HD in 5: The Heart Center

In this Human Design in 5 series I’m going to pick a particular piece of the Human Design system and give you my Top 5 things to pay attention to and to begin experimenting with.

Looking at each of the energy centers in the BodyGraph is a logical place to start, so in this post we’re going to dive in to the Heart center.

Rather listen than read?
Christine shares this Heart center info in the Coherence Lab.

1. The Heart center is also known as the ego or will center.
It’s important to know that you will see various names used for this center in the HD world. It’s useful to know all three names because each highlights a particular aspect of the function of this center. The Heart center is a motor that pulses energy through our system. When it’s on, defined in us, we really do have the energy to push through things or force our will on others. This works great in the short term to get things done and inspire people to act, but many people are really overusing this center which weakens the physical heart and causes stress throughout the entire system.

EXPERIMENT: Bringing awareness to moments when you are willing something to happen or using your will against another can help you reduce the stress on your heart.

FOR PRACTITIONERS: If you are a practitioner using Human Design as a tool, it will help you to know if your client has an undefined or open Heart center. You can be fairly sure given the world we are living in that they are overtaxing this motor. So, no matter what other symptoms or struggles they might be coming to you with, this inconsistent will and sense of worth is worth considering as a possible root cause of their dis-ease.

Do you have consistent Heart energy? Get your HD BodyGraph here.

2. 63% of the population has an undefined heart center.
This means that a majority of the population has inconsistent access to their own self worth. Though this is correct for them, in the ego driven world we live in, this can lead to a lifetime of suffering. Once we become aware of our undefined heart, we can transform the suffering into a lifetime of opportunity to learn about the full range of value and worth in the world.

EXPERIMENT: Bringing awareness to this mechanical aspect of your design can help you allow your sense of self worth to ebb and flow naturally.

As a practitioner, knowing that the majority of your clients will necessarily have inconsistent self-worth may help you shift your approach to helping them see their own value. 

Want to know if your Heart is defined or not? Get your HD BodyGraph here.

3. The Heart energy is very focused on the material plane.
This powerful motor drives the will power and ego power of individuals as well as that of the tribe. This is the energy to provide food, shelter and clothing for ourselves and those closest to us. This center is tasked with knowing what’s of value and what is not. Often in the not-self state the Heart center is filled with desire—desire for things and situations and relationships to be more or better or somehow different from what they are.

EXPERIMENT: Bringing awareness to what is a true need and what is a desire can bring a lot of peace to an unpeaceful ego center.

FOR PRACTITIONERS: Practitioners can be listening for these desires and help their clients to discern what’s true for them and what may be coming from outside conditioning.

4. The Heart center is the most heavily conditioned center in the system. 
The majority of the wiring in our bodies is focused on keeping our physical body alive and safe.  So, from the moment of birth our body is keenly attuned to the ability of our caregivers to provide that safety. Early on we learn that our safety is reliant on the regulation and happiness of others. If we grew up in situations where our physical or emotional safety felt inconsistent, we very likely developed strategies to focus on keeping other people happy so we could feel safe. This people-pleasing is a deep survival strategy that lives first in our Heart energy. How we feel about ourselves, in large part, comes directly through the mirror of others. If we didn’t feel safe and seen and cared for as children we learned to feel unworthy.

EXPERIMENT: Bringing awareness to these early wounds can help us untangle our inherent value from the projections and reflections of others.

FOR PRACTITIONERS: As a practitioner, it’s extremely helpful to know whether a client has a defined or undefined Heart center. Though both are subject to conditioning, the undefended hearts have less protection from the will, ego and competitiveness of others. 

Are you a coach or practitioner?
The Coherence Lab is experimenting with the future of healthcare.

5. The Not-self talk of the Heart center is all about proving yourself.
The not-self behavior of the heart center is feeling like you have to prove yourself to yourself and to others. This can show up as making resolutions, promises to others, being overly competitive or overworking. There is a deep sense of unworthiness and a need to prove your value through your actions. An undefined heart can get caught up in a cycle of making promises, not fulfilling them and then feeling even less worthy. The mantra for anyone working with the not-self of the Heart center is, “I have nothing to prove.”

EXPERIMENT: Bringing awareness to when you are acting from the unconscious need to prove yourself can help you break the cycle.

FOR PRACTITIONERS: Practitioners can help clients recognize when they are acting from a ‘less-than’ mindset and guide them towards remembering their inherent value as a human BEing rather than a human DOing.

Want to learn more about your Heart in your design?
We can walk through your full BodyGraph in an Essentials meeting.

Of course there is a TON more to know about our Heart centers, but these are a few paths you can walk towards your own insights and contemplations. Please share this post with other HD-curious folks and feel free to drop me a note with any questions about the Heart center.

Go be the YOUest!

Please share The YOUest You with anyone
looking for tools to help navigate these unprecedented times.

USING HUMAN DESIGN TO EXPAND

I have a few tools in the shop to help you better understand your design—a printable journal that helps you work with the 64 archetypal energies we experience each trip around the sun and a little short course in April to help you really understand your design so you can Break out of the Matrix and become the YOUest YOU. I’m also using HD to help build out a model for the future of healthcare at The Coherence Lab.