Dr. Katie Deming MD: You're listening to the Born to Heal podcast, and I'm your host, Dr. Katie Deming. After two decades of practicing as an oncologist and caring for thousands of patients, I've seen firsthand how our healthcare system places obstacles in your path to true healing. My guests and I will bridge the worlds of Western medicine and alternative healing to help you achieve optimal health.Dr. Katie Deming MD: Expect to uncover new insights, share a few laughs, and maybe even shed some tears. But most of all, we'll learn how to heal from within together. So let's dive into today's episode.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: ~ Welcome back, everyone, to the Born to Heal podcast. I am thrilled today to be joined by Emma Dunwoody, a human design expert, master coach, and behavioral specialist and host of the number one global human design podcast. ~Welcome, Emma. I'm so excited to have you here.

Emma Dunwoody: Thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. So, you know, before we dive in, I'd like to explain to people, why am I having someone come onto the podcast and talk about human design as an oncologist? And so I want to just give a little bit of that background and then we'll dive in so you can explain and kind of help teach us how we can really use this information from human design.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: When someone's experiencing cancer or any kind of illness, but so I knew a little bit about my design. A few years ago, one of my friends had told me about it. And one of the things that she had told me was that my strategy as a generator. Was to respond to things rather than to be initiating things out in the world.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And that for me was really kind of life changing. And then I did an unpack session with you, which was really illuminating around the business and thinking about my design related to my new practice. And as I've been sitting with that in my own information about my own design, I started thinking. This is really important for my clients because for them to understand their design and to know what their strategy is, you know, how they can show up in a more powerful way in the world, and then also how to make decisions, they can use their authority.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so that's when I invited you on the podcast and I was like, please come talk to us about this. So What I'm hoping for people to get from this episode is really understanding their strategy and their authority and how you can use that information to guide and aid your journey with a medical illness.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And the other thing to note for people is that we are going to have a link where you can put in your information to get your design so that you can then see How your specific design applies to what Emma shares today. So I just wanted to start with that. So people understood like, why are we talking about human design?

Dr. Katie Deming MD: But with that said, I'd love to have you, Emma, explain just a little bit so that people can understand what human design is and maybe how you came around to making this your life's work.

Emma Dunwoody: Yeah, sure. So, ~um, ~I think let's start with what it is from a, you know, like a technical perspective. So human design is a synthesis of some ancient wisdoms,~ um,~ including Western astrology, the Chinese I Ching,~ um,~ the Kabbalah tree of life and the,~ um,~ Hindu chakra system. Now, these four systems have been mapped together to create what we call our human design.

Emma Dunwoody: And what is that? Like why does it matter to us? Well, our human design is our energetic blueprint. I like to think of it as our treasure map. And if we are the treasure and our potential is the treasure, it's the map to access that. Now, as a, a behavioral coach myself,~ um, Um, ~one of the ways I like to sort of explain human design is that if we think about these personality and behavioral profiling tools like Enneagram or Myers Briggs or disc profiling, these are all profiles that we, we get the, results, what our, our behavioral or personality profile from answering a bunch of questions.

Emma Dunwoody: Okay. So we are telling the,~ um,~ the system, if you like, who we think we are. All right. And depending, if you have a really good facilitator that they can be pretty accurate. However, they're still coming from this place of who you think You are. And we, all of us as human beings, we have this thing called cognitive dissidence.

Emma Dunwoody: And it's the gap between who we think we are and who we really are. And so behavioral and personality profiling tools, you know, that, that cognitive dissidence can be. you know, quite significant. Whereas with human design, we don't access the actual design or the, you know, what gets spit out the other end through the mind, through answering questions.

Emma Dunwoody: It's actually a reading from a moment in time when we were born and Approximately three months before we were born, where these crazy little subatomic particles called neutrinos, which, you know, they were theorized,~ um,~ by, you know, a lot of the really famous,~ um,~ quantum physicists and they've been studying.

Emma Dunwoody: proven to exist over the last number of years. And there's this huge facility in Japan studying them. And what happens is these subatomic particles move through our body. And as they do, they move through everything. They kind of leave a little piece, like a, an energetic,~ um, um, ~piece, yeah, of the things they've passed through.

Emma Dunwoody: So when we take out our birth rating. What we're reading is all the information from the celestial bodies. So all the planets and, you know, we talk about the sun, the earth, the moon. ~Um, ~Um, we talk about mercury, all sorts of things, just like we would in astrology. And it's that, that, that moment in time where those, those pieces of energetic,~ um,~ imprinting were made on us.

Emma Dunwoody: Now, once we get our human design, then this is the energy that sits Beneath the identity, the, the behavior, the, uh, personality that we create over time. So how I came to human design? Well, I was,~ um,~ very much in the behavioral coaching. I was a performance coach. I worked in corporate, worked with C suite,~ um,~ did a lot of running workshops and used these.

Emma Dunwoody: Behavioral tools. Okay. These profiling tools. And I was going through a time in my life where I had had huge change. I got healed my mental health. ~Um, ~I had, we'd moved house. I'd had,~ um,~ States like had a big move of, of environment. ~Um, ~I had left the advertising industry and retrained to become a coach and I'd started this very successful business.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so many things in my life had improved and I had this. And I kind of said to the universe, I'm like, okay, now I'm pretty confident that, that being fulfilled, being on purpose, doing what you're meant to do in the world, isn't meant to feel like this. I mean, I feel a ton better than I did. Like I've healed my mental health.

Emma Dunwoody: I've healed physical health. I've healed all of these things. However, there's still something missing. And I kind of just said to the universe, you need to smack me in the face with what is this bit, like, what is the missing puzzle piece for me? And. Almost as soon as I had set that intention and put it out into the universe, people started asking me about human design.

Emma Dunwoody: And back then, no one was talking about human design, and I'd already been introduced to it three times, but I'd put it down. As a behavioral coach, I'm like, the language is really negative. ~Um, ~to be honest, I'm a line three. I didn't like what they, even though it resonated, I'm like, I don't like the sound of that.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so I kind of put it down a number of times. And then at that point, when I'd sort of put it out to the universe, the universe had very clearly come back to me and said, well, this human design thing is It's the piece that's missing. Then I just made the promise to run my human design experiment. Cause that's what it is.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~and see what happens. And honestly, from that point, my entire life transformed, you know, I've, I've felt on purpose, you know, almost since the moment that commitment was made. And yeah, it's, it's an incredible, ~um, ~tool, I suppose, that, that can really get us access to our authentic sovereignty, truth, and power.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: I love that. And I will say. Personally, through learning about my own design, it's like, Oh, wow. I am designed that way. Like for me, it was more confirmation of things that. Came naturally, but I was fighting. And I don't know if that's what you find with people, but to me, it's more like just reassuring you're like, Oh, okay.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: There's a reason why I have this feeling or way of doing things because it's in your design. It's not like something you're like, Oh, wow. I'd never even thought about myself like that. It was very much just confirming.

Emma Dunwoody: Yeah. And I love what you said that there's, there's two pieces. The, the first piece is, you know, I've looked at thousands of charts now for, for thousands of people. And I never hear anyone say, Oh, that's a surprise. I only ever hear, Oh, thank you for giving me permission to be me. You know, I think human design often, it just gives us the language for what we're actually feeling on the inside.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~and in my experience and personal experience, as well as work experience,~ um,~ and experience with clients so often, we are trying to fix or change something about ourselves. That's actually our superpower. So we're trying to stop ourselves doing something that we're actually here on the planet to contribute.

Emma Dunwoody: It's just that because we're making it wrong, we're expressing it through fear. We're expressing it for the shadow. to actually being able to access the gift and that the higher expressions that live in that, you know, one of the fundamental things for me is when I understood that I was, uh, I'm a manifesting generator, that I'm a nonlinear being that I jump around all over the place that I take a bit of this and a bit of that, and I put it together.

Emma Dunwoody: And it gave me so much permission because all of a sudden, You know, consistency that you must have to succeed at anything didn't have to be me doing the same thing every single day, it meant, you know, something very different. And I got to redefine that and align to the truth of me and then created so much success and stop beating myself up for not doing it the way everyone told me to do it.

Emma Dunwoody: So I think that that's one of the great powers of human design is it's really giving you language for the truth. That's already within you that you're already feeling.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: That it's, I think that is exactly it. And that's what I want people to understand about this is that this is, the goal of this is to give you insight into who you are and why you're here and giving you permission. I love that, that you said that it's like giving you permission to be that authentic version of yourself rather than fighting it.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I, and I do see so much of that. So. In this context for my audience, you know, I think the, the areas of strategy and authority, that's, those are the two pieces that I'm starting to teach my clients who are working with me on an ongoing basis about how to use those two pieces in decision making and working through a health crisis.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: So I'll let you decide where we start, which one we start with and how, how do we go about that?

Emma Dunwoody: well, I love this question because I think one of the things I love the most about human design is that it puts the power back in our own hands. We live in a world and we're heavily conditioned to believe that it's people outside of us that know what is best for us. And. When I think back 20 years ago, when I was diagnosed with depression and panic disorder and the leading specialist in Melbourne, where I was living at the time, he, he told me directly, sorry, that I would never heal from this, but I'd learn how to manage it.

Emma Dunwoody: And in that moment, I was like, that's just not an option. Like I consider taking my life every single day. ~Um, ~I can't live any form of this for the rest of my life. I have to find a way To heal it. Now what I didn't realize all that time, you know, all that you know, all those years ago was that was actually me trusting my innate wisdom.

Emma Dunwoody: That was me knowing that on some deeper level, I was in fact, the authority in my own life. Now, that's not to say that, and through that process, I actually learned how to rewire my brain, to, to heal my, my mental health, to, change the condition patterns that I learned, my genetic patterns that I'd learned from, from my mom and, and her mom and, and Down my dad's side.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so I completely changed that, but I became the authority in my own life. Now it took me a long time because I didn't trust myself. And I feel like one of the beautiful things about human design and specifically strategy and authority is it's all about you realizing that you actually are the authority in your own life.

Emma Dunwoody: You actually know what is correct for you. ~Um, ~that's not to say we need to ignore it. Ignore all of the experts in our life or the doctors or whatever it is. But we need to gather the information, have experiences with them, and then rely on our strategy and authority to give us the correct, yes, I'm going to do that.

Emma Dunwoody: That feels correct for me. That doesn't feel correct for me. Maybe I'm going to get another opinion. ~Um, ~and put ourselves back in the driver's seat. So. Our strategy. Number one, this is kind of the way the universe leads us. Then our authority, this is our internal guidance system. It's our, our own inner authority.

Emma Dunwoody: So these two are constantly in conversation with each other. It's like a,~ um,~ a communication loop and basically through that communication loop, they're guiding us to our best outcome. Okay. To,~ um,~ the lessons that we need to learn and to,~ um,~ you know, You know, in this context, potentially the healing that we're here to have, the human that we're here to become.

Emma Dunwoody: So strategy is first derived from our type. Okay. So if you're a manifesto, your strategy is to initiate and inform. So in a healthcare environment, what would that look like? It would look like if, if there was something that wasn't,~ um,~ you know, that wasn't working or you are unhealthy or something's going on, then you'd want to go and initiate.

Emma Dunwoody: You want to tell people that you're feeling this way and you want a solution or a healing,~ um,~ you'd be informing people and then you would go, okay, well, I'm going to go to that doctor. I'm going to get that. And you would be initiating wherever you want to go. Now, if you, the next type is a generator. As a generator, your strategy is to respond.

Emma Dunwoody: So what you would be doing is if you had,~ um,~ a health, issue that you wanted to overcome, then you would pay attention. Okay. Well I have, and I'm a manifesting generator, so it's the same for me. So I went and saw a doctor because,~ um,~ I was scrolling through something, this person appeared,~ um,~ and I felt the energy to go And see this person.

Emma Dunwoody: Okay. So that's me responding to, to my external world. Then I sit in front of this person, he gives me a diagnosis and I instantly, my gut says, no, no, that's not for me. So it's this yes, no, yes, no. I'm responding to your external reality. ~Um, ~now I'm manifesting generator, which is a hybrid of the manifesto and the generator. Their strategy is to inform and respond. Okay. So. You tell people that things aren't feeling great for you and then you continue, you respond. You don't initiate, you just wait until maybe your friend recommends a doctor. Maybe they, uh, recommend a modality of healing and then you are going to know, yep, I have, that feels like I have energy for that.

Emma Dunwoody: No, I don't. So it's still in response. Then if you're a projector, let's say you are, ~um, ~in this situation. Projectors. Strategy is all about waiting for the invitation. So let's say you're looking for a health care solution, ~um, ~and you might be just researching it because they will tend to be people who want to learn.

Emma Dunwoody: They want to get to the bottom of things. They want to understand,~ um,~ the strategy, the structure of something, and then you're actually waiting for an invitation. So that invitation might look like,~ um,~ Hey, you should go and see my doctor. My doctor's really, really, really great. ~Um, ~so you're actually looking for someone to give you an invitation to head down a particular path or road.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so, and that's going to come up the more you learn about whatever this thing is. So, ~um, ~um, if it, if it's, you've got a cancer diagnosis, you would be learning about How to heal cancer, it might be books that you're reading, articles that you're reading and through this process, you are actually,~ um,~ building wisdom and then invitations are going to come like, yeah, come and see this person or,~ um, ~and then.

Emma Dunwoody: The last type is a Reflector and Reflector's strategy is to wait 28 days. So Really what they're doing if you have a health diagnosis that you want to solve, you want to heal, then as a reflector, you actually just first and foremost, just want to ground yourself into, do these people feel good that I'm around?

Emma Dunwoody: Does this environment feel good for me? ~Um, ~then as you're introduced to the health solution, you just take your time. Does this feel correct for me? Do these people feel good to be around? Does this doctor feel like they're correct for me? And then over that time, you'll get the clarity of like, yes, this feels correct for me, or no, this doesn't.

Emma Dunwoody: So that's strategy.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah, well, and I think it's really important. You said a lot of things in there, just even leading up before you describe the different types and their strategies that we are our own authority. ~Um, ~Any of my clients will say, that is what I'm saying all the time. It's like, I don't have the answers for you.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: The doctors are presenting you with the options, right? And in Western medicine, they're presenting you with algorithms that basically they plug in your type of cancer and all this stuff. And it comes out in an algorithm, but it's not individualized. And so you have to, or it, It is imperative to respond and, and to have your own authority about what, whether that's right for you or not, because this is your body, you are going to experience the benefits or the complications and side effects associated with whatever they're offering, and if it doesn't feel right, You need to be able to voice that.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And this is a big part of my practice now is slowing people down because part of the system is designed to get people into treatment quickly. And as a former health care leader, I understand. I don't think that the doctors are doing this with malintent, right? There's, you know, data to say that it's better if you, you know, it's quicker between your biopsy and starting treatment or surgery to radiation or chemo or whatever it is.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: So there's, you know, these metrics that they have. So they're like, okay, let's just go. And you feel like you've just been shot through a cannon, but it's important. To slow the process down. And I love their, what you're talking about with a reflector, there are specific types that maybe even need more time to even slow it down even more to really feel in their body.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: What is right for me. And so I think that this. information for me personally, I used to be someone who was like, I just like force whatever I wanted to happen. I can force anything to happen. I mean, I'm pretty good at forcing things, but the truth is, is that then you run up against these walls and, you know, and so, and then as I started to use my strategy, And I think in responding to things, it makes it so much easier.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: So this is the piece that I think is helpful for people to know is that knowing your type, which gives you information about your strategy is going to almost be like a sigh of relief to realize like, Oh, okay, I don't have to go out and make things happen or do this. You can start to use your design to.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Respond or, you know, initiate if you're a manifester, whatever it is, but it helps you start to Tune into the way that your body wants to Show up in the world and I think that because especially when you get sick, there's this big pressure there's just this you got to make decisions you got to do things fast and the truth is that You don't need to do anything fast, and especially when we're talking about really toxic treatments that are potentially life changing, it is really important to slow down.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And this is information that can just help you make better decisions for yourself.

Emma Dunwoody: Yeah. I love all of that so much. I mean, I think unfortunately we've been, uh, disconnected from the incredible wisdom that lies within our body and our body knows what it needs to heal. I've had some crazy healing experiences in my life, ~um, ~just because I believe the impossible is possible when it comes to those things.

Emma Dunwoody: So I know,~ um,~ the power of the mind, the, the, the power of the body to heal firsthand. And I think that one of the things that you said, that's so incredibly important and actually leads us straight into authority is this whole concept of slowing down. ~Um, ~our entire world is, like pushes us and drives us to move faster.

Emma Dunwoody: And the truth is that from an authority perspective, so our internal guidance system, our inner authority, half the global population have an authority called emotional authority, meaning that they do not make decisions or correct decisions quickly. They just don't. And it kind of, ~um, ~what happens is that they will,~ um,~ force themselves, like you said, I mean, you're a sacral authority, but the emotional authorities, they have to sleep on it.

Emma Dunwoody: They have to take time. And I think that from a conditioning point of view, that feels really scary because people, you know, they tell these stories of, well, you've got to get in there as quick as you possibly can, but our emotional authority needs at least to sleep on, especially big decisions about, you know, do I do this treatment or not?

Emma Dunwoody: You might need a, you know, 24 hours, you might need a week, but you need to give yourself that time to have the emotional clarity because with emotional authority, Once it drops in, it seems simple and obvious, but until it drops in, it feels like, you know, one second, it's the best idea you've ever had. The next second, it's the worst idea you've ever had.

Emma Dunwoody: So it's really about allowing that emotional wave just to settle until you have that clarity. And I know I'm an emotional authority. And it's one of the things that I live my entire life this way. Now, I won't make any spontaneous decisions. ~Um, ~I will always just give myself time. And sometimes that might be five minutes because that's all I've got to make a decision.

Emma Dunwoody: Let's say about lunch. I don't know something unimportant. However, anything to do with the business or,~ um,~ you know, I recently went through a big relationship shift. Um, I separated from my husband. So all these big decisions, like I just take time. It's super important to get that emotional clarity because that is actually your body telling you what is the most direct route.

Emma Dunwoody: to where you want to go, you know, it's going to give you the path of least resistance if you're just patient and listen to it. So that's emotional authority. As I said, nearly 50 percent or just over 50 percent of the global population have that authority. Then the next most popular is the sacral authority and the sacral,~ um,~ like you, it's all about being in response.

Emma Dunwoody: And yes, I have energy for this or no, I don't. So you might be sitting in front of a practitioner and they're speaking and you'll actually notice your head's nodding. Like that's your cycle saying, yep, yep. I've got energy for that. Or yep. I understand that. Yep. Or you might just notice yourself like, or you might even notice yourself pull back, you know, like sit back again.

Emma Dunwoody: These are all cycle responses telling you, nope, I don't have energy for this. ~Um, ~and the sacral is right now in the moment. Okay? So it doesn't need time. It's, it's very accurate. And it's going to tell you what is correct for you. Yes, you have energy for it or no, you don't in any moment. So that the biggest challenge, as much as the sacral authority is the simplest to have, the biggest challenge with that is actually not letting the mind override.

Emma Dunwoody: Once the gut's given you the decision, you've got to go with the gut. Then the next,~ um, um, ~Largest authority is splenic authority. Now this one can be,~ um,~ a little bit harder to get to know because it's all about instinct. and intuition. ~Um,~

Dr. Katie Deming MD: ~If you need to go, do you need to go get water? Because we~

Emma Dunwoody: ~I have~

Dr. Katie Deming MD: ~it out. You have it? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.~

Emma Dunwoody: ~Sorry. I've just been doing lots of talking and I've got the heater on in the background because it's freezing. Um, okay. So, Again,~ because we live in a world, because we're conditioned, especially as children, ~um, ~that our imagination, our intuition, our instinct, it's just, it's just your imagination.

Emma Dunwoody: We actually learn to, to dial it down, to really not listen to it. But if you have splenic authority, then what that means is it's this spontaneous knowing in the moment. Okay. ~Um, ~so you just might have this spontaneous knowing that this is the right doctor. This is the right solution. ~Um, ~and you might actually hear a voice in your head say that, or you might just have this, this, this deep knowing, or you might,~ um,~ see a vision in your head.

Emma Dunwoody: Like it's a very intuitive, instinctual way of making decisions. So really trusting that. And if you have splenic authority, you also, the spleen is the house of,~ um,~ survival and wellbeing. So it is always talking to you about the,~ um,~ the vitality of the body. Okay. So it's about very much listening to those intuitive things you think are correct for you and stopping the things that you intuitively know are not correct for you. Then we have some of the,~ um,~ the least,~ um, Um, ~I suppose popular, that's not really the correct word, but the, the, the smaller groups of authority where we have ego authority, we have self directed authority, and we have mental authority. Now, all three of these, they're all about a sounding board. And in fact, we have the, the no inner authority for reflectors as well.

Emma Dunwoody: So we'll pop them in there as well for the moment. So these are all people that they have to speak out. Out what's going on. Okay. So they're going to make their decisions through this process of, well, if I have ego authority, I'm going to be talking through what's going on. ~Um, ~what's, what's on my heart, what my heart's desires are.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~and I'm going to be talking this through with a sounding board and that sounding board is another person that actually holds space and listens. They don't give advice. They don't tell you what to do. ~Um, ~they just hold space. Perhaps they ask questions and maybe they're like, Oh, You said that, but you sounded like you didn't believe it.

Emma Dunwoody: You know, it's someone that can really hear what you're saying as opposed to projecting their stuff onto you as you're saying it. Now with ego authority, as I said, you'll be talking about your heart desires. If you've got self directed,~ um,~ authority, then you're going to be talking about what the correct direction is, you know, you know how you can experience more love.

Emma Dunwoody: You're going to be talking of everything through that frame. And then if you've got mental authority, you're going to be talking about your thinking processes. And all the time you're talking these things through, you're waiting for a moment from where this conversation shifts from just, I'm talking it out to make sense of it to, that's it.

Emma Dunwoody: There's this moment that it kind of drops in as a knowing and you're like, okay, I've heard, I've heard what's correct for me. I've heard my answer. So it's important that these people all have,~ um, ~someone that they can really deeply trust just to hold space for them,~ um,~ without directing. you know, where they, the other person thinks they should go with their decisions.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so yeah, that's all the authorities.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. And I, so this is one thing that in the practice I'm using a lot of just, Helping people understand their authority because when they're making decisions, I have a, and it makes sense that emotional authority is 50 percent of the population. I have a lot of clients with emotional authority and letting them know.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: That there's this emotional wave and not to make decisions when they're in a high or when they're in a low, but just to let it play out so that they can get to a place where they feel really confident and the clarity will come. And it does. And I think that helps calm people's nervous system to know.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. Oh, okay. I just need to kind of ride this wave. And then the answer will be there. And then, you know, for someone like myself, I have sacral authority. So I just know right away, like I always know what to do. And you're right. The thing that gets me caught up is then my brain starts going, but wait, should I, should I not, you know, in this like dialogue.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so then it's helpful for those clients to say, okay, like, what is your gut telling you? Like, what is that? Let's get out of your head. Let's get into your body. And the knowing is there. And so this is, I think for me and my practice, the authority is the biggest game changer for people because it gives them permission to make decisions.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And then it's how, how it's going to what their body wants to do and, and how the knowledge is going to, you know, come through there. So I think that this is something that when people obviously listening to this are probably like, I don't know what my thing is. So you can go when we have the link and then you can put in your information.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: You need your date of birth, time of birth, location of birth. And then it'll give you this information about your, your type, your strategy and authority. But I think that just knowing this and then listen back to what Emma has said here, because it's just little pieces of information that you can, or I guess it's really,~ um, ~You know, helping understand your body and your design better so that you can make better decisions.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And that is truly my goal is to help you become the authority of your body and your health and what needs to be healed. And I agree with Emma. So, you know, you don't know much about my practice, but we talk all about the mind and, you know, really, We're healing naturally. So some of my clients do do conventional therapy, but I have people who are not doing any conventional therapy and curing cancer, basically having that go away.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And that, you know, I think when people have these feelings, like this is not right, I don't want to do this treatment. There's something that just is telling them it's not right. But then they end up doing treatments because of the fear of regret. Like, Oh, what if down the road it doesn't work, you know, like something bad happens, then it's going to be my fault.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And my family's going to be mad or all these other things. And so what I'm always trying to do is bring people back to. Yeah. You need to trust yourself. You really need to listen because this whole illness is a symptom that your body is talking to you about. It's telling you something is out of alignment.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so we want to be tuning into what the body needs and not just listening to the medical professionals and doing exactly what they say because if your body is saying no, We want to understand, like, what is that about? What is, what does your body need to heal? Maybe it needs something different than what's being recommended.

Emma Dunwoody: Yeah. Well, and I love what you're saying, because I think that You know, oftentimes, we have this perception that when we go to the doctor, and we actually, I feel like I get treated many times by doctors this way, that I'm just the same as everybody else, like that we are, the human body is the human body is the human body, and that's just not true.

Emma Dunwoody: And ever since, you know, the dawn of epigenetics, we understand that actually environment is the thing that's consistent. ~Um, ~So, you know, really understanding how to shift and change our environment or within human design, like we can actually look at your what we call the primary health system. So how you are actually designed to, to eat and to digest, and we can look at your environment.

Emma Dunwoody: So when you actually have the physical environment that's aligned for you, this directly affects your longevity and your vitality. ~Um, ~and I know for me, when I was diagnosed with,~ um,~ my mental health,~ um,~ depression and panic disorder, I was so out of alignment with my environment and at the time I didn't realize, and I made the ability to Big shift from living in the backwater country town in regional Victoria in Australia to moving to sit into Sydney.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~and like, really like we weren't, weren't even five kilometers from the city itself, like literally every morning I would walk my dog and I would see the Sydney Harbor bridge and like my mental health all of a sudden, that was a big factor on healing my mental health. Because. I didn't know that at the time, but what I'd done is I'd aligned to my correct environment, according to my design.

Emma Dunwoody: Um, so all of a sudden everything is flowing better. So I think that that's one of the, the other things with human design is like you said, it's really about building trust in yourself and realizing that some of the things that we've been told aren't important, like our environment, like it doesn't matter, how would it matter what sort of house you live in or what sort of suburb you live in or what sort of country you live in?

Emma Dunwoody: Like, why would that. matter other than socioeconomic. ~Um, ~but it's so much more than that. It's so much deeper. And again, I feel with human design, it gives us the opportunity to go so much deeper than just, well, either you live in an affluent area, therefore your well, your wellbeing is going to be better, or you live in a poor area.

Emma Dunwoody: Therefore your wellbeing is going to be,~ um,~ not so good. So yeah, I think so much with human design, it's about the specificity that it gives you for you to access your greatest potential.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. ~I, and I think that ~there's so much in there and I, I know, you know, this much, I, I'm very much like a, You know, novice in human design, but the more I learn, the more I feel like my life is aligning. And especially I'm using it within the business to help me create the right environment to think about how I work best.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I never understood why coming podcast episode by myself, just talking to a camera was like, So hard, but put me in, like, I just on Tuesday, I was going into a podcast and I thought we were just recording. And then sure enough, it's like thousands of people live. I'm like, bring it on. I love it. You know?

Dr. Katie Deming MD: So, and that's because I'm a generator and response, you know? So I think. I'm, I'm learning how to use this information and I think one of the things for people is not to get overwhelmed and to, you know, that's why we're starting with just these few things because for people who are going through an illness, one of the things that they describe is they get overwhelmed because there's so much information.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: There's so many things that they could pay attention to. And so for this, My puppies are very excited or they think that we're almost done talking. So they're just like ready to go outside. But so, ~um, ~I think, you know, taking this information in pieces, you know, that understanding your type, your strategy and authority is going to give you a lot, and then as you have more time, as you're interested in learning more, you can get dig deeper, but I don't want people to feel like, Oh my gosh, this is so much information that.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: You know, how do I put all of this together, just given the state of many people who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis?

Emma Dunwoody: Yeah. And, and I think it's actually good advice for everyone, you know, that's kind of what I say with human design,~ um,~ as a whole is like, it's a very complicated system,~ um,~ but ultimately it's an experiment. So pick the things that, that. Your strategy and your authority, like just pick those first and experiment with them, see what results you get.

Emma Dunwoody: Do they, do you get better decisions? Do you have better outcomes? Is your life better because you're experimenting and listening to these things, and then you can just follow your instinct, your intuition, like, okay, well now I'm curious about my profile. Now I'm curious about my incarnation cross and just, you know, take it step by step.

Emma Dunwoody: I mean, we actually set up,~ um,~ when you get your chart with us and You guys have got the link for, for you to get the link, the, their chart with you. But with us, because of that, because of that overwhelm, because from a behavioral perspective, overwhelm, what that means is that you lack clarity. Okay. So when the brain goes into overwhelm, it just means we lack clarity.

Emma Dunwoody: So we've created this whole pathway. Like when you get your chart, you're going to be sent to specific podcast episodes one at a time. And I think that this is great advice for. Everyone that is, you know, trying to transform in any way, you know, ~um, ~a mentor of mine used to always say this, this old saying like, well, how do you eat an elephant, which is weird, right?

Emma Dunwoody: Well, you eat it one bite at a time. And that, that I think whether it's human design or whether it's your healing journey, I know for me with my mental health, it was really about just understanding one concept at a time, experimenting it in my, with, with it in my own life. getting results, like, yes, that works for me.

Emma Dunwoody: No, it doesn't. And then kind of moving on to the other. So yeah, I think that's really, really good advice.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah, and I think this idea of experimentation is really valuable and I think People with an illness often think they have to get it right, so they're so worried about making a mistake, but the truth is you can practice this in little ways, like little decisions, little things that are coming up. You can practice and experiment, like you said.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: I wonder, can you give an example of what you mean by that in terms of experimenting with this?

Emma Dunwoody: yeah, sure. So, ~um, ~ultimately, you know, what do we know about why do we experiment in science? Well, we know that something is successful when we experiment with it, when it's repeatable. So what we're looking for is let's say we have a, I don't know, a sacral authority. Let's just go with that because it's the simplest one and moves the fastest.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~So you decide, okay, I'm going to experiment with my sacral authority. What does that mean? It means that I'm not going to initiate, I'm not going to go, well, I think something, and I'm going to put it into action. What you're going to do is you might think something, but you're not actually going to act on it until you have something external.

Emma Dunwoody: Now that might just start with experimenting. ~Um, ~I often just use the example of going to the, the fridge, the refrigerator or,~ um,~ to the cupboard and you're looking at food and you're just responding to the food in front of you, or you've decided to go to the movies with a friend. So you're looking at what movies are on and all of a sudden, Oh, that one, because your sacral goes, uh huh, that one.

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~so you're just making all of these little decisions. It's. Seem unimportant listening to your authority. Then you just get to the end of the day, end of the week, end of the two weeks and say, okay, well I've been making these decisions with my gut. What's different? And what you'll start to see is like, wow, I actually.

Emma Dunwoody: You know, everything was easier. There was more flow. There was more,~ um,~ ease. You know, I didn't do a bunch of stuff I didn't need to do, which is a classic generator and manifesting generator thing to do. They end up doing way too much because they think they should, because they feel obligated instead of just doing the things that they, that are correct for them. And then once you're running this experiment, the other thing that you can do is you can take your authority. So let's say you're an emotional authority. And one of the things that I love to do is look at the past, because when we can find the evidence in the past that it's already happening, again, the change becomes easier in the brain because you're showing the brain that, oh, I already do this thing.

Emma Dunwoody: So you might look to the past. You're an emotional authority and think about some of the big decisions you made. Did I make a spontaneous decision or where did I make a spontaneous decision? Were they correct for me? In most cases, you're probably going to go, no, they weren't correct for me. And then ask yourself, well, where in the past have I made decisions over time?

Emma Dunwoody: ~Um, ~did they work out? And in most cases, you're going to be like, Yeah, actually, now you mention it, they did work out. So you can go and look for the evidence in the past and you can run the experiment in the real time. And what you're really doing is just giving your brain evidence that when you listen to your authority, you experience more ease, more flow, the decisions are correct for you.

Emma Dunwoody: And ultimately what you're doing is building your trust in yourself and your own inner authority. You're just demonstrating that you actually do know what's correct for you and that you can trust that process. Yeah,

Dr. Katie Deming MD: exactly what I see. So with the clients where they're working on authority and using it in their decision making, they're starting to trust themselves more, which is my whole goal is to help people trust them. I, you know, I think that. especially in my field, people defer to the doctors, right?

Dr. Katie Deming MD: But you are the authority of your body. And so I want you to learn how to trust yourself. And this is a process. I love that you said that with the experimentation, that you start to trust your own guidance and realize these other people are here to help you. for guidance, right? So like I can provide some information.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: I have 20 years of experience caring for people with cancer. So there's some value to that, but that you're not deferring that authority to someone who has more knowledge than you do. And so I love that building trust with yourself and using, you know, this experimentation to get to that place of trust.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: So that that's beautiful. And I do want to encourage people, please go to Emma's site and do your design there, because I've done that. And also what comes through is so helpful because it's much more in depth than just the things that we've talked about today. ~Um, ~but it's like also that piece of, you know, knowing what may be helpful for you immediately.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I think these, you know, the type, your strategy and authority are the things that are really tangible. That could be helpful in the moment right now with going through an illness. So, Emma, can you tell people where they can find you?

Emma Dunwoody: absolutely. ~Um, ~you can find, uh, the, me on Instagram. I'm the human design coach. ~Um, ~otherwise the website is emmadunwoody. com. ~Um, ~you can also find my book, which is just about to sort of come out. I think this, it, that for you guys in the U S it'll come out early next year. ~Um, ~and yeah, I mean, we're in, On YouTube and all sorts of other places, but probably Instagram and the website are the best places.

Emma Dunwoody: And of course the podcast, the human design podcast, best place to find us.

Dr. Katie Deming MD: awesome. Well, thank you so much, Emma, for being with us. I really appreciate you coming on.

Emma Dunwoody: You're so welcome. It's been great. Thank you so much.