By Leela Swann-Herbert

Part 1 – Transforming the Body Experience

The majority of people who discover Human Design experiment with their Strategy and Inner Authority. They discover an easier life, one not limited by meeting resistance. They come closer and closer to living the life that is correct for their design. However, this is not the same as fulfilling the possibility of one’s process of transforming and living a life beyond compare, an awake and aware life.

When Ra first introduced the tools of Radical Transformation through the Variables, he commented that only a small group of individuals who discover Human Design will go on to realize their potential through experimentation with their Variables. It’s not a necessary part of every person’s path with Human Design; however, when it is correct, it can lead to an exceptional and deeply individual process of self-discovery.

For the past 8 years, Dharmen and I have guided year-long online Transformation Courses and supported individuals step by step in the discovery of their uniqueness through the tools of Radical Transformation. Over the years, we have found that there are aha moments, what may be called awareness benefits, which tend to arise when we put into practice the mechanical tools and observational skills of Radical Transformation. Here are some body-related awareness benefits that you can experience for yourself through Radical Transformation.

The Brain is Hardware, the Personality is Software

The brain is not separate from the body; it is a fundamental aspect of the Design. It is bio-chemical, bio-electric hardware. Using the analogy of a computer, the brain has both a hard drive for memory storage and a processing center where complex comparisons take place. It has sensory input devices – smell, taste, touch, vision, etc. In Human Design terms, on the Design side, the Head Center provides us with the memory storage and the sensory input capabilities; the Ajna Center provides the processing.

The Personality is the software that runs on the hardware of the brain. The mind operates through bio-electrical and bio-chemical signals firing between the neural cells. Mind is in essence a series of on/off switches and signals that takes place simultaneously throughout the neural networks. Over time, the repetition of specific neural pathways creates repetitive thought patterns – what we call conditioning in Human Design.

When we begin to observe the programmed, software nature of the mind, it begins to lose its power over our life. Awareness is a software upgrade, a more advanced neural networking program. Without optimal brain function, regardless of the desire for awakening, the potential in the hardware may not be present. Just like on a computer, if the hardware cannot handle the upgrade, the more advanced software cannot be installed.

Transformation Begins with the Body

The very first step in Radical Transformation is to begin to practice our individual PHS Determination. This determination gives us a specific regimen to enhance the body’s digestion, which enables it to absorb nutrients properly for effective cellular repair, maintenance and growth. When we enhance the body’s nutrient absorption, we enhance the entire body’s wellbeing – but most important, the brain’s functioning. Radical Transformation at its most fundamental level is to enhance the brain hardware, the brain’s capacity for cognition; this lays the foundation for a shift in consciousness.

PHS is often mistaken as being a diet, which it is not. What we eat, how much we eat, when we eat is an Inner Authority decision. PHS is about digestion. For example, I have a PHS 5th Color with a Right variable, which is Low Sound: the circumstances that my body requires for healthy digestion is a low sound frequency. This is not just for the digestion of food, but of life experience as well.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve found that the key ingredient for my digestion is my silence, and the correct low sounds to be present around me. Some days the murmur of low voices in the background is comfortable for my body, and some low-frequency music with cello, bass, or drums is tolerable at the correct volume. Likewise, some high-frequency sounds like violins or flutes can feel unbearable, and (it feels like) my body tries to close off. If I eat in a high sound environment, such as most restaurants, I do not digest my food properly, and I find that gas, indigestion, or heartburn can result, regardless of my food choices.

The Body can be Stabilized, Fixed

The foundation for awareness is the stabilization of the body’s frequency. This is the great gift of the 9-centered body – it can be fixed, stabilized, consistent, and reliable. The practice of Strategy and Inner Authority provide the mechanics for correct navigation. PHS Determination is essential to the stabilization process; it dials in our individual frequency.

I like the analogy of a radio. When you dial in a particular station, the frequency locks in, and you get a clear broadcast. If you don’t get the station dialed in properly, it doesn’t have a clear signal, and there can be a whole lot of static in the transmission. You may hear some of the broadcast, but it is difficult to understand.

It’s the same way with the body’s intelligence. PHS determination dials in the unique frequency of your Design, so you can be aware of the transmission taking place in your Inner Authority. Without PHS, no matter how much attention you pay to your Inner Authority, the instability in the frequency can make it difficult to get a clear frequency transmission. It is essential to be fully engaged in one’s experiment with Strategy and Inner Authority prior to starting the practice of your PHS determination.

The Body is never separate from Where it is

This seems like an obvious fact; however, because we often look at the BodyGraph in isolation, there is a tendency to mentally isolate the vehicle. Through practice with Radical Transformation tools, we can become aware of the various environmental resonances and harmonics that the body passes through on a daily basis. Environment can be misunderstood as being a particular place, especially by those with open G-Centers. With time and practice, we can learn to recognize the environmental resonances that are correct for our unique body. This recognition provides a valuable navigational tool as we move along our path in life: the body’s awareness of the presence of resonance.

Example: My partner Dharmen’s environmental color is 1st Color: Caves. Caves as an environment is often described as a particular place, such as a room with a single entrance. The resonant frequency of Caves is actually observed as the body moves through its life experiences. For Dharmen, the security of the Cave resonance can be found anywhere he goes: in a car, in a restaurant seated with his back to the wall, in a friend’s home. It is the recognition of his body’s sense of security that is his signpost. Wherever he goes, if he doesn’t experience the Cave resonance, it is time to move elsewhere.

It is the Body that Lives the Life

Through your individual experiment with the tools of Radical Transformation, your relationship with your body will change. It is the body that lives the life; this is a truth that we’ve all heard mentioned in Human Design, but the awareness of this as a moment-by-moment experience revolutionizes our internal compass. Over time with the practice of the PHS determination, and awareness of one’s environmental resonance, a natural sense of trust arises in the body and its capacity to not only guide the life, but live it fully.

There is nothing as transformative as waking up as your true self each day. There is a moment, before the mind begins blathering away, a moment when consciousness returns and one can simply be present to this body. As the body stabilizes, this moment of awakening each day can become one of recognition, a return to a fixed sense of being present to life in this body, while in the midst of an infinite variety of experiences.

Source: Radical Transformation – Is it Correct for Me – Part 1 – Transforming the Body Experience