Emmie is the creator of The daily rest - an online space for poetic channelling, human design guidance and practices for everyday magic & deep, deep rest.
Dear Emmie, tell us about your discovery of Human Design...
When I first came across Human Design I was unimpressed. Do we really need yet another STUPIDSPIRITUAL THING? Ugh.
The second time it crossed my path, I was curious enough to enter my birth details and be even more unimpressed when I found out I was a Generator. So I’m the common one. I hate it.
The third time, I was on a Restorative Yoga Training and Retreat in Helena, Montana. It took me three days and more money than I had to get there from Sydney, Australia, but I felt a certain urgency to study with a teacher close to retirement. So there I was, on the other side of the world, at a place called Feathered Pipe Ranch, spending all day either studying Rest or laying in the softest grass on planet earth drinking ice tea with lemon and staring directly into space.
It was the quietest I’d ever been. The first few days I was almost in a panic. On day three I was in the sauna alone at night, attempting to sweat out my resistance to being so incredibly still. Once again Human Design entered my mind, but this time it never left.
The thing about Human Design is, it’s both wildly esoteric, while also being the most practical tool on the planet. Your body graph, determined by your time, date and place of birth, is like the road map, or blueprint your soul chose in order for you to find satisfaction, success, joy and ease in this lifetime.
Human Design is of little use if only understood intellectually. Instead, it’s an embodied experiment. The best way to sink your teeth in is to get a reading. Each and every chart is so unique and intricate, even if you’re a ‘common’ aura type, there is very specific way every persons energy is expressed, and there are so many precious jewels and ah-ha moments to be found beneath the surface.
From an integrated understanding of your unique wiring, it’s time to experiment. What unites all beings in Human Design at this time on the planet, is the call for all of us to move from a place of making decisions with the mind, to making decisions with our authority. Your authority is your strongest intuitive sense, or the place within you that just knows. This is rarely easy, but in my experience, and the experience of the hundreds of people I have read for: it is always, always worth it.
After my week at Feathered Pipe Ranch, there was a subtle shift. I came back to Sydney, back to teaching yoga classes all over the city, from sky rise office blocks in the CBD, to tiny ocean view studios on the beach. As a Sacral Generator, I made a commitment to experimenting with listening to my authority (the sacral centre, or gut) over the voice of my mind.
It was terrifying. I walked away from places and opportunities with no reason other than it doesn’t light me up. I said yes to things that scared the living hell out of me because they felt right, not because it made sense. I carved out more time to commit to joy, for no other reason than joy itself, and let go of trying to endlessly hustle, force and push my way forward.
I do not live my life by my design. Instead, I allow it to remind me, daily, that I Already Know. It gives me permission to trust myself and my intuition over what is expected, or logically makes sense. When I doubt myself, my design is like a loving embrace and a knowing whisper that says: you know you’ve got this.
And sure it might be just another thing: but the validation it gave me has been this lifetimes greatest gift.
The thing about Human Design is, it’s both wildly esoteric, while also being the most practical tool on the planet.
1. What is your favourite quote?
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
2. What is the best advice someone has given to you?
“I think you already know the answer.” ;)
3. What does well-being mean to you?
To have the energy and support to do and create what you love. To be able to see the magic in everyday moments.
4. You have an evening to yourself. What does it look like?
Cooking something spicy while listening to music, eating on the floor by candlelight, lots of oils after a hot shower, a super sensual kundalini meditation and reading in bed with the windows open, extra points if it’s raining.
5. What are your three favourite books?
The hardest question by far!
Current favourites:
Magdelen Mysteries & The Great Cosmic Mother.
A must read for all: Braiding Sweetgrass and
words that always inspire me to write and savour the everyday: Slouching toward Bethlehem
6. What habit have you incorporated into your daily life over the past few years that has changed your life?
Meditation, breath work and restful yogic practices for the nervous system, for sure, but also a commitment to pleasure and sensuality. Being more gentle on myself. Letting go of excess rules, militant discipline and self-imposed structure.
7. What advice would you give to your younger self?
Meditation, breath work and restful yogic practices for the nervous system, for sure, but also a commitment to pleasure and sensuality. Being more gentle on myself. Letting go of excess rules, militant discipline and self-imposed structure.
8. What obstacle did you have to overcome to become the woman you are today?
The belief that the path to success and happiness has to look a certain way.
9. What do you do when you‘re not feeling well? Do you have certain self-care activities that help you ground yourself again?
When life feels hard I try not to force anything. I take multiple showers. Put on a TV show that makes me laugh, listen to music that makes me feel, talk to friends, get outside and go for long walks and drink coffee beneath the sun.
10. I feel the most creatively fulfilled when...
I’m living my dream life, which honestly is quite simple. No fixed schedule, time for practices, slowness, incense and music, talking with people who inspire me and make me laugh, dressed in my favourite clothes and eating my favourite foods.
Visit The daily rest to take exquisite care of yourself in form of:
~human design readings
~poetic practices for deep rest
~soft business mentoring
Instagram: thedailyrest
Thank you so much wonderful Emmie! (love)
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