In this week’s post, we’re diving into the Open Sacral Center in Human Design, how to identify it in your chart, and how this might impact your career, business, entrepreneurship, and leadership, as well as how to empower team members who are part of this 30 percent of the population.
Thirty percent of the population has an open Sacral Center in their physiology. This means that a significant portion of your team, partnerships, collaborations, and clients likely have an open Sacral. Perhaps you do. Understanding how to support those with an open Sacral Center can lead to better outcomes for everyone involved.
What is the Open Sacral Center?
The Sacral Center is located in the lower belly, about two to three fingers below the belly button. It is connected to the 40,000 neurons in your belly that create the experience of “gut instincts” or a “gut knowing”. This energy is pumped through the body by your Sacral Center and by the Kidneys, providing energy for the heart to pump blood, the lungs to breathe, etc. Those with an Open Sacral Center will experience their gut knowing and energy in a variety of ways, depending on the day and circumstances. They are flexible while those with a Defined Sacral Center are more consistent and biased in the way they experience their energy.
Defined vs. Open Sacral Center
In Human Design, the Sacral Center can either be Defined or Open. If you have your Human Design Report open, you can check whether your Sacral Center is colored in (defined) or white (open). If you haven’t downloaded your Free Personalized Human Design Leadership Report yet, you can do that here.
A Defined Sacral Center means energy flows consistently through this center, providing a stable and consistent energy supply, as long as the person using the energy is using it “correctly”. People with a defined Sacral Center are called Generators in traditional Human Design. In Leadership Human Design, they are the Builders. If they are only getting involved in projects that are correct for them, that their “gut instincs” (Sacral Energy) is guiding them to, they will have a never-ending source of energy that refills each day. If they use their energy incorrectly, they will drain their energy leading to exhaustion and burnout, which is unfortunately something most Builders do by saying Yes to too many opportunities that aren’t correct for them.
In contrast, in someone that has an Open Sacral Center, the way their energy flows through their body is inconsistent, varying based on the environment and the people around the individual. This means that they aren’t designed to use energy consistently like the Builders are. They are able to experience energy in many different ways and to notice how it’s used effectively and ineffectively in the teams and people around them.
Susceptibility to Burnout
Open Sacral individuals naturally absorb and amplify the energy of those around them. Because of this, they can sometimes think they have more energy than they do, and can be at a higher risk of burnout. It’s important to help them be very aware of the energy and limits of their body, and to rest when needed. Flexible work schedules are often very helpful for non-Sacral beings.
If they are constantly surrounded by high-energy environments or are expected to maintain the same level of productivity as defined Sacral individuals, they can easily overextend themselves and end up feeling bitter, angry, or disappointed – leading to less effectiveness and unneccessary drag on the team.
The Role of Open Sacral Individuals in Teams and Organizations
When someone with an Open Sacral is in a position in a team where they can truly live and lead as they’re designed to, it unlocks a lot for everybody. There are 3 Human Design Leadership Types that have an Open Sacral:
- Guides (“Projectors” in traditional Human Design)
- Innovators (“Manifestors” in traditional Human Design)
- Evaluators (“Reflectors in traditional Human Design)
These 3 Leadership Types make up about 30% of the population while Direct and Systematic Builder (Manifesting and Pure Generators) make up the other 70%. And there is a reason for that. When all 4 Types are behaving and taking action in alignment with how their physiology is designed to take action, everything gets smoother and easier. This is a very general idea of how the 4 Types are meant to live and lead together:
So you can see why there are so many Builder compared to the other 3 types. Innovators are meant to initiate ideas. Guides are meant to be able to guide the process and the Builder’s energy in the most effective way. And Evaluators observe and direct the process at a more broad scale.
The Builders, like myself, have a physiological make-up designed to use their consistent energy to bring the ideas into reality. Imagine everyone on your team was operating in exact alignment with how their body processes and uses energy? This is why it’s so important to empower the Open Sacrals on your teams or in your life to notice when they’ve conformed to societal expectations of being a Builder – and to shift out of that learned patterning back to their natural way of leading through their unique expression.
Understanding and leveraging the strengths of individuals with an open Sacral Center is key for creativity, innovation, and collaborations.
Guides (Projectors)
Guides naturally pick up dynamics in an environment before anyone else does. They can naturally see where energy is being used efficiently and where it isn’t – and by which team members or team dynamics. Essentially, they can sense how energy is being used within a team or organization and identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement.
This ability to observe and provide insights can help guide the optimization of processes and enhance overall productivity. However, it’s important they are in an environment where they are recognized for this natural talent, as well as their other natural talents. And, it’s important they are invited to share these insights. Often, individuals – especially Builders – aren’t always ready to hear the insights the Guides have. Many Builders have learned to over-commit their energy and use it very inefficiently – and it can actually be scary for them to change this habitual behavior, as much of society has been built on the idea that “those who work harder get ahead.”
It’s important to create a space to have conversations about this where Builders are encouraged to question this habitual patterning, to create a safe space for Guides to guide the process as they’re designed to. In general, guides thrive when they’re in a position where they can guide and direct a process and are appreciated and invited to do so. More specifically, there are many nuances to Guides depending on which Gates (natural talents in the 9 Leadership Areas) and Channels (natural ability to bridge two areas of Leadership) are defined in their chart, which determines if they are an Energy Guide, Classic Guide, or Mental Guide:
Innovators (Manifestors)
There are only 8% of Innovators for a reason. And while each human on the planet has the capacity to innovate in their own unique way, Innovators are designed to naturally initiate big ideas, to get them started, to enroll a team in implementing them, and to then allow it to grow without them while they wait for the next big idea to bring forward.
So it’s important that Innovators have a lot of autonomy in their roles and are given space to vision, ideate, and initiate new projects. It is important that they learn how to introduce these ideas to others on the team in a way that overwhelm others. This is where it is key to create an environment where ther eis enough space for new ideas to be discussed and to ensure that any outdated habits of overworking are brought to awareness and shifted, especially with the Builders. Often, Builders will be working on too many things in an inefficient way such that, when the Innovator brings their big new idea up, the Builders won’t have the energy to work on it. This creates unneccessary drag in the team. The foundational skillset is to help a team slow down and learn how to take action from a clear, poised, powerful place – from their inner authority – vs from a reactive, mentally conditioned place. This ensures there is space for Innovators to bring up their ideas and inform the team about them so that the Builders who are designed to work on that project will have the energy to do so. Sometimes, Innovators will just start projects without letting anyone know, expecting the Builders to jump on board. This will also create tension and resistance.
Evaluators (Reflectors)
Evaluators will thrive when they have a position where they can observe and gather qualitative and/or quantitative data over time, at least a month. When they have a vantage point where they can truly see how a team operates or how a market behaves over at least a month, they can guide the overal process and dynamics of the whole team in a larger context.
While the other 3 Leadership Types see the sentence, they see the paragraph. That’s why there are only 1-2% of them in the world. It’s important that they have roles that are less predictable, allowing them to feel surprise and delight, following the energy of the day moreso than being tied down to a daily predictable rhythm. This is how they will thrive and best add to the entire team.
Conclusion
Understanding and supporting individuals with an open Sacral Center is important for creating dynamic and innovative work environments. By recognizing their unique physiological make-ups and providing the necessary environments for them to thrive, leaders can allow them to be in their full potential, which will naturally allow the most dynamic, impactful, and rewarding performance of the teams they are a part of.
Understanding the variability and flexibility of open Sacral individuals can lead to more adaptable, resilient, and innovative teams. Whether you are navigating your own open Sacral or leading a team that includes open Sacral individuals, think of ways you can help to create a culture where each person is aware of the energy they have to give and feels safe to set boundaries and listen to their inner authority.
The leaders that will thrive in the constant and rapid change of the Age of AI are those that can navigate the unknown with confidence, by following your inner compass, and help their teams do the same.
This report gives you a map to how to listen to the wisdom of your body, to the 100,000,000 neurons of your gut and 40,000 neurons of your heart.
The Phoenix System is designed to help you bring awareness to unconscious leadership patterns left over from the Industrial and Information Ages. They block true innovation and creativity that can emerge when staying poised instead of reacting to fears and the whims of your mind.