the root center
Artwork: Aquarian Aquarius
A PRESSURE + MOTOR CENTER
The Root Center is the square at the lowest point of your bodygraph. In Human Design this is our center associated with adrenaline (and the adrenals), of the pressure to be out from under stress, of momentum, drive and fuel. If you haven’t read the book The Upside of Stress I highly recommend it. Or check out her Ted Talk here. Just like everything else in life, stress has a high and low vibration. It can serve us and it can be detrimental depending on how we engage with it and the perspective and stories we place on it, the lens we see it through. In Human Design, the “stress” that lives here is fuel for progress, for getting through challenges, and for adaptation and evolution, when we can understand the energy and utilize it rather than letting it use us. This is where we can burn out if we’re not careful, pushing ourselves too hard, allowing ourselves to turn the pressure inward and internalize the stress. The Head and The Root are both pressure centers in Human Design.
Unlike the Head/Crown, the Root Center is also a Motor Center. We have four motor centers in Human Design: the Root, Solar Plexus, Sacral and the Heart/Will. They give us the energy and resources we need to co-create with the Universe, to manifest our life. The Root is the energy to keep going.
DEFINITION
The Gates defined from your Root Center tell a story of how you specifically direct stress/fuel in your life.
A defined Root simply means you have a fixed way of processing adrenaline. Channels running from The Root Center to the Sacral Center have a particularly powerful influence on the whole of your design if they are defined in your chart. These are referred to as Format Channels. Connections to your Sacral Center tell a story about how your energy operates in the world. Connections to your Spleen tell you about the fixed way you deal with pressure to survive and fix what’s not serving you. And, connections to the Solar Plexus speak to how you deal with emotional stress and relational intelligence.
With full Channels from your Root you need to move your body to process and clear fear/anxiety (channel to Spleen), frustration (channel to Sacral) including creative/work frustration + also an overactive labido, emotional stagnation (Solar Plexus). Exercise is important for a healthy relationship to these states of being/significations associated with each applicable Center. The Root center can become counterproductive if you don’t move the energy!
Always look to your Strategy + Authority as well as mindfulness practices to properly manage Not-Self stress. Be mindful of whether your expectations of others are realistic. And, pay attention to when you have the energy to do the thing and use it, and not push yourself when the energy isn't there. Listen to your natural rhythms and honor them as much as possible.
OPEN CENTER
If the Root is white then it is open or undefined. This means you do not have consistent access to this energy and you can actually take on stress from your environment. You may find you are drawn to adrenaline junky type experiences or just crave chocolate/caffeine. Those of us with open roots are typically always trying to get out from under some pressure only to move right on to the next. With this center open it is about accepting that we’re always going to feel that pressure without acting from this place. The longer we allow our Root Center to run the show unchecked, the more at risk we are for burn out.
Our open centers are places of great wisdom when we can master the energy, understanding and acknowledging that we’re taking it in and amplifying the energy of those around us to create this pressure cooker, is a huge step toward detachment. When the energy is running amok it can lead to restlessness, hyperactivity and trouble focusing. When we can be mindful and not let this open center “drive the bus” so to speak we can avoid overwhelm and work with the energy. When we’re feeling the adrenaline through amplification we can choose to use it or we can utilize pranayama or mindfulness techniques to process the stress. Just simply noticing the pressure we’re experiencing and not judging ourselves if we’re not in the space or don’t have the energy to get it done is a big part of the process toward deconditioning. This is partly due to what the world tells us about productivity. This is something we can all reframe. Trust, through building evidence, that you know when to use the pressure and when to let it move through you.
As an actor, I used to experience intense anxiety before a performance. I did a play reading recently and I was waiting to go on off stage when I felt that familiar surge. Sometimes we can use this energy to make our performance better, to energize it. Other times it can be so overwhelming that we freeze, or at the least can’t connect. I noticed it and for the first time asked myself “is this mine”? I could hear the audience a few feet from me, it was a packed house, and just in asking this simple question I realized I was riding the wave and immediately began to calm down. I was amplifying the energy in the room and most likely that of the other actors waiting in the wings with me. Was I still nervous? Absolutely but it was manageable not debilitating. It was an almost instant diffusion by simply bringing awareness. I could use it, not let it use me.
BRINGING AWAReNESS:
Am I always in a hurry to be out from under the pressure? Do I work in the masculine hustle energy or in the feminine allowing spaciousness?
Do I have a healthy relationship to stress?
Are my goals realistic?
Can I trust that there is enough time?
Does procrastination serve me?
Am I honoring my energy?
Am I pushing to get *fill in the blank* done so I’ll feel free?
energetic support
Sourcing alignment and nourishment through the vibrational toolboxes.
Monologue on reconciling chakras + centers in DISPATCH.
THE GATES
Explore your definition and how this energy is channeled uniquely by you.
Transmute the Shadows and low vibrations of your Defined Gates.
Where do they live (planetary placement + house)?
How do they show up for you?
How can you lean into the gifts as the pathway of alchemy?
EMPTYING OUT:
Earthing. Get your bare feet and your body on the ground OFTEN.
Releasing stress.
Dance out a song / day.
Physical exercise.
Chanting Mantra. The seed sound of the Root is: LAM (“laum”)
Why Mantras work. The word mantra refers to mind plus vibration or wave.We have 84 meridian channels on the roof of our mouth. And a highly coded mantra will tap all 84 with the tip of the tongue kind of like morse code. This adjusts your hypothalamus that sits above the roof of your mouth. To secrete more oxytocin and dopamine. They enhance brain chemistry, rewire neural pathways + nourish the adrenals changing their frequency.
NOURISH:
Create a healthy relationship with stress (and how to use it to your advantage) + the pressure of an open Root. You do not need to push through because there will always be pressure to finish the next thing. Make friends with the feels.
Take breaks from the News + the stress of the world as needed.
From a seated position imagine/connect to your kidneys (fist sized kidney bean shaped organs located near your lower back between your ribs + pelvis). The adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys. Imagine releasing any tension in the kidneys + adrenals are holding, like they are dropping down into a warm pool of water as you breathe into your back body. As you do this, stay connected to your breath and the feeling of your butt in the seat and your feet on the ground. You can do this as a timed practice for 5-10 minutes, imagining them relaxing and dropping down (they rise up when we are stressed) or you can utilize it as you think about it during the day. Take a break from work, while you’re driving or before you eat a meal and just imagine releasing the tension here and them dropping down into relaxation and safety. Releasing any holding in your pelvic bowl as you do so, letting your breath be what it is.
Craft your own timeline. Don’t commit to things too soon/be mindful of setting yourself up with deadlines that don’t really serve you.
Take time off.
The Water element classes in This Is The Space (for supporting the adrenals) + Root. Any of the classes really that help you get in your body.