What Is Human Design? Understanding the BodyGraph as an Energy Map

Maybe you’ve heard it spoken about, or it keeps coming up around you, and you find yourself wondering: what is Human Design, and what is it for?

Here, we’ll unpack what Human Design is, what it is not, and how it can serve as a supportive framework in the lived experience of being human.

A vibrant garden showcasing a variety of plants and flowers, symbolizing sustainable living.

Human Design is an Energy Map, Not a Personality Assessment

Human Design is not a personality assessment or typology system. It is not about categorizing you or putting you into a box that says, “you have this, so you must be like that.”It is an energy map.

Imagine having a blueprint for the way energy moves not only through humans, but through each and every life form. Not only within the individual, but also through the way forms connect with one another. That is what Human Design is.

Understanding the Human Design BodyGraph

When we look at the BodyGraph, what we are actually looking at is a map, a blueprint of the energy inherent within each human. There are nine centers, or main energy hubs, connected by channels. On either end of each channel are gates, the openings into the centers.

Think of it like a system of waterways: rivers and streams flowing into lakes or oceans, and then back out again.

This part is important: everyone has everything. There is nothing missing in anyone. There isn’t an aspect we don’t have. Each of us carries this complete energy system within our being.

The BodyGraph itself holds all of the potential ways humanity can express and experience itself, and the scope of that potential is staggering.

Definition, Openness, and What Makes Us Unique

So what does it mean when some parts are colored in and others are open?

The definition, the parts that are colored in, make up our consistent life force. As information streams through all of us, the way it expresses is shaped by this life force, by what is defined.

Each person’s BodyGraph is entirely unique. No two beings are here to express in the same way. Even when two charts appear similar on the surface, once we move into the gates, the channels, and into the deeper layers of substructure, no two are the same.

You might wonder what happens if two people are born at the exact same time in the exact same place. Even then, differentiation develops through conditioning: the environment, relationships, nourishment, and lived experience.

Conditioning and the Role of Openness

This brings us to the role of conditioning in Human Design. In the BodyGraph, the defined areas represent our life force. The white, or open, areas show where we are receptive and where conditioning occurs.

I like to think of the definition as seeds planted at and before birth. These seeds begin to sprout, sending down roots and growing stems, leaves, and branches as they interact with the light of life. What shapes how they grow is the conditioning we receive through our openness.

Conditioning can be positive or negative. Some experiences strengthen us through difficulty, like a plant enduring a harsh season and growing deeper roots. Other times, growth requires weeding, clearing what inhibits development. And sometimes, we receive nourishment in the form of lessons and relationships that support flowering in midlife and the eventual ripening of the fruits of wisdom we are here to share.

Where Learning, Shadow, and Wisdom Meet

The openness in our charts is where we learn, and the definition is what grows through those lessons. Because definition is always operating, it can be easy to take it for granted.

When we are in aura with others and their life force meets our openness, we take that in and amplify it deeply. This often drives the mind to think, “I should be more like that/them.”

This is the root of jealousy, comparison, and all the “should” stories of the mind.

While these interactions can be painful and distort our authenticity, they also hold tremendous potential for wisdom. When we are grounded in our life force, we are able to experience that of others as well as the force that emerges in the connection.

These dynamics can also reveal our shadows: comparison, competition, jealousy, insecurity, and the places where unprocessed experiences can linger.

Having a map that shows us where our sensitivities lie, and how to anchor into our own life force to alchemize these shadows into gifts, is where Human Design truly shines.

Returning to Our Nature Through Human Design

Human Design is not about becoming someone we are not, fixing ourselves, or following a rigid system of rules. It is a map for helping us return to our True Nature.

In a world where many of us have been conditioned to believe we should be different, often fighting against who we are in order to become who we think we should be, Human Design offers a map. A map that supports awareness of how the “shoulds” and “what ifs” hinder our success, satisfaction, peace, and surprise. A map that helps transform what gets stuck in the shadows of the openness into unique pearls of wisdom.