How to work with the Enneagram
Our Method
We believe the Enneagram is a tool for waking up to who we really are as spiritual beings. By showing us our personality patterns, including those beneath our conscious awareness, the Enneagram helps us call into question our identities. Waking up is what it is about.
Learning the Enneagram is not an end in itself. It can be fun and good cocktail party conversation and we don’t want to take ourselves too seriously- but we don’t want to use it to further solidify our identification with our personalities. We are not “putting ourselves in a box”, we are seeing the box we are already in and the way out of it.
The traditional way of working with the Enneagram is with presence, gentle self-awareness, somatic or body awareness and reflective practices that support us to be more conscious. You will find this approach throughout our work and find many resources to support you, including ways to work with our team of facilitators and coaches.
We use the type names and Enneagram symbols of Don Riso and Russ Hudson (the Enneagram Institute) and follow their approach to working with the Enneagram. We acknowledge their huge pioneering work and are deeply indebted to their teaching. The Enneagram symbols can be found in our resources (link) section.
Enneagram Types
To work with the Enneagram fully you need to discover your type. The system is one of self-typing and you should take your time in this discovery process. Observing yourself with curiosity is a valuable process. As you explore what type you might be you are developing your “inner observer” and a “gap” is created between your personality and yourself as witness. Ask yourself “Who is the one who is watching”? This is one reason it’s wise not to short-circuit the process or let someone else tell you your type. A trained person can assist you in this exploration, but we believe no one else can really tell you your type because it is based on your inner experience and motivations.
Resources and suggestions for typing yourself can be found here.
You can also begin by reading about all nine types. You will gain an appreciation for others and may recognize your own type simply by reading further.
We work primarily with our own type once we know it, but we have all the types within us. Some other types will be our “wings”- that is adjacent and influencing the expression of our personality. Others are types we have “lines and arrows” to on the Enneagram symbol and are part of us. The rest of the types may feel more foreign, but they are also within you. Learning all the types is a great way to explore your inner parts and an amazing way to understand others and improve relationships.
We can also think of the Enneagram as a wheel of perspectives or nine possible lenses on life. Consider that you have been looking at life through only one lens when there are 8 others you could explore. Each type has its essential energy, gifts and strengths which ideally, we could call on when needed.
Enneagram Stories
We love stories- fairytales, myths, movies, songs, dreams, poetry, art, humour and pop culture.
Approaching personality types and our own inner experience by metaphor and sideways peeks is a great way to relax our inner critics and absorb the mystery of the Enneagram.
You will find stories and examples throughout the description of the nine types and references you are invited to explore further.
There is also a section(link) of Enneagram Stories that lets us look at the types as archetypes with universal themes.
You are also invited to keep writing your own story with exercises and prompts (?)