Journey to Well
We are not created to do this healing journey or life alone. In fact, it was Bessle Van Der Kolk who expertly shared “healing happens in the presence of an empathic witness”. That is the heart of this podcast & my business : to witness. You can expect a plethora of conversations on nervous system regulation, breathwork, human design & astrology, cycle alignment, energy & spirituality work and so much more. We are all on a journey back home to ourselves, rediscovering our innate power within & I am thrilled to take this journey to well with you. be well xx
Journey to Well
Burned Out? Your Human Design Might Hold The Answer | Dr Nicole Garritano
Ever felt like you're constantly swimming against the current, burning out despite your best efforts? The answer might lie in your energetic blueprint.
Dr. Nicole Garritano, a 4/6 mental projector and former healthcare professional, joins us to explore how Human Design revolutionizes our understanding of personal energy. After experiencing severe burnout that culminated in a herniated disc, Dr Nicole discovered that fighting against her natural energy pattern was the culprit. For projectors like her, success comes through invitation rather than pushing—a revelation that transformed her approach to work and relationships.
Perhaps most practically, Dr Nicole introduces the concept of "energy stacking" as an alternative to rigid habit stacking. Rather than forcing yourself into the same schedule every day, she suggests mapping your natural energy fluctuations and designing your calendar accordingly. This simple shift has helped her clients reclaim their time, finish work when planned, and rediscover forgotten hobbies.
Whether you're new to Human Design or a seasoned enthusiast, this episode offers fresh perspectives on using this system as a permission slip to remember your authentic nature. You'll learn why understanding others' designs creates greater compassion, how childhood interests reveal your pre-conditioned energy, and why the ultimate authority is always your own inner wisdom.
Ready to stop fighting your nature and start flowing with it? Connect with Dr. Nicole on Instagram @DrNicoleGarritano or LinkedIn to continue your journey toward energetic alignment.
Let's connect on social media! You can find me @ _journeytowell
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be well, my friend
xx Hannah
Hello. Welcome back to the podcast, uh Journey to Well. My name's Hannah. I am joined today with Dr. Nicole Gartiano. I think I already said that wrong, but that's okay. She is a 4-6 mental projector. She's a coach that helps clients gain clarity, energy, and influence, which I love talking to other coaches. And I love talking to other people that love and use human design in their business. I had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a personal stylist that uses human design with his clients, which was wild. Um, so I love hearing like how people use human design in their business because it's such a vast tool. So, Nicole, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I would love to give you the invitation to introduce yourself, however, you would like to introduce yourself. Who is Dr. Nicole?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Well, first of all, thank you, Hannah, uh, for having me here today. I'm super excited for our conversation because I agree it is so fun when you find like a kindred spirit that enjoys the same things that you enjoy. So I think we're just gonna have a really great time as we chat today. Um, but a little bit more about me. So my background is actually in healthcare and academia. And after being in that space for over 15 years, um, I really stepped more into coaching and consulting. I got there through a point of burnout and stress, um, like no other. I think we've all probably been there too. Many people probably listening in have found themselves in the I say yes to everything, I say no to nothing, and then it hits you like a ton of bricks. And for me, I got, you know, knocked down with a herniated disc in my neck. Um, and it was really during that time of burnout that I decided, you know, because I'm a total type A. So laying in bed, I decided I'm gonna become a coach because there's got to be other women out there, just like me. So that really began my journey of coaching and it just continued to evolve where I was doing more consulting work. And then in 2021, I stepped away completely from healthcare and academia and stepped fully into my business. So in that capacity, I've been able to use human design, you know, with executives, founders, women that are in transition in their lives, but I've also brought a lot of these energetic practices to organizations and teams where maybe I'm not overtly talking about human design, but I am helping them understand their natural energy and the ways they can really thrive within those team dynamics and the environments that they're working in.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. I one of the things that I do is do group presentations on human design with small business, small businesses, so that have like smaller teams. And that's one of the most powerful tools, I feel like. And I always say this learn your human design first, right? And learn it to whatever capacity, whether it's just a passion project, whether it's to feel in more alignment, whether it's to prevent burnout or find that next step in your life where you're kind of up-leveling. Um, but then learn your people's human design, like either your teams or your partners or your kids, because it really does help us understand other people on a much deeper level and give them permission. Like for me, human design is a huge permission slip, and it's very much when I learn my mom's human design and my sister's human design and my partners in the past. Like, it was just this oh, that's why they're this way. That makes so much sense now. And then I can let them be them and let me just go ahead and do my own thing, um, which is which is really beneficial.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I agree. I always say it, we we end up having a lot more compassion for the people around us when we understand how they're hardwired and that, oh wow, this thing that's really triggering to me, that this is just them naturally within their energy. And maybe, maybe it is meant to trigger me because it's meant to make me ask a deeper question about myself and my energy and my conditioning, you know, and where I'm not in alignment. And so I feel like it's really valuable that way too. And I'll often say, and you'll you'll probably have had this similar experience. I can just be with someone and not know anything about their human design. That may not even be what we're talking about. But after I spend some time with them, I'm like, I bet, I bet if we ran their body graph, this is what they would be. Because you just, because when people, part of our natural energy is always there, it's always circulating. And so even when you're sitting there as a coach or a consultant and you're hearing like where they're hitting roadblocks, where they're, you know, where they find challenges along the way, it's like, oh, it's because your energy is flowing this way, right? And you're trying to do something that's not in alignment with your energy, or you're trying to follow a process that's actually not in alignment with your energy. So I feel like there's just a lot of, yes, permission for ourselves, but also deep reflection when we are triggered by other people or circumstances that allow us to ease back into and really remember our true natural energy and what we're here to do.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I always look at people and I'm like, hmm, I bet this is your human design. I would love to pull your chart. But I love that remembering because I mean, you don't know this at all because I don't think that we follow each other on social media yet. But I am hosting a retreat next month, and we I'm co-hosting it with another breathwork practitioner, and we decided to name the retreat Remember and Reclaim. And you just said the buzzword remember. And these are really, and we're of course we're talking human design on the retreat because I'm hosting it. Um, but that's really what human design is it's this permission slip, and I like the word that you used. It's this opportunity to give ourselves a little more compassion to and understanding, and it's this real beautiful permission slip to remember these pieces of ourselves that at one point somebody probably told us was wrong, or we probably felt and and one thing that you were just saying that I'm really curious to hear in the corporate world how this played out for you is um living like, oh, maybe your energy just didn't want to flow in that way or or go in that way. And so I am super curious because your projector, uh, and I'm a manifesting generator, so vastly different energy types, how that played out in the corporate world. And did you know your human design when you were in corporate and how that kind of how that played out in the corporate world? And then when you learned your human design, how that has shifted for you as a protector.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So I did discover my human design while I was still in my full-time roles. It was probably within the last two to three years of me being in those roles, um, where I was honestly, I was just in a mastermind group with a group of coaches and they were all talking about human design. And I was like, wonder what that is. So of course I Googled it as soon as the call was over and um got hooked right away. Um, what I know more from reflecting back, okay, because there's a lot we once you know your human design, you can reflect back on different stages and seasons of your life and notice where you were in alignment, where you were out of alignment. And so I do this with my clients a lot, and you may do this too, and maybe something fun to do on your retreat when you're talking about human design, because that remembering piece many times. If we go back to what we love to do, the thing, the way we acted, the stories we've heard about ourselves when we were like five, six, seven years old, that's us in our natural energy. We didn't have a lot of conditioning yet. And so with my clients, I'll pull forward, you know, some of their channels and they may say, that's not me, you know, and then I'll say, Well, wait, what did you love to do when you were a kid? Because with this particular channel, I would bet as a kid you enjoyed, and I'll just rattle off a few things. And nine out of 10 times they're like, I did like to do things like that. And I'm like, Because you've always had this energy, right? In the mundane, we have this energy, and in the really big events in our lives, we have this energy. It's just as humans, as ego beings, we're always waiting for the big event. We're waiting to show up in this big way and find our purpose and finally feel like we've realized, you know, something. But for me, what I realized was that in, and I I had had multiple career paths before healthcare and academia. Um, and so for me, that really ties into more of that four six profile that I have. Um, however, what I noted to be true as I reflected back was that all the successes, right? I'm a projector, I'm in alignment when I'm feeling successful, all of these successes that I could reflect back on, all of them were achieved with an invitation outside of myself. Okay. Every difficult road I had gone down professionally, I could trace back to me pushing, me putting myself in front of people, me not manipulating, but trying to leverage situations, right? So that I would have like my foot in the door or have their attention. However, there wasn't an invitation. And so I may get the role, I may land in it because I pushed my way in, so to speak, but because it was never truly invited, those roles weren't lasting. I never felt successful or truly seen. And then all it did was make me go looking for the next thing that would make me feel really successful. So that was a big eye-opener for me. Also thinking back just to different friendships and relationships and how things had developed, even like from a community perspective. Um spaces and places where I was really invited in, those were the um the people that I'm still connected with. You know, places where I was either like put there because of work or because of some affiliation at some point. All of those people have just naturally fallen away because, yes, there's an unspoken invitation when we're all in the same professional organization. We're all paying to be there, right? We're paying our dues and we meet up and we do all the things, but there wasn't always the invitation to be in relationship with everyone sitting at the table. And so that's something I've become much more mindful of around myself. And, you know, even with family now, sometimes I'll ask, like, we may be at a family party and somebody wants to tell me something. And sometimes I'll just say, are you wanting to vent or do you want advice from me? Because for me as a projector, right away, they have to give me an indication. It may be like, oh, I don't know, I just want to vent. Okay, great. I'm just gonna listen and I'm gonna say, that is terrible. Oh, you're right. Oh, yeah. I'm just gonna agree. Right. If they want advice, then I'm going to use that penetrative energy, right? I'm gonna feel into what they're talking about, and then I'm gonna be the wise guide and offer advice that they've invited in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And it's very much everything that you were saying, too, is very much your foreline as well, making like the connections within your community and getting those invitations. I'm curious how one of the things that I love chatting about is exploring with projectors what an invitation looks like and feels like outside of, hey, do you want to come on my podcast? And a very like blunt vocal invitation because that's what we often think about when we hear wait to be invited. And I definitely, when I first meet projectors, they're definitely like, what does that mean? I just have to sit on my like phone and wait for someone to text me and be like, hey, do you want to go to dinner tonight? Um, so I love that conversation. And I'm curious what your favorite invitations or ways to be invited that you have found other than the blunt, you know, hey, let's go out to dinner.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I would say for me as a projector and the projectors I work with, the first thing we need to remind ourselves every day is that we're inviting ourselves first and foremost into things on a daily basis. So it's really an internal invitation. And when we're more focused on our internal invitations and the way we're showing up and responding to ourselves each day and leaning into our authority first with ourselves, then the outside invitations start pouring in. But when we're too focused on outside invitations and not giving any attention to that inner invitation, that's where we can get out of alignment and be in a lot of frustration. Um, so for me, I mean, that's really a good question because people I'm already in relationship with, there's an unspoken right invitation there. Now I will say sometimes if a friend group's getting together, or maybe people in my family are getting together, and I find out later everybody got together, the bitterness does creep in because I wonder, why didn't I get the invitation to the group I'm already a part of? And that is something that I will say I have grown so much in since discovering my design, because you know, I can remember being a little bit younger and things like that would happen. And my mom, who's a generator, um, she would say, Oh, I don't even think anybody was thinking about it that way. I don't, you know, but to me, it was like so wounding and I was internalizing it so much. And so what I've what I've learned now through my own introspection is when those situations occur, I usually look at the situation and ask myself, I wonder if they even thought about inviting me. Like I may not have even been on their radar. So why am I getting myself upset? Or I've had the situation where people are like, oh, well, we thought of you, but we knew you had said the other week you had this, this, and this, you know, going on. And I'm like, oh, so I shared and then they remembered, and now I'm really out of alignment because I got bitter about something that I actually created by telling them what was on my calendar.
SPEAKER_01:Right. I am dying from this example because my mom is a projector. And we literally have the same conversation. And I'm like, mom, I just don't care if people don't invite me. Like it, I don't take it personally, like for some reason, you know, like and and and it's just so like this is going back to the understanding others a little bit more deeply because it's it is it does cause a lot of bitterness for her. And um, there's a lot there, you know, and and and it's not just like black and white, obviously it's layered, but um if we've had that same conversation, I'm like, if my friends don't invite me, I'm like, okay, like maybe I'll say something if I'm really hurt, but like it's never, I've never really felt what I hear described from you, and now my mom. I've never felt that um like hurt or bitterness or or disappointment.
SPEAKER_00:Um I think uniquely for projectors, and maybe this has been your experience a little bit with your mom, I feel like, and this can go for all types, I feel like especially those with a lot of openness and their design. So, yes, for projectors from the invitation standpiece, but based on openness overarching in someone's design, I feel like the sense of belonging and wanting to be in the energy of others, it's almost a mandate because we have these open energy centers that want to be fed. We want to be in the energy of others because it brings more connection to our natural energy. And so, I mean, I haven't looked at your mom's body graph per se, but for me, I mean, mine is very open. So I feel very embodied when I'm with other people and I feel like that very human, like the ego part of us, the human, is like we want to belong somewhere, we want to be in community. And when I'm with the people that I love and care about being included, it literally lights me up because I'm borrowing that energy from them. And so I think sometimes subconsciously, knowing how you're gonna feel with those people and knowing that when you're invited, you get to take up space and belong. There's more bitterness around feeling that somehow you didn't belong in that particular circumstance that lands and makes sense.
SPEAKER_01:No, absolutely. She has two defined centers, and everything else is open. So absolutely that that and that's such thank you for that. That's such a beautiful perspective that I've never thought of it in that way. Um, but definitely makes sense. And I have, well, I mean, you you have my chart. I think I have like just I think I have four undefined centers. So um, and all the other ones are defined. Yes, yeah, absolutely. So I want to get back to the this idea of burnout, and bear with me, everyone, because this is a stream of consciousness thought. But as you and I are talking, I'm remembering this just like realization kind of connection that I had this morning, and it's so funny that we're podcasting today. So, with the idea of burnout, here is my here is my hypothesis, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I'm in a very interesting place in my life where I thought that I was doing too much. I think in reflection in my human design years ago, I was not doing enough of what was lighting me up. And so what I ended up doing was kind of starting this business, um, doing my own business and growing that. And because I'm a manifesting generator, what I have been learning and what I've really reiterated on this podcast and my platforms is like one of the best examples of a manifesting generator, is my business. I don't just do human design, I also do cycle alignment and breath work because I need variability in my life and variety, and that shows up in my business, and it also shows up in my life because I do different things for work as well, not just my business. So, what I realized was I was doing not enough of what lit me up, went to just my business, lights me the heck up, but it's not varied enough for I think my like manifesting generator energy. And I have always been someone that spins a lot of plates and I like to do different things, and just the idea of me sitting at a desk seeing clients pretty much every day on Zoom because of the pandemic and because I have clients everywhere, and then doing like in-person events a couple of times a month still wasn't enough variety. So I'm coming into this new season of my life where I'm doing like three different jobs again, but I'm reflecting that actually I love my life even more. So this is the connection I was having in the pandemic. The overarching kind of theme that I saw was this huge invitation to slow down and to really look at like what what I mean, not that we like use this language, but what is lighting you up, what's bringing you energy just in in in life in your job. And so I have seen a lot of people like with kind of a similar story, and and and I know your timeline is a little bit different, but I've seen people with a similar story of like burning out, leaving corporate, founding their own stuff. And I'm very curious to hear how that lands for you as a projector and to hear kind of your story of burnout. Um, because what I'm also hearing from a few people, and I haven't necessarily looked at their human design, is also my story of like burnout, which to me, I yeah, I think maybe I could have called it burnout, but now my language is like I just wasn't doing enough that was lighting me up. Um, burnout and then like leave and then go back to corporate, like we're kind of finding people that are going back to their corporate jobs. And so I'm like, I wonder, because projectors are like rising, right? They're kind of coming into the power. Is this all the projectors that have like left corporate and then the manny gens and generators are like jumping on the bandwagon? Absolutely, and then we're like hitting us, the many gens and the generators are hitting this point, and we're like, wait, I don't need to just like not not like not do anything, but I don't need to just do one thing. Like, what if I now entered the work, the corporate work force again with this knowledge of, and for me, I'm gonna use also the term cycle alignment, like living in line with my cycle as a woman, and this knowledge of human design. That was a very, very long. Thank you for listening to that. That was a very long stream of consciousness. But really, my question is what are you what's your perspective of that like projector kind of rising and the projector energy? And what has your experience been leaving corporate, hearing that whole mouth uh blurb?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Well, you know, for me, I had my knockdown burnout cycle in 2017. I did not fully step away from my roles until 2021. But that was my wake-up call. So I feel like all of us have like a catalyst event, right, that then gets us thinking in a new way. Or, you know, we're like, I can't live like this anymore. Like you can't help but notice something's not right, something's out of alignment. And it sends everybody on a different journey, right? In a different path. So for some of us, yes, we lean more into the spiritual practices or we learn about human design. You know, for other people, it's more in that practical lens. And we probably see that in their design where they're like, I do want to go start like a startup, like a true entrepreneurial startup, you know, and I want to hire the team and do all the things because I want to be my own boss. But what I feel like is at the root of most burnout scenarios is people craving a freedom, people craving to be in charge of their talents and their gifts again and not just giving it away or not being told how they're supposed to perform. So I feel like the catalytic event happens, right? There's this catalyst event that occurs. Then everybody kind of goes through their own journey of burnout where they're having different realizations. But the underlying piece is I crave freedom, I crave my sovereignty again. And people find that in different ways. So, yes, I do think some projectors are going are, yeah, projectors are rising. I mean, we're taught that I think the other types are rising as well because we know it takes all the different types working together to really achieve any type of change. Um, I also feel like some projectors that are still, I have clients that, you know, they're still in the nine to five jobs, they're still in those corporate spaces. Um, but what they found is that maybe there's a level of flexibility where they've landed so that they can design their days in ways where they can still contribute in a corporate environment, being that wise guide, bringing their systems and processes, understanding and seeing the big picture. And they get to do that in X amount of time, you know, each day, or they have the flexibility to still be present with their families, you know, and do the being on boards and, you know, whatever lights them up, as you were saying, whatever lights them up, they have that flexibility within the corporate structure. So I feel like um, you know, part of what I'm seeing with my particular clients and just friends and, you know, colleagues is where there's flexibility, there's happiness typically for projectors or for any type, right? Because you want to be able to juggle multiple things. So you would want to, if you had to be in a corporate environment, one where you get to be stimulated by lots of different projects or being involved in the different groups, you know. Um, so I think this is more widespread. I think where we're gonna find more discomfort and tension is where some companies are now going back totally to office. They're they're reining in some of the freedoms that occurred um through COVID, which I understand both sides. You know, when you read about it, I understand both sides. And there are some people that thrive in a very structured nine to five environment, right? There are. I mean, I have clients that are generators or manifesting generators, and maybe they have two open centers. They can sit there all day, they can stand there at their walking desk all day, whatever it is, right? They can get the thing done and they actually crave that structure. So I feel like a lot of times for people, it's really understanding who you are. Can you lean in and even give voice to what it is that you truly desire in your working environment day to day? You know, sometimes we're so busy pointing out the things we hate, we never take the time to daydream into what would I create if I could create a wonderful day or an ideal working environment where I get to bring my gifts and talents forward. I get to be around the people I want to be around. I get to make the difference that I want to make. Um, so there's sometimes a mindset shift that has to occur so we can start to see what it is we truly want and desire because we can't manifest or create it until we've at least brought it in to our mental reality.
SPEAKER_01:And that really goes back to the first time we had a conversation, you were talking about kind of developing this idea of self-leadership and really leading from the inside out and really having this idea of, yeah, how do I want to show up for my day? And that's actually one of the questions I ask in breakfast breath work is like, how what energy do you want to be giving out? How do you want to show up for your day? How do you want to walk through this world? And I think that really connects to what you were saying about leading from the inside out. Um, can you kind of elaborate on that? And what does that mean for you? And how does that show up with your working with your clients?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so for me in particular, um, it goes back to what I was sharing before, how I invite myself to things first from the moment I get out of bed. And, you know, sometimes it's a silly example, but we're all doing this regardless of our type. You know, you're a manifesting generator, so you are activating and responding to things all day, but first and foremost to yourself. And I'm inviting myself. So our alarms go off. We all right then, I either invite myself to hit snooze, maybe you respond by hitting snooze, or maybe you respond by getting up. Then we invite ourselves to, am I gonna go into the bathroom first? Am I going to let the dogs out? Right. We all live in a different environment. So just anchoring myself into that each day. Like I'm waking up with freedom and power and in my sovereignty to begin inviting myself to even the mundane tasks of life from the moment I get out of bed. Um, I also, because of my openness, I do um some energy practices where I call my energy back to myself as I fall asleep. When I wake up in the morning, I call it back to myself from my dream state. Um, and then when I go throughout my day, I notice on and off like what belongs to me, what belongs to someone else, what belongs to maybe a situation that I'm encountering. So just being curious. And that's also because of my openness and being a projector as well. Um, I just want to be in tune to those different rhythms, knowing some of this is me, some of this is the people around me, some of these things are situations we can't even control. You know, we see the news or someone calls us to tell us a story, and then we're completely impacted. So those are some ways I fine-tune my inner self-leadership every day, just at a very basic level. These don't have to be huge practices or major shifts that go on. It's these mindful, attentive, curious practices that I feel really keep us in alignment. Um, and like I said, I think it's for all the types. Interesting because all your outer anchor points are open, you know, and I'm looking at at yours. So yes, you have this very nice, yes, very nice, steady energy internally. But of course, you need even more stimulation than the average manifesting generator because of the openness on the outside of your um body graph. So that makes complete sense to me. It also means you need a lot of energetic protection around that outer layer of your design because you don't have anchor points around that outside. And so it's really easy, right, for other people's energy or the environment you're in to start to creep in and wreak havoc on the steady flow of energy you have running more internally on a daily basis. So I would say looking at yours, you're gonna have a very strong sense of inner self-leadership. It's when it comes to the outward part sometimes, or you maybe get more in a swirl or you set something forward that you're gonna teach or present. But then if those other open centers get activated, it could throw you off a little bit or it could inspire you to add something new. It can work in both directions. Um, so you know, for you, it looks like a very steady sense of I know my inner leader, like I know who I am internally leading myself. And then as you go into those other layers of leadership that are outside of yourself is where you're growing and changing, right? And trying different things along the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's wild to my chart. Is it so interesting to me because everything that you were saying about, you know, having a lot of open centers and calling your energy in and clearing your energy, I have to do that especially in group work when I do group breath work or I lead a women's circle. I mean, it there's so much like outward influence. And I would argue that's what I was going to add to your that beautiful insight that you had about the open centers, is look at your open centers or undefined centers in your chart, uh, because almost everyone's gonna have at least one. Of course, there's people that have all defined centers, but chances are you have at least one open or undefined center, which would be white in your chart. Um, and notice where that is because I do have especially my crown and my root, and my root is completely open. And like those are like the two, you know, those are the two edges. Those are your anchor points. Yes. Those are the funnels that are like calling in energy and letting in energy and to not have either of those defined. And they're the two pressure centers. So all of the outside pressure, it's yeah, there's it's just so interesting to learn more and more about my human design and learn more about myself and how important it is. That that would be some advice is look at especially, yeah. We're talking about like the top point and then the bottom center, the shapes. If you're looking at your bodycraft chart, uh, if either of those are open, but I would argue all of them. Like what look at the ones that are open. See the energy of that center and then how it's gonna affect you.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And, you know, one thing I always work on with clients, you probably do this too, but it might be worth bringing up right here while we're talking about it, is everywhere we're open, yes, we're like sponges, we're absorbing. We do have some of our own energy, it's just not as consistent. However, when we know how to master that energy of our open centers, that's where we're the most intuitive, right? That's where we can read the room, we can sit with someone and really go deep, you know, with them. So they're also our superpowers. And before we know there are superpowers, sometimes they are our biggest drains. They really are. You know, they can be where you leak a lot of energy or where you feel really depleted until you realize so much of this doesn't belong to me. I get to call my energy back. I get to clear those out. Oh, now when I sit with someone or I'm in an environment, I'm gonna notice what's happening right in my body or where, like you said, where that energy center is located. And then it becomes like that antenna where we're picking up information that then we can use. We can we can funnel that information into our defined energy centers. And that's when things really become spectacular and we get to step into our gifting.
SPEAKER_01:I'm looking at your chart and I'm noticing that you have a completely open G center and ego center. So I'm curious if you'd be willing to kind of share that journey because there is what I notice in my design is my root is my only completely open center, which just means we don't have a defined gate. So if you're looking at your chart, you don't have any colored in numbers in that shape or that energy center. Um, so I I only have a defined, I have a only have an open root, and then everything else is undefined or or defined, of course. But yeah, so I'm curious if you wouldn't mind sharing, because I know, like also those are basically if you're coming from the chakra system, that's our heart chakra, and that's it's split into two, and both of yours are open. So I'm very curious to hear your journey there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I would say if I just reflect back again, um, I have a very open heart. Like uh, you know, if if in the traditional sense, my mom would always say, that's what made me so sensitive, because I just had a heart for everybody. I just cared so much about everybody. It also creates a lot of wounding, though, when you have, you know, an open, that complete openness over your heart center. So a lot of challenging lessons learned in different relationships. Um, and also like just hurt, you know, like trust issues, having to get past some of that until I trusted myself actually more to get to know people and trust those instincts I was getting sometimes around the people in my life. So kind of twofold, right? There's going to be some wounding, but you also learn and grow through that wounding. Um, the other thing that's that comes up with this one is I can pretty much fit in in any group that I find myself in. I can find a way to do that, you know, with the identity center like that, um, being totally open. But it also, when I reflect back, I've had a lot of identities put on me that I just adopted as part of myself that as I've gotten older and understand my design better, I'm like, well, that really wasn't how I saw myself. I just kind of adopted it because it was the group identity, you know, or it was what everybody told me about myself. And so this is double whammy as a projector because we just want to be seen and recognized, you know, and called out as projectors. So when you're seen and recognized for these different identities, it makes you strive for more success in those areas. So especially in my career, I was always after the next big thing, the next big title, the next big way I can make an impact. Now it was from a very open heart. I wanted things to be better, but it was also very easy for me in those environments to get on board, right, with whatever the mission or vision of the company or the university or the group was because I'm wide open. So I'm like, yeah, let's go in that direction. Let's do it. But if I step back from it, it's like, I not that I didn't like the mission or vision, but there were times I was wholeheartedly involved in things that I probably did not need to be that ended up being energy draining that led me to my burnout. So, for example, when I did hit that burnout stage, we had adopted our daughter the year before. I was running um two programs in the College of Nursing. So I had two leadership positions. I didn't take a maternity leave because a lot of what I was teaching was online. I could have, now that was my own doing. I didn't um take the maternity leave. And a year later, after saying yes to everything, right, didn't want to let anybody down, wanted to do all the things. So definitely from this place of my heart's wide open, my identity center is open, um, I wake up with a herniated disc in my neck, right? So the internal stress, the energetics being off internally, led to the physical manifestation externally, so to speak, you know, within my body. And I feel all of us are prone to that if we don't address the energy, if we don't address the conditioning, right? If we don't um address or understand some of that openness that we do have in our designs.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for sharing that. That's that's so interesting to me. I love one of my favorite parts of human design is talking energy centers and then the differences between open, undefined, and defined. And yes, with the flavor of what is your energy type and what is your profile, all the things. Um the last question, well, not really last question, but the next question, I guess, is again when we had a conversation previously, you introduced this idea of energy stacking, and it's kind of like the idea of habit stacking, but there are key differences. So I'm curious if you could uh share this idea with our audience, and hopefully we can all begin to incorporate energy stacking instead of habit stacking.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yes, I'd be happy to. And I'll I'll talk about it through the lens of if you did not know your human design, okay. It's beneficial sometimes if you know your human design, but this technique actually works for anyone, okay, without action without knowing your human design per se. It comes down to the idea that each day, we come into each day with a specific capacity, right, to get things done. And so we act, we know this. We're we're all tuned in enough because we've all had days where we can like buzz through a bunch of stuff and we're like, wow, we got so much done today. I'm on fire, right? And we've also had days where we're like, I barely want to do the first three things on my to-do list today. So I bring that up because every human being has had that experience. And we've been so conditioned to particularly from nine to five jobs, right? That okay, I get up and the this is what I do every day. I get up, I brush my teeth, I get a shower, I get dressed, I get ready, I turn on my computer, I get my coffee, I sit down in front of the computer. You know, we could just like duh duh. It's very monotonous, is what it is. Um, and so we've been conditioned to that. So a lot of times, even when we're out doing our own thing or we have the flexibility, you know, maybe to work from home if you're still in a corporate type of environment, you're still running yourself through this same schedule every single day. And what happens is when we are very fixated on that schedule, if any little thing goes wrong, it triggers our nervous system and completely throws us for a loop until we can regulate again and come back to center. And not everybody out there is great at regulating in the moment and coming back to center. And so sometimes it's that trigger when the schedule gets thrown off or something runs over where then you're off the rest of the day. It's like you never recoup from that experience. So, what I encourage people to do is spend a week or two and just notice. Notice what your days are looking like. Notice how do you feel on a Monday energetically versus how how you feel on a Tuesday versus all the other days of the week. And then once you've kind of fine-tuned, like, oh, I tend to have more energy on Monday, Wednesday, Friday late morning, you know, and then I notice my energy kind of waxes and wanes at a particular time on certain days or every day. Then what you can do is you can start to build your schedule around your energy so that you're actually energy stacking each and every day. The beauty of this is if you wake up one morning and you're like, wow, my energy is a little off. I woke up last night, something I ate didn't really sit right with me. You know, I was up and down. You couldn't have predicted that happening, but then you can look at the way you've stacked your energy for the day and the tasks at hand. And maybe you can take the lower energy tasks and bump them to the top of your day when you're not feeling a hundred percent. And then as you start to feel better throughout the day, then you can trade those, you know, trade you've traded that out then for where you for the higher energy stack. So it's a matter of calibrating to your energy on a daily basis. And I always encourage people, if you're going to do it, even if you're going to try it, carve out time, like maybe Friday afternoon, maybe Saturday or Sunday morning, where you just get in right relationship with your calendar for the week. So this is like 10 or 15 minutes, set a timer. This is not to be some extensive, you know, oh, I've got to mull over my calendar and create more stress for myself. It's looking high level at your week ahead and noticing right then and there, does anything need to be switched around? Oh, I have a doctor's appointment on this day. Okay, that's gonna really impact maybe where I have some higher energy, but I can take those tasks and move them to the next day where I have higher energy to do that. So there's freedom, right? There's a level of power and control over our schedules then, but it aligns with our energy. So what tends to happen with my clients when they implement this is after a month, after two months, they're like, I have more energy. I'm actually turning my computer off at the at the time I want to every day. I'm not, I'm not getting back on my computer, you know, in the evening. I'm actually spending time with my family, my partner, friends that I wasn't spending before. And I'm not exhausted when I'm doing it or avoiding doing it because I didn't have the energy before, you know, to go out and do the things. It also creates a lot of space for hobbies that maybe people have forgotten about. And so it's just, in my opinion, a more empowering way of thinking about our schedules and limiting those conditions, right? I'm eliminating those limiting conditions that we've all faced at some point around our schedules.
SPEAKER_01:I love that idea and that invitation. I do that kind of through a different lens of looking at our cycle. But even, you know, I love that you said it doesn't have to be, you don't have to know about human design. You don't have to know about your cycle. These are great tools that are very assistive, but also just noticing, paying attention, take that audit of your week or month. I mean, I would argue a month because if you're a female, you go through different hormonal fluctuations, but take that audit and see where you're where you feel your energy is wanting to flow and where it's high and where it's low. I love that homework idea.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, well, I love that too. And it's important because you bring up a great point. A lot of times we're looking for external validation or external evidence before we want to implement anything, instead of realizing when we pay attention to ourselves and go more internal, that's the best evidence you're gonna get for yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We spend so much time giving away our energy, giving away our power. And I and I thank you that despite the tools that I have found that are very invitational to turn inward, it's this additional reminder of listen to yourself, listen to your body, listen to your voice. And it doesn't even yes, these things can be very helpful, but make sure that you're always coming back to the do intro to human dessert rings do this because you might feel that. And why? Because there is conditioning and there, you know, there's all these things, but um, like you said, with the channels and stuff, but um pay attention to how it feels in your body because I'm not here to tell you who you are or how your energy is supposed to flow. I'm really these are all invitations, whether you're you're a projector or not. Uh, these are all invitations to check in with yourself. So thank you so much. I have one more question, but before I finish, uh, where can people find you? Where can people continue to learn from you? Where do you hang out the most? All of those good things.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, well, I am on social media. I don't do a ton of things on social media, but if you want to find me, you can find me on Instagram at Dr. NicoleGaratano, or you can look up uh Nicole Garatano on LinkedIn. Those are the two places I hang out the most. Both of those link out to different offers that I have, different ways we can continue to connect.
SPEAKER_01:Love that. Um, my last question I don't typically ask, but I'm dying to know. What if you could only pick one part of human design that just you feel like is your your personal favorite part of human design? It doesn't have to be like the most serving for your clients and all of that. What is your personal favorite part of your human design?
SPEAKER_00:Of mine or just in teaching it in general?
SPEAKER_01:Both. Classic manner.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I would say what I love most about my own um human design is that I am a mental projector because that is so rare. You know, it's only 3% of all projectors. So I didn't like it at first, but it's very interesting because um my environments are very important to me. My decision making is very impacted by where I'm sitting, you know, what am I surrounding myself with? And so that's very orientation-wise, that's quite different, right, than any other authority um within human design, where there isn't truly, there's only a mental pressure there, right? And it's then sitting in the environment with that mental um pressure. So that's something that I've really, it's grown on me and I enjoy the fact that it's very unique to me and a handful of other projectors um out there. So that's one thing I've really embraced about my own design. I would say your next question is a little bit difficult because you know, some of the channels in my design, I like to show people how everything works together and simplify things for them. So when I'm working with someone, I do like to connect the dots about how everything is synergistically happening at the same time with all these different pieces of their design. But I will say one of my favorite things to share with people and go deeply into are the profile numbers and the profile lines. I feel like even with a high-level workshop, there's so much you can do with just those archetypes where people walk away with something they can implement, implement or integrate um right away. And so while sometimes it can seem more simplistic, I feel like with the archetypal names and the titles, it is something in the complex world of human design that people do hang on to when we bring that time and attention to it. And since they're really the characters, you know, that we're here to play in the world, the way we see ourselves, the way other people see us, um, that a lot of times can be a really pivotal moment and at the same time something very tangible that people can walk away with around their design.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. Thank you for sharing your perspective. Thank you so much for coming on. This is such a fun conversation. It's always a good day when I get to talk you and design with someone. So I appreciate your time and I appreciate all of your wisdom and your knowledge. And I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much. I appreciate you too, and I can't wait to hear all about your retreat.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you. Oh, my um, not that we have to record this part, but the woman that I co-host the retreat with is a mental projector.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_01:Which I love that like duality. Also, the important piece that we could take from this, though it's recording part is look at when you're hiring a coach, when you're hiring someone in your team, not that you have to, like if you're a manifested generator, you have to hire a projector, but look at their design if you can. Um, I've had really great coaches that have been manifesters, actually, which is like different still from a manifesting generator. So I always tend to gravitate towards someone that has a different energy type, but even if they're the same energy type, like look at the differences their energy centers. Where are they defined and you're undefined? Because that's a really cool invitation there when you get together and work. So anyway, yeah, super fun.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's all very yeah, it's always very complimentary, right? It's nice when we can call in and borrow and utilize that energy that we don't naturally bring. It actually lights us up more around the ways we're collaborating, right? And the people we're coming into partnership with.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I love it. All right, thank you, Dr. Nicole. This is so funny.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.