A conversation on using the Human Design System for pregnancy and conscious parenting, with Libby Hoffmann - Moderne Homemaker and Elisa Jordan - Mystical Mama. (part 2 of 3)
Introduction
Elisa Jordan [EJ]: Today is gonna be a really fascinating conversation. If you’re familiar with Human Design (HD), this is for you. We’re not covering the basics, but {today] it’s incorporating and using HD from the [specific] perspective of pregnancy and motherhood.
My guest is Libby Hoffmann, the founder of Moderne Homemaker. She learned about HD after she had kids, and how impactful this could be to help her nurture her own self, but also to help nurture and encourage her kids to bloom and grow. Not presuppose and project her own stuff onto her kids. That is the hope of Human Design generally-- like, how can we decondition and not impose our own conditioning and societal conditioning as much on each other and our children, and the next generation?
So this will be really fascinating, and if you’re unfamiliar with HD I encourage you to get maybe just a very basic understanding of what HD is all about. Then this might be another deeper layer you can go into. Even if you don’t really understand all the concepts, it’s okay. Just go with the flow and enjoy this really thought provoking conversation on how we can use Human Design on our motherhood journey...
This is the continuation of a three part conversation. Read Part One here
Libby Hoffmann [LH]: One of the things at your Center level that I wanted to touch on is your undefined solar plexus. This means that you don’t have a consistent way of experiencing deep emotions. You don’t have a consistent pattern to your emotions, unless you link up with somebody else that’s in your aura field, or with transits as things move through and define those gates that might match up with you.
For you, because you have this inconsistent way of handling emotions, that’s another reason to have that time for yourself so that you can be alone and really feel into [the difference of] what you're feeling and what’s actually coming from outside of yourself. Be able to have that emotional intelligence; to know, "okay that’s actually what THEY’RE feeling, and I don’t have to fix this." I’m just going to let that person feel this. I’m just gonna reflect that back to them in a healthy way, and not take that on, like I have to fix it and make it go away, or feel like you have to avoid it. That’s another reason to have that hermit release time. You can release that energy from other people.
During labor, it will be really important for you to have some support, or a breath work practice in place, to keep you focused on the way you want to be breathing. Regulating your body in that way for labor, to make it easier for you, making sure that you are processing that breath and using that as a tool for you to labor [efficiently].
People with an undefined solar plexus also don't have a consistent way of breathing, of detoxifying through the body in that way. As a pregnant person with an undefined solar plexus in their design, it’s really important for you to have that in place prior [to labor and birth], so that you can fall into consistent rhythm for yourself [during labor]. You’re going to want your partner, or your doula, or your midwife, or whomever it is who’s partnering with you in the labor, to help you breath in whatever way you’ve already committed to so you can use that as a beneficial tool.
EJ: That’s really interesting. I already have set up the boundaries in my head, because I know from my early days in opera and auditioning that I pick up on other people's emotions. So if they’re anxious, I will feel even more anxious. I remember driving to an audition with my mom, and her anxiety for me - I picked up on it, and all that jittery energy she has. Early on she said “Do you want me there?”, and I said “Actually I’ll probably want you there after to support me. I know I’ll need you to help me with the house, cooking me meals would be more supportive for me than in the delivery room” because I know I’ll be porous to that jittery, and maybe also fear-based energy. I don’t want to absorb that - As little fear as possible from the people around me!
From all my mental prep work for the birth, I’ve noticed my big thing that I will be relying on is my breath work practice. I’m very grateful for having that singing background because I know how to breathe deeply. From my yogic background too, that’s what I taught, was how to breathe slow and deep, and that’s a lot of how to work through the deep contractions is. Those deep diaphragmatic breaths that are slow. I have that tool in my toolbox, and it’s really cool to hear that that specific tool is going to be more beneficial than “Visualize yourself in the ocean! And blah blah blah”. Okay I get you, but from everything I’m gathering, for me the breathe work and somehow letting myself do primal yoga movement, that I’ve been seeing. I’m like ‘Oh Okay, I know how to do those things.’ I just have to apply it here. Okay, cool. So that’s really affirming to hear.
LH: Yeah... That’s really cool for me to see your human design affirm what you’re already doing. Because any of the undefined centers that you have, any of your openness, anywhere in your chart is where you are here to be wise and to learn. So it’s really cool to see that breathwork, that way of breathing and controlling the breath, is something you have learned. That’s [already] an area of wisdom for you.
EJ: Oh, good to know. Good to know! [both laughing]
LH: So, if you have a defined solar plexus, that means that there is a way that you are already strong and consistent in processing your own breath and breathing. You are kind of the opposite, where you just need support to be able to breathe in however way you are already comfortable breathing.
Even if that’s holding your breath for a second then letting it out. I find that I do that. I remember with my first son they kept saying “Breathe! Breathe!” because they thought I was holding my breath. It’s just the way I breathe when I’m in that strenuous physical activity.
The last thing you want [for a mother in labor] is to interrupt that natural process that a defined solar plexus has. Then what’s going to happen? You’re going to create resistance, and then you’re going to create an emotional trigger because they’re gonna get impatient. That’s just going to interrupt their emotions even more. So it’s really more important to be comfortable, to make them really comfortable, to eliminate emotional triggers as much as possible.
Just like you were saying with your mother, that would also be something that a pregnant person with a defined solar plexus might want to think about for their birth and labor. Looking at what type of emotional wave they have and really thinking about that and having awareness of “Ok, this is the type of emotional wave I have. These are the typical triggers I would have. So what are the things that I can realistically eliminate so that I can create more ease through this labor process and not set myself up for a bunch of triggers that are gonna be non beneficial for me?”
EJ: Yeah, absolutely.
LH: I’m looking at your chart… another thing I noticed, and I don’t know if you know-- do you know your digestion profile in HD?
EJ: I can look it up...
LH: From your chart I know that you are a quad left. So that means you have all strategic, or active, variables in your environment, in your digestion. Whatever digestion you have, it’s one of the high or active, it’s not a passive digestion. I thought that was interesting.
When you’re looking at your human design chart [the bodygraph], the Variables are those arrows around the head area. So when you’re looking at your chart Elisa, you’ll see they all point to the left. That’s why I said you’re "Quad Left." That’s just what we call it when they all point left.
EJ: Okay I see.
LH: For you, that means you have all these active variables. That means you’re gonna need more activity, more stimulation like you said, more physical food. You need to be taking in more to stay healthy, to create more flow in your body; for your cognition and your mental processing to flow as well.
EJ: Interesting!
LH: For you it’s actually - and this can go into your manifesting generator energy as well - where it is actually healthy for you to have more constant, where you’re being more strategic. Maybe you want to have regular set meal times every day. Or more structure to your routine and to how you eat, how you take in. Digestion in Human Design is not just what you’re eating, but everything that you’re taking in. The way you learn, the way you listen and take in information.
That’s why if you have high sound digestion-
EJ: It’s high sounds and music.
LH: Yeah! So it actually benefits you to have some louder, more active things, sounds, happening for you so that you can take in that information, or that food - which is just information for our bodies - in a more easeful way. So you can process better.
That’s something that you, as a mother with High Sound Digestion Profile, might want to experiment with after having a newborn, because obviously with having a newborn, and especially depending on their individual design, you want to be able to balance honoring that more active, stimulating, environment when you’re eating and digesting information, with also honoring theirs.
Maybe [your child] has low sound digestion, or maybe they have cold thirst digestion, then the environment doesn’t matter as much. Those are just little things that you can experiment with for yourself so you can really honor your design and who you are here to be, while also honoring your child.
EJ: So for example, would this be applicable to labor and delivery? How I mentioned I see myself having headphones and just listening to that deep drumming shamanic sounding music as a way to help me breathe and move my body. That stimuli, versus it being completely quiet.
LH: Yes. Absolutely, that’s definitely something that you could try. The thing about Human Design, and with all systems, doesn’t even have to be HD; remember it’s always your choice. If you try that when you’re in labor, and it doesn’t feel good, then stop doing it. These aren’t rules to live your life. It’s just ideas to see what your natural mechanics are and how you can probably create more ease and minimize resistance.
I love that idea of using headphones to really focus that sound for you. Going back to the thing you said about moving your body, I love that too because you have that sacral energy defined. That really primal movement would be really beneficial for you to help you. Maybe not even necessarily labor better, or faster, but it will help you feel more like yourself. Which can only help, right? Because that’s what this is also about; creating those circumstances for yourself as much as possible where you’re gonna feel comfortable and more yourself, so that you can have that experience as yourself. Have that more authentic experience, which will be more satisfying and more rewarding.
EJ: Yeah. What’s another example for high sound, with digestion? I know for myself when I caretake, I am sensitive that [the children] can get overstimulated really easily. Sometimes I need my brain to be stimulated, so I have one earbud in to listen to a podcast episode. My brain is being fed while I’m still watching them, but I know they’re not gonna be overstimulated. Is that another example of how that works?
LH: Absolutely! You could even think about it like the environment. So for example, somewhere like a busy cafeteria style would be really beneficial for you, right? Because there’s all of that activity and different sounds happening. You don’t have to provide that, it’s just there. As another example, when you go to Hawaii, when you’re outside eating, you’re gonna hear lots of birds, lots of animal sounds probably. That would also be a great benefit because it’s like you are thinking of those environments that you can put yourself in, that you don’t necessarily have to create all of this stimulation - it’s already there for you to take part in.
EJ: Okay. Interesting. No one ever talks about that, the digestion. Like any of the podcasts I’ve listened to. They only maybe touch on a channel, MAYBE, that’s as far as they go. This is cool, tidbits of information that people aren’t gonna talk about, OR they talk about the arrows, it’s only a strategy to manifest. That’s the only way I’ve heard the arrows being talked about. So that’s really cool information to hear about.
LH: Good! I’m excited to talk about it. I think that a lot of the information can be complicated, but it’s also easy to just make it simple. It doesn’t have to be all this intellectual stuff. HD at its base is mechanical. It’s all mechanical.
I like to think about astrology, and HD, working together, which I use both in my business and personal life. It’s not that one takes away from or replaces the other; they can be used synergistically. I like to think about it like a computer. I feel like astrology is that more conceptual knowledge, like the software that we run on, and HD is the mechanical, that hardware, that we run on. You can use both. You can also just focus on one or the other, that’s the cool thing. It doesn’t have to be “Well I use astrology!” “Well I use HD” [laughing]
EJ: ABSOLUTELY! YEAH! Agreed. AGREED. Anything else on my chart specifically that can be used as an example for other people to learn? I don't know if it’s a channel, or gates … or anything that I would love to hear about? [laughing]
Human Design of Pregnancy - Prenatal Conditioning
LH: Yes! I did want to talk about some of your Gates. One in particular. One of the things that I can do in my guidance, if we get the timing right and we know your conception date, then we can map out that first trimester and see what the potential hardwiring is going to be for the vehicle-- I want to explain that super quick...
When we talk about our definition, that’s all Gates we have defined in our chart, whether that be at our design date or personality date. That is a set definition, right? That’s what we can see. Then the hardwiring that I’m speaking of is actually conditioning that’s hardwired into the body, into the vehicle, before the soul comes in. It’s this layer of conditioning that’s always going to be there, but you’re not going to be able to see it [in the bodygraph].
EJ: Ohhhh
LH: Of course you’re going to want to minimize that, right, if you have that opportunity to do so. During the first trimester of Design of Pregnancy there are 10 stages, and roughly each of those 10 stages aligns with the creation of a specific Channel in the bodygraph, to create the vehicle, the body. We know what those Channels are, so one of the things that we can do to map that out and to see what conditioning, what hardwire conditioning may take place, is to look at those Channels that you have and to see which Channels you have hanging Gates in.
So you [Elisa] actually have two or three of those that are part of that initial process. Those would be areas that we would make sure to try to minimize any conditioning that happens. That is when the conditioning would take place, when you have that hanging Gate. It’s creating that focus for the conditioning to happen.
Just as an example, you have Gate 44 defined, and that’s in the spleen. That’s actually your only gate definition in your spleen. That’s the Gate of Alertness. This is part of the Channel of Surrender, which goes over to the ego, the Heart Center. This Channel helps create the immune system in the body as the baby's body is forming-- the vehicle. There are two sides to this Channel, and one side is the hot side, and the other side brings the cold side. It’s like a chemical reaction in a way, how it interacts. That Gate 44 is the cold side. I don’t know if you ever feel like you’re kind of cold blooded, or anything like that? Have you ever felt that?
EJ: Yeah, I tend to run a low body temperature. My hands and feet get cold. Even years ago, I was taking my body temperature to be aware of my fertility cycles, in the 96° area. Oh my gosh. So when I got pregnant and I was more like 98°, it felt so hot. I was stripping, had the AC and fan on me in the first trimester, on full, and I’m stripping down topless so I cool down and don’t get nauseous. That’s just me at normal 98°, so hot for me!
LH: Yeah! That stuck out right away to me because that is an area during the first 10 stages, that first trimester… specifically when that channel is being formed for your baby's vehicle [body], you would want to pay attention to keeping yourself warm, but also trying to balance that. Keeping it balanced so you’re not feeling too cold or too hot.
For any of the Channels that are involved in Design of Pregnancy, it’s about creating this harmony so that you are feeling aligned and you’re not feeling like you’re being pulled into [misaligned] conditioning to correct it. What happens is, when you can create that harmony, then that creates more ease for that vehicle [to develop]. It can properly form and minimize conditioning that might take place. Does that all make sense?
EJ: I think so. Is there a psychological conditioning too with Gate 44? Or is it more physical immunity level? It’s a gate of alertness, and sometimes the way that they are named does not correspond very well.
LH: Yes I understand that [line of questioning]. For this specifically, thinking about during pregnancy and minimizing conditioning, it’s more physical, and then also because you have that undefined spleen it is really important for you to support your immune system, and to do that in a way that's more proactive instead of clinical intervention. Obviously taking advantage of medicine, of scientific medicine, but it’s really beneficial for you with that open spleen to already be taking care of your immune system before you get sick.
You can really be aware of what is healthy and safe for you or not, using your sacral authority [instead]. That’s where you want to rely on gut response every moment to moment, and not your spleen. You’re not going to have consistent access to knowing what is healthy and safe for you just intuitively. It’s gonna be important for you to take care of that proactively so that you can prepare for sickness...
End of Part 2. Go to Part 3
Libby Hoffmann is a DONA Intl trained birth doula who specializes in holistic pregnancy and postpartum care using the Human Design System. She’s a mom of two, Appalachian native, and author of the children's book We Are All Light. Connect with Libby here
Elisa Jordan is a cottage witch, modern mystic, and mama sharing about self care, wellness, astrology, & motherhood. Listen to the full podcast episode here; connect with Elisa here
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