The Nine Centers

The human design system is based on several other systems. When you look at the bodygraph, there are nine shapes that we call centers. These centers are based on the traditional Chakra system. If you are familiar with the Chakra system, you will see that there are only seven Chakras and the human design system has nine centers.

In the late 1700s, human design tells us that we as humans evolved from seven centered beings to nine centered beings. This happened when two of the seven centers split to give rise to a total of nine centers. The heart Chakra split into what we now know as the G center and the Heart center. The solar plexus Chakra split into what we know as the splenic center and the emotional solar plexus. 

These centers represent energetic hubs within the bodygraph. These are the biggest units in the chart that can be defined. Each of the nine centers deals with a different type of energy. These centers show up as the nine shapes in your chart and can show up in three different ways. A defined center will show up as colored in the bodygraph. If one of the shapes is colored, we will say that we have this center defined, meaning that you will consistently generate that type of energy within your body. This is how you affect and energetically impact the people around you. An undefined center will show up as white but will still have gates (the little numbers) defined in the center. An open center will show up as white with no gates defined in the center. Undefined and open centers are where we pick up on the energy of other people and experience energy in an inconsistent and unlimited manner. The difference between an undefined and an open center is that an undefined center will still have small amounts of consistency with the gates that are defined and the fully open centers will have more fluidity.

Types of centers

The nine centers can be categorized into five different types of centers. You will see that some centers can fit into multiple categories and, therefore, will be a little more complex in the energy that they deal with. Understanding the type of center will also help you to recognize what type of conditioning the center may pick up on, as well as how this center impacts others. 

Pressure centers: Head Center and Root Center

There are two pressure centers in the bodygraph. These are going to be found at the very top of the bodygraph and the very bottom of the bodygraph. These generate a specific pressure and, based on the location, you can figure out what kind of pressure that these will deal with. People with these defined have a specific way of dealing with pressure. People who have these undefined or open can feel overwhelmed by the pressure they experience from the world outside of them.

The head center is mental pressure, and this can show up as anxiety, worry, or stress from overthinking. The root center is physical pressure and adrenaline, and this creates a pressure to move quickly and get things done on time. These centers both push energy towards awareness centers for processing. You will be able to see that there is a specific flow of energy through each of the centers. Your bodygraph is a channel for energy; you are connected to the divine, and you are here to manifest what you experience in your inner world into your outer world. We will talk more about these pressures when we go through the individual centers. 

Motor centers: Sacral Center, Ego Center, Emotional Solar Plexus, and Root Center

The motor centers each generate energy in a battery type manner. They give you the energy to take action, and this can feel like a sense of motivation. These are what move you forward. People with all four of these defined will have a lot of physical energy that they need to burn each day. People with these undefined may feel like they lack motivation and physical energy, which can be a huge source of conditioning for them.

The sacral center will generate the most physical energy, and this is what motivates the actions of 70% of the population. The satisfaction of the creative process is what fuels this battery and provides generators with unlimited energy. The root center creates both pressure and a motivation to get things done fast. This center deals with time, adrenaline, and evolution, and can be fueled by getting things done by a certain time. The ego center provides motivation through desire. The desire to get something done can provide a second wind that can help you get things done. The emotional solar plexus provides motivation through emotional experience. When moving through an emotional wave, it can sometimes need to be moved and channeled into something. There may also be an emotional benefit to accomplishing a certain task.

Awareness centers: Ajna Center, Splenic Center, and Emotional Solar Plexus

The three awareness centers all have three full channels to a pressure center. The pressure centers push energy through the awareness centers for processing as it flows through the bodygraph. When people have these defined, they have a consistent sense of mental, physical, and spiritual awareness. Those who have these undefined or open may feel lost in what they know to be true.

The ajna center is the mental awareness center and is directly connected to the head center. This processes the inspiration, ideas, and questions that your head center asks you, and comes to conclusions, forms opinions, and answers the questions. The splenic center is the physical awareness center, and provides awareness around what is correct and healthy for the physical body. This connects to the root center, and searches for ways to improve, grow, and evolve in a healthy way. The Emotional Solar Plexus is the spiritual awareness center. This is also connected to the root center, and helps to process the pressure to grow in a spiritual fashion. It provides awareness around what steps in evolution are correct for your soul.

Identity center: G Center

There is only one identity center, and this is the G center. This center is located in the heart space, or chest area, and holds the magnetic monopole. This is a space of magnetism and helps to pull to you what is correct for you and pushes away what is incorrect for you. This center helps give a sense of differentiation between you and what is outside of you. This is where you hold your identity, your concept of self, who you are, and where you are going. 

Manifestation center: Throat Center

There is only one manifestation center, and this is the throat center. If you follow the flow of energy in the bodygraph, all channels lead to the throat. This is where the energy wants to go because this is the portal between your inner world and your outer world. We take in pressure through our pressure centers, come to a sense of awareness, make it our own, and then communicate this to the world outside of us.

Communication is a form of manifestation. It brings the thoughts, feelings, and awareness of what is inside of you outside of you. When you have this defined, you have a specific way of communicating and bringing your inner world into your outer world. If you have this center undefined, you are a channel for ideas to flow through and things manifest differently every time.

Conditioning

A major theme of human design is conditioning and deconditioning. While you can learn all about the human design system, what all of the centers are, how the gates work, your chart is your potential energy. It shows you the gifts that you naturally have. Conditioning is when your nature falls victim to your nurturing; where based on external factors you alter and change and override your natural energetic programming. You learn that it is not safe to be you, and that in order to be good enough, you need to be someone different than who you are naturally. 

Deconditioning is the process of comparing your life, behaviors, and habits to the energy of your human design chart, and seeing where you are not utilizing your full potential. Then it is diving deeper into the behavior that you are displaying and consciously rewiring the conditioned programming, so you can embody your true power. This is where human design shifts from being fun facts about yourself to a guidance system for personal and spiritual growth.

There are five different ways in which we can become conditioned, and we will discuss these in much more detail later. However, oftentimes it doesn’t really matter how the conditioning came to be, all you really need to know is what to do about it. That will be the four step deconditioning process. The first step is recognizing the conditioning.

While there are tons of different types of conditioning, they fall into two major categories: feeling like you are not enough and feeling like you are too much. Primarily, these will be able to be traced to defined or undefined centers, however due to other types of conditioning, these can show up no matter the definition. 

Shadows 

Shadows tend to show up in undefined centers, but can also show up in defined centers. The undefined centers are where we observe the energy of others and pick up on the world around us. Because we pick up on energy here, we tend to judge what we see, and then because we are all a little self-obsessed, we compare ourselves to what we see in other people.

Let’s use the example of school cliques. If you are in school and you are outside of the popular group looking in, you are asking yourself, “What do they have that I don’t?” This causes you to look at them, look for common factors, and compare this to yourself. Maybe you notice that all the popular people are blonde, and you are brunette. You might make an association that says, “You need to be blonde to be popular.” This will lead to shame for not naturally being blonde. You might want to color your hair and change who you are so that you can get the attention that those other girls have.

Shadows will show up when external circumstances cause you to be afraid that you are not enough the way you are. This can feel like a frantic feeling, or a searching feeling. There can be shame and guilt associated with this energy. The underlying theme is that you feel like you are not good enough the way you are.

Blocks

Blocks tend to show up in the defined centers, but can also show up in undefined centers. The defined centers are where we generate energy naturally, where we impact other people. The blocks usually stem from someone else's judgement about our energy, or our perceived idea of how other people will see us. It can trigger a sense of wanting to prove other people wrong.

Let’s use the same example from earlier and change to the perspective of one of the popular blondes. Imagine someone saying, “Because you are blonde, you will always be the center of attention.” You might associate being the center of attention with being a bad thing. This can trigger shame around who you are naturally. Instead of feeling like you are not enough, it is a shame things around being too much. There can be a desire to prove someone wrong and reject attention, or color your hair, or do whatever you can to show that you are not the center of attention. You get the idea that you are too much and that you need to hold yourself back to fit in the box of what is more acceptable. This tends to show up in our defined centers since this is how we impact other people. If we are told that we are impacting others too much, we will pull our energy back and do whatever we can to not be that “too much” person.

Interested in a beginners guide to interpreting the details of your human design chart? Check out DECODED! 

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