🩷 Projectors We Love #1
Projectors We Love is a series introducing Human Design Projectors doing great things. Today, meet…
Naomi Nakamura with her dog Coco
Naomi Nakamura
📍 San Francisco Bay Area
Splenic Projector
Human Design x Health Coach
📱 @livefablifewithnaomi | 💻 Website
Naomi, if there was a TV show about your life, what would your theme song be?
Ooh, like Ally McBeal. It would be Little by Little by Oasis. Not my words, but this is what the internet says about this song: “The phrase ‘little by little’ signifies gradual progress and the idea that achieving dreams requires time and effort. It conveys a message of hope, urging listeners to keep striving for their goals despite challenges.”
What was the last thing that made you properly LOL?
Abbott Elementary. And this reel of Liam Gallagher.
What’s your favourite thing about being a Projector? And your least favourite?
Favorite thing: The stealth “eye” to see or notice things that other people don’t.
Least favorite: Waiting for invitations; having to wait to be invited to tell people what they’re doing wrong and how it can be done better.
Naomi’s chart
What has been the most game-changing Human Design insight you’ve gained and applied in your own life? The one thing that got you the most reward?
Game-changer: The validation that all my little quirks – seeing ways to do things better, noticing things that others don’t, having strong instincts (splenic authority), the need to know all the things about what captures my interests (1st line), always having to experiment to find out “what if” I try something what would happen (3rd line) – are indeed my strengths.
The Most Rewarding: Giving myself permission to take pride in these quirks has given me a boost of self-confidence and helped me learn to trust my own abilities, which has had a huge positive impact on every aspect of my life. Indeed, it’s not just game-changing, but life-changing.
For someone just starting out with Human Design, what do you think is the best way to go about learning more?
Know what your Human Design is beyond just your type. Have an awareness of it and be curious about it. But don’t skip over intimately knowing your aura – type, strategy, authority. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Also, experiment. How does it feel to not follow your strategy and authority and how does it feel when you do?
What has your biggest struggle been as a Projector?
The unlearning. Realizing that I didn’t know how to truly rest. And finding a balance between resting versus using “I need to rest” as an excuse to avoid doing things I didn’t want to do. It can be a fine line between unlearning and embracing your design, and using it as an excuse to be irresponsible.
David Beckham in Beckham (2023)
What advice would you give a Projector sharing that same struggle?
To quote David Beckham, “Be honest.” Be honest with yourself. If it's a struggle between needing to rest versus not doing things you don’t want to do, I think it's worth exploring why you don’t want to do it (or if it’s necessary and what can be done to work through it).
What are your Projector strengths?
I’ve gotten a lot better about being realistic about timelines and expectations I place on myself, and what’s feasible and realistic for me to do in certain timelines and situations. I have become more aware and accepting of my capacity, and understanding of when I can go and when I need to press the brakes.
What’s a secret skill you possess?
I don’t know if this is a skill but I notice patterns and can usually pick up on things before they are announced or made known.
The topics of health and Human Design complement each other beautifully. How do you merge them and what gifts does each bring to a client?
There’s a lot of homogenization in the health and wellness space. Being a health coach for years, I’ve come to notice that the underlying struggle a lot of people experience isn’t a lack of knowledge or information. It’s not even a lack of willpower. Instead, it is a lack of self-confidence and self-trust in their ability to make decisions, especially for themselves. There’s so much information, content and advice being thrown at us from every direction that it's overwhelming.
Digging into your Human Design and understanding your aura, and especially your authority, is arguably the single biggest skill one can have for their health and wellness. Along with noticing patterns, I also like to peel back layers and really get into the underlying problems. This approach is called Functional Nutrition, which is my background in health coaching. But it's also essentially what Human Design does, too; it's the perfect synergy, they complement each other perfectly. I like to think of it as my “Functional Energy approach.”
You have been working with the Human Design system for five years and in the health coaching realm for ten. What trends have you seen come and go over the years, and, in your opinion, what has staying power?
There are always the dietary trends that come and go: Paleo, Keto, vegan. It’s sad because these programs were created for specific use cases and when adopted for said use cases, they’re very effective. Unfortunately, they morph into trends, then become controversial and misunderstood.
I’d say there was also the Enneagram trend seven or eight years ago. I dug into it and can see why I turned out to be an Enneagram 1. But the thing with the Enneagram is that it is based on an in-depth assessment that one takes on oneself. So unless you have massive self-awareness, conditioning influences the results. This is why I took to Human Design – there’s no conditioning – it’s just you.
How has your experience impacted and guided the approach you take to nurture your own health and well-being?
I once heard the term “the wounded healer”. Those of us who work in health, wellness, soul-driven areas got here because of our own path to healing. I’m not any different.
I had a slew of health issues that I felt that I had not been properly educated on and that I wasn’t getting thorough enough answers for. That led me to Functional Nutrition: Peeling back the layers to understand why my body got into the state it was in and then seeing the body as a whole, functioning system. It made so much sense and had a profound impact not just on my health but on my whole perspective to everything in life. It taught me to always ask “why?”. It’s actually a very science-based approach that requires one to understand anatomy and how the human body works.
But in asking “why?” I realized that it comes down to how we see ourselves; how we value ourselves, how we trust ourselves and the confidence we have in ourselves. Oddly enough, I recognized this in me – not just in my health, but also in my business and how I show up, and my capacity for visibility. And that’s where Human Design came in, and now it’s how I view everything from my health, to my work and my social connections.
When I follow my splenic authority, the decisions I make to nurture myself aren’t complicated or difficult to make. Once I understand the “why”, the actions for me to take to nurture my own well-being are very clear.
What are your favourite practices at the moment to keep you healthy and vital?
Of course every morning I have to have my signature smoothie that’s loaded up with all the goodness!
But my very favorite practice is my “3 things” at the end of every day. It’s inspired by a ritual I heard Emma Watson share and I’ve been doing it since the start of 2024. At the end of each day, I list 3 things that were fun or joyful from the day, 3 acts of kindness (given or received), and 3 things that I did well or liked about myself. It’s my little ritual that’s become something I look forward to when ending my day.
Naomi and her signature smoothie
What does success mean to you? How do you measure success?
What it means to me: If I learned something, regardless of the outcome, I truly feel that it was a success. And recognition, which something I would have never admitted before, but it does matter to me, and I’m finally okay admitting it.
How I measure it: Feeling free of tension and discontent.
One piece of advice you’d like to give all Projectors:
It’s a special thing to be a Projector. We’re the most versatile of all the Human Design Types. While we have a lot of openness in our designs, we’re not lacking in any way. Embrace it! Experiment with your design! Have fun with it! And don’t use it as a crutch or an excuse.
For those who are interested in experiencing your work for themselves, where do you recommend they start? And how can we connect with you?
If they are new to Human Design or the idea of Human Design and wellness, start with the Designed to Thrive guide.
If they are experiencing health complaints and want to learn a system of how to connect the dots between what they’re eating, how they’re feeling and how their body’s functioning through a Human Design lens, then my Food Mood Design masterclass is an ideal option.
If they want to dig into their own Human Design, beyond their type, The Human Design Playbook is a personalized offer where I dig into their design for them.
I’m currently in the process of crafting my signature program, Find Your Flow, which brings everything together in a deep dive. From what I can tell, it will be launched around the end of October. I have a few other offerings, but those are the main ones.
Last Q: Who’s one Projector you deeply admire and why?
The one Projector I admire is Nadia because you’ve crafted your life to your aura so simply and you uphold your boundaries with love and warmth to protect your energy. And you have so much fun doing it! (Editor’s note: 🥹💛)