In the Human Design System the emotional center, the solarplexus center, or emo as I often abbreviate it, is the source of pleasure and pain, it is the foundation of all emotional experiences, our emotional spirit, our sensitivity, our ability as individuals to meet the other on an emotional basis and through that empower each other’s uniqueness. It is also the origin of our drive to enter into new experiences to gain more wisdom. 
It is the center of connectivity and relations. Here we find sexiness and hotness. Sexuality on the other hand resides in the holiness of the sacral center.
Emotions make up a huge part of our world and life-force. Emotional definitions are the gates of and the channels that make a connection to the emotional center and as any definition it can be conscious (black) or unconscious and therefore rooted in your body (red) in your own bodygraph. 59-6, 41-30, 39-55, 19-49, 12-22, 35-36, 37-40. About half of the world’s population has an emotional definition in their Human Design bodygraph, meaning their decision-making process requires them to take time to gain clarity. Their most important ally in life is time and when they give themselves space and allow for time to work its magic, their emotions run their course and bring about awareness and depth. Emotions are sticky and they can hit the whole nervous system and bring chaos to the digestive tract when their natural flow is inhibited.
All emotional beings, refering to those that have the emotional center defined and therefore carry a consistent emotional quality in their frequency, need time and space to allow their emotional body to flow freely. Taking time is all it takes for the emotional wave to keep moving and eventually lead to clarity. It will come to a standstill or freeze when a mental or spontaneous decision is forced to come about. Allowing the flow is holding onto nothing and riding the wave as any singular emotion is merely a part of the whole picture. Clarity is a calmness deep in the body and the mind is quieted, there is no more up and down, back and forth, it is simply clear. (For those that are more deeply involved in the knowledge be aware that even without an emotional definition collective abstract circuitry always carries an emotional, experientially orientied flavor to it and may take time as well to gain clarity what experiences are correct to enter into and after the experience it takes time to reflect on it and make sense out of it.) In a healthy emotional system there is no commotion and drama attached to the e-motion, it is just a motion, a constant movement like the waves of the ocean are coming and going with the tide. Emotional people that act out of clarity are anchoring reality in a deep and beautiful manner. The spirit is right. Melancholy does not lead to depression and instead inspires one to take time for oneself to dance with the muse and be creative or involved with whatever feels good. It is the emotional wave that determines if we are open to interact with others or not and if not it is simply time to be alone.
Emotional definition has nothing to do with being a drama queen or king. That is something that both emotionally defined and emotionally not defined people can portray and it is a distortion of the emotional field. A clear emotional person will only be open to relate with others in the clear phases of their wave. They can also communicate their need to talk about their emotional process while being in the middle of it. This implies they are aware that a process is going on and are not blindly spewing out any emotional content onto the other. Respecting the emotional wave brings a steadiness and ease to any relationship. Emotional toxicity only emerges through unawareness of the emotional mechanis. Overly dramatized ups and downs are either unclarity on the emotional person´s side or an amplification of the emotional wave by someone with an open emotional center.
Emotional clarity as the basis for relating with the other.
Emotional connectivity creates the basis for most of our human connections. When there is no emotional connection of some sort usually the relationship is not interesting to most of us. There can be relationships without emotional definition or connection yet they are very different than what we relate to as interpersonal relationships. The emotional definitions are varied as the different emotional waves carry specific qualities and therefore create different ways of connecting. All relationship dynamics are unique as no emotional definition is ever completely the same. There can be similarities in the expression and still the type, the rest of the circuitry, the motivation and all other aspects of the bodygraph influence a person´s emotional makeup.
Ra said that as of now there is no emotional awareness and it will not come about until 2027. And most of the time what can be seen in the world is a lot of unawareness when it comes to the emotional realm. This unawareness leads to unhealthy interaction, all the “trauma and drama” (as Dr. Dain Heer and Gary Douglas refer to it), to emotional toxicity, a lot of digestive issues, and war. In my own experience as an emotional being with the emotional people I have met that live out their true nature there is a grounding quality, a peacefulness, and an awareness, a deep and beautiful awareness on so many levels that most people can never or never want to engage in. There is a sensitivity and delicacy of feeling that I have not encountered in people with no emotional definition or unaware people with emotional definition.
The channel of intimacy. Into-me-see.
The connection between the sacral center, the seat of our generative life-force, and the emotional center is the basis for all intimacy, the connection between generative life-force and the whole of the emotional field. Here we learn what intimacy is all about. Getting to know yourself by merging with the other and allowing togetherness and aloneness to arise when it feels right not when we think it needs to happen. Within this connection, the channel 59-6, we find the fertility of creating something new by coming together and therefore the expression of sexuality as a creative process. Here we find the openness to penetrate the boundaries of the other to make contact or not. Just as a side note intimacy implies a lot more than just sexual intimacy. It can be the fertile ground for making babies or creating projects together or simply to get to know yourself more closely by meeting the other. And all of these things take time and space to evolve.
In the channel of intimacy also resides confrontation and conflict. To become more self-aware we need the interaction with the other. All of us can only grow when we “confront what is.” Confrontation in this context does not imply arguments, war, and dramatics, it simply means being present with what is. This is true for people with emotional definition and those with an open solarplexus center. People with openness in their emotional center in their not-self expression are avoiding confrontation and truth. Bringing them back to their inner authority allows them to encounter the emotional field without fear of being overrun or overtaken by it and it enables them to confront the truth in a healthy manner. Their inner authority allows them not to hold on to the highs, fight against the lows, or run away from intimate connection in their life and therefore loose access to true intimacy and self- reflected consciousness as well.
Just breathe!
Especially for an emotionally defined person breathing is essential. Breath plays a major part in the movement of emotions and life. The moment we breathe instead of trying to change what we notice happening in our body, we can feel what is really there. Breathing allows anything that is stuck to come back into the flow of life. Frozen parts, that were stagnant start to flow again and trauma, tightness, and blockages can be released.
Many, many emotional people for the lack of positive role models and reinforcement have no idea how to face their own emotional wave or how to confront whatever they encounter within in every moment. Instead they feel like they are to be blamed when they feel down or unavailable. All it is, is that they are dealing with the information they receive from their emotional process, their particular wave, and need space and time to digest it. All too often people either blame themselves or the other for something that is just a natural phenomenon like the tides of the ocean… so it is here in the emotional arena where the blame game and guilt tripping originates.
No blame, no shame, no guilt tripping- it is just mechanics!
There is no fault, no blame. Everyone is different and emotional people experience what they experience because the emotional wave gives them distinct and necessary information for their own journey. Blaming them for this mechanical process inhibits the flow of emotions. Another person can trigger an emotional wave and any mental construct can set in motion a chemical reaction within our brain and a chemical interaction between our brain, the nervous system, and the solarplexus.
I have noticed that emotional people that live out their true nature are actually quite steady, stable, and grounded, there is not a lot emotional energy dissipating, it feels like their ocean is flowing within and what they emanate is a depth of peacefulness and centeredness. And well when their wave is high up or extremely deep they take the measures that are needed for them to allow the flow of emotion to keep going. They either move their bodies to transform the emotional charge, they talk to a trusted person that is open to them sharing their process or they just take time for themselves alone or in nature. They do what is necessary for them to come back to a state of “emotional equanimity” as Leela Swann-Herbert calls it.
Individual circuitry, melancholy, creativity.
There is also the emotional frequency underlying all individual circuitry that we call melancholy in Human Design. At times when a person with individual definition (one or more channels of the individual circuitry colored in) can experience a low feeling, the lack of social openness, or even moodiness, it is a signpost for them that they need a timeout from social activity and need space and time to be alone, to be by themselves, so their creative energy can flow uninhibitedly and be expressed in whatever way suits their mood. Listening to music, making music, watching romantic or empowering movies, crying, creating art are just a few possibilities. It is their time to dance with the muse. Allowing our individuality to express itself without interference is essential and contributes to a healthy spirit within all of humanity.
Emotions and relating.
Many of us long for deeper and more conscious connections. We are open to walk hand in hand again. Emotionally defined and undefined people can create this together, stopping the war, supporting and respecting each others differences and gifts instead of blaming each other where there is no one to blame and just a simple mechanic at work.
Emotional people need time and space. Spontaneity is a killer for them. It is quite helpful for emotionally undefined people to know that emotionally defined people are much slower than they are because underneath every breath they take there is constant stream of information being processed. They are here to be deep. Open emotional people can perceive the emotional movings of the world around them and stay aware that they are receptive to the emotional field and allow it to flow through as information about the surrounding or person they are with instead of identifying with it, holding on to certain things and rejecting other parts of the emotional realm. In my personal experience I have encountered many open emotional people that did not only try to hold onto the high end of the wave but also to the emotional connection underlying every relationship even if there was no clarity for the emotional person in the first place. This drives them to act upon those emotions that were not theirs in the first place. And not to mention the unclarity in the relationship that arises when emotionally defined people jump into things on the peaks of their wave. Entering into any form of relationship without emotional clarity leads to problems in our relationship dynamics. And in that respect it takes two to tango. Most open emotional people that can decide spontaneously in the moment what is correct for them, have either some kind of definition or a profile that is also empowered by taking some time before entering into intimate relationships. And the funny thing is, it happens when it happens, the moment you have to think about it, you are probably more engaged in a conditioning patterns than life. Relationships come about effortlessly when they are correct. It always makes me chuckle because being yourself makes life and relationships effortless which does not mean there will not be challenges or confrontations along the road.
Open emotional people can be immensely valuable for the emotional person to become more clear in their own process. An aware open emotional person does not identify with the emotional wave of the other and gives them space to feel in a shared space. This is a beautiful experience for the emotional person, it is the complete allowance of being who they are and just allow the emotion whatever it may be to flow through them while enjoying the aliveness of it. “Sad songs are beautiful, too.” – John Martin
Emotional dynamics equal relationship dynamics.
My favorite image is each emotionally defined person having their very own lake. If there is a decision to be made or something they need to gain clarity about, it is like a pebble, a stone or giant mountain range is being thrown into the lake. This creates ripples. 
The bigger the object that is thrown in, the higher the waves and more intense ripples it creates and so the lake needs time for the ripples and waves to calm down again. When there is clarity there is no more nervousness or excitement in the body. It is clear if it is a yes or a no. Teresa Blanding, a beautiful teacher of Human Design with emotional definition herself, always says, maybe equals no! This has proven true to me as maybe implies there is no clarity yet and no clarity means no.
Maybe equals no for the emotional person!
It is good to know about the emotional dynamic that what goes up has to go down and the other way around, what goes down has to come up. There can be clarity and yet there is this constant emotional movement within any relationship. We are constantly evolving so when you enter into a relationship you always enter into an experience with another person that can either further your awareness and growth or not. Relationships allow us to encounter who we really are, how it is to be in this particular, unique body and how one experiences life through the specific perceptive capacities of this body.
Emotional people are in relationship with the wave movement within, they themselves are like a wave in the ocean of the emotional field of the world and an open emotional person by trusting their inner authority can join the ride of someone as long as it is correct for them and get off when it not correct for them anymore and they need space to be without the intensity of the emotional field of someone else which otherwise can seem like it is drowning or suffocating them.
Teaching our children how they can be with their own wave and allow the internal process to unfold over time or ride or get off the wave while being aware that they are only taking the emotional wave of others and it is not theirs to process will allow the emotional volatility and chaos in our relationships and the world in general to subside and stability and clarity can take its place. We will receive more sweetness and grace in our connections when we stop building them on the blame game and drama or re-traumatizing each other. The awareness of the emotional mechanics takes away a lot of confusion and entanglements that otherwise are bound to happen. Being aware as an emotional being and honoring your wave and being aware when you have an open emotional center and knowing that you are emotionally receptive and honoring that emotions are something you perceive, often intensified, and you do not have to do anything with them will allow everything to fall into its place. Emotions make it possible for us to relate and connect, they take us deeper and deeper into the human experiential process and we can have sweet and conscious connections based on communion.
Are you ready for communion with all the people in your life including your children?
Images of bodygraphs are taken from my favorite Human Design program, Neutrinos Through Windows © Erik Memmert. Check out www.NewSunWare.com.
Thanks to the contributors of Unsplash whose beautiful photography makes these post so much more accessible. Check out https://unsplash.com.
