Meditation has always been a means of establishing a calm inner presence within that can take us to a direct experience of our Spiritual nature. The question is, how to make meditation truly effective for us as individuals in these increasingly busy times? Through Human Design, it is possible to find out what is energetically consistent within us and what is not. Once we recognize what is consistent within us, we have the opportunity to accept it deeply through meditating on it. When we recognize what is inconsistent, we have the opportunity through meditation to find our wisdom and flexibility in that area of our life and dissolve any conditioning we might have unwittingly taken on. Freeing ourselves of conditioning makes us naturally more open to our own Spiritual awareness.

Acceptance of our life

We are, each of us, a part of a greater whole. Often we are not aware of the energetic connection joining us to all things, considering ourselves, instead, separate and aloof. From time to time we get shocked back into the reality of our essential unity. It can take an entire lifetime to arrive at a point of realizing our interconnectedness, yet it is also possible, if we allow ourselves a space in time, for it to happen in an instant.

Being incarnate in human form slows our Spirit's journey, confining it to whatever the body is capable of within the third dimension. Blindly, we seek experiences and follow desires as though they can free us from this third dimension, but in the end, we are returned to the limits of the human body and the space-time continuum. Our Spirit knows perfectly well that we are not from Planet Earth but how to feel at home here, for the duration of our life and the experiences we are here to fulfill?

In this article, we examine our quest for wellness, wholeness and ease from the context of Human Design and particularly with relation to Meditation. Meditation is grounded in the realization of acceptance of what is.

Meditation and Medication

Meditation and medication both come from the same linguistic source and both relate to the sense of wellness possible within the human form. The one, meditation, is applying access to health from within, the other, medication, is to employ a balancing device from without. Sickness, or dis-ease, comes when we lose our inner balance, whether it is on the physical, mental, emotional or psychic planes. The state of wellness is natural when we are attuned from within ourself. Disease results when we are not in tune with our inner essence, but it is also a means by which we have experiences that help us to find or restore our inner balance. The important thing is to catch the appropriate sicknesses which, along with other lessons in life, will guide us through the deeper knowledge of what we are here to experience.

Each of us is unique, with different requirements for our fulfillment here in life, and each of us has a unique inner state of wellness. Through an awareness of our own specific nature, the Human Design chart guides us perfectly to an ever increasing realization of ourself from within. A comprehension of our own unique Design instantly shows us how to access meditation, which keeps us in a state of wellness from within.

Prayer & Meditation

In the West, with its'religious climate, prayer has been the predominant interface to the Spiritual realms. Prayer, as it is commonly practiced, is a process of engaging from within oneself to make requests addressed to a 'Higher' form. Addressed simply, prayer is a way to talk to the Higher Power, while meditation is a way of listening to that Higher Power.

In the East, there has been an enormous exploration into the realms of meditation dating back over thousands of years. Stories abound of those who, through meditation, have truly come to know their whole being, and in knowing their being have transcended any aspects of suffering on the human level in the Earth plane. Over 7000 years ago, 112 specific meditations were recognized, explored and cataloged. These meditations are still wholly relevant within the human context today. With the new knowledge of Design, you can attune to those areas of your being which are consistent and reliable to you specifically, and those areas of your being where you take in the influences of the world around you, potentially opening yourself up to conditioning or dis-eases which can affect you on all levels. When you can see in your Design those things which are consistent and those things which come and go frequently, depending on the people around you, you can truly distinguish the source of your own inner wholistic health and Spiritual well-being.

The Witness

In all forms of meditation, there is an emphasis on "watching oneself from within," being the "witness." This witness can "sit" in many realms of the being, but one aspect of the knowledge of Human Design indicates that there are three main areas of the being that have a specific potential from which to view our life.

The first one is the connection into the earth plane, which makes it possible for consciousness to interact with form, located in the Ajna Center, or the "Third Eye." The second one is the Spirit Consciousness, which connects from the soul family with all its memories, into the human realm, located in the Crown Center. The third one is the guidance system which connects us into our inter-relatedness within the cosmos and all the elements of this particular "Creation," and it is located in the Self Center. Whether in your Design, these centers are defined or not (See the Human Design article of November 2000) is immaterial in terms of being able to "witness" how one's life unfolds, since in the larger picture of life, considering the interactions we have with the others, the "witness" can always have its view.

The "witness" does not directly involve itself in the running of the life, but rather, detachedly views whatever life's many experiences may bring. When we read your Human Design chart, we are reading your personal "Operator's Manual" for how the mechanism of your being works and interacts with the world around you. If you can appreciate how your being operates within the living body from understanding your Design, then you can most easily accept your own reality and how to engage with it through your meditation.

The Mind, The Crown and the Ajna Center.

The mind has been perfecting itself over thousands of years, contributing to the incredible "Information Age," where our level of information doubles every few months. The mind can find itself overworked and getting involved in things which do not really concern it. Meditation is a means to quiet the mind. Meditation is a space in which we can find relaxation from mind's constant comments in our lives. Mind is not our master, but it has gradually been asserting itself into that role.

In Human Design, there are two centers which correspond to the mental process, the Crown and the Ajna Centers.

The Crown Center is the place of inspiration and conceptualizing. The Crown provides pressure to rationalize whatever confronts you in life, whether from inside you, or outside you. The Ajna is the center of cogitation and classification, it transmutes the pressure from the Crown Center into rational (or irrational) thought, and transposes the input of light through the eyes, or sounds, into a form which can be rendered into speech, at the Throat Center. The Crown Center is our Spirit consciousness, connecting our Soul Family into the human realm to witness the experiences here. The Ajna Center is our connection into the Earth plane, where consciousness can interact with form.

If the Crown Center is defined, then the Ajna Center is also defined, but the reverse is not necessarily true because the Ajna can be defined through a connection to the Throat Center. In the former instance, the mind works under pressure to explain life mentally; in the latter, it can be unpressured, gradually rendering thoughts ready for expression.

The mind processes past information for future reference

Because of the mind's mechanism and the relative time it takes for it to process information, mind is always working in the past. It knows nothing of the present and can only project into the future by referring to the past. If you wonder about this, you only have to get into a skid with your car to see that your mind freezes and evaporates, returning only when the situation normalizes. In that time of shock, your "witness" stays present watching your body steer through the skid!

We can see that the mind is a great source for reference but it is not a place to make decisions, unless you can make yourself happy with a 50% possibility of being right. This is because the mind splits equally into two hemispheres, each having it's own particular viewpoint.

If, in your Design, you have a 'defined' mind, that is, your mind is always 'turned on,' you may have noticed that it never stops thinking, ever! It keeps on rattling away, filing and sorting all kinds of stuff, relevant, irrelevant, but working away beautifully. This is perfect as long as you only give it your attention when you wish.

If you have a defined mind and you want to find peace and quiet in meditation, then the first thing to realize is that you must accept your mind's continuous operation. Once you accept it, you are no longer in conflict with it, and while meditating, witnessing, you give no attention to the thoughts which your mind produces. When you are finished meditating, then you can re-engage with your thoughts and give them all the attention you like. While meditating with a defined mind, you will only find peace in transcending your mind's activity.

If you have an undefined mind, through your meditation you can watch any thought which pops into your head as an amplification of someone else's thinking process. No need whatsoever to give it any attention unless you like listening to and attempting to expound on other people's thoughts. Meditating with an undefined mind, you can experience complete silence within your head. (Count your blessings!)

The Self Center

In Design, one of the most amazing things to realize is that our Self Center, the place of our cosmic guidance, is a place of perfect energetic balance. Our expression of activity or our relating to our life in either a positive or negative way, is always in perfect balance. (This is visible in the diagram of the Self Center within the Body Graph within the Cosmic Wheel.)

Conscious growth towards a higher self will only happen through love and guidance, and love and guidance can only exist through acceptance and receptivity. The Self Center concerns what we set as our boundaries.

The eight hexagrams of the I-Ching which relate to the eight gates of the Self Center constitute two perfect Crosses in the sky which mark off the seasons on Earth as we know them, through the solar equinoxes and the festival days of old. Each of the twelve signs of the Zodiacal wheel find themselves incorporated within the eight gates of the Self Center.

From the Self Center, there are four connections to the Throat Center, where we express ourselves through leadership and giving directions, and four connections to the Sacral Center, from where our Life Force energy can be transmuted into an expression of Self. There is one connection to the Spleen Center, equating our expression of Self into what is healthy and safe for us and one connection to the Heart Center from which we can derive the willpower to launch into expressions of Self which could be seen as 'challenging the norms.'

Your Self Center

If you have a defined Self Center, you have certain roles which you get to play out consistently in life and you have a definite sense of who you are and where you are going in life. If you have an undefined Self Center, you are here to play out all kinds of roles but not necessarily to identify with any one role in particular. This can bring with it a greater or lesser sense of "belonging" or "fitting in."

Energetically, the Self Center is located in the lower chest, in the region of the sternum.

In terms of meditation, if you have a defined Self Center, you can see from within that you have certain particular ways of expressing yourself, and a certain way of "fitting in." You can actually view your "place" in the cosmic scheme. You can witness the movement of energy through your Self Center connecting to the other centers you have defined from it.

If you have an undefined Self Center, through meditation, you will have the experience of an enormous spaciousness (as big as the Universe) which will always feel constrained if limited within the bounds of any particular single expression of self. You may see that you "fit into" a picture with less than obvious boundaries.

If you have a defined Self Center, you might always know 'who' it is you are playing out in this lifetime and how you go about it. If you have an undefined self, you might never know, at least until you have the experience of summating all the Self-defined people you ever met and who for some time or other, 'fixed' your expression of self with their own. Meditation in your Self Center can clarify any misconceptions about the roles you play in this life.

The Self Center is where we find our guidance in this life, eventually from our "Higher Self," which is engaged in the flowering and unfolding of this awesome Creation.

The Emotional Center

The Emotional Solar Plexus Center operates in a wave pattern of highs and lows. Sometimes the emotions run high and sometimes they crash. Emotions are very powerful; the waves of life can be enormous. The Emotional Center is the place of all human pleasures and disasters. Our fascinations with food, sex, music and all the things which are involved in the highs and lows of life can be found in the Emotional Center.

The Emotional Center can be the source of great highs, delights, desire fulfillments and at the same time be the source of great lows, terrors and abject miseries when our expectations are not met. As humans, we cannot avoid the emotional realm, it is our great experiment. The question is: Can we find clarity in the Emotional Center, and if so, how? Can we live out the highs and lows of life without feeling an enormous sense of disappointment with ourselves and the life we live? Can we avoid all the guilt trips dumped on us by religions, politics and advertising which would rob us of our life's delights?

The Emotional Solar Plexus Center is located in the belly area somewhere below the navel, just inside the body. The belly area is also the deepest place into which we can draw breath. In these times of great stress in the world, we find that our breath gets restricted and drawn higher and higher up within ourselves. It can be drawn so high that we find ourself breathing in a very shallow pattern somewhere in the top of our chest. The energetic effect of this, is to starve our emotional being of the energy it needs to function healthily.

One of the absolute prerequisites of finding emotional stability in this life is through breathing, opening up the passage for the breath to arrive in the Solar Plexus. This simple allowing of breath has far reaching effects. Not only do the emotions become more balanced, but also, our relationships to food and sex and all desires become balanced too. Rigorous physical exercise can be a means to facilitate the breathing, but more is possible through conscious breathing. This simply means allowing yourself to breath with an awareness of the breath coming into and out of the Solar-Plexus area. Establishing a conscious breathing pattern into and out of the Solar Plexus Center can take a deal of practice, but any time in the day can be a good time to try it.

The importance of Meditation in the Emotional Center.

One of the amazing pieces of information which came with Human Design is that humanity is getting ready for another mutation. Perhaps the mutation has already happened, but its testing time is coming closer. There have over thousands of years, been various mutations already. For instance, a mutation brought the ability for humans to be able to sweat and lose excess heat through their skin rather than through their tongues and ears, like other mammals. Humans are omnivorous. Anthropologists have postulated that humans are apparently all related to a woman who lived in Africa some 90,000 years ago. This woman was born with a mutation in her larynx which allowed her throat to produce speech and led, through subsequent generations, to the ongoing development of the neo-cortex.

At this time of the "Information Age," where we are becoming completely deluged in every conceivable bit and byte of information, we are entering into the closing stages of an Age when the Mind "rules." A new and sustainable awareness is coming into being and that awareness is in the Emotional Solar Plexus Center. This awareness can only settle on the earth plane if there is an emotional tranquility here. We are entering into the Aquarian Age for which the symbol is two synchronized waves, the age of synchronized emotions.

Living with Emotions

In your Design, if you have a defined Emotional Center, it indicates that you are generating a wave pattern not only inside yourself but all around you. Anyone with an undefined Emotional Center who walks into your presence will energetically pick up your emotions. If you are having a good day, up in your emotional wave, they will start to feel higher than you. If you are having a bad day, down in your emotional wave, they will tend to go down deeper in the wave than you. The person with undefined emotions will feel really low, and may even complain to you about what they are feeling. If you complain back, there will naturally ensue an argument, which being emotional, can only escalate until there is some sort of fight. All domestic strife, wars and fights start through a misunderstanding in the Emotional Center.

If you have a defined Emotional Center, sooner or later, you will see the benefits in aligning with your emotional wave. If you are in the mood for something or someone, then you might get involved. If you are not in the mood, keep to yourself! Whether you like it or not, this is a lifetime of "following your feelings!"

If you have an undefined Emotional Center, you will recognize that you have been bounced around on everyone else's emotional waves all your life! Sure, they are your emotional expressions but they get triggered by other people's moods! If you see someone has a big thundercloud of emotions around them, you might feel it sensible to engage with them at another time, perhaps when they are in a better mood.

Meditation, in the sphere of emotions, starts with breath and leads into detachment from the seeming importance of particular agendas or experiences we "should" have in our life. Meditation leads to a recognition of the natural highs and lows of the emotions. This recognition contributes to a state of awareness, or eventual wisdom that you are neither the "up" nor the "down," but rather the experiencer of these differing views of the delights and pains, the ecstasies and agonies of life on earth.

Life is to be lived and experienced; trying to second-guess what Existence has in store for us is foolish. Most of us do not know what we want until it is staring us in the face or even until it is too late! Meditation gives us the means to accept what is.

Design and Meditation are compatible

If we were living at the turn of the last Millennium, we could truthfully say that what happened yesterday probably would repeat itself again today. The seasons would change slowly and we would always know how our lives changed with them. Our life expectancy would be 50 years, barring disease and war, and we would be cared for in our closing years by grandchildren.

In most of the world, the times have changed. In these days we need to have a greater and greater inner clarity in how we live our lives. We have the means to attune to our inner well-being through Meditation and we have the means to access our way in the world through Human Design. Combining Human Design with Meditation brings a profound and stabilizing impact to our life in these extremely volatile times that are pregnant with the possibility of an "awakened" humanity.

Next month........Human Design and Education in the New Millennium.