What is a Meta-type?
Learn About the Meta-types: Be your Best Self!
Drawing on both Eastern and Western Medicine, Dr. Dane has coined the term “Meta-type” to describe six basic patterns of energy that she has found in people. Your Meta-type is more than just your metabolism — more than just how fast or slow your system runs — it describes your whole person — body, mind, emotions, heart, and spirit.
In more than 30 years of private practice, Dr. Dane discovered that people fall into six basic patterns of energy and personality. She originated the term “Meta-type“ to describe and differentiate these patterns. Her “Your Body, Your Life” program is a comprehensive guide that shows you how to become the most vibrant, vital, and healthy being that you can be when you live in balance according to your Meta-type.
“West Meets East”
Both Eastern medicine and Western science teach us that energy is the driving force of the universe. Western science, concerned with the parts of man, teaches us how the body functions, while Eastern medicine, which sees man (and all of life) as a whole, teaches us how energy makes the body function.
According to Western science, the physical activity of our metabolism is based on, and regulated by, our body’s nervous system, driven by our energy and our brain. The nervous system is divided into two parts: the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The central nervous system is controlled by our “thinking processes” (I have a thought to pick up a pencil, and my hand reaches for that pencil), while the autonomic nervous system controls our body’s automatic processes, including our metabolic activity, and basically “what makes us tick,” - other than our brain.
It is also divided into two complementary regulators that work together: the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system.
The parasympathetic nervous system keeps our bodies running smoothly, automatically. Running quietly in the background, it maintains the rhythm behind our breathing, the regularity of our heartbeat, the efficiency of our digestion, and generates many other everyday miracles. This nervous system provides our body with balance, stability, and regeneration, helping us slow down, chill out, rest, and regenerate.
The sympathetic nervous system keeps us poised for action, prepares the body for the activities of life, and gives us the ability to expend energy in any situation. It wakes us in the morning, energizes us throughout the day, boosts our energy when we respond to strenuous physical activity or emotional stress, and prepares us for emergencies with the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. It speeds us up, moves us forward, and makes sure we get things done.
These two regulators are interdependent, yet synchronized to work together. As impulses from the parasympathetic nervous system inhibit, and impulses from the sympathetic nervous system activate, they act in tandem to keep the body functioning optimally and ready for life’s demands.
Eastern medicine teaches us that there are two main aspects to energy; two different strengths that flow throughout the universe but are also always in balance with each other. The “negative,” or “Yin,” energy possesses a feminine polarity that is receptive, dark, cold, slow, and emotive. The “positive,” or “Yang” energy, possesses a masculine polarity that is assertive, light, fast, and intellectual.
Everything in life is composed of these dual energies. Within the human body, the Yin and the Yang energies affect your metabolism in two opposite, yet complementary, ways. The Yin aspect governs the parasympathetic nervous system. It is the process of synthesizing, assimilating, and building up your powers to regenerate. This phase sets the stage for the periods of rest that the body uses to repair itself. The Yang aspect governs the sympathetic nervous system, including all the processes that produce and expend energy and break down substances such as food, air, or water into the simplest components of pure, usable energy. Each system relies on the other for strength and sustenance to meet the demands of life placed on your body.
Eastern medicine further maintains that every individual functions according to his or her own unique Yin-Yang balance. That balance controls each person’s metabolism and also defines his or her unique personality. Therefore, we each have our own specific nutritional requirements that guide the way we break down our food and utilize our energy for tissue repair, cell regeneration, and energy. We also have our own “relationship chemistry,” based on the specific Yin-Yang energetic balance, which helps determine with whom we are most - and least - compatible!
The Origin of the “Meta-type”
Dr. Dane’s revolutionary parallel between the two energy regulators of Western science and the two energy aspects of Eastern philosophy has resulted in a system of understanding how our bodies and our personalities function energetically. They key is to remember that the parasympathetic nervous system (slow, rejuvenating, and “stabilizing”), which is aligned with the Eastern Yin energy (slow, emotive and receptive) and the sympathetic nervous system (fast, on demand, and action-oriented), corresponding to Yang energy (fast, intellectual, action-oriented) are opposing, yet complementary, integrated forces - creating balance in the body.
The Meta-types are based upon which is the strongest dominant action within this balance in a person’s body - either the parasympathetic (Yin energy) or the sympathetic nervous system (Yang energy). These aligned forces drive how a person’s body functions, and define his or her personality. They influence every aspect of your life, right down to what your body truly needs in terms of diet, exercise, and lifestyle, as well as overall personality compatibility - in other words, with which Meta-types you stand the best chance of establishing stable, long-term relationships.
Dr. Dane further discovered that these six Meta-types fall naturally into two groups, Accelerators and Synthesizers, based on patterns of dominant and weaker energies and endocrine glands. When considered as a whole family, the Meta-types create a full circle on the metabolic spectrum.
Accelerators are energetic in body and personality. They have the fastest metabolism on the Meta-type scale and are strong type-A personalities, dominated by their intellect and the action-oriented sympathetic nervous system (the body’s parallel to Yang energy). Their reaction to stress is anxiety, and they need to learn to release their emotions and calm down! Their metabolic profile is driven by the body’s need to energize. In Eastern philosophy, Yang energy is associated with more acidic environments and qualities. When considering nutrition for the human body from Western science and Eastern medicine perspectives, the Accelerators - with faster metabolisms - function best relying on the faster burning, more calming carbohydrates.
At the opposite end of the metabolic spectrum are the Synthesizers. They have slow metabolisms and type-B personalities. They are dominated by their emotions and the more regenerative parasympathetic nervous system (which is the body’s parallel with Yin energy). Thus, their profile is driven by the body’s need to rest, repair, and rejuvenate. Their reaction to stress is depression, and they need to direct their overflowing emotions into rational thinking and learn to speed up! In Eastern philosophy, Yin energy is associated with more alkaline environments and qualities, and that translates to the human body as well. Nutritional analysis, based on Western science and Eastern medicine, determines that the Synthesizer’s metabolism needs the slower-burning, yet more stimulating, proteins and thus requires a more carnivore diet.
The basic personality characteristics and metabolic tendencies of the six Meta-types are also distinguished by which of their body’s endocrine glands are stronger and which are weaker or less effective. For example, the pure Accelerator’s master (strongest) gland is the adrenals, which allows the Accelerator to run almost completely on adrenaline energy and stress (sympathetic nervous system activity). By contrast, the pure Synthesizer’s least effective (weakest) gland is the thyroid gland, which means that under stress they’ll have an even more difficult time than usual liberating adequate sources of energy for their daily needs.
You can increase your understanding of your own and the other Meta-types simply by reading the many characteristics described for each type in the charts here, from the fast moving, action-oriented Accelerators to the slower moving, creative and empathetic Synthesizers! Read through all of the six Meta-type descriptions below to determine which one seems to fit you the best. THEN, confirm your Meta-type by completing the free, easy-to-use online questionnaire - What’s Your Meta-type? - for instant results on this website!
Once you’ve discovered your Meta-type, you can learn everything you need to make your personality and your body type work for you, not against, you! Your Meta-type describes your whole persona - you’ll learn that all your issues deal not only with your body but with your mind, emotions, heart, and spirit. Learn how to make your body’s unique energy patterns serve your unique personality so you can live the life you want - every day, in all areas of your life - work, love, family! Learn things like: the best energy times for you, how your personality affects your reaction to stress/how to handle stress, and lots more in these detailed reports!
Learn more about the six Meta-types:
