ORAL BROWN,a yoga teacher and
licensed mental-health counselor in
Rhode Island, uses the word
“co-dependent” to describe her previous
romantic relationship, which lasted more than
a decade. But at the time, she didn’t realize
she was in such a pattern of over-giving that
she was losing herself. While her yoga practice
helped shine a light on this tendency, Brown
says studying the Enneagram—a four-decade-
old personality-assessment system—also
revealed that it was time to move on from
the relationship. “The Enneagram enabled me
to really see my core patterns,” says Brown,
“ultimately helping me meet my needs in a
healthier, more conscious way than ever before.”
The name Enneagram stems from the Greek
words ennea, a prefix for “nine,” and gramma,
meaning “to draw.” The system’s icon is a nine-
pointed star, each point representing a distinct
personality type. Most Enneagram experts agree
we are all born with one dominant personalityIn an ideal world, we’d always think and act from a place of wisdom and
oneness. But in the real world, ingrained patterns and personality traits can
get in the way. Enter the Enneagram, a personality assessment that can help
you see what’s keeping you from realizing your most authentic, highest self.
Here’s how to use it, along with your yoga practice, to change course.Story by Elizabeth Marglin | Photography by Jeff Nelsontype (or number), which largely determines
how we learn to adapt to our environment and
the people in it. The Enneagram surfaced in the
United States in the 197os, riding the tails of the
human-potential movement (think therapy,
encounter groups, and primal scream). Since
then, therapists, spiritual teachers, coaches,
and even businesses have used the Enneagram
as a tool to stoke authenticity, expose core
motivations, and ultimately reduce interpersonal
conflict. How can a simple personality test do
all this?
“There’s resistance to change within all of
us, and the Enneagram describes what that
resistance is about for each of us,” says Peter
O’Hanrahan, a leading international Enneagram
teacher and trainer. “As a result, this system
gives you very clear information about what you
need to work on.” To wit, when Brown learned
more about her Enneagram number—a Two—
she was better able to see her core pattern of
giving to others to feel good about herself, andthat realization gave her a choice: do something
about her blind spots, or ignore them. She chose
to act. “I left my partner, and I found more of my
own identity in my yoga teaching,” says Brown.
“I was more aligned with my truer purpose and
nature.”
Susan Piver, author of the meditation primer
Start Here Now and a meditation teacher who
leads retreats on the Enneagram, says the kind
of alignment Brown experienced is what yoga
is about at its core. “The Enneagram will tell us
what we cannot see about ourselves—our ways
of being that stem from our most wounded
selves, which create confusion as a result,”
says Piver. And if you’re willing to look at these
wounds, which are almost always rooted in
unexamined pain, you can start to chart a new,
more authentic course forward, she says. “At a
certain point—especially if you’re on a spiritual
path—you have to do this,” Piver says. Read
on to find out how.INQUIRE
WITHIN
MODEL: LINDSAY GONZALEZ; STYLIST: JESSICA JEANNE EATON; HAIR/MAKEUP: BETH WALKER; TOP: MARA HOFFMAN; RINGS: MODEL’S OWN
WISDOM
live well
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february / march 2017yogajournal.com.sg