Integrative Seminars on the Enneagram

The program provided participants, whether new to the Enneagram or experienced users, with opportunities to enhance their capacity for deeper and more productive relational engagement across personal and professional contexts. It was led by internationally recognized Enneagram experts Ginger Lapid-Bogda and Peter O’Hanrahan. O’Hanrahan contributed 38 years of Enneagram expertise, with particular emphasis on its somatic dimensions, while Lapid-Bogda, author of six Enneagram-business publications, brought over 40 years of experience as a coach, trainer, and organizational consultant. The program combined interactive, experiential, and intellectually rigorous approaches, offering participants an immersive environment to explore the Enneagram’s theoretical foundations and practical applications.

This workshop integrates the legacy of contemplative masters Evagrius of Pontus and John of the Cross with recent MRI research in neuroscience and psychology. Historical evidence reveals teachings from fourth-century Egyptian desert monasteries that resonate with current Enneagram theory, forming the foundation of contemplative practice. Centuries later, in the sixteenth century, references in the work of the Spanish Carmelite Saint John of the Cross similarly reflect Enneagram principles. Brain mapping now provides insights into the conditioned patterns of our inner landscape that hinder spiritual growth—patterns recognized by Evagrius and John as obstacles to prayer.

Schemas are stable, enduring patterns of thinking that develop in childhood and continue to evolve throughout life. This workshop explored the adaptive and maladaptive schemas associated with each Enneagram style. It examined how schemas influence behavior and strive for survival through three processes: schema maintenance, schema avoidance, and schema compensation. Participants discovered how schemas maintain themselves by amplifying information that confirms them and minimizing data that contradicts them. The workshop also explored how individuals avoid triggering their maladaptive schemas to prevent the negative emotions they evoke, and how they compensate by acting contrary to the schemas to avoid the pain they cause. Techniques were introduced to help participants recognize and challenge their maladaptive schemas, ultimately replacing them with more adaptive ones.

The Enneagram taught that beneath personality patterns lay an untarnished Self, a source of wisdom, healing, and spiritual energy. This Self was often hidden by parts shaped by fear, shame, and protective roles—controlling, withdrawing, criticizing, or overhelping. Suppressing these parts reinforced rigid, harmful patterns.

The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model offered a gentle method to access the Self by unblending from parts, witnessing them, exploring their origins, and honoring their roles. As the internal system softened, parts began to trust the Self, allowing healing and release of past burdens. Those using IFS reported deep shifts in emotions and beliefs, finding greater inner peace and connection with others as their lives became more Self-led. Through individual and group exercises, participants experienced both their Self and Enneagram personality style, gaining tools to continue this transformative inner work and cultivate a more meaningful, spiritual life.

This mini-conference will feature speakers from the Midwest IEA Chapter Board addressing the various passages the Enneagram provides into a deeper understanding of ourselves and others.

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• Identifying and working with our sweet spots, blind spots, and hot spots

• Building trust with the enneagram

• Discovering type

• The relational enneagram: Relationships leading us to our expanded self

• Motions of the Soul

• The enneagram: Gateways to psyche, soma and soul

Based on seminal Enneagram author and teacher Claudio Naranjo’s latest description of the Enneagram’s instinct-based subtypes, this two-day course presents a thorough introduction to the 27 personality subtypes. Each of the subtype characters represents a distinct and recognizable personality that results from the dynamic and recognizable personality that results from the dynamic mixture of the passion of the type and one of three biological survival drives: self-preservation, social relationships, or one-to-one bonding. The seminar covered the defining characteristics of the 27 subtypes, how each subtype reflects a different expression of the passion of the type, the driving need and automatic habits expressed by each subtype, the three distinct versions of each of the nine types, and the unique growth tasks associated with each subtype.

This seminar explored the growth of the human spirit through the mystical traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Kabbalistic tradition traces each soul to aspects of the divine and offers spiritual practices for development. Sufism, the mystical core of Islam, emphasizes transcending ordinary limitations to experience the divine spark within through love, devotion, and knowledge. Christian mysticism, exemplified by Ramon Llull, focuses on participation in the nine “Divine Dignities” and attempts to reconcile Christianity, Judaism, and Islam through a comprehensive philosophical synthesis. The seminar also examined how these spiritual paths may have influenced the Enneagram, a system of nine personality styles integrating Eastern spiritual insight and Western psychological theory. By exploring these venerable traditions, participants gained insight into practices and concepts that foster spiritual growth, transcendence, and a deeper connection to the ultimate truth.

Judith Searle presented a seminar on the Enneagram, a dynamic system outlining nine fundamental personality types that illuminate human diversity and complexity. Used across fields such as business, education, psychotherapy, and the arts, the Enneagram provides a framework for understanding oneself and others more deeply. Searle’s program offered newcomers a clear introduction and provided seasoned students with fresh insights. The session featured vivid portrayals of each type, examples of both male and female figures—heroes and villains alike—film clips illustrating every type, and a 120-page workbook with excerpts from 18 novels revealing the inner workings of each personality. Author of The Literary Enneagram: Characters from the Inside Out, Searle drew on her extensive experience as an Enneagram consultant to the entertainment industry and former board member of the International Enneagram Association.