Understanding Our Human Design

Food + Mood NYC has explored many facets of health and wellness, and here we have delved deep to understand the energetic powers of our unique human designs. Human Design is a modality that helps us to comprehend and leverage our own individual energetic blueprints. It not only helps us understand ourselves better, but also gives us concrete tools and strategies to try out in our day-to-day lives. All you need is your birthday, time of birth, and place of birth.

We sat down with Human Design expert, Kamyn Asher, who not only read and explained our individual charts but also inspired us to incorporate our unique gifts and challenges into our everyday lives.

Food + Mood NYC: Can you please explain what Human Design is and how an individual’s chart is created and understood?

Kamyn Asher: Just as each one of us has a physical body with systems we can study and learn to better understand, we also have an energetic body with its own structure and operating instructions. Human Design is a modality that helps us to understand and leverage our own individual energetic blueprints. It’s a unique synthesis of ancient traditions – Western Astrology, Vedic Astrology, the I’Ching, Kabbalah, the Hindu Chakra system – and modern Quantum Physics. What drew me to this work is that it not only helps us understand ourselves better, but also (and this is key) gives us concrete tools and strategies to try out in our day-to-day lives. We are encouraged not to take the insights it provides on blind-faith, but to experiment ourselves and see if it helps us better navigate and create a more joyful human existence.

All that is needed to create a chart is a person’s birthday, time of birth, and place of birth. A computer program uses this data to generate what is referred to as “The Body Graph” – which I like to think of as our energetic blueprint. There are many different online sites that allow you to download your body graph for free, but like a traditional astrological chart, it can be almost impossible to know how to appreciate and utilize the information without a bit of study or guidance.

If you Google “Human Design” you will find an overwhelming amount of information. Human Design was founded in 1987 by just one individual, Ra. He died in 2011 and there are now several different schools and philosophies of chart interpretation and application. While they all stem from the same basic concepts and theories, some are pretty rigid and may engender limiting beliefs, while others offer a more inspiring and empowering perspective. In addition, each chart reader will add their own unique perspective to a reading.

Charts have many intricacies that can be explored for years, or even decades. However, there are a few major elements that can be quickly grasped and very practically put into action. That’s my goal as a guide and reader – to offer a few manageable “bite-sized” tools. There are five major categories or types in Human Design – each one coupled with a specific strategy. Understanding just that one broad concept can be a total “game changer.” After type, I next identify which elements of the chart are colored in (defined) or remain white (undefined or open). Each of the primary energy centers (the shapes on the chart) and each gate or channel (the lines) hold a specific, distinct frequency or vibration. I also look at the person’s inner authority as this can guide them more confidently in their daily decision-making.

As you get further into exploring the chart, you learn the way the planetary positions further influence and shape us. I try to relay information to clients that may affirm their most precious gifts, or that may help them shift patterns that have been problematic in the past. Sometimes it’s not about changing our habits, patterns, or perspectives at all. A reading may assist an individual be present to a particularly challenging time. It’s all about meeting that person where they are and not making them feel pressure to change or that need to feel like sunshine and buttercups 100% of the time. A Human Design chart is very much like a fractal – you can go as deep as you want. I try to avoid an overwhelming amount of information. You can always come back for more!

F+M NYC: Once you read and explain a chart to a client, what do you suggest they do with this new information and how can you help them?

KA: There are a few things that happen after reading a chart. The first is that often the person will feel very relieved. In our world we try and fit everyone into a very small little box that the majority of us are actually designed to live outside of! So when I explain a chart (and this happened when I first had mine read) a person may have a moment where they realize that there is nothing wrong with their natural inclinations and they are excited by the possibility of living in accordance to their Human Design. In this sense, there is nothing to do but to let go of the desire or need to fix yourself. Sometimes that requires letting go of all the “shoulds” or external expectations that we’ve consciously or unconsciously taken on – expectations that often don’t align with our authentic selves.

One of the reasons I’m so attracted to Human Design is that it offers tangible strategies to try in the world. What I typically recommend is to test a few of these tactics and observe if anything different occurs in your life. Sometimes this means actually doing something differently and sometimes this means just noticing and being aware of your energy and the way it’s being engaged by, or engaging with, others. For example, a small shift in behavior might alter one’s experience from feeling completely invisible and unappreciated to feeling valued and recognized – and to really learn that this is all happening not on a personality level, but on an energetic, one.

I often integrate additional practices (such as EFT, TFT, meditation, aroma and color therapies, akashic record reading) that may help the client when they come up against a particularly challenging moment, feeling, or situation that stands between how they are living now and a freer expression of who they truly are.

While each of us has our own unique design, all of our energies work together. Our energy dynamics or operating systems are actually impacted by others. Human Design can help us understand why and how romantic attachments form, or how a company can improve the creativity, productivity, and satisfaction of each team member. The information contained in a chart can shed light on all types of relationship dynamics and I would recommend that a person begin with understanding how they as individuals play into the larger whole through experimenting with some of the tools and information given in the session.

F+M NYC: What are the physical and emotional benefits of understanding your human design?

KA: On a physical level, just like any energy system, when we are out of alignment with our truth it can manifest itself in a multitude of physical symptoms or emotional discomfort. Human design also provides a road map for understanding the physical needs of the body including when and how to best recharge, and how to optimize your life force energies and efforts. For example, when it comes to how and when to rest, we are not all created equal.

There’s a lot of information in the chart that can help us understand our emotions. Energy is neutral, but we can resonate with the shadow frequency or the gift frequency of each energetic aspect. If you were to think of these energetic vibrations as a musical notes, anxiety and excitement are the same “note” but on different octaves of the keyboard. When we resonate with the shadow it may bring to the surface or trigger emotions such as frustration and anger. A client with more openness may be someone who not only absorbs a lot of energy that isn’t their own, but also amplifies it back to the world. Human Design can help illuminate what these energies may be and offer wisdom regarding how to more effectively navigate them. Another example: 50% of people have what’s considered a natural, inherent emotional wave (and the other 50% of us are influenced by these waves) – understanding this emotional wave is very important to successfully employing one’s strategy.

F+M NYC: What if there is information in a chart that an individual wants to change about themselves? Do you help them with that change or do you teach them to accept that this is who they are?

KA: It’s a little of both. Your Human Design, like your astrology chart or your DNA, is somewhat “fixed” at birth. (Although scientists are now proving that even DNA that once seemed totally immutable can be altered under certain conditions). That said, you can learn to live and co-create more of the gift verses shadow aspects of any defined frequency or pattern. I believe that energy is neither good nor bad – and therefore there is nothing that we need to change about ourselves at this blueprint level. We can however change the choices we make and the way we interact with others (and the universe); and these changes are important because they help us live a more fulfilling life with greater ease and flow. Everyone’s chart is unique and perfect; while some may appear more “challenging” or “easier” to live with, I believe that we ALL picked the journey we are on. I try to help people accept themselves with compassion and understand that there is nothing wrong with their chart or who they are.

My goal in each reading is to reflect a client’s gifts, potential challenges, and ultimately give them tools to live out their most attuned life. With this new information clients will perhaps be able to see a new way to bring what they desire into their lives. We all have a vital role to play and no one is less than or greater than because of their design. Each one of us is a unique and beautiful being – and I want to help people feel and know that truth about themselves. I consider myself an Aletheist: someone who seeks awareness and transparency by holding space for what has always been present, but has thus far been concealed, to reveal itself.

F+M NYC: Besides your deep understanding of the healing powers of human design, how do you take care of yourself on and off the plate?

KA: I take care of myself by doing the things I love! I try to follow my Human Design strategy and have found that it has helped me enter into the right situations at the right time. In addition, I study different healing modalities that have really helped me form a deeper understanding of who I am. It definitely continues to be a work in progress and everyday I learn something new. I try to meditate daily and listen to my body when it needs to rest or is yearning for a particular nutritional protocol.

I’ve been drawn to creating cacao elixirs and leading ceremonies and experiences with this amazing, delicious plant. It is a beautiful and subtle heart-opener and can really benefit our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. I like to drink a little cacao in the mornings before my meditation as I find that it allows me to meet challenging situations throughout the day with grace and to drop into a deeper connection with the frequency of love when working with clients.

I’m also an avid foodie and wine aficionado. When I have a rough day or feel overwhelmed you can usually find me whipping something up in the kitchen. I’ve lived gluten-free for many years, and at times dairy, corn, and soy free as well. I find great pleasure in creating recipes for restricted diets that don’t allow the limitations to feel like deprivation. And when I want to totally relax, I treat myself to a favorite meal in the City.

Click HERE to learn more about Kamyn Asher and your unique Human Design!