As a health coach, your client’s physical and mental wellbeing is top priority.

How does Human Design tie into this? Well, Human Design provides a “shortcut” to figuring out the most aligned health recommendations for your clients.

You’ve probably noticed there’s a LOT of variety around what actually works for each of your clients, right?⁠ Some do better with a structured routine while others need more flexibility. Some thrive with a specific style of eating, while others need a completely different nutrition plan. Some do best with daily workouts, while others do best with 2-3 per week.
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And yes, these are things you can figure out the hard way — through trial and error until you finally land on something that works—or perhaps by trying to align your strategies with your client’s lifestyle…

OR you can use Human Design to speed up the process!

Using Human Design as a Health Coach

Here are five areas of your client’s Human Design to focus on as a health or wellness coach. These tools will help elevate your coaching and make it more personalized, impactful, and effective.

#1. Your Client’s Energy Type

There are 5 different Energy Types: Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector, and Reflector. You can find out your clients Type by getting their chart here.

Each Energy Type has a different aura, mode of operation, and way of interacting with the world. Each Type also experiences different levels of physical energy and in different patterns. For example, Generators wake up each day with a set amount of energy they’re designed to use up that day. They can also “share” this energy with other people who are in close proximity to them.

Projectors, on the other hand, have less consistent and reliable energy. They need more rest than Generators, and they need to rest proactively (before they get tired).

Speaking of rest, some Energy Types need more rest than others. Each type also needs rest for different reasons. Generators and Mani-Gens need to rest at the end of a long day to recharge their “batteries”. Manifestors need to rest in between their (often unpredictable) bursts of creative energy.

Further, each Energy Type has ‘sign posts’ that let you know when that Type is doing something that’s in or out of alignment for them. For example, this could be a certain type of exercise, a style of eating, a mindfulness practice, etc.

Signposts of Alignment

• Manifestors: Peace
• Generators and MGs: Satisfaction
• Projectors: Success
• Reflectors: Surprise

Signposts of Misalignment

• Manifestors: Anger
• Generators and MGs: Frustration
• Projectors: Bitterness
• Reflectors: Disappointment

If your client experiences one of these emotions, you know whether a specific activity is aligned for them or not. And then you can make adjustments to your recommendations accordingly.

#2. Your Client’s Heart Center

The Heart Center is one of nine Energy Centers in the Human Design BodyGraph chart. Each Energy Center is a hub of energy in the body, similar to a chakra. Each Center governs specific kinds of energy.

The Heart Center relates to someone’s willfulness and their ability to commit themselves to something and follow through on it.

A Defined Heart Center will be colored red on their BodyGraph. If your client has a Defined Heart Center, they will have an easier time sticking to a consistent exercise or nutrition plan. A client with an Undefined Heart Center (white) will likely need something more flexible.

Image Source: mybodygraph.com

People with a Defined Heart Center are often competitive by nature. They might love types of exercise where they get to “compete” against other people — e.g., running a race, doing a spin class with a leaderboard, etc.

The key for someone with an Undefined Heart is to not overcommit themselves or make promises they aren’t sure they can keep, either to themselves or to others. The key for someone with a Defined Heart is to only commit themselves to things they know they can put their whole heart into.

#3. Your Client’s Determination Variable

The “Variables” in Human Design are the four arrows near the top of the BodyGraph chart. Each of these arrows can point either to the left or to the right. The top left arrow is called the Determination Variable.

Here’s what the Determination Variable can tell you about your clients:

Image Source: mybodygraph.com

If that arrow points to the left, your client thrives on structure, schedules, routine, and consistency. They will do well with consistent health-promoting habits and routines—whether that’s a structured fitness routine, specific food preparation routines, meal plans, rituals they use to get motivated before going to the gym, etc.

If that arrow points to the right, your client will likely do better with a more relaxed, go-with-the-flow approach. For example: Instead of planning every single meal for an entire week, they might prefer having a list of 6-7 dinner options, stocking their fridge with the necessary ingredients, and then deciding every evening which of those meals they want to cook and eat on that particular night.

#4. Your Client’s Environment

Your client’s Environment represents the type of physical space where they thrive. There are six variations of Environment: Markets, Kitchens, Valleys, Shores, Mountains, or Caves.

Rather than taking these names literally, think of them as metaphors representing certain qualities of a physical space. For example, a client with Caves environment might love being underground, or simply in any space that’s cozy, calm, and comfortable. They may also prefer dim or mood lighting over bright fluorescents.

On the other hand, a client with Mountains environment will probably love being higher up. Anywhere with a grander perspective or view (e.g., the 10th floor of a high-rise building vs. on the ground floor) is aligned for someone with Mountains Environment. These people also do well in low-oxygen environments and with aerobic exercise.

Learning about your client’s Environment can help you find the best place for them to exercise and the best environment to promote overall health, relaxation, and wellbeing. Some Environments also correlate to specific types of exercise or movement that will be most aligned for your client.

To find out your client’s Environment, you can use the chart generating tool at myhumandesign.com.

#5. Your Client’s Digestion

Human Design Digestion also relates to the Determination Variable but is calculated at a deeper level. You can also use myhumandesign.com to determine your client’s Digestion.

Image Source: myhumandesign.com

As it sounds, Digestion relates to the way your client best digests food. Knowing your client’s Digestion gives you insights into the type of food/eating that is most aligned for them, or the specific environmental conditions that will ensure optimal digestion of food.

There are 12 different Digestions someone can have.

As an example, here are the Digestions that my daughter and I have:

Alternating: a whole foods, paleo-style diet, where your client takes one bite of one food, followed by a second bite of a different food, and then rotates their way around each food on their plate. For example, one bite of an apple, one bite of a strawberry, followed by one bite of chicken, and then back to the apple.

Consecutive: a whole foods, paleo-style diet, where your client eats one entire food on their plate until it’s gone, then moves onto the next food and finishes it completely, and so on until they’ve finished eating all the different foods on their plate.

As you see, these two Digestions relate to a specific type of food as well as a pattern of eating. Other variations of Digestion include eating in bright light or low light, high sound or low sound, and other environmental conditions.

Health coaches: Will you be utilizing these 5 HD tools in your coaching practice?