Learn about conditioning, the negative impact it can have on your life, and the power of deconditioning in Human Design.
What is Conditioning and Deconditioning in Human Design?
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If this is not your first visit to this site then you’ll know that I always end my posts with a section deconstructing the various concepts with Human Design, through a scientific or psychological lens.
I love the topic of the deconditioning in the Human Design journey, because while there are some elements of HD I find problematic, this particular area really resonates.
Culture has shifted into normalised expectations.
According to the Human Design system, developed by Ra Uru Hu, conditioning is essentially subconscious and harmful conformity to cultural norms and expectations.
Deconditioning is the process of consciously recognising this conformity, and the work to actively release any obligations which don’t serve you.
There are many cultural expectations which are valid, necessary, and absolutely a positive thing. For example, the laws we abide by which are there to keep us safe and ensure we live in a (largely) civilised society.
However, in many cases, culture has shifted into normalised expectations, despite being out of alignment with life purpose for many people. (Keep reading for examples.)
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What Causes Conditioning in Human Design?
Conditioning is likely to effect people differently dependent on their Human Design type. Why? Mechanically and in terms of our genetic blueprint, our open centers are where we’re vulnerable to conditioning. They are where we take on the energy of others, becoming exposed and receptive to their suggestions.
As we’ve touched on above, it’s not that all cultural ‘rules’ are bad, and neither is following them.
Problems arise when we find ourselves bowing to outside pressures, or even blindly falling into line with no conscious consideration as to whether a specific expectation is in fact holding us back in some way.
It takes significant effort to unlearn the restrictive habits we’ve formed.
With conditioning, it’s easy to fall into the trap of simply doing what we’ve always done, or what everyone around us is doing, without questioning whether a different way might actually:
- Suit us more
- Align better with our values
- Help us to achieve a goal
If this is resonating for you, know that this is a very natural state in which most people exist. Why? Because it takes conscious thought to identify the limiting beliefs and behaviours we’ve adopted as a result of societal expectations, or conditioning.
And it takes significant effort to unlearn the restrictive habits we’ve formed so that we can embrace our true nature and live as our authentic self.
Deconditoning and Open Center Questions
As mentioned above, it’s our open centers which are vulnerable to conditioning. With that in mind, it can be a good idea to ask yourself questions based on the open centers on your unique Human Design body graph.
“Am I holding on to what is not good for me?”
The following open center questions can help you to identify any areas where you may be experiencing conditioning:
The open Head center question is: Am I trying to answer everybody else’s questions?
The open Ajna question is: Am I trying to convince everyone/myself that I am sure?
The open Throat center question is: Am I trying to attract attention?
The open G-center question is: Am I looking for love and direction?
The open Heart center question is: Do I have something to prove or improve?
The open Splenic center question is: Am I holding on to what is not good for me?
The open emotional center question is: Am I avoiding confrontation and truth?
The open Sacral center question is: Do I know when enough is enough?
The open Root center question is: Am I in a hurry to get everything done so I can be free of the pressure?
Taking the time to examine these questions can be hugely beneficial as part of the deconditioning journey.
What Are Some Examples of Conditioning?
So what does conditioning look like in practice?
Remaining single, or choosing to be child-free are valid lifestyle choices.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how it might show up in real life…
‘Small’ examples of conditioning could include:
- Following fashions
- Owning a mobile phone
- Planning meals around what foods ‘go’ together (according to whom?)
- Owning a television
‘Bigger’ examples could look like:
- The expectation of seeking a traditional marriage and 2.4 children
Remaining single, or being child-free by choice, or being polyamorous, are all valid alternatives.
- The idea that everybody should aspire to owning a home
Alternative options could be travelling, living off-grid, homesteading, communal living, etc.
How Long Does it Take to Decondition?
Utilising your strategy and authority alongside the deconditioning process is beneficial.
Human Design wisdom suggests it takes seven years to decondition at the cellular level.
However, bear in mind that it’s an ongoing process, because there will always be external influences around us, potentially sabotaging our hard work.
This is why utilising your strategy and authority alongside the deconditioning process is beneficial to help you stay on track.
How to Decondition in Human Design
A good way to work through the whole process is by combining it with another of my passions: journaling.
The deconditioning process is all about:
- Being present;
- Mindfully making decisions, based on what is right for you and your life path;
- Disregarding the expectations placed upon you by the outside influences of society.
A good way to work through the whole process is by combining it with another of my passions: journaling.
Journaling is a fantastic way to implement mindfulness into your daily routine, as well as providing opportunities for self-reflection, so you can really assess and evaluate what’s working in your life, against what’s holding you back.
Like this idea? Check out our Human Design journal!
The Gene Keys is about going inward to untangle what’s keeping us stuck.
If the concept of deconditioning resonates, you may find that Gene Keys is a topic also worth exploring.
While Human Design is about making changes to your external environment to better align with your genetic code, the Gene Keys is about going inward to untangle what’s keeping us stuck.
Let’s take a look at an action plan to work through the full deconditioning cycle…
Tips For the Process of Deconditioning
Using your journal, follow the these simple steps to help analyse and improve the areas of your life where you feel you may be conditioned. (Keep in mind that simple does not always equal easy!)
1. Get curious about what’s not working
If you’re reading this, then you likely are already aware that something in your life feels ‘off’, or maybe there’s more than one thing that doesn’t feel ‘right’.
Write about the things in your life that feel uncomfortable.
Of course, awareness is a great first step to finding a solution. But first you need to identify the very essence of what the problem is.
It may be that you’re conscious of the specific area that feels wrong, but not necessarily. And even if you know the root of the issue, you may not be sure of how to remedy it.
Use your journal to write about the things in your life that feel uncomfortable, with the intention of uncovering any specific problems. Use the open center questions above to help with this process.
2. Identify your feelings
You’ll most likely feel a wave of overwhelming emotion as you have a bit of an epiphany.
As part of the Human Design experiment of deconditioning, it’s important to identify your emotions, so you can understand what it is that you truly need to be feel at peace.
A good tip is to question your feelings, and keep asking yourself ‘why?’.
Every time you think you’ve found an answer, keep going deeper until you are confident you’ve hit the core, underlying issue.
How will you know? You’ll most likely feel a wave of overwhelming emotion as you have a bit of an epiphany, especially if you have emotional authority and benefit from its emotional wave.
3. Process your feelings
Identifying our emotions is really only the first part of the puzzle. Whether we’re talking about Human Design or just in general, processing feelings is a vital component to personal growth.
The only way to process feelings, is to feel them, all the way through.
It’s important to keep in mind that understanding why we feel a certain way is valuable, but unless we’re willing to do the work, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t mean much.
So what does processing our feelings actually mean?
It means rather than avoiding the triggers for bad feelings, getting to a point where we can face a trigger and move through our associated feelings in a healthy and detached way. But how do we achieve this?
The only way to process feelings, is to feel them, all the way through.
It’s uncomfortable, messy work. But it’s so necessary! So, rather than using distractions, sit with those difficult feelings.
Notice how they make your body feel physically; perhaps you experience tension in your back and shoulders, or clench your jaw or fists, or feel anxiety in the pit of your stomach. Maybe you’ll need to have a good cry to expel and purge any frustration or sadness.
Once we’re able to identify and process our emotions, we can move on to figuring out the purpose of those feelings.
Note this process may take some time – it’s not an immediate / overnight fix.
This is relevant in general, but specifically in the context of Human Design, pay attention in particular to whether the feelings coming up relate to your not-self theme:
- Manifestor – anger
- Generator – frustration
- Manifesting Generator – anger and frustration
- Projector – bitterness
- Reflector – disappointment
Once we’re able to first identify and then process our emotions, we can move on to figuring out the purpose and inner wisdom of those feelings…
4. Decide what you want to change
If we’re feeling something uncomfortable and negative, there’s a message in that. Often it means that we’re not in alignment with out values, and again, within the context of HD, it likely suggests we’re not implementing our strategy and authority effectively.
Think about your energy type and how you might be living out of alignment.
So, here is where we can begin to interpret the meaning behind our feelings, and create positive change to challenge those bad feelings.
Consider what things in your life do or do not serve you and what you’d like to achieve. Think about your energy type and how you might be living out of alignment. And then brainstorm goals to set you back on the right path.
5. Create a plan to break bad habits and implement new ones
Once you’ve walked through each of the above steps, it’s time to put a plan into action!
They say it takes 66 days to form a habit. It’s a little more complex than that, but there are strategies you can implement to help increase your chances of forming a positive new habit or breaking a bad one.
Here are some of the methods you could try to help…
Habit Tracking
Using a habit tracker utilises the framework of The Habit Loop.
The reward centre of the brain will induce a desire to repeat the exercise.
Essentially, we require a cue to perform the action we wish to perform a habit, and filling out a habit tracker provides this.
Once we’ve completed the action, we require a reward to reinforce the behaviour, and the dopamine hit we receive from ticking the box on our tracker is sufficient for this purpose.
The reward centre of the brain will induce a desire to repeat the exercise in order to repeat the reward, and thus completes The Habit Loop.
Implementation Intentions
People who get specific about when or where they’re going to complete a task are way more likely to follow through1. We can use this knowledge to our advantage simply by using the principle of if…then statements.
An example might be, instead of saying ‘I’m going to work out more’, reframe and rewrite as ‘If I get out of work on time then I’ll go to the gym’.
Habit Stacking
This refers to the idea of tying a new habit to a pre-existing one, and is as simple as remembering that when you do a specific task that is already part of your routine, you must precede or follow it with the new habit.
Scheduling
Sounds silly, but if you don’t schedule in time for your new habit, it’s very easy to simply not find the time for it.
Blocking out time specifically for a new habit makes you far more likely to actually complete it, and takes away the possibility to ruminate over whether to do it or not, which is in itself a drain2! Far more productive to just get the task done.
6. Check in with yourself regularly
Following your Human Design strategy and authority will enable you to live as the truest version of your highest self.
Keep in mind that by its very nature, conditioning and deconditioning is an ongoing process.
Even when you feel you’ve successfully got through this list and corrected any issues, it’s worth taking the time to regularly evaluate things and check everything remains on track.
Working through the above steps and following your Human Design strategy and inner authority is what will ultimately enable you to:
- Evaluate and make the correct decision
- Get back in touch with your true self
- Resist incorrectly following the crowd
- Live authentically as your highest self
For a deeper understanding of Human Design and your own conditioning, you may wish to consider a Human Design reading.
Ready to Order Your Report?
Curious to find out more, or order a reading for yourself or a loved one?
A comprehensive report can be an excellent tool to help deepen your relationships. And, newly unique to the market, child reports are now also available to help strengthen your connection with your child, and support their wellbeing.
Hot tip: Use code HD963K2 for a 25% discount when you purchase two or more reports!
Unlike the free reports typically available online, the offering from Supernatural Coaching is a 120+ page comprehensive deep-dive into your unique Design and type, also covering profiles and themes and providing a quick reference guide and workbook.
What the Science Says
I said at the start of this post that this topic resonates with me, and it’s because the science is indisputable.
A 1951 study by psychologist Solomon Asch3 showed that we are all primed to conform, at least as adults. As children, we’re less socially aware, and as such less prone to conformity – but we’re quickly conditioned to adapt and fit in!
Worryingly, we’re far less likely to be self-aware in this area.
And this guidance continues throughout your entire life, leading to situations where we are conditioned, in order to maintain a civilised society.
As discussed earlier, in many situations this is necessary, but there are lots of situations where this merely leads to us behaving like sheep, and this is arguably harmful, both to ourselves and our communities.
For example, when it comes politics and voting, we rely on independent and critical thinking to drive positive change.
Worryingly, it has also been shown that while we can identify when this is happening around us, we’re far less likely to be self-aware in this area4, believing ourselves to be immune!
So what causes this phenomenon?
Neuroplasticity is the mechanism of our brain which creates habits.
Asch suggested that it’s either to fit in, or because of an assumption that the rest of a group is more knowledgeable.
So how does this relate back to habits? Well, first we’re conditioned to conform, and subsequently our behaviour becomes ingrained as habit. Ultimately, our conforming behaviours become our routine, and by this point it’s almost impossible to recognise what’s happening in our inner world.
Thankfully, this is where the above tips I laid out can be useful, and it all comes down to something called neuroplasticity.
Essentially, neuroplasticity is the mechanism of our brain which creates habits. Repetitive behaviours create neural pathways which allow us to perform certain actions on autopilot, freeing up our conscious thoughts to focus on more ‘important’ things.
Read more about neuroplasticity in this post about how affirmations work to promote positivity.
Conditioning is an inevitable consequence of living within a society.
The ‘problem’ with this clever process is that once again, it means we not only fail to recognise when a habit is not actually in our best interest – it’s also really tricky to disrupt the subconscious mind. And this is why we have to very consciously work at breaking patterns of behavior.
But this is entirely possible. By engaging our prefrontal cortex, we’re able to make conscious choices and take back our own power, aka decondition.
So, whether in the context of the Human Design world or just generally, conditioning and deconditioning is definitely real.
It’s an inevitable consequence of living within a society.
And it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, so long as we remain aware of it, and challenge any areas which do not serve us!
Sources
- Gollwitzer, Peter. (1999). Implementation Intentions: Strong Effects of Simple Plans. American Psychologist. 54. 493-503. 10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493.
- Vohs KD, Baumeister RF, Schmeichel BJ, Twenge JM, Nelson NM, Tice DM. Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: a limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 May;94(5):883-98. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.5.883. PMID: 18444745.
- Asch SE. Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 1956;70(9):1-70. doi:10.1037/h0093718
- Pronin, E., Berger, J., & Molouki, S. (2007). Alone in a crowd of sheep: Asymmetric perceptions of conformity and their roots in an introspection illusion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(4), 585–595. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.585