Centering Plans

The Atlas shows where every center stands. The centering plan shows what to do about it — in what order, at what pace, and with what precautions.

Not “Work on Everything” — a Sequenced Plan

Every displaced center carries within its position the direction of its return. A center that is Under points toward center from below; one that is Over points toward center from above. The Atlas, by revealing which centers are displaced and in which direction, produces a complete directional reading.

But direction alone is not a plan. Twenty compass readings do not tell you which to follow first. Centering one center changes the conditions for centering others. Some movements must precede others. Some create conditions that make others possible. Some, if attempted prematurely, produce destabilization rather than growth.

The centering plan takes the raw compass readings from all twenty centers, determines which movements are possible now, which must wait, and which carry risk, and arranges them into a dependency-aware sequence.

Dependency Logic

The engine identifies seven types of dependency between centering steps, organized by strength.

Hard Dependencies

Trap escape. When a trap is active, the escape center must be centered before the trapped centers can be freed. Traps are self-reinforcing cycles. Attempting to center trapped centers without first opening the escape route produces temporary movement that collapses back into the trap. This dependency is absolute — the cycle cannot be interrupted from within.

Medium Dependencies

Basin sequence. Basins have internal structure. The centers within a basin exert gravitational pull on one another. Centering them in the wrong order means each newly centered position gets pulled back. The optimal sequence centers the most peripheral basin members first, working inward.

Row coupling. When centering one center shifts a sibling center across a state boundary, the two are coupled. The plan sequences work to account for cascading row effects.

Fault trigger. Fault lines have trigger centers and cascade centers. The plan stabilizes cascade centers first, creating resilience before the trigger zone is approached.

Soft Dependencies

Gateway prerequisite. Opening a gateway makes all centers in its Domain more accessible. Addressing the gateway first is more efficient, though individual centers can be worked without it. When multiple gateways need centering, foundational gateways (body, feeling) come before higher-level gateways (meaning, spiritual presence).

Synergy. Certain path pairs amplify each other: Opening and Arriving, Bridging and Extending, Returning and Clarifying. Sequencing synergistic paths in proximity produces compounding benefit.

Mirror pairs. Sensitivity and Service (somatic foundation mirroring existential expression), Acuity and Embrace (cognitive clarity mirroring emotional bonding). Mirrors work best when addressed together.

When dependencies form cycles — center A depends on B, B on C, C on A — the engine has identified an interlocked defense. It detects the weakest link and breaks the cycle there.

Sequencing Strategies

Given a set of displaced centers and a map of their dependencies, the next problem is sequencing: where to start. The engine evaluates your configuration and selects the strategy that fits your structure.

Crisis Stabilization

When coherence is critically low, the priority is immediate stabilization. The engine identifies centers whose centering will produce the fastest coherence gain — typically centers with high healing power that are not trapped or defended — and addresses them first. The goal is survival: moving the system out of the danger zone so more deliberate work becomes possible.

Bottom-Up

When the Physical and Emotional Domains are severely Under, the body comes first. Physical Domain, then Emotional, then Mental, then Relational, then Spiritual. The logic is architectural: the foundation must exist before the upper floors can hold weight. A person dissociated from the body and cut off from feeling cannot meaningfully engage relational or spiritual work.

Top-Down

When the Spiritual Domain and Open Capacity are severely Under, meaning comes first. Spiritual, then Relational, then Mental, then Emotional, then Physical. A person who has lost all sense of purpose cannot be grounded in a body that feels purposeless. Top-down arrives at the body through meaning rather than approaching meaning through the body.

Middle-Out

When the Relational Domain and Bond Capacity are severely Under, connection comes first. Bond and Relational centering, then expanding outward into Emotional, Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Domains. A person whose attachment system has collapsed cannot sustain gains in other domains because the relational infrastructure supporting those gains does not exist.

Follow-Resource

When the displacement pattern is mixed and healing readiness is moderate, the engine starts with whichever center is most accessible — the one with the highest combination of healing power, lowest inertia, and fewest blocking dependencies. Each successfully centered center creates new possibilities, and the sequence adapts to the changing picture.

Computed Optimal and Maintenance

A sixth approach, computed optimal sequencing, uses a two-step lookahead to evaluate cascading benefits. This approach is available when healing readiness is high and the path is clear. A seventh, maintenance, applies when the system is near ceiling — sustaining and fine-tuning current functioning rather than pursuing further centering.

The priority heuristic within each strategy scores available centers across multiple dimensions: healing power (how much leverage this center carries), trap and basin resolution (whether centering it breaks active structural features), gateway status (whether it opens blocked channels), synergy (whether it amplifies work already in progress), and topology (whether it occupies a fulcrum, source, or hot-core position with additional leverage).

Step Simulation

The engine does not simply order steps. It simulates what happens when each center is centered.

For every candidate centering step, the engine models the cascading effects: which sibling centers shift, which state boundaries are crossed, what happens to coherence, whether any traps are broken or activated. This simulation produces a projected coherence trajectory — a forecast of how your coherence score moves across the full sequence.

“If you center these three gateways, coherence moves from 52 to 71.” That prediction is computed, not guessed. It accounts for cascade effects, row coupling, basin release, and the compounding benefits of sequential gateway openings.

Risk Flags

Not every centering step is safe. The engine identifies five categories of risk and annotates each step accordingly.

Backlog risk. When a center has been severely Under for a sustained period, centering it can release accumulated experience. The gate has been closed; behind it, input has been piling up. A person who has been Closing to emotion for years may, upon Opening, encounter not a manageable stream of feeling but a flood.

Flip risk. When a center is near the threshold between Under and Over, centering work can overshoot. Flip risk is highest for centers with moderate displacement and for centers whose mirror partner is unstable.

Cascade risk. When centering one center shifts siblings across state boundaries, the cascade risk is elevated. A large cascade can destabilize the system by creating more transitions than it can integrate at once.

Destabilization risk. The ratio of active transitions to the system’s absorptive capacity. The same centering step that is manageable at higher coherence may be destabilizing at lower coherence.

Retraumatization risk. A binary flag applied to centers where centering may activate traumatic material. Its presence means the step must proceed with awareness that the work may be potentially re-wounding.

Defense Types and Pacing Phases

Not all displacements are created equal. Five defense types determine which displacements to address first and which to defer.

• Ripe — Ready to move. Moderate inertia, healing readiness above threshold, no blocking factors. Best candidates for immediate work.
• Adaptive — Functional over-engagement currently serving coping needs. Least urgent; often softens on its own as surrounding structure improves.
• Protective — Gateway centers in an Over state, actively guarding against overwhelm. Must be replaced by a more functional form of protection, not simply removed.
• Compensatory — Part of an active compensation pattern. Must be addressed as a pair: centering the Over capacity without addressing the Under capacity it compensates for leaves the person with neither defense nor function.
• Load-bearing — Heavily entrenched and connected to the system’s core. Addressed last, after surrounding resources are built.

Six pacing phases govern the speed and density of centering work:

1. Crisis stabilization — One center at a time, full stabilization between steps.
2. Stabilization — Building a floor. Conservative pacing with frequent pauses.
3. Titration — Measured approach. Pacing increases slightly; synergistic paths begin informing the sequence.
4. Processing — Active centering. Multiple transitions simultaneously. Full dependency logic.
5. Integration — Consolidation. Pacing slows for the system to absorb changes.
6. Maintenance — Near ceiling. Monitoring for regression, reinforcing stability, fine-tuning.

The number of centers in active transition simultaneously varies by coherence band. Lower bands have less absorptive capacity. When active transitions reach the pacing limit, the plan inserts a stabilization pause.

Two Views of the Same Plan

The centering plan generates two presentations of the same underlying logic.

The Client Compass

The client-facing view translates the plan into plain language: the current focus, the reason for that focus, and an encouraging orientation toward existing strengths. Each active step is rendered in experiential language. Opening becomes “letting in more.” Bridging becomes “building connection.” Thawing becomes “warming into action.”

The Compass also identifies the next focus, giving the client a sense of trajectory. This counteracts the narrowing effect that displacement produces — a person caught in difficulty may feel the world has contracted to a single point. The Compass gently expands the field: here is your current focus, here is your next focus, and here are the strengths you already have.

The Compass does not expose risk flags, defense classifications, or dependency logic. These inform the clinician’s judgment but would not serve the client’s understanding.

The Clinician Map

The clinician’s view is the full technical reading. The complete sequence in dependency order, with phase transitions marking shifts. The clinician sees which steps resolve traps, exit basins, open gateways, and enable subsequent steps. The dependency chain is visible: step three enables step seven because step three centers the escape center for a trap blocking step seven’s target.

Risk flags annotate every step. Defense classifications indicate which displacements to address first and which to defer. The projected coherence trajectory displays the expected range at each step, including therapeutic valleys — temporary coherence dips during correct centering work that are features of genuine change, not signs of failure.

Alternative sequences are also visible. If the selected strategy is bottom-up, the clinician can see what top-down or follow-resource would have produced, allowing them to judge whether the recommendation aligns with clinical reality.

The Plan Adapts

A centering plan is not a fixed prescription. As centering proceeds, the system transitions between coherence bands — milestones that alter pacing logic. A system that transitions from Overwhelmed to Struggling gains additional transition capacity.

Coherence does not rise monotonically. Therapeutic valleys — temporary dips during correct work — occur when a centering step temporarily destabilizes neighboring positions, exposes previously masked displacements, or dissolves compensatory arrangements maintaining an artificial floor. These valleys have three defining characteristics: they are temporary, they follow correct sequencing, and they produce greater depth afterward. The engine tracks them explicitly, allowing the clinician to anticipate valleys and distinguish them from regression.

The centering plan turns the Atlas from a portrait into a pathway — not “here is what is wrong” but “here is what to do about it, in what order, at what pace, and with what precautions.” It is where structural understanding becomes practical action.