Every person has an energy field — an aura — that extends all around them: front and back, left and right, above and below. If you stretch out your arms, you can get a sense of the diameter of that field. And within this energetic space, we constantly influence one another — often without even realizing it.
A Human Design chart is made up of nine centers. Each center is a point where energy enters, moves, and flows. Each one represents a specific function or theme in our life.
If a center is defined (colored in), that energy is consistently present in you. It shapes who you are. It’s reliable. You can trust it.
If a center is undefined or open (white), that energy is not consistent. It comes and goes — depending on who you’re around. It’s not a fixed part of you, but something you experience through others.
For example:
If you have an open center and you’re near someone who has that center defined, you amplify their energy. You feel it strongly — and you might mistakenly think it’s yours. But when that person leaves your aura, that energy disappears too.
This is why people with open centers often attach to energy that doesn’t belong to them. They try to hold on to it — or define themselves by it — and end up living out someone else’s story.
But here’s the key:
If you don’t identify with the energy you feel in an open center, you can become wise about it. You can observe it, understand it, and learn how it moves through others — without trying to make it your own.
This is how we influence and shape one another — energetically, silently, and constantly.
The Nine Centers in Human Design:
1. Crown (Head) Center
Mental pressure. Deals with inspiration and the pressure to think or make sense of things.
2. Ajna (Mind) Center
Conceptualization. The center of analysis, logic, and belief systems.
3. Throat Center
Expression and action. The center through which energy is communicated or brought into the world.
4. G Center (Identity)
Direction and identity. The center of love, purpose, and your sense of self.
5. Heart (Ego or Will) Center
Willpower and self-worth. The center of motivation, material resources, and personal value.
6. Sacral Center
Life force and sexuality. The motor for work, fertility, vitality, and sustainable energy.
7. Spleen Center
Intuition and survival. The oldest awareness center, tied to health, instinct, and physical well-being.
8. Solar Plexus Center
Emotions. A powerful motor center, governing emotional waves, sensitivity, and relationships.
9. Root Center
Physical pressure. The urge to act, to begin, to evolve — associated with stress, drive, and adrenaline.
Understanding the dynamics of your open centers can be life-changing. They’re not your weaknesses — they are places of potential wisdom. If you stop identifying with what doesn’t belong to you, you’ll begin to live more freely — and relate to others with more clarity and compassion.
The Pitfalls of Open Centers
Open Head Center
If you have an open Head Center, your mind is often occupied with questions that don’t really matter to you. You can get lost in thoughts, especially if you believe you have to do something with every question that arises.
The strength of an open Head is that you’re highly open to inspiration from many directions — you are naturally receptive to a wide range of ideas and stimuli. This can be incredibly enriching.
But the pitfall is distraction and mental pressure from questions that were never yours to begin with.
Open Mind (Ajna) Center
An open Mind allows you to connect diverse concepts and form original insights. You can be deeply inspiring to others through your mental flexibility.
However, the downside is insecurity — you may feel unsure because your opinions and ideas aren’t fixed.
The trap is pretending to know with certainty when, in truth, you don’t.
Learning to accept that you are not here to be certain can bring tremendous relief. You’re here to explore perspectives, not to cling to them.
Open Throat Center
With an open Throat center, there’s no consistent way for you to express yourself or initiate action.
If you speak without invitation, others may not hear you or understand you. This can create a sense of invisibility, or the feeling of being overlooked.
The pitfall is trying to attract attention or force your voice into the room.
But when you wait for the right invitation or for someone to ask you something, your words can be incredibly powerful — even surgical — as you often speak the exact language of the people around you.
Open Identity (G) Center
If your G-center is open, you may struggle with questions like: “Who am I?” or “Where am I going?”
You may have spent a large part of your life searching for a fixed identity or clear direction. But that’s not what you’re here for.
You’re designed to be fluid — a chameleon who adapts to the energy of the environment and reflects back identity to others.
This can make others feel deeply seen and understood.
The flip side is that people may project their own identity onto you — they might think you’re just like them, when in fact you’re simply reflecting who they are.
Open Ego (Heart) Center
With an open Ego or Heart center — the center for self-worth and willpower — you may often struggle with feelings of inadequacy.
You don’t have a consistent sense of your own value.
The trap here is trying to prove yourself to others, committing to things not because you want to, but because you feel you should.
You may push yourself in hopes of being seen as worthy or reliable.
But the truth is: you’re not here to prove anything to anyone.
Realizing that you have nothing to prove can be profoundly liberating.
Open Sacral Center
If your Sacral center is open, you don’t have consistent access to life force energy.
Still, you may find yourself working too long, too hard — often trying to keep up with the 70% of people who do have this center defined.
You magnify their energy, and that can lead to exhaustion or burnout.
But you’re not here to work endlessly.
You’re designed to work in short, intense bursts — and then rest.
Truly embracing this rhythm can bring immense peace and energy back into your life.
Open Spleen Center
An open Spleen center can make you physically sensitive or leave you feeling unsafe.
When you’re around people with a defined Spleen, you temporarily feel safe, vital, and physically well.
But this is amplified energy — it’s not yours.
The pitfall is clinging to relationships, jobs, or environments just because they give you that fleeting sense of security.
You may stay in situations that no longer serve you, simply because your system momentarily feels good.
The key is learning to let go when something no longer fits — even if it once felt safe.
Open Emotional (Solar Plexus) Center
The open Emotional center makes you highly sensitive to the emotional waves of those who have this center defined.
You don’t just feel what they feel — you amplify it.
And because your system isn’t built to process that kind of emotional intensity, you may develop a lifelong habit of avoiding confrontation.
You often suppress your true feelings and present a more agreeable version of yourself just to keep the peace.
But this can lead to poor boundaries, resentment, and decisions that don’t honor your truth.
Understanding that much of what you feel emotionally isn’t actually yours can help you speak up for yourself more clearly and confidently.
Open Root Center
The Root center is a pressure center — it represents the urge to get started. If your Root center is open, you don’t have consistent internal drive to begin things. You may feel guilty about procrastinating or being “slow,” but in truth, that’s just your natural rhythm.
What often happens is that, when you’re around people with a defined Root, you amplify their pressure to act — and that can make you feel stressed and rushed. The trap is trying to get rid of that pressure by jumping into action too quickly, just to escape the discomfort. That often leads to hasty decisions, careless mistakes, and doing things that aren’t right for you.
The most important thing to realize is this: that pressure isn’t yours. It’s just energy you’re picking up from the world around you. You can feel it, but you don’t have to act on it. Sometimes it can give you the nudge you need — and that’s fine. But take your time. Move from your own timing, not the urgency of others. That’s where your real power lies.
