You need more rest
than your Defined Sacral friends, colleagues, and loved ones. Some
of you with Open Sacrals feel you have more energy than the people
around you. You actually can overwhelm people with Defined
Sacrals.

Defined Sacral

You may judge the Open Sacral people for their inconsistent en-
ergy. You can’t count on them to have energy for things. On the other
hand, they may have more energy than you could ever imagine.
They can wear you out. You may not understand their need to be
away from you to get their equilibrium. You might think some of
them are unmotivated. Their capacity for pleasure may confound
you. You may feel rejected when they need space from you or need
to sleep separately from you.

Open ESP – Defined ESP Dynamics

Open ESP

You may be taking in and amplifying the Defined ESP’s feelings

without realizing it. You may think you’re more emotional than
everyone else. You may even be the identified patient in the family.
Sometimes you feel you have to fake feelings because you want to fit
in with the cultural norm. You may not be feeling sad in a situation
that you know you should. You can feel like something is wrong
with you. You don’t have emotional waves as Defined Sacral people
do. When you’re away from people, you’re pretty stable emotionally.
It’s just when you get around people that you never know what feel-
ing is going to whack you. You can be very nice and not always tell
the truth because you don’t want to upset people.

Defined ESP

You may appreciate the evenness of the Open Emotional Solar

Plexus. It can elicit a kind of trust. On the other hand, if someone
with an Open ESP hasn’t done their work and is volatile, that can
make you feel on edge. This engenders feelings of mistrust. You may
not realize that they’re taking in and amplifying your feelings. You
may see them as more emotional than you are.

Open Root – Defined Root Dynamics

Open Root

You watch people with Defined Roots. They can begin projects
and you think you should be able to do the same. You feel pressured
all the time to do things. If someone suggests something needs to be
done, you feel like they’re telling you to do it. You do things to try to
relieve the pressure but nothing works. You can take in the energy of
the Defined Root and do more than anybody but it’s not sustainable.
You can easily burn out.

Defined Root

You operate on a pulse, which can be on or off. You can get frus-
trated when it’s off. You don’t understand why people with Open
Roots think you’re expecting them to do something the moment you
acknowledge something needs to be done. You don’t understand
why people with Open Roots feel so pressured. You also don’t un-
derstand why they can be so anxious. It’s frustrating when they burn
out and can’t accomplish anything.

Open Spleen – Defined Spleen Dynamics

Open Spleen

You have a sensitive system. You know you’re getting sick before
people with a Defined Spleen do. You have to be careful about what
you eat, what vitamins or medication you take. You can either lose
time or be very aware of time. You’re taking in everyone’s fears and
amplifying them. It’s like you feel the fear in the room and can’t get
away from it. You may feel a constant stream of worry without
cause, especially when you’re around Defined Spleens.
 On the other hand, you get some relief from being around
Defined Spleens. It’s as if you’re safe. You don’t have to worry about
the world. You may end up staying in relationships or jobs with
Defined Spleens even when you know they’re not good for you. It’s
this feeling of safety. You crave it.

Defined Spleen

You may feel frustrated with Open Spleen people. The way they
can lose track of time astounds you. They always seem to be late. Or
some of them feel hyper-pressured around time. Either way, they’re
not in reality. You don’t understand how they can be so sensitive.
They take one vitamin pill, and they feel it. Their systems can get
thrown off so easily. It’s like you have to treat them with kid gloves.

COMPOSITE C HAR TS:

PUTTING TWO C HAR TS
TOGETHER
When you put two charts together, you’re looking to see how many
Open and Defined Centers make up the joint chart. If you have a
program to do this, great. I recommend getting the Genetic Matrix
Pro program www.geneticmatrix.com. If you don’t have a computer
program, just look at the two charts and see which Centers are
Defined. For example, my wife has Defined Head, Ajna, G, ESP, and
Root Centers. I have the Sacral, ESP, Root, and Spleen. Together that
leaves the Will Center Open in our joint chart. You’ll also have to
look to the leftover Open Centers to see if any of them have an elec-
tromagnetic hookup. If they do, consider them Defined.

Open and Defined Centers in Composite Charts

 Now that you know how many Centers are Defined and Open,
what do you do? The Centers that are left Open are the places you
will be exploring in the relationship. For example, with the Will
Center remaining Open, my wife and I are designed to explore the
theme of value. What do we value? It’s our frontier. We’re here to
discover and become wise about what we value. Turns out we value
time, connecting to our essential selves, and authenticity. Our lives
have looked quite different from the mainstream culture. Together
we have had to sort through conditioning to find out what matters to
us. The thing about the Open Centers is that it’s continuous explo-
ration. It’s where the juice, the fun, and the excitement are in the
relationship.
There is a ditty that goes along with the composite Centers. It
goes: Nine and O nowhere to go. Eight and One have some fun. Seven and
Two what to do? It’s saying if your composite has all nine Centers
Defined, there is no interpersonal frontier. What I’ve seen is that cou-
ples who have Nine Defined Centers together often are not here to
work out their issues between themselves, but rather to look out-
ward together, toward some project. Eight and One have some fun, re-
flects that from a Human Design perspective, it’s the ideal composite
between two people. You are focused together on what to explore.
With Seven and two what to do…there may be a challenge deciding
which Center to explore. If the Head and the ESP are both Open, do
you explore your feelings together? Or your thoughts? The more
Centers Open between you and another person, the more to explore
– and perhaps more confusion as well.

EXTREMES IN DEFI N I TION

AND OPENNESS WI TH A
CHART
Finally, let me close with a brief discussion on what happens when a
person has all Defined Centers or all Open Centers. Or, what is it like
when someone has eight Defined Centers and one Open Center. Or
seven Open Centers and two Defined Centers. It’s helpful to know
what that means for you if you’re mostly Undefined or mostly
Defined. It may give you some understanding of your vulnerabilities
or strengths. It’s also helpful to know that information when you’re
living or working with people, as their amount of Openness or
Definition will impact you and how you understand and interact
with them. Let’s take a closer look at the charts that have more or
less Definition or Openness.

An Abundance of Openness in the Chart

If you or someone you’re working with has all nine Centers

Open, they’re in the 1 percent of the population called the Reflector
Type. You can read in-depth about Reflectors in my book
Understanding Your Clients through Human Design. For this conversa-
tion, know that these are unusual beings indeed. They reflect the
health and well-being, or lack of health and well-being, in the com-
munity they live. It’s hard to describe Reflectors, they are so open
and so fluid, so at one with nature and their environment. They am-
plify everyone around them. Just know that they have this chart, this
quantum body design for a reason. With their huge Openness, they
have an uncanny capacity to work with the Openness. In some ways,
Reflectors are more equipped to deal with their Openness than peo-
ple who have only a few Defined Centers.
I’ve watched people who have seven Centers Open and two
Centers Defined struggle. Remember, the more Openness you have,
the more you’re taking in, the more you have to work to clean your
filters. The people I know with a preponderance of Open Centers are
destined to do a lot of inner work to navigate their worlds. If you
look at Marianne Williamson’s chart, she has two Defined Centers
and seven Open. She has spent a lifetime working the Course in
Miracles, coming into alignment, and surrendering her ego to serve
the will of spirit. When you have two Defined Channels, and seven
Open, the Channel that creates the Defined Centers becomes more
potent. In this case, Marianne has the Channel of Cycles. She is here
to go through various cycles in her life. She just completed the cycle
of running for president of the United States. She’s also looking at
the cycles of oppression. For example, she’s committed to ending the
cycle of systemic racism in our culture.

Chart #55 7 and 2

An Abundance of Definition in the Chart

9 and 0

If on the other hand, a person’s bodygraph has nine Defined

Centers and zero Open Centers, that’s its own curious phenomenon.
I have only met or worked with a few people with this configura-
tion. What I’ve noticed is that they are who they are. There is stabili-
ty in them. There is not a lot of flexibility. They are not receiving the
world through their Centers, rather through their Open Gates and
Channels. Therefore, when you’re coaching them, their progress will
be slower and more incremental. The more Openness, typically the
less grounded they will be and the bigger and faster the changes.
The more Defined, the more grounded, and the slower and more in-
cremental the shifts. It’s like turning around a motorboat versus a
barge. Of course, where someone is on their path – how much work
they’ve done – will impact how their Openness or Definition shows
up.

Chart #56 9 and 0

8 and 1

I know many people who have eight Centers Defined and one
open. I find this to be a powerful configuration. These people tend to
be very stable in who they are, and the Open Center becomes a por-
tal for flexibility. It’s as if the one Open Center becomes even more
amplified. In this case, you look to see which Center remains Open.
Is it the Head Center? Maybe the Throat or the G? What happens if
it’s the Root? You can begin to feel the complexity the one Open
Center creates depending on where it is. My father had eight Centers
Defined with an Open Identity Center. He was completely secure in
who he was. He didn’t need to be anybody. He didn’t need to be seen
or recognized. I think his healthy humility and openness to all kinds
of people came from his Open G. That’s where he took people in. He
was known for his bedside manner, which I think came from his
Open G. Another coach I know has all her Centers Defined except
her Open Throat. Her grounded presence is magnificent. She’s here
to take in and articulate the voices of the world.

Chart #57 8 and 1

RECAP
In this chapter, we've covered a lot of territory. We looked at electro-
magnetics in the chart. We touched on your chart in relation to oth-
ers. We looked at how Definition trumps Openness. We explored the
different ways to access Definition, including electromagnetic
hookups and planetary transits. We also looked more specifically at
each of the Centers and the dynamics between Open and Defined
Centers. We looked briefly at composite charts and ended by looking
at extremes in Openness or Definition. This is a beginning introduc-
tion. A taste. Don’t worry if all of it doesn’t make sense at this point.
This concludes the teaching portion of this book. Hopefully, it has
helped you get a deeper understanding of the Centers and how they
impact your life and the lives of those you work with and love. With
this knowledge, you have the basis to engage with the Centers at the
next level, to actively work with them to transform your life and the
lives of others. In the next chapter, we’ll look at what you might en-
counter as you embrace your relationship to the Centers and your
unique Human Design.
 16

DEEPENING THE
INQUIRY

WHAT ARE YOUR

TAKEAWAYS?

A
s we come to the end of our journey, take a moment and think
back. What have you learned? What are your takeaways? No
doubt you’ve gotten a ton of information about yourself by
coming to understand the Centers in your Human Design
Chart. Perhaps you understand your struggles and have begun the
process of dis-identifying with them. Or maybe you’re not taking
them so personally. Hopefully, you are clearer about the gifts your
chart holds. Perhaps you are in the process of claiming your gifts
and aligning with them, working to unearth the riches that are your
birthright. In any event, whatever information you’ve let touch you
and move you is truly just the beginning. Now the real work begins.
Take time to deepen your experience with your Centers. See
which tools are helpful for you and give you more of you. Begin to
embody your chart, your design, your blueprint. As you begin to
recognize that your physical body is a small part of who you are –
and that you are indeed a multifaceted, holographic quantum being
– your world will begin to change. Your perceptions of others will
shift. The belief that you are separate will begin to fall away.
If you are anything like me, you will be compelled to understand
others through this lens. You’ll run the charts of your spouse, your
children, your family, your friends. You’ll want to know where your
clients are Open or Defined. You’ll want to know where your coach-
es or therapists are Open or Defined. A ravenous hunger to know
people will overtake you. This is as it should be. Just know there are
challenges ahead as well. This is not one of those things where you
get the download and you’re complete. Nothing like that. You have
initiated a lifelong exploration for yourself and in relation to others.

There Will Be Bumps along the Path

When you go to share this knowledge with others, you may find
that people don’t resonate with what you’re saying. Maybe, someone
will be like my student who has a Defined G but didn’t feel solid in
his lovability. Maybe you found something that didn’t fully resonate
with you. Does that mean the system is wrong?
You have to understand that we’re shining a light on a piece of
the chart when in fact we must ultimately see the chart as a whole.
The student I mentioned has Gate 10, Self-Love in his chart. With
this energy, you are either self-loving or not. If you are not self-lov-
ing, you can easily go to blame and shame. This pattern could cloud
your awareness of feeling solid in yourself. So sometimes you need
to look from a bigger lens. Other times you may have to relook at the
information itself and see how it might be tweaked to meet the
person.
There’s a paradox here. I’m saying go forth. Explore. Share what
you’ve learned. I’m also saying there’s more complexity ahead that,
when you’re ready to explore further, will bring more clarity to your
understanding. There are questions we haven’t touched on, like,
what’s the influence of a Hanging Gate off of an Open Center? What
about the Channels that connect the Centers? How important are
they and how do they impact the chart? How do the planets influ-
ence the energy of the Hanging Gates or the Channels? For instance,
if someone had their Sun in Gate 1 coming off an Open G Center –
what would that imply? How does Type influence the Open or
Defined Centers? You’ll find a Projector with a Defined Will Center
will be very different than a Projector with an Open Will Center.
You’ll find a Projector who is very Defined in their chart will walk a
different path than a Projector who is very Open.
Then there is the whole question of Strategy and Authority. What
happens when you or your clients follow or don’t follow their
Strategy and Authority. Let’s say, like my wife, that you have a
Defined Head, Ajna, and Throat Center, but you’re a Projector. You
know what you want to say and how you would say it. You’re
grounded in your Head and speech. You just can’t share your wis-
dom, you can’t do your job of guiding people, until you’re invited.
You have to sit with your knowing and wait. So, much of what we
have to learn is discernment. As you can see, there is a lot more to
take into account that will enrich your understanding. But don’t take
that to mean you have to know all of it before you can benefit from
what you’ve been given here. Not at all!
So, yes, go forth! There is a world of rich complexity waiting for
you when you’re ready. But first ground, embrace, and embody the
truth of who you are. Do the work of letting go of the shackles that
have kept you suffering and living a life that is not yours to live.
Deepen your study of Human Design if you’re called to – either on
your own or with others. But I implore you to include your body
and your being. Don’t stop with conceptual knowledge. Instead,
bring what you’ve learned into your lived life.

The Enneagram as an Example

In the early 80s in Berkeley, the Enneagram was in vogue. I’ve

been an avid student of the Enneagram for the last thirty-five years.
It’s been helpful, and I love using it with Human Design. But that’s
not the point. At that time, there were weekly panels where people
would share their experience of being a certain Enneatype. This
helped take the Enneagram out of a conceptual domain into a lived
experience. From there, I spent fifteen years watching Faisal in my
Diamond Training work with people and their issues in the context
of Enneagram. With that knowledge in my bones, I brought a depth
and a wisdom to the work with my clients I could not have gotten
from reading books. And I did read all the Enneagram books I could
get my hands on!
When you are ready to deepen your knowledge of Human
Design, if you can be part of a group or training that allows people
to share their experiences and work the issues of their charts, you
will find a deeper understanding of yourself and others through
Human Design. If not, do your best to stay close to your experience.
When you look at your chart or someone else’s chart, be curious. Be
a listener, not a knower. Imagine you are a ginormous quantum be-
ing sitting with another ginormous quantum being.
 17

TAKE THE GIFT

I
wrote this book because I wanted to open the doors to people’s
minds and hearts. I wanted people to be able to look at a chart
and, by seeing the Centers, know what a person’s vulnerabilities
might be, what their strengths might be. I also wanted people to
not be afraid of the Open Centers. I wanted them to see that the
Open Centers are amazing. They are a part of ourselves that is way
bigger than who we take ourselves to be – they are the connection to
the absolute. To emptiness. The all of life.
I don’t have all the answers about the Open and Defined Centers.
That is an ongoing exploration and something for you to continue to
discover for yourself. But there are many ways to look at a chart, and
the observer will impact what is seen. We are each translators of the
Human Design transmission. This is my translation.
I wrote this book because I wanted to transmit love and accep-
tance of who we are. I wanted to transmit how incredible we are. I
wanted to introduce the idea that we are more than our physical
body. We inhabit these magnificent quantum holographic bodies. We
are as much the space of who we are as the form. We are nothing and
we are everything. The Middle way – not only the absolute nor only
the relative. We misidentify as being our bodies, as being a false self.
Not Self.
We are not an object. Who we are is Beingness.

I wrote this book because I wanted to show how much pain there is
in the Centers and how devastating it is to identify with something
that is not who we are. How misunderstanding ourselves can lead to
dire consequences. I wanted to show how much suffering comes
with the Open Centers and with the low side of the Defined Centers.
I’m calling the suffering grapples. Not to diminish the pain,
which is very real. This is not a spiritual bypass. My intent is to ac-
knowledge the pain without elevating it. Without making the chal-
lenges currency in the way Carolyn Myss speaks of how we have
made our suffering currency. Rather, my hope is to shine light on the
suffering so we can see it for what it is – a misidentification.
I wrote this book to bring a spiritual dimension into the story.
One that shows that the Open Centers operate like filters. Once they
are cleaned and cleared of conditioning, then the doorway to the gal-
axy opens.
I wrote this book to wake people up to appreciate difference. I
wrote this book as a kind of pointing out instructions. A path to
bring an end to suffering.
I wrote this book in response to Charity’s question. She wanted
to understand more deeply how she could use the Open Centers as
opportunities for growth with her clients, her family, and in her own
life. Charity asked, “Could you talk more about the Open Centers as
God Portals?” Hopefully I answered your question.
Hopefully, by reading this book you learned about each of the
nine Centers. You discovered the gifts and the grapples that accom-
pany them. You were introduced to the God Portal for each Center.
You got ideas of how to work with each Center. And, you have some
tools to begin to work with them at a deeper level. Hopefully, you
have a clear understanding of the Centers as opportunities for
growth. Hopefully, you feel confident about using the Centers as you
work with people to support them on their path.
My wish for you is that you take this knowledge and embody it.
Use it for yourself. Use it with your clients. Use it with your family
and friends. Don’t put it away on a shelf or tuck it away in the re-
cesses of your mind. Let it inspire you to see the depth and breadth
of humanity. Let it open your heart and flood you with compassion –
for yourself and all beings. Human Design was transmitted for these
times. Take the gift.
 RESOURCES: HELPFUL
TOOLS

INQUIRY TOOLS

*Five and Five Inquiry

*The Work of Byron Katie www.thework.com
*Leslie Temple-Thurston Squares Technique
www.Corelight.org
*Six Steps to Freedom* www.choose-again.com/philosphy
*Lester Levenson’s Release Technique/ Sedona Method
www.releasetechnique.com or www.sedona.com

MEDITATION
 Tibetan Buddhist (includes Vipassana) www.sukhasiddhi.org
Transcendental Meditation TM www.tm.org
Essential Oils Meditations with Greg Toews
www.plantpranaoils.com
Tapping
www.humandesignforeveryone.com/eftforeveryone.html.
Wisdom Healing Qigong www.chicenter.com

*Inner smile
*Relax your perineum
*Sense your arms and legs
*Ho Oponopono Prayer for Healing and Forgiveness
*Byron Katie Thoughts on a Cloud Meditation
*Mugwort Technique

WORK WITH A
PRACTITIONER

Somatic therapy or bodywork – here are some suggestions:

Rosen Method www.rosenmethod.com
Anat Baniel Method www.anatbanielmethod.com
NARM www.narmtraining.com
Somatic Experiencing www.somaticexperiencing.com
Diamond Logos www.diamondlogos.com

CREATIVE EXP R E S S I ON
 CCESF Center for Creative Expression San Francisco
www.ccesf.org
Speaking Circles www.speakingcircles.com
Megan Jo Wilson’s Rockstar Rising www.meganjowilson.com

*INQUIRY

*Five and Five

I learned this Inquiry from the Faisal Muqaddam in the Diamond

Training. This is a safe and easy way to stop and connect with what
you feel.
With a partner, decide who is the Listener, who is the Inquirer.
The Listener does just that, listens. They keep their focus on their felt
sense while they’re listening. They are holding space so the Inquirer
can hear themselves. There is no engaging the Inquirer with head
nods or supportive grunts. Those interactive relational expressions
pull the attention away from the Inquirer. Let the Inquirer have their
inquiry! Set the timer for five minutes. The Inquirer looks within and
inquires. You may have a theme you’re inquiring into, like what am I
feeling about a situation or person? Or you may just see what is present
for you now. It is not a performance. It is not a way to connect with
the other person. It is time to meet you where you are. Time to dis-
cover what you haven’t had time to feel and know what’s going on
for you. At the end of five minutes, thank your partner and switch.
You could also do this as a writing assignment. Just free write for
ten to twenty minutes and see what you’re noticing in the moment.

*The Work of Byron Katie

Katie’s work is genius when it comes to cleaning up the mind,

seeing thoughts for what they are, and getting aligned at a higher
level. In her inquiry process, you begin by writing your judgments
on what she calls a worksheet.

The Worksheet:

1. I’m angry at ____ because ____.

2. I want ___ to ___.
3. I need ___ to ___.
4. _____ should/shouldn’t ___.
5. ______ is ____ (make a list).
6. I never want to experience ____ again. And, I’m willing to
experience ___ again

Once you have completed the worksheet, take your thoughts to

inquiry with four simple questions and something that’s called a
Turnaround.

The Questions:

1. Is it true?
2. Can I absolutely know it’s true?
3. How do I react when I believe that thought?
4. Who would I be without that thought?

The Turnaround:

The Turnaround is merely taking your sentence, for example, I

want my husband to answer my questions, and turning the sentence
around by putting your name where you’ve got their name. So, I
want me to answer my questions. Or I want me to answer my husband’s
questions.
Ask yourself if that is as true or truer than your original sentence.
See what you discover.

*Leslie Temple Thurston Squares

 This is one of the tools Leslie teaches in her book Marriage of
Spirit. She calls her techniques Unification of Opposites. Here is an
excerpt from her intro in Chapter 2 followed by the Squares
Technique.

The unification of opposites techniques are mental tools to

help us unravel the knots of the mind. They offer a very fast
way to balance our lives and wake up and were given for this
particularly accelerated time we are living in. In fact, speed is
perhaps one of the most defining characteristics of these
methods. They enormously accelerate spiritual growth and
transformation. They are age-old principles, truths from the
ancient mystery schools and traditions, and have been
revamped and streamlined for the modern era.

Divide a page into quarters.

In the top square write: The Desire to have (name what you
want).
In the second top square write: The Fear of having (name what
you want).
In the bottom square write: The Desire not to have (name what
you want)
In the remaining square write: The Fear of not having (name
what you want).
Make a list under each of these.
Usually, we’re unconscious of at least one of the squares.
Be sure to fill in all four squares.
Find the piece you may be resisting.
Once you see the whole picture, the duality collapses.

You’re looking for your desires/ aversions. You could do any

number of squares.
For example:
The Desire to be happy.
The Fear of being happy.
The Desire not to feel happy.
The Fear of not feeling happy.
Play with it and see what you discover.
 You could also do this as a writing assignment. Just free write
for ten to twenty minutes and see what you’re noticing in the
moment.

*The Six Steps to Freedom

This inquiry tool is taken from Diederik Wolsak, the Program

Director for the Centre for Attitudinal Healing in Vancouver. The in-
tent is to use a current upset to access the original experience in our
early life where we attached to a core belief that we were not
valuable.

The Process:
1. Acknowledge you are upset.
2. Recognize that your upsets are never about the situation it-
self, or the other person; they are about you. The upsets are
merely tapping into an earlier wound.
3. Focus on the feeling.
4. Remember the earliest time when you had that feeling.
5. Get clear on what judgment you had or belief you conclud-
ed about yourself at the moment you had that earlier feeling.
An example would be: I don’t matter.
6. Remember the truth about yourself. There are two parts to
this. First, you realize that your judgment or conclusion at the
time was wrong. It was understandable, and inevitable with
the psychological resources you had at that age. Then you for-
give yourself for believing that lie. In place of the lie, you re-
member the truth of who you are is unchanging and
unchangeable.

*Lester Levenson’s The Sedona Method

There is a simple specific pattern of inquiry:

Step 1: Focus on an issue you would like to feel better about.

Step 2: Ask yourself one of the following questions: Could I let
this feeling go? Could I allow this feeling to be here? Could I
 welcome these feelings?
Step 3: Ask yourself the basic question: Would I? Am I willing
to let go?
Step 4: Ask yourself this simpler question: When?

MEDITATION :

*Inner Smile

The qigong practice of directing the inner smile toward yourself

is simple and healing. When you smile at yourself, you slow down,
you disengage. You support the pause. You enable yourself to check
in to your inner experience. Gently curl your lips upward. Smile in-
wardly. You can direct your smile to one of your Centers or to your
whole bodygraph.

*Relax Your Perineum

This is a tool everyone can and should utilize on a regular basis.

It’s like a stress cure all. If you’re not clear, the perineum is the mus-
cle between your sex organs and your anus. Take a moment and
sense it. Is your perineum tight or relaxed? It may take some time to
discern. The first step is simply bringing your awareness to that part
of your body, breathing and relaxing into it. Send your perineum a
gentle inward smile.
When you are afraid, the perineum grabs, impacting the entire
body. It’s like an octopus with arms that reach all the way up the
spine to the head, contracting the whole body. Many times,
headaches can be relieved by relaxing the perineum. If your per-
ineum is tight, you go on automatic pilot. You abandon your
awareness.
*Sense Your Arms and Legs, Drop into Your Belly

This is as simple as bringing your awareness to your arms and

legs. Feel them. Notice what you feel. As you do you, they start to re-
lax. It’s as if they come online. Next, drop your awareness into your
belly. This will ground you and bring you into the present moment.

*Ho Oponopono Prayer for Healing and Forgiveness

I love you, I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you.

Use this powerful prayer to release any debris caught in your
filter.
This prayer is like a natural cleanse for past trauma.
Use it free yourself from any places you might feel less than
loving.

*Byron Katie Thoughts on a Cloud Meditation

First, you put your thoughts on a cloud, one at a time as they

arise. Next you let the thought pass with the cloud. You can do this
anytime or anyplace.

*Mugwort Technique: Regeneration of the Immune Response/

Opening the Channels

Mix the essential oil Mugwort with a lotion or massage oil and
place on the areas below. Mix 20 drops of mugwort to one ounce of
base oil or lotion and then apply. And/ or breathe Mugwort (or sub-
stitutes listed below) focusing on each of the body parts below for
three to fifteen breaths each. Repeat numerous times for a deeper
experience.

Single Oils: Artemisia, Mugwort

Blends: Artemisia Complex, Mugwort Supreme
1. Soles
2. Ankles
3.Knees
4. Hips
5. Palms
6. Wrists
7. Elbows
8. Armpits
9. Navel
10. Navel Minor
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Karen Curry Parker. Thank you for all the riches you
have so generously shared. Like a mama bird, you took the Human
Design transmission and chewed it into bite-sized pieces, offering
them in a stream of love that enabled me and so many others to as-
similate this obscure, complex, crazy weird system into usable nour-
ishment. Your continuous up leveling of this work is an inspiration.
Thank you for modeling, living, and embodying your design. This
book would not exist without your clarity and commitment. Thank
you for your trust and encouragement to walk my differentiated
path. I celebrate the gift that you are and the gifts that you bring.
Thank you, Angelia Lauria, for almost falling asleep on me while
I was giving you a Human Design Session. I so wanted to wow you
– and that did not happen! Instead, your authenticity splashed cold
water on my story, and called me to show up in ways I could not
have imagined. Your spark lights my world. I look forward to more
high play and more cold water when needed!
Writing and publishing a book is not a solitary project. It’s a part-
nership. This book is graced with many eyes and much care:
Huge thanks to my editor extraordinaire, Erika Parsons. You’ve
had my back all the way. Little did you know that you were assigned
to work with the long-winded, run-on sentence queen! Your love,
care, and light is woven throughout this book. Thank you doesn’t
speak loudly enough.
 Thank you to the proofreaders who made a quantum upgrade to
my string of words. Especially Anna Paradox, and Deborah Levering
who read this whole long book! Thanks also to Sue Perley, Michelle
Ezra Jacoby, Marla Mac, Rita Morgin and everyone from the
Quantum Human Design™ community that either looked at or of-
fered to look over my book.
Thank you to the Jennifer Stimson for the incredible book cover
design, and to Troy Ziel for resizing the graphics.
Deep thanks to the Quill staff for your continuous support, en-
couragement, and inspiration this past year: Cheyenne Giesecke,
Ramses Rodriguez, Lesley Mathews, Amari Ice, Tami Stackelhouse,
Meredith Holley, Cara Heilmann, Shaunna Menard, Aicha Bascaro,
and Megan Jo Wilson. There are many staff behind the scenes I’m
not in touch with, but I know my book wouldn’t come into form
without you. Thank you!
Thank you to my Quill Family, my fellow authors who are a bril-
liant, inspiring group of people. Your passion, your commitment,
your capacities astonish me. How did I get so lucky to walk the path
with you? I cherish your friendship and support.
Heartfelt thanks to Deborah Sudarsky, Pat Huss, Melissa Lopez,
Lyndsay Toensing, Petra Frese, Shelia Craig Whiteman, Denise
Anderson, Jill McAbe, Shawna Robins, Janet Farnsworth, Kate
LaBrosse, Po-Hung Yu, Jennifer Powter, Donna Marie Cozine, Cheryl
Stelte, KristaLyn Montrose, Charlotte Friborg, Kat Mulvaney, Karen
Wade, Lisa Nichols, Tammy Babinchak, Natalie Pereman, Tonya
Crombie, Amy Carpenter, Jennifer Stebbing, Jelena Spasovski, Karen
Lorre, Chelsea Liebowitz, Rosine Kushnick, Karinne Finely, Xuemei
Zhong, and Sara Shisler Goff.
Especial thanks to my Quill author cohort, Together We Rise:
Charity Pimentel-Hyams, Ana Red, Sarah Jane Patton, Veronica
Anderson, Robin Theiss, Vera LaRee, Debra Menke, Megan Day,
Tanya Trevett, Vandy Verma, Jessie Wei, Pam Reid, and Jennifer
Seeno. Love and appreciate each of you.
At the tail end of this journey, through The Quill, I was invited
into a mentorship group with Marianne Williamson. It’s one of those
synchronistic things – I’ve had her chart on my desktop for a year.
As I looked at the different Gates and Channels connected to the
Centers, her chart was the one I pulled up. Listening to her coach the
women in the mentorship, I am humbled and realigned. Her clarity
has an element of warm shock. When I read a passage from this
book to her, I was struck by the quality of her listening. I’m calling
on her prayers to shower this book that it might, like so many of her
books have, reach the people who need it most. Thank you,
Marianne, for your unabashed pristine truth. I look forward to high
play with you.
Thank you to my Women Within Circle who have listened with
compassion to my freak-outs, as I hit one glass ceiling after another.
You’ve stood by me as I found my way. You call out the Queen in me
and inspire me to see the Queen in each of you. Thank you, Sheri,
Letty, Patricia, Jen, Laura, and Mary.
Thank you to my Rockstar sisters: Rosine, Karinne, Charlotte, Jo,
Barrie, Jodi –Heartwise Goddesses. It’s an honor to walk the path
with you!
To my friends who have tolerated my absence as I’ve been in the
rabbit hole writing this book: By the time the whales are here I’ll be
ready to play again! Thank you for your patience.
Thank you to John at Genetic Matrix for creating the absolute
best program for running charts, for always being available to help,
for making it so easy to create charts for this book, and for letting me
use your chart for the front cover and throughout this book. www.-
Geneticmatrix.com.
A special thank you to all the people who’ve had Human Design
coaching sessions with me, and all the coaches, therapists, and stu-
dents who have taken my Human Design training. Looking at your
puzzle piece and seeing the magnificence of who you are is nectar
for the soul. Sharing the light of this system, knowing you will take
it and help light the way for others, is the greatest gift of all. Thank
you for stepping onto the path with me.
Heartfelt appreciation for Greg Toews. I cherished and relied on
spending the weekends smelling oils under your guidance. Your
transmission coupled with the oils enabled me to consistently drop
into the openness of my Being. Your work helped remove my egoic
obstacles and gave me the deep rest I needed to do the big job of
writing this book. Spraying Cedar and Marjoram on my aching
hands, arms, neck and shoulders was a lifesaver. As were Mugwort
baths which took me out of the stress zone into ease. Thank you.
Thank you, beloved Jane and Gary. For seeing me from the begin-
ning. Knowing and trusting that what I had to offer would come to
fruition. Your reflections are manna to my soul. I love and cherish
you.
Deepest gratitude to the guides known and unknown who have
brought me to where I am today and continue to light my way. To
name a few: Amma, Lama Palden, Tara, Ram Dass, Faisal
Muqaddam, Leslie Temple-Thurston, Karen Saeger, Ellen Zucker,
Anat Baniel, Ming Tong Gu, Barbara Kaufman, Eileen Poole,
Charlene Tschirhart, Vicki Noble, Marion Rosen, Claire Zammit, and
Pali Summerlin.
And of course, my heart, Byron Katie.
Ginormous love and gratitude to my mom and dad, Dean and
Shirley; my five older brothers, Peter, David, Michael, Steven, and
Chris; and my soul sister Heidi and her husband Jean. What an ad-
venture we’ve shared!
Finally, from the well of infinite gratitude, and with boundless
love, thank you Yarrow (and our feline companion, Kali Ma!). We
did this together. Over the last forty years, your steady stream of
kindness, support, and generosity has watered the garden of my be-
ing. Thank you, beloved.
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Winn is a paradigm shifter. She has the capacity to open people to possibili-
ties that are not readily apparent. Her passion is to help coaches, therapists, and
transformational businesses work more effectively with their clients.
With an extensive background as psychotherapist, somatic practitioner,
Diamond Logos teacher, dharma leader, and Human Design coach, Robin uses an
innovative approach to help people understand who their clients are, how they
function, and how to connect them with their inner guidance.
Always on a learning edge, Robin has trained extensively with some of the
great teachers of our time: Byron Katie, Marion Rosen, Lama Palden Drolma,
Faisal Muqaddam, Anat Baniel, Ming Tong Gu, Barbara Kaufman, Karen Curry
Parker, Pali Summerlin, and Greg Toews. Through her own life experience and
through four decades of working intensively with people, Robin brings a unique
and empowering perspective.
Her superpower is helping people get perspective by zooming out for the large
view, recognizing the distorted thinking and the wounding that creates suffering,
then zooming in to transform that suffering. Ultimately, it’s about recognizing the
Truth of who we are.
Robin is the author of Understanding Your Clients Through Human Design: The
Breakthrough Technology, and the founder and director of the training programs:
Understanding Yourself through Human Design and Understanding Your Clients
through Human Design.
Robin lives on Maui with her Projector wife Yarrow and their cat Kali Ma.
 ABOUT DIFFERENCE
PRESS

Difference Press is the exclusive publishing arm of The Author

Incubator, an educational company for entrepreneurs – including life
coaches, healers, consultants, and community leaders – looking for a
comprehensive solution to get their books written, published, and
promoted. Its founder, Dr. Angela Lauria, has been bringing to life
the literary ventures of hundreds of authors-in-transformation since
1994.
A boutique-style self-publishing service for clients of The Author
Incubator, Difference Press boasts a fair and easy-to-understand
profit structure, low-priced author copies, and author-friendly con-
tract terms. Most importantly, all of our #incubatedauthors maintain
ownership of their copyright at all times.

LET’S START A M OVEM E N T

WITH YOUR M E S S AGE
In a market where hundreds of thousands of books are published
every year and are never heard from again, The Author Incubator is
different. Not only do all Difference Press books reach Amazon best-
seller status, but all of our authors are actively changing lives and
making a difference.
Since launching in 2013, we’ve served over 500 authors who
came to us with an idea for a book and were able to write it and get
it self-published in less than 6 months. In addition, more than 100 of
those books were picked up by traditional publishers and are now
available in bookstores. We do this by selecting the highest quality
and highest potential applicants for our future programs.
Our program doesn’t only teach you how to write a book – our
team of coaches, developmental editors, copy editors, art directors,
and marketing experts incubate you from having a book idea to be-
ing a published, bestselling author, ensuring that the book you create
can actually make a difference in the world. Then we give you the
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world, or to create a business out of serving your readers.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A

DIFFERENCE?
You’ve seen other people make a difference with a book. Now it’s
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 OTHER BOOKS BY DIFFERENCE PRESS

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Guide by Dr. Vanity C. Barr-Little
The Secret Art of Non-Toxic Relationships: Journaling Your Way to a Drama-Less
Existence by Ana-Maria Figueredo
Break Free from Heart Attack Fear: The Survivor’s Guide to Embrace Your Truth, Regain
Confidence & Restore Control by Lisa Steele George
Divorce Like a Boss: The Ultimate Tactical Guide to End a Toxic Marriage and Fulfill Your
Purpose by Jadinah N. S. Gustave, Esquire
Aligned: The Essential Guide to Feel God’s Love and Trust the Answers Within by
Pamela Herzer, M.A.
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s My Mother!: The Journey to Discover and Heal Your
Relationship with Your Narcissistic Mother by Vikki Hibberd
Pay Yourself First: The Ultimate Guide to Saving for Life Events by Lynette Hurd
The Depressed Mom’s Guide to Freedom: Creating Happiness in Motherhood by Susan
Jungermann
Heal from Your Narcissist Ex: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Safety and Sanity by
Heather J. Kent
The End of Imposter Syndrome: Face Your Fears and Become a Successful Coach by
Carine Kindinger
The Shatterproof Leader: 7 Keys to Lead with Love (and Love It Too) by Patti Rose
Living Life in the Middle: The Caregiver’s Guide to Healing, Hope, and Harmony through
Multigenerational Living by Patricia Sheveland
Soul Proprietor: The Entrepreneurial Approach to an Unconventional Life by Robin
Theiss
A Healer’s Journey: The Guide to a Life without Physician Burnout by Subhashie
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 THANK YOU

Thank you for taking this journey with me. Thank you for daring to
enter the wild world of Human Design.
In taking the time to see and recognize yourself, your pain, your
possibility, you begin the process of claiming more of you. As you
do, your puzzle piece gets more differentiated, brighter. Your spark
provides light for others, inspiring them to recognize and claim more
of themselves. As you facilitate others on the journey the light be-
comes even brighter.
Together we light up the world. Together we claim our rightful
place in the puzzle of humanity. If Human Design is knocking on
your door and you are called to a deeper dive, please contact me at:
[email protected].

Blessing on your way,

Robin