Breaking Free of Reactivity with the Wisdom of the Enneagram

Classes are held at Boulder Integral, unless noted otherwise. Location confirmation with registration.

Growing Compassion: An Introduction to the Enneagram

Saturday, 9:30am-5:30pm
September 18, 2010
Cost $95

If you’re new to the Enneagram or not, this class will deepen your compassion for yourself and others. We will explore the structure of the system through the lens of the shared human needs that foster our types or survival strategies.

The Enneagram is a dynamic system of nine personality types that empowers you to better understand yourself and others. As you learn about the nine Enneagram types and witness representatives of each type sharing their personal stories, you will gain self-awareness, compassion and insight to create a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

In reality, the Enneagram describes not who you are but how you have learned to cope with the demands of life.  Your coping mechanism or Enneagram type, is attempting to fill important needs, such as safety, love and belonging.  You may have a different way of going about filling these needs, but everyone shares them, and like you, they are attempting to fill them.  When you inquire into the need that is motivating a certain behavior, you begin to perceive through the eyes of compassion.

Perceiving yourself and others with curiosity changes relationships and grows compassion. You can evolve your curiosity and compassion because of the Witness, your more Essential Nature, which is Awareness itself.  Inherent in Awareness is Love and Love connects us to one another and our world, creating more inclusiveness and diminishing the sense of “other.”

The format is highly interactive, fun, informative, and transformative. Through personal interviews, guided meditations, lectures, and body-centered practices, you will come to understand your own worldview intimately and learn more about the worldviews of others.

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The Evolutionary Enneagram

Wednesdays, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Oct 6 & 20, Nov 3 & 17, Dec 1, 2010
Cost $145

In this class we will apply the framework of the Enneagram to the principles of Evolutionary Spirituality, which posits that we are part of a great unfolding in Consciousness and Life since the Big Bang.

When we view the evolution of individual and collective consciousness over time, we see circles of connectedness and caring expanding. Even in these times of chaos, our desire to heal, wake up, and be of service has never been greater.  The Enneagram is an amazing tool to navigate this expansion of heart and relatedness.

How do you access a deeper sense of presence and connectedness? What keeps you from being a big as you can be in your personal and collective life?  Is it possible to choose to live life in a state of continual creation rather than seeing it as fixed and certain? These times of great change, and the format of this class, invite you to do just that.

The spiritual dimension of the Enneagram will be our guide as we explore the territory of our limited and separated sense of self, the Ground of Being (our Essential Nature), and their interface.  In conjunction with body-centered awareness practices, working with the Enneagram is a transformative endeavor.

This class is offered in the Narrative Tradition, where class participants share about their experiences, participating as both teachers and students to each other.  The format includes lecture, panel interviewing, small group processing, awareness activities, and discussion.   This class is for those who are familiar with the Enneagram and their type.

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Transforming Projection and Enhancing Choice with the Enneagram

(held in Denver)

Saturday, 9:30am-5:30pm
October 9, 2010
Cost $95

In this workshop we will explore the different realities that are projected according to type and creative ways to change our projections. The Enneagram adeptly describes how we narrow our attention as described by the type. Threes see a world of tasks to be accomplished, Sixes a world of potential dangers to avoid, and Nines a world of other people’s agendas to navigate. Another way to view this is that we project our inner beliefs and concerns onto the outer world.

Is it possible to observe our habitual tendencies, shift our internal experience, and therefore choose new realities? Can we become fully responsible for how we interpret our experiences and thus gain the power to change that interpretation if we wish? Can we let go of trying to convince others to “see it our way” and instead marvel at the diversity of perspectives?

Understanding how we influence our perceptions, according to type, opens the possibility of choice. Having the experience of choice is beginning to experience true freedom.  As always, this class will be offered in the Narrative tradition, where we all learn from one another in an environment of inquiry and sharing.  This class is for those who are familiar with their type.

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The Enneagram and the Inner Critic

(held in Denver)

Saturday, 9:30am-5:30pm
November 13, 2010
Cost $95

The inner critic is the voice in our heads, which evaluates and judges our thoughts, feelings, interactions and behaviors. It has become so familiar that it’s like a radio station that’s been playing within our heads since childhood, a voice that we take to be ourselves. It often accuses us of being worthlessness, stupid and even judgmental! It is a primary cause of low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. And we often feel committed to it to help us know the right thing to do or say or to be. We all have this voice but usually we do not understand why it’s there, what its function is, or how to work with it.

In this class we will look at the inner critic and it’s various disguises. These gremlins of the mind come dressed differently according to our Enneagram type. The inner critic is also known as the superego and drives many of our type behaviors, keeping us reacting according to past patterns. It’s like the prison guard, keeping watch over the prisoner, willing to say anything that keeps us in the familiar cell of our type.

We will explore how the inner critic creates each type’s inner conflicts and self-defeating habits, along with ways to counteract its limiting effects. As always, the class will be highly interactive, including type panels, awareness activities, and group sharing. This class is for those who are familiar with the Enneagram.

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