2015 Canadian Enneagram Conference
Conference Presentations

The Canadian Enneagram Conference is the place to be to experience a wide diversity of Enneagram ideas and activities. We are offering several types of sessions:

Plenary

A session attended by all conference participants.

Workshop

A lecture, experiential activity, group exercises or any combination thereof.

Panel

A group of exemplars of each Enneagram type are facilitated through a Q&A or group activity. Share your type's perspective with others!

Birds of a Feather Session

Birds of a Feather flock together. These sessions are facilitated, informal group discussion on a specific Enneagram-related topic. Participate in a discussion with like-minded people!
Lightning Talk A short (less than five minute) presentation on any Enneagram topic.
Performance A creative or artistic expression to stimulate mind, heart and body.
Activity Organized things to do in/near the conference venue.

Some presentations assume the audience has a certain level of Enneagram background information. Presentations are divided into the following categories.

All
for all guests (new and experienced with Enneagram)
Intermediate
for guests who are familiar with the nine types
Advanced
for guests who have a deep understanding of the types and their dynamics
Plenary
Plenary

Conference Keynote: Reflections on Leadership, Liberation and Life

Terry Saracino
All
Friday 9:30am
 
The Enneagram is an exquisite map of the nine patterns of Being. However, the map is merely descriptive without methods or practices.  To achieve greater wholeness, balance, and freedom using the Enneagram requires conscious intention and practice.  This keynote will focus on how to use this powerful tool to continue our development toward achieving the full potential we have as human beings. Terry will focus on the areas of leadership, liberation, and life and share key insights and practices that have emerged as important in her twenty-six year journey with the Enneagram. 
Workshops
Workshop

Communication Styles for Success!

Melanie Bell &
Kacie Berghoef
All
Friday 1:50pm

Learn about the three Enneagram communication styles, identify your own, and watch them at work through group activities. Discover strategies to work more effectively with all kinds of people! [more]

Have you ever felt like the people around you were speaking completely different languages? In this interactive presentation, you’ll learn about the three Enneagram communication styles and the psychology behind them. These styles are a practical application of the Hornevian triads--Soloists, Initiators, and Cooperators. Understanding how each of style communicates and interacts makes teamwork easier and more productive, and improves our relationships in the workplace.

With the help of a fun game of telephone, we’ll hold a group discussion of communication and why it is important. We’ll touch on misinterpretations and cultural differences, and introduce the ways personality affects communication. We’ll describe each of the three communication styles, highlight each style’s distinct way of relating and working, and touch on ways their communication can get misinterpreted.

Participants will identify their own styles and then break into corresponding groups. Each group will brainstorm their style’s strengths and challenges, and share the best ways to communicate with them--facilitating learning within and between personality groups. Much of the learning in this session will be communal, with participants discovering as much about themselves through the process of working with like-minded people as they learn about others through follow-up discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to ask other groups questions and debrief their processes, learning from the differences they see. Finally, we’ll summarize our learning and delineate the ways the communication styles work differently in each Enneagram type.

Participants will leave with a better understanding of what others are trying to say, and best practices for communicating with people different from themselves.

Workshop

Enneagram on the Pottery Wheel!

Cynthia Stevens   
All
Friday 1:50pm

Participants will experience themselves as clay, being shaped on the pottery wheel, in the beauty and difficulty of each of the nine types. [more]

In this experiential workshop participants are invited to experience themselves as the clay that is being worked with on the wheel. It begins with participants being welcomed and guided into a centering, meditative posture as the clay is centered on the wheel. As the clay is shaped and formed, each participant is encouraged to see how their type structure developed early on in life. There is invitation to surrender into the shaping process, to release control and to be aware of what comes up for each individual Then each participant, working with pieces of dry clay as a metaphor, is invited to notice and face their own areas of resistance and contraction, habits of thought and automatic responses that come from their type. The encouragement will be for each to, with gentleness, open up to a deeper understanding of how they each react to difficult areas of our lives. With the addition of water and a working of these clay pieces, there is a hope and invitation for people to open to a shifting, a turning, to further healing and change through the metaphor that this experience provides.

This workshop is creative in its presentation, personal in that each person sees themselves being formed and shaped in the beauty and difficulty of each of the nine types, experiential in that each person will touch clay and be invited into further freedom in their personal journey and spiritual in the participatory viewing of clay being centered, shaped and trimmed. Using an art form with its visual and physical elements, participants will have the opportunity to get past surface level thinking into deep heart places. With this invitation, there is a welcome for further freedom and life lived more fully.

Workshop

It takes a Village

Brian Mitchell-Walker   
All
Friday 3:40pm

Frustration occurs when our child/ren and others interacting with our child/ren have different priorities.  Use the Enneagram to open (improve) discussions with co-parents, caregivers, teachers, instructors, coaches and our children.[more]

As parents we want the best for our children. So why do we have arguments with our children that seem to go nowhere. Or when we experience others as not keeping our child's best interests in the forefront, what keeps us from speaking up. Often as parents we need to be advocates for our children. This means as parents it is important to understand our child/ren's priorities as well as challenges they have in getting these priorities met. We will start with some interactive exploration to look at what shapes our own priorities from our dominant Enneagram type and our Instinctual Variant (Self Preservation, Sexual/Attraction, Social). We will then discuss clues that demonstrate these different priorities when watching/listening/hearing another . Recognizing these are only clues until we check these out with the other person/people - we will explore how to open conversations through large group demonstrations and small group practice. Conversations that compare our different priorities (or surprisingly same priorities but different approach) while advocating for the needs of our child/ren in various contexts. At the heart of this workshop is recognizing that our child/ren has/have many supports in their lives - as parents - we can improve our lives by accepting this support and acknowledging it takes a village to raise a child

Workshop

Leveraging the Enneagram in Developing Leaders

Karl Hebenstreit    
All
Friday 3:40pm

Identify the leadership traits and behaviors of each Enneagram type and how they can be used as strengths or become potential derailers to a leader’s success and effectiveness.[more]

Welcome to the world of leaders, where every trait, behavior, and action is magnified, judged, and either glorified or condemned. Session participants will take a quick tour of the history of leadership development and arrive at a destination where they will apply their collective knowledge of the Enneagram to identify the leadership traits and behaviors associated with each Enneagram type and how they can be leveraged as strengths or become potential derailers to a leader’s success and effectiveness. We will then apply practical tools developed from Enneagram researchers to create practical development tools that can be used in the real world to realize and optimize leadership potential.

Workshop

Leveraging the Enneagram to Develop "Conscious Leaders" in a Large Organization

Tod Tappert &
Skip Morris
All
Saturday 4:30pm

Learn how a large health care organization with 14,000 employees is using the Enneagram as a tool for transforming its organizational culture.[more]

Imagine leveraging the Enneagram as a tool for transforming the organizational culture in a large health care organization with over 14,000 employees located in the Southeast United States. Core to our organizational culture is a set of leadership principles focused on emotional and social intelligence that we describe as Conscious Leadership.

We use the Enneagram as the primary tool for supporting our leaders in developing self-awareness and advancing personal and professional growth. Starting with our executive team several years ago and continuously expanding our reach into the organization, we have systematically developed leaders and employees using the Enneagram. Today, we have groups of employees who are engaged in the deeper dive of self-awareness that comes from understanding the patterns of their Enneagram type.

This session will describe the methods, approaches, and practices that we have used to systematically integrate the Enneagram across our organization in support of our culture of conscious leadership. Participants will come away with both a model for Conscious Leadership and a roadmap for advancing the Enneagram as a core element of organizational culture.

Session Outline:

  1. Introduction
  2. Conscious Leadership - Describe the key principles of Conscious Leadership
  3. Relationship to the Enneagram – Discuss how Conscious Leadership is supported by promotion of the Enneagram as the core tool for developing self-awareness and personal/professional growth
  4. Integrating the Enneagram in a Large Organization – Describe the approaches and methods used to develop leaders and others through the Enneagram. Demonstrate how panels are used in a business setting.
  5. Impact on Organizational Culture – Review data from our annual Employee Opinion Survey that demonstrates the shift in organizational culture and workforce commitment over a seven year period.
Workshop

Liberate your Type and Live the Enneagram

Rob Fitzel   
All
Saturday 11:10am

This presentation will help you recognize the nine types in you by exploring the qualities and life stories that your type has in common with every other type.[more]

Most of us tend to become attached to our own personality type: we identify strongly with our gifts, while disowning the qualities represented by the other types. Consequently, we limit how we see ourselves and limit the person we can become.

Intuitively, we know that true personal growth involves balancing our own qualities with the gifts of other types. But how can we do that when the other types are so different? And why would we want to be like those types that may rub us the wrong way?

The Enneagram isn’t just a map of nine different kinds of people. It’s a map that also shows how we’re all the same. Hidden within the symbol are patterns that reveal how each type is connected to every other type. These connections show the amazing similarities between types. Indeed, different types tell the same life story, just in a different language – the language of their Centres.

In this workshop, we’ll explore the parallel narratives of each type through interactive stories and multimedia. You will begin to see others in terms of yourself and yourself in terms of others. You’ll be able to relate to and empathize with the deep aspirations of each type. And when you recognize and experience all nine types in you, you can truly liberate your personality type and start living the Enneagram.

Workshop

Sex, Power, and Money The Enneagram and Emerging Consciousness

Deborah Ooten &
Beth O'Hara
All
Sunday 10:00am

Sex, Power, and Money are hot button issues forming the majority of conflicts in relationships. We will explore these topics through the lenses of Enneagram Type and Spiral Dynamics®. [more]

Sex, power and money are such controversial topics that they are usually kept in the dark yet they enter into all aspects of life. These three hot button issues form the majority of conflicts in relationships. Who is in control and makes the decisions? What happens with the money? How do we negotiate sex and sexual attraction? Ideas about these questions differ based on Enneagram Type and Instinct. Values and how we think about sex, power and money change as we evolve, adding dimension to the Enneagram through Levels of Consciousness.

Explore your own beliefs about sex, power and money in this multi-dimensional, interactive, provocative session on how these issues play out through Enneagram Type, Instinct and across evolutionary Levels of Consciousness (Spiral Dynamics®). Experience how sex, power and money can create conflict in your relationships when left unspoken and how to create greater connection, trust and intimacy through honesty and transparency about needs, wants and desires around sex, power and money. Transform your relationships - through transforming yourself.

Workshop

TABLE for NINE: How Enneagram Energies Work in the Kitchen

George Wrobel   
All
Saturday 11:10am

Working in the kitchen serves as a strong indicator of Enneagram energy, while mindful awareness of the meanings of food deepens understanding of core type positions and instinctual sub-type variants.[more]

This workshop outlines nine strategies of food preparation, through samples of flavour profiles, preferred cooking techniques and favourite menu combinations. A carefully measured, detail-oriented approach to cooking and baking (type One) will look and sound quite different from a lively, interactive, playful kitchen scene (type Seven). By placing stories, techniques, and recipes in juxtaposition and opposition to each other, we will engage our culinary imaginations and generate conversations about our own memories and practices in the kitchen. Awareness of food habits and preferences are sure to spark memories related to meals and special occasions in family life. As David Nichol, former President of Loblaw supermarkets, reminded Canadians, taste sensations at today’s table resound with deep, emotional chords from long-term memories involving food. As a pathway into memory banks, food habits may point in clear, coherent ways to Enneagram patterns and variants. Adequate, accessible, ample supplies of food and drink are paramount for self-preservation. Offering and withholding tempting things to eat are common ways for primates to woo and win potential partners. Food-sharing as an obligation and celebration of community remains fundamental to social life in every culture. As we recollect and share stories of relationships with food, we will gain awareness of how instinctual subtype energies amplify and regulate core type behaviour.

Workshop

The Instincts and Creativity

Lindsay Robertson &
TJ Dawe
All
Saturday 9:20am

Participants will be led through exercises based on the three instincts in order to experience how they can activate their creative impulses, sustain them, and share them with others.[more]

Participants will be given a summary of each of the three instincts, and each instinct’s relation to creativity. How does the instinct at the top of one’s stack provide advantages? How does it get in the way? How does the instinct at the bottom of one’s stack act as a blind spot - and how does that get in the way?

Participants will be led through explorations to understand the importance of each of the three instincts, and find ways to bring each instinct into balance in their own life.

Each participant will develop a plan for a creative practice that takes their instinctual stacking into account, and provides them with a concrete, specific and actionable plan.

Workshop

The Transformative Power of Conflict

Curt Micka &
Diana Redmond
All
Sunday 1:00pm

When we engage conflict in conscious, creative, and heart-felt ways, we not only transform the nature of our conflicts, but we transform ourselves. How can the Enneagram help us on this journey? Come and explore with us! [more]

Conflict is inevitable. Transformation is optional.

Conflict is a natural, common occurrence in our day-to-day lives. It's endemic to our human condition and based on the fundamental belief of our separateness. Whether it's experienced as a subtle internal war, often exacerbated by the inner critic, or it manifests externally with the inevitable friction, disagreements, and opposing viewpoints of those we interact with, conflict is unavoidable - at least for 99.5% of the population.

Most seminars and workshops dealing with conflict focus on what it takes to manage conflict or resolve isolated disputes. These workshops focus on the external work of conflict – e.g. making ”I” statements, “deep” listening, understanding the difference between positions and interests, communication skills, brainstorming techniques, and the like.

Our approach is different. We acknowledge conflict as a necessary part of our growth personally and professionally. It’s the “grit” needed to polish the pearl. And to make full use of this friction an inner stance of conscious engagement is required.

In this workshop, we will explore the inner work of conflict and how when we work with these clashes in more creative, open-hearted, and daring ways, we not only transform the nature of our conflicts, but we transform ourselves in the process. We will explore what it takes to embark on this journey, how we're called upon to show up, the inner work do we need to do, and how the Enneagram helps us on this path.

Participants will experience that when they have the discipline to sustain curiosity, are willing to take a risk, have faith in the creative process, and the willingness to imagine a web of relationship with those with whom they disagree, conflict becomes both a spiritual and healing path. It becomes a means to come into greater contact with their wholeness and inherent capacity for fulfillment. Participants will experience a process for creating a relationship with themselves and conflict that allows for their expansive self, their internal guidance, to lead them through this process of transformation.

We’ll also explore how the essential qualities of the Nine Enneagram Types assist in transforming conflict by helping us find ways to engage conflict more consciously, creatively, and compassionately.

Our workshop will include short didactics, individual and group exercises, inner work, and more. Our goal is not to get rid of conflict but rather to allow conflict the inevitable discord to transform all those involved.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”

C.G. Jung

Workshop

Yeah. Un Huh. And How Does This Free Us : Black Identity and Peoplehood Through Enneagram Type Structure

Dr RaShon
All
Saturday 4:30pm

This workshop uses the personal transformation journey of an Enneagram student, teacher and life coach, aided by members of their community in exploring how EnneaType impacts perception of personal identity.[more]

"…The Enneagram gives us nine ways to map what we do, why we do it, and how we do it, that crosses all lines of race, ethnicity, culture, class and socio-economic status. To embrace it is the key to true global diversity".
—stated by an Enneagram teacher who will remain nameless—

REALLY ? This is the same claim that has been made by every "consciousness movement" over the last five decades. This inquiry explores this claim in the lives of several people who identify as "unapologetically Black".

The workshop will open with a choreo-poem that celebrates "the fixation of Blackness". Next, a brief slide presentation that will describe the lead presenters journey of self identity before discovery of EnneaType. This will be followed by an overview of the nine types and the instinctual variants. The audience will then be invited to choose their best fit EnneaType (using typing cards from either Ginger Lapid-Bogda or Wendy Appel). From there, with the help of community participants, we will discuss Black identity perceptions in archetypical, historic, popular, personal, and self consciousness using type as context. We will end with questions and discussion.

The purpose of this process is to explore whether or not the Enneagram is a valid tool for self-determination in the Black community. In the words of activist and liberationist Assata Shakur "…Yeah. Uh huh. And how does this free us?".

Workshop

Buddhism, NVC and the Enneagram

Helen Peacock   
Intermediate
Sunday 1:00pm

Non-Violent Communication, like Buddhism, teaches that a peaceful mind is the key to happiness.   The Enneagram describes how we might disturb our peaceful mind and NVC teaches us how to get it back.[more]

Buddhism teaches us that everyone wants to be happy, but we tend to look for happiness outside ourselves, when in fact the true source of happiness is a peaceful mind. The Enneagram gives us insight into how we disturb our own peace. And Non Violent Communication (NVC) teaches us that regardless of where home base is for us on the Enneagram, most of us have been educated since birth to use our mind to judge, blame, criticize, label, compare, generalize, diagnose, justify, and demand. These habits will not bring us happiness. With NVC we learn that these habits are, in fact, tragic expressions of unmet needs and are guaranteed to decrease the likelihood that we will get what we want.

This session will introduce the principles and skill set of NVC for those already familiar with the Enneagram. Through experiential exercises and discussion groups participants will better understand their emotional repertoire (ie the emotions they have felt fairly regularly throughout their life); their needs or core values; and the relationship between emotions, needs and Enneagram point of view. Most importantly, they will be given a taste of the NVC model for returning to a peaceful mind when unhappy emotions arise; and for requesting what we are needing in a way that will optimize our chance of getting it.

Our unhappy emotions are like the red light on the dashboard of the car, alerting us to the fact that we have needs that are important to us that are not being met. This language of needs is the gift of NVC and making the connection between feelings and needs can be a key to creating the life we truly want.

Workshop

Cultivating Heart with the Enneagram

Renée Rosario   
Intermediate
Sunday 10:00am

I will offer theory and practices supporting the cultivation of positive feelings. We will practice individually and in groups, using the power of the Enneagram community to stimulate greater growth.[more]

With great accuracy, the Enneagram describes what we desire to have and what we want to avoid. Yet too often the very things we desire, like appreciation, care, and compassion, are fleeting. Maybe we don’t pause long enough to receive it or have the internal capacity to be with the discomfort that it can bring up. Surprisingly, positive experiences can evoke an astonishing amount of vulnerability. By understanding the concerns and avoidances of our Enneagram type, along with the physiological underpinnings to this vulnerability, and the science of the heart specifically, we can begin to change this tendency.

In this presentation, I will offer theory and practices that support our ability to cultivate the capacity of the heart to experience positive feelings. If we want to feel secure or worthy or connected, we can actively create pathways to those experiences in heart, body and mind. The heart has neural pathways and remembers, just like the brain. Through the power of our attention and somatic practice, we can cultivate new neural pathways and patterns of being. We can become more capable of taking in the good. In this session we will practice individually and in groups, using the power of the Enneagram community to stimulate even greater growth.

Workshop

Do or Die: What Motivates Each Enneagram Style to Grow and Change

Tom Condon   
Intermediate
Saturday 4:30pm

In this session we will discover the positive and negative change motivations typical for each Enneagram style. We will locate these motivations within ourselves and learn how to evoke them in others.[more]

All of us have a vested interest in maintaining our personality defenses. Even when part of us wants to change, another part of us may hang on to an old pattern, hoping for an unconscious payoff or a perceived gain. To truly grow and change your desire for a new way of functioning has to be stronger than the need to cling to old defenses.

If the main point of learning the Enneagram is to use it to grow and change, having the motivation to do so is essential. Each Enneagram style has typical built-in motivators, some of them obvious, some more hidden and subtle. A few arise from subtypes, which produce finer motivations within the general motivations of a style, Other motivations are shaped by each Enneagram style's defense mechanisms. Among Enneagram styles there are, for example,"feel good,""feel bad" and "feel nothing" defenses and they produce different degrees of urgency and commitment to change.

In this session we will discuss and discover the positive and negative change motivations typical for each Enneagram style. As we locate these motivations within ourselves, we will also learn more about how to evoke them in others—to discover how change can cost less than staying the same.

Workshop

Emotional Intelligence and the Enneagram

Lynn Davies   
Intermediate
Friday 10:50am

This session will explore how you can use your awareness of your own Enneagram type to fast-track your Emotional Intelligence (EQ) development and become a more effective and successful leader.[more]

Current research suggests that great leadership performance is directly proportional to our level of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Indeed, an individual's EQ consistently outranks traditional IQ and on the job experience, as the strongest predictor of leadership success.

This session will briefly outline the 15 components of Emotional Intelligence. Participants will be given a take home self-assessment to rank their own standing on these 15 components. (Note: This is not the official EQi assessment which is expensive. This simple assessment is free and sufficient for an introduction to emotional intelligence). It is actually unnecessary for participants to know their EQ scores although they will need to know their Enneagram type. Just as each Enneagram personality type has its own motivation, focus of attention and habitual thoughts and behaviours, each Enneagram type also has specific areas of EQ that most require attention if leadership capability is to be enhanced. This session is about leveraging your Enneagram type to fast-track your EQ development and become more effective and successful in your work, your relationships and your life. The session will have a short lecture with PowerPoint followed by type a-like group work with each of 9 groups giving a brief report to the larger group as a whole

The session is designed so participants will:

  • Learn what Emotional Intelligence is and why it is critical to leadership
  • Gain an awareness of the typical areas of EQ development for each Enneagram type
  • Understand how to use the Enneagram to further the development of Emotional Intelligence
Workshop

Energy Management for Leaders and Life

Bettylynn Stoops   
Intermediate
Saturday 9:20am

Each Enneagram type manages the flow of energy differently. Learn how the body works to modulate presence. Energetic signature resonates from a habitual point of access (ego-centric) or in an integrated well tuned system of Intelligence.[more]

What inhabits your life that inhabits your growth? Each person presents themselves and projects themselves within a field of energy… each enneagramatic energy type has a specific focus of attention, an intrinsic motivational driver and core avoidance that run through the current of each type. The Ego says keep me, do what is repetitive, let auto-response be the order of the day. Ego centric or wisdom centric is the choice, which do you choose? Which runs you?

Come with your curiosity and your energy to discover how your energetic output within the Enneagram system can support you ‘in service’ to your highest purpose. Discover 3 energetic blocks that can move you from concern to connection with others that opens doors that allow your presence and intention to communicate before you speak.

Each Enneagram type has an energy signature that influences the world through flow of energy directed outward, inward or oscillates between your inward and your outward focus of attention. Each energy centre houses 3 dominant Enneagram styles that embodies and transmits unique energy patterns. Feel the difference when energy is focused from a head, heart and body spaciousness than the habitual patterns of existence in all 9 types. Energy transmits energy of EGO or centred wisdom. Which do you chose as your form of presence?

Energetic patterns influence your relationships, your communication, your sustainability and ability to lead, teach and inspire all generations, at home, school and in the workplace. Participate as you learn, lead and manage your energy by deepening your access to the Enneagram system three centres of Intelligence through alignment. See how some types focus energy in a similar way that ‘shifts’ when encountering another. Your Enneagram type and your energetic signature influence your communication in life and leadership… experience what happens when you convert your energy as what you focus on expands.

Workshop

Soul Sonics: The Holy Ideas and Singing Bowls Meditation

Ron Esposito   
Intermediate
Friday 3:40pm

The presentation will include remarks on the Holy Ideas, attendees'  experience of the Holy Ideas, questions and conclude with a 20 minute singing bowls meditation.[more]

The Holy Ideas of the Enneagram are in service to the alleviation of suffering and the recovery of our true nature through remembering our Essence qualities. The Holy Ideas remind us of who we truly are beyond our attachments and identification with the construct of the egoic mind. As we observe our attachments and defense of the ego we become aware of the ways that we suffer from clinging to the dualistic, fixated patterns of type.

Holy Perfection, Holy Will, Holy Law, Holy Origin, Holy Omniscience, Holy Faith, Holy Plan, Holy Truth and Holy Love are cornerstones of the mystical tradition that cuts across all boundaries and dogma to reveal what is Real.

The presentation will include remarks on the individual Holy Ideas and attendees will be encouraged to share their experience of the Holy Ideas as well as ask questions. A take-home journaling exercise on suffering will be provided and the session will conclude with a 20 minute singing bowls meditation.

Workshop

The Enneagram of Self-Deception

Paul Pasternak &
Callayna Pasternak
Intermediate
Friday 1:50pm

Those who have experience with the enneagram will have a safe and dynamic space to explore what types of self-deception the mind engages in even when a person is correctly typed (or not!), and is reasonably well versed in the enneagram model: How do I permit myself to co-opt enneagram information to defend my self image and attack or undermine others in subtle or not-so-subtle ways?[more]

Those reasonably well versed in the enneagram will engage the topic of self-deception centered around the following question: How do I permit myself to co-opt enneagram information to defend my self image and attack or undermine others in subtle or not-so-subtle ways?

We will explore this topic through guided meditation, group discussion, triads, diads and/or type clusters, including dialoguing with types that remain problematical to each participant with unresolved emotional and perceptual issues that trigger self-defense and attack patterns, be it in thought, feeling, word, deed or all of the above.

Outcomes:

  • A clearer understanding by participants about how they deceive themselves, using knowledge of the enneagram model to do so.
  • Establish an action plan or set of intentions to live more truthfully around their knowledge of the enneagram and develop an approach that supports to deconstruct patterns that keep participants in defensive/attack mental postures against others.
  • Commit (or re-commit) to finding ways to identify and observe these defensive postures, developing deeper compassion for self and other in the process.
Workshop

The Enneagram.  Leadership.  Rigour and Compassion

Peter McGaugh   
Intermediate
Sunday 1:00pm

Explore what it means to Lead with Rigour & Compassion and the difference this will make in our lives and those we are in relationship with, particularly at work.[more]

We're on this earth for a brief period of time – roughly 80 years – and we spend much of that time pondering the questions "Why am I here?" and "For the sake of what?". Most people strive to find their purpose and passion and to be fully engaged in their personal and work lives. At the core of it, however, what we all desire is the opportunity to simply make a difference with our lives: as leaders, as partners, as parents, as people! How do we make that difference? By intentionally living a life with rigour and compassion … a non-dualistic way of being which is firm yet flexible, assertive yet caring, filled with growth and stability while recognizing the need for autonomy and connection.

In this highly interactive session, we will explore the boundaries and conditions that support us in living in more rigorous and compassionate ways - leading to a more fulfilling and meaningful life for ourselves and contributing to our making a difference with those we are in relationship with – particularly at work.

This session will apply and touch on various teachings of the Enneagram, including the Types, the Triads, Levels of Development and the Harmonics. Most importantly, the work will be grounded in practical, interactive exercises to help uncover what holds us back from stepping into a rigorous and compassionate life and in discovering ways to move forward.

This workshop is designed for all participants but will have particular relevance for leaders and practitioners working within organizations. The truth is, we are all leaders and we are all followers. The focus will primarily be on our own individual growth and development (living a life with rigour and compassion) yet will also address the impact that our actions and behaviours have on others (leading with rigour and compassion).

Workshop

The Enneagram: Bridging the Gap from Boomers to Millennials

Jessica Marasse  &
Liz Marasse
Intermediate
Saturday 9:20am

We want to facilitate a new conversation about Generation Y and how the Enneagram can help bridge the gap between the generations.[more]

Generation Y has been labeled by some prominent journalists, academics and business writers as, variously, “lazy”, “entitled” and even as “the worst generation”. It seems that, in the media, overwhelmingly, we are not well-liked! And if you listen to the arguments, it’s hard not to agree with the commentators!

However, we want to start a new conversation about Millennials, or “Gen Y”, and how the Enneagram can help bridge the gap between generations.

We plan on conducting interviews with Millennials of all different Ennea-types, and discovering what they perceive to be their Challenges and Successes in various areas. At the beginning of the session, we will briefly present our findings, and discuss overall themes.

After presenting what we feel to be themes in these areas of challenges and successes, we will encourage all participants, hopefully of varied generations, to share with us what they perceive to have been their challenges and successes in these areas of life, and what advice they can share with Millennials.

We want to emphasize that we all have more in common than different, irrespective of generation, and we feel that the Enneagram can be used to bring generations together in that it addresses consciousness at the individual level. Our hope is to bring together people of different generations under their same Ennea-types, or triads, and encourage learning from each other.

We do want to present some myths and facts about our generation, but we are primarily interested in what’s behind them, in what is motivating Millennials coming from a place of truth and openness rather than trying to prove ourselves. We would like to get insight from those generations that have established themselves and to whom we look for guidance.

Workshop

The Enneagram: Charting Your Course from Grief and Loss to a New Beginning

Janine Cutler &
Andrea Purcell
Intermediate
Saturday 11:10am

By identifying the idealization, avoidance and defence mechanism that operates for each type, participants will gain an understanding of how these barriers can interfere with the grief and loss process.[more]

This workshop will be comprised of the following components:

  1. a brief presentation on grief and loss
  2. inner reflection on a personal experience of grief and loss
  3. group exercise
  4. whole group sharing

Understanding our idealization, avoidance and defence mechanism helps us to better navigate our own type journey through grief and loss to a place of acceptance and new beginnings.

This workshop will explore how issues of grief and loss affect each type. Identifying the idealization, avoidance and defence mechanism that operates for each type can illuminate how these barriers can interfere with each type's ability to move through the grief process. The workshop will provide strategies for moving towards healing and new beginnings.

Through the course of this workshop we will address the steps in the grief process, prevalent misunderstandings about the grief process, how life and grief operate at the same time and how grief and loss might transform our life. These questions will be explored, emphasizing the way each type is able to work with grief and loss in ways that support healing, personal growth and spiritual development.

Workshop

The Pie Has Nine Slices: Why Eat Only One?

Moira McCaskill   
Intermediate
Friday 10:50am

This session is an exploration of how looking at a question from different EnneagramType perspectives can bring insight, awareness and conscious choice forward.[more]

Participants begin by sitting in their own Enneagram Type in segments drawn on the floor with tape.

Following a brief grounding, they are asked to think of a current issue in their life about which they would like to gain insight. Using a workbook provided, they write down their issue.

Participants then share in a group of three what their issue is, where they feel stuck, what choices they see.

People will then visit four or five other Enneagram Types in turn, moving in silence. Words naming the high energy of each type will be placed in the segments on the floor:

Strength/Power
Peace/Harmony
Goodness/Responsibility
Love/Caring
Take Action/Achieve
True to Self/Original
Understand/Deep Knowing
Courage/Face Fears
Joy/Freedom

Colour coding will show Assertive, Withdrawn and Dutiful segments and the Centres of Intelligence- Instinctual, Heart and Head. Participants will move freely as drawn by the words but will be guided to explore different colours. In each segment participants will write down what they see about their issue from that perspective.

The workbook will contain additional prompts- eg. For Courage/Face Fears the workbook would say "what am I afraid of?", "what might happen?", "what if I had courage?"

Participants then return to their Type to consider the awareness they gained from journeying around- what they want to take away from each perspective, how their new awareness opens up choices available to them. They are asked to choose at least one practical step they wish to take.

Participants then share again in their small group to deepen their learning. In the large group closing participants will be asked to declare the one step they will take.

Workshop

Conscious Embodiment and Living the Enneagram

Penny Whillans
Advanced
Sunday 1:00pm

Explore and experience your three-centred intelligences. Learn and practice “one-pointed expanded attention.” This practice allows us to live vibrantly, unhindered by the prisms and restraints of our typologies. [more]

This experiential workshop focuses on experiencing our embodiment, separate from and inclusive of our body sensations, emotions, thinking and planning. Through safe easy-to-do explorations, participants explore the difference between conscious embodiment and their senses, emotions and thinking. Participants are guided in and encouraged to identify "one-pointed expanded attention."

It is through the practice of one-pointed expanded attention that we can learn to ride the waves of body pains, emotions and fears and to know the simplicity of our peace and ease. It is here that we learn to tolerate our personalities’ attempts to keep us bound within our habits, fixations and dysfunctions. And it is from here that we can increasingly act with "right action," from the freedom and truth of our Human Nature.

A brief review of the three centres is followed by a description of our journey into increased awareness and how each centre has its place in this growth. Participants explore the qualitative experiences of the three centres of intelligence – the body, heart, and mind – and are guided and encouraged to practice giving attention to three-centred awareness. Each participant is then guided to give attention to one-pointed expanded attention/ awareness, the experience of clear embodiment and wisdom.

It is this giving of attention and focus that enables living fully and vibrantly unhindered by our types' reactivity. It is a necessary skill and practice that leads to authentically living the Enneagram within the fullness of our Humanity.

Participants have opportunity to share and to review their "takeaways."

Workshop

Enneagram or Dekagram?

Nicholas Reitter   
Advanced
Sunday 10:00am

A new theory amending the fundamental dynamics of one the nine Enneatypes will be proposed.  Examples of actual persons whose patterns are believed to be better explained by the theory as amended will be presented and discussed in detail.
A summary-level case will be made for why this fundamental amendment to the Enneagram is believed to be needed.  Participants in the workshop will be invited to on-going further dialog, as numbers as time allows.[more]

This talk will summarize the author's view that one of the types of the traditional Enneagram - Type Nine, "the peacemaker" or "the mediator" - has actually been confused in the Enneagram literature, and should be subdivided into two related but distinct types.

These two types share the conflict-avoidant style associated with Type Nine in the literature. However, they also fundamentally differ from one another in that one subgroup of "Nines" is grounded in avoiding conflict while relating with others, while the second group is grounded in avoiding conflict while relating perceptually with reality as a whole.

This view implies that the Enneagram structure as a whole requires amendment to another form that should more properly be called a "Dekagram" (ten-sided figure). Indeed, the arrows of integration/disintegration for the second group of Nines (as described in paragraph above) are believed to be reversed in the traditional Enneagram. A Dekagram with corrected arrows will be described in an amended diagram.

In addition to these corrected arrows, the two types believed to be fundamentally different "kinds of Nine" will be contrasted along a number of other dimensions of personality, such a cognitive and emotional patterns, styles of expression, relating to hierarchy, ways of dealing with intimacy, and more.

The theory will be illustrated with numerous examples of well-known persons. A video-presentation featuring examples of both these variants of Type Nine may also be shown. The presentation will include detailed personality-based observations and speculations as regards inner dynamics and growth with respect to the exemplar individuals under discussion,

Finally, in keeping with the conference-theme, applications of the proposed amended theory of the Enneagram to applied usage "for leadership, liberation and life" will also be discussed. Specifically, further new ideas will be elucidated concerning how each Enneagram type may be conceived as encompassing a fundamental paradox, or pair of near-opposite qualities manifested simultaneously For Type Nine (both types of Nine, according to the new view) these opposite qualities have to do with fluency, or smooth, continuously modulated response to changing conditions, versus rigidity, or discontinuous modulation. More detailed views will be discussed, concerning how these polarities play out for what are believed to be the fundamentally different sub-groups that are collectively subsumed as Type Nine in the present Enneagram literature.

This will be a primarily theoretically-focused presentation intended for those with a solid grasp of the existing Enneagram theory. While there will be time allowed questions and interactive discussion, the focus will not be on experiential exercises or the like, as there will be plenty of time needed to explain the new ideas being proposed.

The author has entertained the theories described here for a long time (more than ten years) and has explained them informally to numerous individuals but has not yet proposed a formal presentation such as this in a national-level conference setting.

Workshop

The Enneagram is a yang system in need of its yin, both nesting in the broader context of the 'Gram Family of energy systems

Marlene Reeve-Newson   
Advanced
Friday 3:40pm

How the Enneagram became my template for a broader context; Why am I all 18 archetypes (9 yin & 9 yang), but paradoxically only one? [more]

  1. Welcome. Intro:Some ideas on Leadership, Liberation & Life. Everyone is 9 yang +9 yin = 18 biological archetypes; our challenge is to become all of them. POLARgram symbol of 18 archetypes PRACTICUM
  2. The Enneagram interacts with 20 siblings, all within the prolific Gram Family. Let the Enneagram first introduce some, namely the MONOgram, PRIMOgram, EXOgram, ENEgram, MENSgram and CERHEMgram through symbols and stick figures, and then their location in our Corpus (body) and Caput (head) complete with fluids, organs, glands, & nerves. PRACTICUM
  3. How did the Enneagam became my template for a broader context? My personal journey: familial, professional; 1972 TCM; from mid 80s Chakras and Enneagram; Western Medicine. Question raised: How do you dovetail all systems into the same body? Typing my 3 children: two easy, one a challenge. Necessary realization of 9 yin and 9 yang. Birthing of the Gram Family. PRACTICUM
  4. The Enneagram, Implied Centre, and 5 Siblings. The Implied Centre. The MONOgram & PRIMOgram as symbols, the RINGgram in stick figures, the ZYEMFETgram in symbol; our potential for Sin & Evil. The MORPHgram Chart with 18 icons based on Enneagram angles, complete with their job descriptions. PRACTICUM
  5. Conclusion outcome: You will know where the Enneagram yin & yang is in Corpus and Caput, why we are drawn to certain archetypes over others, why it is important to consciously know, understand and love all 18 of"us" both individually and communally, how we get into "messes" and how to get out, and how we continuously morph by the nano second from yin to yang and back.
Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather

Enneagram Communities - an Exploration

Penny Whillans
Intermediate
Saturday 3:20pm

This is an opportunity to share our experiences in Enneagram communities, the benefits, demands and challenges and to review ways to support these communities. [more]

Upon learning about the Enneagram it is a natural desire for Enneagram enthusiasts to gather together for sharing and further discovery. It seems to be a spontaneous and natural movement to wish to gather into an Enneagram community. Despite all good intentions however these groups or communities often fraction or dissipate. Here is an opportunity to discuss what Enneagram community means and how to support such communities.

Community can be defined in many different ways and each community holds differing purposes with different foci.

Questions, such the following questions will be posed:

  • What does an ‘Enneagram Community’ mean to each of us?
  • For what purposes do our communities gather and meet?
  • What are the challenges we’ve experienced and how have we moved through these?
  • Where do we ‘get stuck?’ and lose ‘life’ or vibrancy?
  • What are the benefits of Enneagram communities and what have we learned from them?

The intent of this discussion is for each of us to share our experiences of being involved within Enneagram communities and to voice our wishes for them so that we can review or brainstorm possible ways to nurture and function within Enneagram Community. Participants will be asked to share their "takeaway" from this discussion.

Birds of a Feather

Making the Journey from Self-Doubt to Self-Assurance

Kaylyn Morton &
Helen Peacock
All
Saturday 2:10pm

When self-doubt starts to derail us, how can we soften it in the light of awareness and compassion and give ourselves the reassurance we need to feel safe and move forward. [more]

While Sixes may be masters at self-doubt, this session is not just for Sixes. Every Enneagram style can dip into self-limiting self-talk - "Am I capable enough? Am I good enough? Am I smart enough? Am I talented enough?" Thoughts like these can be crippling and cause us to lie low and avoid any situation where the doubt might rear its head. Or they can propel us into actions or behaviors that are not wise and that might even hurt ourselves or others. Certainly they can confuse us. "Is this a genuine concern, or just self-doubt programming taking over?"

We can accept the presence of self-doubt in ourselves or resist it and attack it. We can use our inner dialogue to beat ourselves up because we are fed up with feeling doubt, or we can use our inner dialogue to compassionately reassure ourselves that we are safe. Useful techniques to help shift from self-doubt to self-assurance can be taken from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Inner Child work, Non Violent Communication (NVC), Fear Cleanse programs, yoga, meditation, and many, many other modalities. Some techniques might work for some people, different techniques for others. And age might make a difference… or it might not. (The two session facilitators are a generation apart – one 32 years old and the other 64.)

How can we soften self-doubt in the light of awareness and compassion and give ourselves the reassurance we need to move forward wisely. Through storytelling, facilitated discussion, and group exercises we will explore various approaches and techniques to respond constructively to doubt. Participants will leave with ideas to follow up for themselves, and techniques to experiment with for their own personal journey from self-doubt to self-assurance.

Birds of a Feather

Opening to Spirit – A Conversation About The 9 Enneagram Pathways To Spiritual Connection

Ilze Arielle Matiss  
All
Saturday 3:20pm

This is a facilitated dialogue about participants' experiences with connections to spirit. A place to share stories and discover how their experiences are similar to and different from others. [more]

How does the pattern of our Enneagram type or subtype influence our experience of connecting to spirit? Of how we experience an awakening? What does that look like, feel like, smell like, taste like, sound like…? What does that mean to people?

This facilitated conversation gives participants an opportunity to share experiences on a topic that may not be talked about freely.

The benefit of creating space for this dialogue within the context of the Enneagram is that there is an opportunity to gain insight and create connections to continue the conversations.

Birds of a Feather

The Coming of Wisdom with Time: Transpersonal Gerontology and the Enneagram

Carl Marsak  
All
Saturday 2:10pm

We will discuss recent developments in the fields of Social and Transpersonal Gerontology, and how they intersect with our Enneagram studies and practices, all in preparation for our 9 Points Panel on this topic the following day. [more]

Like it or not, 2011 ushered in the advent of "senior citizenship" for the first wave of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964). Harry Moody has said that: "Gerontology, until recently, took little account of developments in humanistic and transpersonal psychology." From our side, Enneagram studies have rarely taken into account important issues and problems related to aging, such as: life preview and review, forgiveness and gratitude work, mentoring and leaving a legacy, self-care and geriatric concerns, etc. Thus it seems appropriate to offer a session where we can discuss the following:

  1. Elements, applications and practices of the emerging field of Transpersonal/Spiritual Gerontology
  2. Psychological growth, integration and further individuation in the later years of life
  3. How knowledge of Enneatype can help with stage-relevant tasks
  4. The "archetypal gerontology" of James Hillman
  5. The psycho-social stages across the lifespan of Erik Erikson.
  6. The spiritual eldering of Ram Dass and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and others...

I will present for the first 20-30 min., and then open it up for group discussion for the rest of our time together.

Birds of a Feather

The Enneagram and the Body

Beth O'Hara  
All
Saturday 3:20pm
Explore how type and reactivity shows up in the body. Share your observations of how noticing the body helps you increase your awareness of your type and loosen your reactivity.
Birds of a Feather

The Enneagram and Young Adults

Beth O'Hara  
All
Saturday 2:10pm

The Enneagram is a powerful tool whose evolution is critical for the transformation of the world. How do we ensure the enneagram continues through future generations? [more]

The Enneagram is a powerful tool that deeply impacts all generations and its evolution is critical for the transformation of the world.

The Enneagram is typically a tool used by older generations. Does it have to be this way? Why aren't more younger people involved?

How do we ensure the Enneagram continues to evolve through future generations?

How do we reach out and build relationships with young adults?

How do we address different levels of development of young adults and meet the varied needs of this population?

How do we attract young adults to the enneagram and engage them in the life-long work of transformation?

Bring your ideas, best practices, questions, concerns, wishes, and dreams as a share and problem solve on how to get more young adults involved in the Enneagram.

Birds of a Feather

Slow Looking: Engaging with Art Works at St. Michael's College

Susanne Palmer   
All
Saturday 3:20pm

Each of us responds to a work of art differently, incorporating our life experiences, biases and insights. Enjoy a relaxed opportunity to view a selected piece from St. Michael’s outstanding collection and share your unique perceptions.[more]

This extra-curricular session requires a pre-work commitment from you of 15+ minutes but in exchange, it offers an oasis of quiet and self-reflection in a busy conference schedule.

Our conference venue, St. Michael’s College, is home to an exquisite collection of contemporary Canadian art, collected over decades and gifted to the College by Father Dan Donovan. These creative works by leading Canadian artists deserve a good, long look and a thoughtful response.

It is well known that most gallery and museum visitors spend 30 to 40 seconds ‘viewing’ each work of art. Some institutions are now supporting an initiative known as “Slow Looking.” This approach invites patrons to choose a work of art and to spend 10 minutes or more of concentrated, mindful observing, wondering and reflecting. The goal is to slow down, focus intently on the art work, engage (to some extent) with the world view of the artist and reach some understanding of what and how the work communicates with you, the viewer.

If you can find the time on Friday or Saturday before 3:20 to choose ONE art work and spend 10 minutes in mindful interaction with it, we will gather as a group during the BIRDS of a FEATHER timeslot and share our thoughts and responses to the art and the ‘slow looking’ experience. Enneagram energies may surface, perhaps from subconscious shadows of our minds and hearts. This is a chance to slow down, look within and share with others.

Panels
Panel

Coping with Difficult People

Terry St Pierre &
Heather Marasse
Intermediate
Friday 1:50pm

This presentation relates the Enneagram Harmonics and Hornevians to the Robert Bramson book Coping with Difficult People, providing easy-to-apply practices and strategies for action for each Enneagram type. [more]

Through interaction with the audience, some of whom will form a panel, the participants will be lead through a series of questions to investigate, reveal and understand the subtleties of the Harmonics (how each Type defends against loss) and Hornevians (social style of each Type) , conflict reactions (Robert Bramson’s system) for each type and how to best communicate with each type when conflict emerges.

Attendees will leave with:

  • Deeper awareness of their own reactions when in a conflict situation
  • Compassion for how others behave in a conflict situation
  • An ability to recognize conflict behaviours and the knowledge to respond to each of them in a focused manner
  • Practical coping strategies for navigating conflict effectively, including how one remains both detached and interested
  • Continued curiosity and investigation into the dynamics of conflict

The learnings will be applicable in both personal and professional situations.

Panel

Panel of the 9 types for people who are new to the Enneagram

Natalia Jaxion &
Pat Bowman
All
Friday 10:50am
 

This presentation is a beginner’s panel for those new to the Enneagram. A panel is when a group of nine types, are individually asked the same question. [more]

This presentation is a beginner’s panel for those new and / or wanting a refresher on the nine personality types.

The beginning of the presentation will start off with a summary of the basic fears and propositions of each type. This will assist the audience in what to look for when observing each type and also noticing what may come up for themselves.

A series of identical questions will be posed to a group of nine people representing their enneagram type. As each person answers, the audience will be able to listen and observe how each personality comes out while answering questions. This includes the wording used, the tenor of the voice and the person's body language. From observing the panel, the audience may begin to recognize their own patterns and how they would respond, which may assist in determining where their own 'home' is on the map of the enneagram.

This is an interactive panel that will become open to the audience for discussion. Once panel is complete and there has been discussion, a summary for each type will be provided. The hope is for audience members and participants to leave the presentation with appreciation for various personalities.

Panel

Personality as Entry Point on the Spiritual Path

Sandra Smith   
Intermediate
Saturday 11:10am

During this presentation, participants will engage exercises that allow them to experience receptivity, the place of spiritual experience. Three panels, one from each triad, will bring to awareness the dynamics of type in the spiritual journey, dynamics that can support and hinder our spiritual growth. [more]

"Who am I?" is a foundational theological question that weaves together personality and spirituality. Bringing awareness to both the challenges and resources of our personality type can facilitate a more clear understanding of how to navigate the path to spiritual experience. Are certain spiritual practices better from some types than others? How does the placement of attention, world view, and core avoidance of our type structure limit us spirituality?

These questions will explored in depth during panel interviews (one panel from each center of intelligence). Additionally, panelists will explore the Holy Virtue of their type as the "narrow gate" onto the spiritual path. These discussions may bring some insights into ways to work with our personality so that it becomes an ally on our journey to the Divine Heart. Prayers for each of the Nine Types will be available for participants

Panel

The Autumn Harvest: A 9 Points Panel of Spiritual Elders

Carl Marsak   
Intermediate
Sunday 10:00am

In the first 20-30 minutes I will give a short presentation on the emerging field of Transpersonal Gerontology and will relate this to our work with the Enneagram. Then we will have a 9 Points Panel of spiritual elders 63 yrs. and over, all of whom have been familiar with their own Enneatype for at least a few months, if not several years or longer. [more]

Note: This panel complements Carl's Birds of a Feather session, The Coming of Wisdom with Time: Transpersonal Gerontology and the Enneagram.

These two events combined will present an overview of the emerging field of Transpersonal Gerontology--a recent and powerful integration of transpersonal psychology and social gerontology--and then discuss its relevance to Enneagram studies and practices. Harry Moody has said that "Gerontology, until recently, took little account of developments in humanistic and transpersonal psychology." In my experience, many Enneagram teachers rarely take into account important and universal issues and challenges related to the natural aging process, such as: life review and preview, forgiveness and gratitude work, mentoring of younger generations, leaving a legacy, philanthropy, self-care and geriatric concerns, etc. We will begin speaking about all of this in the Birds of a Feather session the day before, including discussions about the ideas of Carl Jung and James Hillman, Erik Erikson, Ram Dass and Rabbi Schachter-Shalomi, Harry Moody and Robert C. Atcheley and Lars Tornstam. I will have two handouts: 1) "10 Developmental Tasks of the Later Years of Life" 2) "5 Great Questions in Transpersonal Gerontology." Then we will have a 9 Points Panel where I will ask the panelists two questions: 1) "How has knowledge of your Enneatype helped you navigate the developmental tasks of the later years of life?" 2) "What stimulates new cycles of spiritual development for you as a Type __________ in the later years of life?"

Panel

What's Your Personality Loving Style?

Eileen Head   
Intermediate
Saturday 9:20am

I would like to interview panels of each type with leading questions for each type on validating how what their loving style is. [more]

Each personality has their own way of putting their energy in the world, recognizable patterns of conflict, anger, communication, language, etc. They also have patterns of how they feel loved. Having that knowledge will assist each person with knowing that information so they can communicate that to others. Imagine if people knew how to give exactly what feels loving to others the deeper connections they could experience.

Most importantly fulfilling their own needs.

Lightning Talks

Note: Each lightning talk is under five minutes; they will run in quick succession after one another.

Lightning Talk

An eight's vulnerable perspective on working through betrayals

Natalia Jaxion  
All
Friday 5:20pm

An eight's vulnerable perspective on working through betrayals. [more]

Throughout the years, Natalia, who self-identifies herself as an eight, has experienced many hardships involving unique and pain-filled forms of what she considers ‘ultimate’ betrayals. However, when she is caught in her personality, she believes she can mask her pain and feelings of deep vulnerability – and no one will be none the wiser.

Natalia will share what betrayal means to her and how she processes and feels these deep emotions in her body. Also, how her energy levels are affected when she does not allow herself to feel emotions constructively.

Natalia will also share the constant battle she is tormented with between feeling vulnerability and faking strength.

Lightning Talk

Breaking the Five Stereotype

Rob Fitzel
All
Friday 5:20pm
Fives are often stereotyped as self-isolating intellectuals who have no feelings nor interest in people. Fives appear to create a quiet distance between themselves and others, shielding what's going on inside them. This talk will shed some light on the mind of a Five, why they build walls and how to bridge the gap.
Lightning Talk

Centre Word Clues

Brian Mitchell-Walker  
All
Friday 5:20pm
Language is important.  Here are  words and phrases that I have heard when working with others that points to which centre(s) (Gut, Heart, Head) they are not in touch with.
Lightning Talk

Getting the Enneagram into every MBA program – a Call to Action

Kaylyn Morton  
All
Friday 5:20pm

Imagine a world run by leaders who studied the Enneagram along with Finance, Marketing, and Strategy.  What a positive difference that would make for all stakeholders.  Let’s make it happen. [more]

My MBA class was full of students motivated to invest a lot of time and money into learning new skills that would allow them to advance their career. We worked in groups on topics that ranged from Finance and Accounting to Marketing to Strategy to Project management. Had we also been introduced to the Enneagram our learning would have increased exponentially. We would have had a tool for self-awareness, and the skills to communicate more effectively, give feedback constructively, and de-escalate and resolve conflict under any circumstance. Ultimately, we would have graduated wiser and more aware and better equipped to take on leadership positions, no matter what our specialty.

Imagine if the world’s huge multi-national corporations were run by leaders with high emotional intelligence. What would this mean for the stakeholders of these organization? What would this mean for the economy? What would this mean for the world? Every MBA program should include the Enneagram. Let’s share ideas on how to make that happen.

Lightning Talk

Meditation: Integration and Application of The Enneagram

Paul Pasternak  
All
Friday 5:20pm

Highlight the importance through my direct experience of having a meditation (or other somatic practice) to live life more of the time on the higher functioning side of your enneagram style and create a positive impact on the people around you. [more]

To realize the value of enneagram and embody the growth it offers requires the willingness to draw our attention inward. Daily meditation practice is a powerful way to do this. But it can be challenging to mediate effectively without an understanding of your enneagram type. This has been my experience, as I discovered the enneagram five years after starting a daily meditation practice. Understanding the traps, hooks, blind spots and strengths of your enneagram type gives each person valuable knowledge. Learning the hooks of my type have helped me to "unhook" from following compelling thought patterns, enabling deeper meditation bringing more calm and in daily living with family, work colleagues and the students I advise. While it is useful to gather the wonderful information offered by the enneagram model, it's real power is refined self observation (which meditations trains you in), catching my typical enneagram reaction, learning to pause (meditate) and come up with a more creative and sensitive way of relating to people in my work, family and life. People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Herein lies the power of the enneagram to transform yourself and make a positive impact on the people around you.

Lightning Talk

Relationship Answers In Enneagram Personalities

Eileen Head  
All
Friday 5:20pm

Share how I found answers to why I couldn't figure out my thirty-five year marriage until I found the Enneagram Personalities [more]

I had searched for answers to why we were two great people and yet just could not connect. I found those answers when I found the research of our two personalities and our couple combination.

Performances
Performance

Marathon

TJ Dawe  
All
Friday evening 8pm

Marathon is an autobiographical monologue that likens my working on my blind spot, as revealed by my understanding of the Three Instincts, with stories of having been a terrible long distance runner in high school. [more]

Marathon is a monologue that functions simultaneously as a work of narrative entertainment - as I describe my experiences as a teenager with little to no athletic abilities, but with a desire to experience a cinematic improvement and victory - and as a teaching piece, about the Three Instincts.

In the monologue I describe how I came to understand the Three Instincts in the Part 3 teacher training from the Enneagram Institute. I give an overview of each Instinct, and what the three blind spots look like.

The high school track stories and story of my understanding of the Instincts dovetail right at the end, as I liken my unrealistic expectation of becoming a track star as a teenager with my unrealistic expectation of overcoming my blind spot as an adult.

I've performed this show for audiences who've never heard of the Enneagram, and received a great deal of feedback that people understood the principles of the Instincts quite well. I've performed this show for audiences who are fairly well steeped in Enneagram knowledge, who didn't have a full grasp on the Instincts.

Performance

Singing Bowls Concert

Ron Esposito  
All
Saturday evening 8:15pm

My program will include a brief introduction to the singing bowls and some poetry from the mystical tradition in addition to the playing of the bowls.

Activities
Activity

ROUND THE BEND: Aligning Enneagram Energies in the Labyrinth

Earl Brochu 
All
Saturday 8:00am

The Enneagram and the Labyrinth align as circular patterns and sacred paths. Mindful walking is a grounded experience of focused breathing, calm reflection and present awareness. [more]

Join us for an outdoor Labyrinth walk during the Conference. Labyrinths are patterns, pathways and sacred circles designed to lead toward a centre of energy, focus and imagination. Walking the labyrinth is an embodied experience that connects energy centres of heart, mind and body. We will provide words of intention designed for each position on the Enneagram. These will help to explore and gain insight from the labyrinth walking experience. However, you may enter the walk with your own concern or issue and allow insights to arise from your essential, inner resources. From the Conference venue, a 15 minute walk (or a short bus ride) will bring us to the site. The Labyrinth walking experience may take 20 minutes (or longer). The Toronto Public Labyrinth is located outdoors, south of Dundas Street, immediately east of Bay Street beside the Eaton Centre.

Find directions and information at this website: Toronto Public Labyrinth