In Part I of our deep dive into Human Design, we discussed how this relatively new system is gaining popularity as a tool for providing deep personal insight. Here in Part II, we’re further exploring Human Design and the ways that the ancient system of Ayurveda can guide us toward living in alignment with who we truly are.
Human Design, the modern energetic system developed by Ra Uru Hu in the 1980s, draws on astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah Tree of Life, and quantum physics to generate a BodyGraph from your birth data: a map of how energy flows through you, where you are consistent, and where you're open to influence. According to the Jovian Archive, the official site of Ra Uru Hu’s work:
“[Human Design] is not built on belief or faith but is a logical, empirical system that offers you the opportunity to experiment with its mechanics and find out if it works for you.”
Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life, dates back 5,000 years and is rooted in natural cycles and the five elements: Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. Ayurveda explains holistic health, personality, and imbalance through the lens of the three doshas — Vata, Pitta, and Kapha — and uses tools like foods, herbs, asana (movement), pranayama (breath work), and lifestyle to keep these in harmony.
When you weave Ayurvedic principles into your everyday life, you can further illuminate and support your Human Design, known as “living your design.” These two systems offer complementary tools and perspectives, and when paired, they can provide a rich, integrated roadmap to living with vitality, clarity, and purpose.
The primary function of Human Design is to paint a detailed picture of how your energy moves. It does this by defining nine energy centers within the body, which are similar to the chakra system in Ayurveda – more on this later! These centers can be either “defined” (consistent, stable, reliable) or “open” (variable, influenced by others). Each center is linked to particular biological organs and systems, as well as psychological states and identity markers:
- Head (pressure center, inspiration)
- Ajna (awareness center, conceptualization)
- Throat (expression, speaking, manifestation)
- G (self-love, direction)
- Heart (motor center, ego, willpower)
- Solar Plexus (motor + awareness center, emotional valve)
- Spleen (awareness center, immune system, intuition)
- Sacral (motor center, life force, life-force, sexuality)
- Root (Pressure + Motor center, adrenaline, stress)
You also receive a Type, Strategy, and Authority—together they form your internal compass for navigating life. The five Types are:
- Manifestors – Independent initiators who act before others do.
- Generators – Energetic builders who respond to life and create with sustainable energy.
- Manifesting Generators – Fast-moving hybrids who initiate and respond with agility.
- Projectors – Insightful guides who wait for invitations and recognition.
- Reflectors – Mirrors of their environments, deeply tied to lunar and environmental cycles.
Your Authority defines how you make decisions, while your Strategy helps you navigate external circumstances. We’ll dig into these concepts more, but first let’s take a look at Ayurveda and its primary guiding principles.
Ayurveda is built on the belief that health, happiness, and fulfillment come from aligning with nature’s laws and rhythms: throughout the day, through seasonal shifts, and throughout the different stages of our lifetime. Each of the five elements that make up the universe has particular affinities for each other, and they pair up uniquely to form what are known as the three doshas:
• Vata (Air + Ether): Cold, dry, light, erratic, creative. Governs movement, thoughts, and nervous system activity.
• Pitta (Fire + Water): Hot, intense, focused, sharp. Governs digestion, transformation, and metabolism.
• Kapha (Earth + Water): Heavy, stable, nurturing, grounded. Governs structure, immunity, and cohesion.
The doshas manifest both on a macro level (the seasons, ecosystems, etc.) as well as the micro (individuals, organs, cells, etc.) While every individual contains all five elements and all three doshas, each person has a unique combination — a specific ratio of the doshas — that forms their Prakriti, or birth constitution. This constitution shapes your natural tendencies, strengths, and vulnerabilities. Throughout life, we exist in a constant state of adapting and becoming, navigating cycles of balance and imbalance, just as ecosystems strive for equilibrium. Their mechanisms for maintaining balance include predators, insects, rainfall, and volcanoes.
Similarly, we have innate mechanisms that guide us toward harmony. Health is not achieved in finding an absolute fixed point; instead, it’s an ocean that we ride, flowing, in unending waves. Think of an acrobat able to contort themselves and balance in the most precarious positions. They can do this because they have both strength and agility: maintaining a firmly grounded foundation, which allows for subtle yet constant fluid motion that prevents collapse. The moments of imbalance are so small that, from a distance, they appear to have achieved serene stillness. Our health can be thought of in the same way. When we feel our best, the imbalances from day to day will be slight and won’t affect our lives too much. But if we teeter too far out of balance over time, then chronic illness can arise, and greater action is required to come back into the subtle flow.
When the doshas fall out of balance — whether through stress, diet, lifestyle, or environmental changes — this state is called Vikriti, or current imbalance. A central concept in restoring balance is Agni, the body’s digestive and metabolic fire. When Agni is strong, it supports clarity, vitality, and resilience; but when it’s weak, the digestive by-product, or Ama, can accumulate.
Ama clogs both physical and energetic pathways, clouding the mind and dulling the body's natural intelligence. How do we know what’s good or bad for us? According to Ayurvedic teacher and author Kate O’Donnell, it always depends “on the person, the amount, the timing, the state of the doshas… With a little understanding and pro-active self-care, health becomes an ongoing process that is enjoyable, feels good, and gives life a deeper meaning.”
Ayurvedic practices are ultimately aimed at restoring Agni, reducing Ama, and helping us return to our natural state of health and clarity.
In Part I of this series, we focused mainly on defining the Human Design Types. Taking it a step further, when examining Human Design through the Ayurvedic lens, interesting energetic parallels can be made between the Types and the doshas:
Manifestors: Pitta Dominant
Manifestors are action-oriented, fiery, and independent. They’re here to initiate, not to wait. This strongly mirrors the Pitta dosha, which is also characterized by leadership, decisiveness, and transformation. Manifestors can burn out or become reactive if not mindful. Similarly, traditionally teachings suggest that excess Pitta can create feelings of irritability and impatience.
This boiling over of Pitta’s fire-water can also manifest physically, creating inflammation in the stomach and skin, as well as uncomfortable hormonal symptoms like headaches, cramps, sweating, and mood swings. Cooling foods and calming routines can help both Manifestors and Pitta dominant individuals maintain balance.
Cooling herbs for Pitta-Dominant Manifestors: Amargo, Curam, Tulsi, Lavender EO, Chamomile
Calming practices: Meditation, swimming, creative time listening to music, crafting, reading
Generators: Kapha-Pitta Blend
Generators are known for having consistent, sustainable energy, and they are the steady fire that powers the world. They act from their deep gut knowing and loving creativity, which makes them charismatic and inspiring, bringing joy to others. Their groundedness mirrors Kapha dosha, while their drive and productivity reflect Pitta.
Generators thrive on consistency and loving connection, but they must avoid people-pleasing and burnout by only saying “yes” to what truly lights them up. When Generators feel overwhelmed, they may be overcome with despair, fatigue, and illness, or feel stuck, both emotionally and physically (constipation, lethargy, etc.).
Uplifting and light foods can help Generators maintain a balance for their Kapha-Pitta constitution by supporting overall vitality while promoting flow, inspiration, and unconditional love.
Uplifting + lightening herbs: Blue Lotus, Breathe Tea, smoke blends, Golden Sun, Happiness Tonic, Euphoria Powder
Energizing practices: Dancing, hatha yoga, pranayama, running
Manifesting Generators: Pitta-Vata Blend
Manifesting Generators move quickly and juggle multiple passions, while often deviating from the conventional path. They’re dynamic, fast-thinking, and agile, interested in many different facets of life, combining Pitta’s intensity and Vata’s mobility. However, they may notice periods of restlessness, mental busyness, or digestive sensitivity. Adapted routines, regular nourishment, and grounding rituals are often used to ease those fluctuations.
Grounding herbs for Manifesting Generators: Cacao, Chaga, Gynostemma, The Mind, Vetiver EO
Grounding practices: Baths, abhyanga, yin yoga
Projectors: Vata-Pitta Dominant
Projectors are here to guide, not initiate. Their strength lies in recognizing others and providing support when invited. Their insight and perceptiveness reflect Vata, while their strategic clarity mirrors Pitta. Projectors can be vulnerable to burnout, particularly when they accept too many invitations. They may also feel frustrated when life’s twists and turns don’t fit neatly into clear compartments. Projectors benefit from deep rest, evening routines, and nourishing meals and rituals to help slow down.
Grounding and soothing herbs: Happiness powder, Adaptogenic powder, Coconut cream, Night Blooming Jasmine, Rose Body Oil
Gentle and soothing practices: Yin yoga, sound bath, gardening/connection with the earth
Reflectors: Vata Dominant
Reflectors are the rarest HD Type (about 1%). They are lunar beings, deeply reflective and tied to cycles. Their Vata dominance makes them attuned to environmental shifts, and they may feel more sensitive at times. Reflectors thrive in spacious environments, requiring time to make decisions and needing supportive settings where they feel safe. Like butterflies, their ethereal nature is inspiring for others to behold. They also have a delicate constitution; when out of balance, they can experience debility, changeability, frantic anxiety, shortness of breath, poor circulation, and digestive bloating. Traditional Vata‑calming practices—warm, grounding routines, gentle movement, calming foods—are often used to enhance comfort, ease, and a sense of alignment.
Grounding, sweet, and warming herbs: Slippery Elm, Qi, Chocolate Protein, Ashwagandha, Relax + De-Stress Kit
Practices: Abhyanga, strength training, sauna
Both Ayurveda and Human Design recognize the role of energy centers, though they organize them differently. In Ayurveda, there are seven primary chakras, which lie along the spine from the base of the pelvis up to the crown of the head. Chakra, meaning “wheel” in Sanskrit, refers to these energy centers as spinning vortices which connect the body, mind, and spirit.
HD, on the other hand, describes the energy centers as either defined or open. Within your HD chart, the colored in centers represent those that are defined, whereas empty centers are those that are open, or undefined.
When a center is undefined, it's more susceptible to influence and imbalance, much like a person’s Prakriti determines where Ama tends to accumulate for them. Ayurveda uses color, aromatherapy, and sound, along with food, movement, and breath as tools for aligning the chakras and opening up areas where there is accumulated Ama.
There’s a slight difference in how these energetic centers are understood, but their correspondences to physical systems and parts of our consciousness are very similar. So, the Ayurvedic practices that support chakra alignment can also be used to support the energetic centers of Human Design. This is particularly useful when we talk about the HD concept of Authority.
Authority is how each of us is uniquely programmed to make decisions. “Authority is arguably one of the most essential pieces of our design, as we are all making decisions every day. It’s a piece of our design that we can integrate into our daily lives immediately.” (Human Design Blueprint)
There are seven Authorities in total, but we will focus on the three central Authorities: Sacral, Emotional, and Splenic. Each Human Design Authority corresponds beautifully with Ayurvedic principles for daily routine (Dinacharya). Here are some guidelines for nourishing your Inner Authority as part of your everyday rhythm:
Sacral Authority: Kapha Pacifying
Your gut knows best. To hear it clearly:
- Eat warm, light meals to support digestion (Agni): Mineral-rich teas, prebiotics, broths.
- Begin your day with light movement (a walk, sun salutation, or gentle circular motions).
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Avoid heavy foods that dampen your sacral response and create a Kapha imbalance.
Emotional / Solar Plexus Authority: Pitta Pacifying
You need time to feel your emotional wave before making a decision with clarity. Support this by slowing down and cooling off with:
- Pitta-calming foods: cucumbers, coconut water, fresh fruits
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Cooling herbs: Brahmi, rose, mint, aromatic herbs
Evening rituals: Abhyanga, journaling, or gentle stretching to reduce emotional Ama
Splenic Authority: Vata Pacifying
You make intuitive decisions in the moment. To stay connected:
- Keep meals regular, warm, and lightly spiced: grounding roots, healthy fats, and carbohydrates.
- Avoid overstimulation — this increases Vata and drowns out intuition.
- Spend time in nature or stillness after meals for a deeper gut-spleen connection.
The union of modern Human Design and ancient Ayurveda offers a powerful toolkit for understanding and supporting your unique energetic blueprint. While Human Design maps your innate energetic structure, Ayurveda provides time-tested guidance for nurturing that energy through elemental balance and daily rhythm. By honoring the nuances of both systems, we gain practical strategies for restoring vitality, building resilience, and living in harmony with our true nature. As you continue to explore your design, let Ayurveda be your grounded companion.
*This blog is for educational purposes only. The above statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
