Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 8.37.37 PM.png

Our Human Design is comprised of nine centers, thirty-six channels, and sixty-four gates, all of which present as either open or closed, connected or absent, on or off, respectively. There are a lot of parts and pieces and potential combinations, so suffice it to say that how these centers, channels and gates interact all combine together to form our overall Human Design.

In these first nine posts, we're going to zoom in on each of the nine energy centers in the Human Design chart, and explore how we're impacted when they present as open/undefined in our charts and how we're impacted when they present as closed/defined in our charts, so get your chart ready! On Monday, we talked about centers in general and took a closer look at the Head/Crown Center. Yesterday we dove deep into the Mind/Ajna Center, and today, we're talking about the Throat Center. If you're new to this series and are looking for a quick primer on the principles of Human Design, follow this link for a brief explainer.

The Throat Center, a square, is directly below the Mind/Ajna Center. It connects to the Mind/Ajna Center as well as the Self/Identity Center, the Heart Center, the Solar Plexus/Emotions Center and the Spleen Center. — The **Throat Center**, a square, is directly below the Mind/Ajna Center. It connects to the Mind/Ajna Center as well as the Self/Identity Center, the Heart Center, the Solar Plexus/Emotions Center and the Spleen Center.

The Throat Center is the main hub, and if Human Design had one overarching goal, it would be to get AS 👏🏻MUCH 👏🏻 ENERGY 👏🏻 AS 👏🏻 POSSIBLE 👏🏻 to the Throat Center, because this center is all about manifestation. Everything in our Human Design that is seeking expression or an outlet goes through the Throat Center.

The Throat Center governs our speech, actions and writing, our means of communication with the world. There is tremendous creative potential in the Throat Center, and it's closely associated with leadership, knowledge, and education. In the chakra system, the Throat Center connects to the Vishudha chakra. Biologically, our Throat Center is connected to our thyroid and parathyroid, which regulate both our metabolic rate and our sense of overall well-being.

Here's where shit gets interesting: take a look at your TYPE on your Human Design chart. You should either be:

a Manifestor,
a Manifesting Generator,
a Generator,
a Projector or
a Reflector

Of the five Human Design types, only two have a motorized Throat Center. Without getting too into the weeds, this basically means that there are active channels between your Throat Center and at least one of the three motor centers: the Heart, the Solar Plexus/Emotions and the Root (none of which we've tackled yet. Patience, little one. We'll get there). Regardless of whether your Throat Center is motorized or not, whatever other center(s) your Throat Center is connected to determines what you like to discuss. For example, if your Throat Center is connected to your Mind/Ajna Center, you might find yourself frequently voicing your worries and fears or sharing new information from your research.

Only Manifestors and Manifesting Generators have a motorized Throat Center. This means that they're uniquely able to initiate conversations and actions that align to the rest of their Human Design. They have that consistent supply of energy via the connection to the motor centers.

Generators, Projectors and Reflectors, on the other hand, do not have a motorized Throat Center (womp womp), which means they need to get their energy for manifesting from other people. To quote Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl "people/people who need people/are the luckiest people/in the world." Their mission, if they choose to accept it, is to seek out others to assist them as they manifest.

Hot tip: if you're a Generator, Projector or Reflector, working in a community space, like a coffee shop or a communal space in the office, will actually increase your productivity as you're taking in the productive energy of the collective (NARRATOR: the author, a Generator, immediately regretted working sweatpants-hair-tied-chillin-with-no-makeup-on from her couch for the past several weeks and vowed to wash her hair tomorrow so that she could work at her local coffee shop and harness the manifesting energy of the collective **END SCENE**).

"People...people who need people...are the LUCKIEST PEOPLE...in the world..." I mean, BABS! That smoky cat eye! LOVE!

OPEN/UNDEFINED Throat Center

Where are my fellow open Throat Center folks at?? We are the blurters of the world, the accidental interrupters, the inadvertent over-talkers. We feel this pressure to ABT (Always Be Talking) and are the Chatty Cathies of any friend group. And if our Mind/Ajna Center is also open, WATCH OUT, because even we aren't quite sure what we're going to say next. This isn't coming from a place of ego...we just feel a push within our HD to be heard, and the reason we're so verbose is because it can take us a minute to get out exactly what we want to say how we want to say it.

One of the benefits to having this open Throat Center is that, without even realizing we're doing it, we're able to adjust our tone and delivery to match the needs of our audience. Some great speakers of the past, like Bill Clinton, have an open Throat Center. Because this center is open, we can also ride the energy of those we're talking to.

Where many of us with an open Throat Center can struggle is when we try to speak in a way that's out of synch with our strategy (more on strategies when we talk about types and at the end of this post). I'm a Generator, and my strategy is "to respond." Because my Throat Center is open, and because I feel the drive to be heard, I waste SO👏🏻 MUCH👏🏻 ENERGY👏🏻 when I try to speak up before there's something to respond to. And sometimes, when we Generators don't wait to respond, we feel like we're screaming into the void. To be working WITH and not AGAINST our open Throat Center, we need to practice patience and focus on communicating according to our strategy.

I was going to use an image of Edvard Munch's The Scream, but then this beautiful creation popped up in the image search. #teambeaker — I was going to use an image of Edvard Munch's *The Scream*, but then this beautiful creation popped up in the image search. #teambeaker

CLOSED/DEFINED Throat Center

Those with a closed Throat Center are consistent in how they communicate. Their words carry weight and authority, and they speak with a cadence and tone that instills confidence. They have strong opinions and are easily able to convert words into actions simply because they speak with such gravitas. Close Throat Centers MAKE 👏🏻SHIT 👏🏻HAPPEN👏🏻.

Because they have so much energy in their Throat Center, they catalyze speech in others, especially those with an open Throat Center. My fellow open Throat Center folks and I THRIVE off our interactions with closed Throat Centers, because we feed off that energy. In fact, if you have a closed Throat Center, you might have a friend, family member, or colleague who calls you just to vent because you make an amazing sounding board. Just remember to protect your energy; it is yours, after all. Just because you're an AMAZING sounding board doesn't mean you have to give that gift to everyone who desires it.

THROAT CENTER: TYPES and STRATEGIES

In terms of the types and their strategies, Manifestors and Manifesting Generators have the energy to just speak. They don't need to be invited or to respond. They just have the energy already inside them and can just talk and share at will.

Generators have the strategy "to respond" and should wait to communicate until they have something concrete to respond to.

Projectors have the strategy of waiting to be invited (which would drive me CRAZY. So much respect for Projectors who live according to this strategy! I'm challenged enough just waiting to respond!), and should wait to communicate until they are recognized or asked.

Reflectors never have a defined Throat Center due to how their design is configured. Their strategy is to wait 28 days (I mean, again, RESPECT), which we'll get into in depth when we talk about the types.

***reminder: these strategies are only for moderate to major life decisions. Projectors don’t need to wait to be invited before they say good morning to anyone and Reflectors don’t need to wait a lunar cycle before they can open their mouth to order a coffee. Be sure to check out the posts on Generators, Projectors and Reflectors for more info on how your strategy works.