The Enneagram, Inner Work, and the Head Center (EPP)

In authentic Enneagram work — using the powerful system of nine interconnected personality types as a tool for self-compassion, awareness, and relational wellness — we make a distinction between the outer and inner expressions of the three centers of intelligence: body, heart, and mind. We learn through practice about real presence in the body, and how presence in the heart is quite different from our usual emotions. But as we become more established in presence in our bodies and hearts, the mystery of our True Mind begins to reveal itself. We learn that much of what goes on in our heads is not yet true thinking, and that even beyond our capacity to think clearly lies our capacity for direct knowing – what the ancient Greeks called gnosis. 

With the development of the head center comes clarity, discrimination, guidance for life, and a vast inner freedom and sense of possibility – tapping into the very sources of intuition and inspiration. In this workshop, we will look at Enneagram points 5 (The Investigator), 6 (The Loyalist), and 7 (The Enthusiast) not just as types but as ways we can become stuck in certain patterns of thinking, as well as portals to the amazing possibilities of our awakened minds. But it is not aimed solely at these types; this is intended to help all of the Enneagram points work more powerfully with their head centers.

The workshop will include conversational instruction, meditation practices, inquiry exercises, music, and sessions of the Gurdjieff Movements. It is also a continuation of previous Esalen retreats on the Body and Heart Centers, and will focus on the Enneagram as part of the larger Fourth Way perspective.