A new 10 part online series
New Perspectives on the
Enneagram
for Troubled Times
Begins April 3, 2024
New Perspectives
Those familiar with the Enneagram know what a powerful tool for self-discovery and insight it can be. This course will give seasoned Enneagram explorers the opportunity to take a deep dive and develop new perspectives about the use of this medium in spiritual direction and companionship, while honing new skills and approaches to their practice and calling.
“The Enneagram, I would like to suggest, is a parabolic form of teaching. It subverts our unconscious and truly ‘mythical’ worldview so that God can get in.”
–Fr. Richard Rohr
Revolutionary tools for our collective spiritual toolbox
It is in these particularly trying times that we most need revolutionary tools like the Enneagram to help us shift our perspectives so that the Beyond can permeate us, and “God can get in,” as Fr. Richard notes. Walking together through this Global Dark Night of the Soul, we can take stock of our collective spiritual toolbox. And by practicing with the innovative and versatile Enneagram, spiritual directors and companions can continue to benefit from its ageless wisdom.
This unique online course offering from SDI offers spiritual directors and companions the opportunity to connect with peers who are on the leading edge of the Enneagram field. Explore the session presenters below! Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with the presenters, receiving encouragement and inspiration for their own practice.
Each session will allow you to join in community with other enneagram practitioners in small breakout groups. Live attendance is encouraged, but not necessary, as we will record all sessions and make them available as they occur weekly. Recordings and course materials will be offered on a course webpage on the SDI website that you can sign into, and which will allow you to pace yourself. These resources are also guaranteed to be available for at least a year after the course ends, and typically much longer.
Who is this course for?
A deep dive for spiritual directors and companions, this course will not be a surface-level introduction. Those with previous knowledge and experience utilizing the Enneagram are encouraged to participate!
Course Faculty
Sandra Smith
With over 23 years of teaching experience, author Sandra Smith weaves her background in business and non-profits with her theological education to offer a practical and compassionate exploration of the Enneagram’s nine types. An accredited International Enneagram Association Professional and certified in the Narrative Enneagram Tradition, Sandra teaches internationally, inviting curiosity and compassion to guide the inward turn in exploring the foundational question, “Who Am I?”
Sandra has presented at numerous International Enneagram Association Conferences in the USA as well as Canada, and been a speaker at several SDI (Spiritual Directors International) conferences, speaking to the role of the Enneagram in Spiritual Companioning. Her life experience as female, identity as lesbian, love for the earth, and commitment to equity and inclusion inform her teaching and her living.
Her forthcoming book The Enneagram Map to Your Deeper Self: Living Beyond Your Type will be released by Hampton Roads Publishing in September 1, 2024.
Learn more about her work by visiting her website AlchemyWorksEvents.com. Or follow her on Instagram at sandrasmithalchemyworks and on Facebook at facebook.com/alchemyworksevents.
Reverend Nhien Vuong
Reverend Nhien Vuong, J.D., M.Div., (she/her/hers) is an international Enneagram thought leader, keynote presenter, and retreat facilitator who spiritually companions individuals around the globe using a compassion-based, contemplative approach to the Enneagram. A former Stanford-trained attorney, Nhien left the law to support the evolution of consciousness. An ordained Unity minister, Nhien has been studying the Enneagram since 2002 and teaching it since 2006. She is a Certified Enneagram Teacher, Accredited Enneagram Professional, and the Founder of Evolving Enneagram, a community-based business whose interdisciplinary team of Enneagram professionals offers interspiritual programming to seed and sustain our collective awakening. A Vietnamese refugee living in the United States, Nhien is passionate about a world in which everyone belongs. She regularly offers scholarships for her programs and volunteers to teach the Enneagram to recovery groups, non-profits, and the incarcerated. Nhien is the upcoming author of Enneagram of Soul, a 40-day contemplative Enneagram companion guide to living a more authentic, inspired, and soulful life, scheduled to be published by Hampton Roads in 2025.
Allen Proctor
Allen Proctor is Director of the Haden Institute, spiritual director and Presbyterian Minister. Allen works with others to explore questions of identity, relationships, vocation and meaning, using Dream Work, the Enneagram, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, meditation practices and creation spirituality.
Erlina Edwards
Erlina Edwards, passioned by her business interests and spiritual pursuits, is known to many as an Organizational Builder and Enneagram Practitioner. Driven by her commitment to Human Potential Development, she successfully built sustainable organizations to advance emotional intelligence and overall psychological wellness. Erlina Edwards initially earned her Enneagram certification through The Enneagram School of Narrative Tradition and is professionally certified through the IEA. Erlina is an International Interfaith Seminary graduate, an accredited Spiritual Director, and a certified IDEA Consultant (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racist). Erlina also holds accredited academic certifications that have advanced and broadened her business and spiritual studies. She is the Co-Executive Director of The Narrative Enneagram School and runs a private spiritual consulting practice; she lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, Gene.
Chelsea Forbrook
Chelsea Forbrook is the author of “Blessing My Demons: How to Name, Tame & Transform Your Inner Critic,” available in stores and on Amazon October 2023.
Chelsea was awarded a scholarship from Spiritual Directors International (SDI) to be a part of the New Contemplatives cohort in 2018 (a selected group of outstanding spiritual directors under age 40), and is a current member of SDI.
Chelsea Forbrook is the President of Enneagram Minnesota, and is a Spiritual Director and Enneagram educator based in Minneapolis, MN. She takes great delight in making spiritual principles and practices easy and accessible for all. Chelsea is certified through Full Circle Enneagram, The Enneagram Institute, Russ Hudson’s year long Depth Certification in Conscious Living, The Somatic Enneagram, and is an accredited professional through the International Enneagram Association (IEA). She teaches a five month experiential Enneagram course for personal transformation, is the creator of the Enneaplaque (a meditation tool for awakening), and hosts a podcast called “The Enneagram of Essence.”
Before Chelsea discovered the Enneagram, she was immersed in anti-racism facilitation work through ASDIC (Anti Racism Study Dialogue Circles), the YWCA, and People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Chelsea holds a degree in religious studies with an emphasis on Liberation Theology, and a certificate in Leadership Toward Racial Justice from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
Learn more about Chelsea at www.chelseaforbrook.com
Dina ElBadry
Dina ElBadry is an IEA accredited professional and Founder & Head Teacher at The Enneagram Academy, Egypt. She works with Chestnut Pães Academy As Head Mentor Worldwide & Staff member in Africa and Europe. Dina studied the Gurdjieff work and she teaches the CP levels of awareness model that’s based on both Gurdjieff & Sufi Work.
Ben Campbell
Ben Campbell is a Riso-Hudson Certified Enneagram teacher living in Bath, Maine. In addition to his own programs and coaching, he was selected as a Coach/Facilitator for the Shift Network’s Enneagram Certification Program in Conscious Living (2021-2022) with Russ Hudson and Jessica Dibb. He also presented two talks at the 2023 Global Enneagram Conference in San Francisco: “An Introduction to the Enneagram & Inner Work,” and “Rewilding the Enneagram.” He has appeared on the podcasts “No Small Thing”, “The Enneagram of Essence,” “The Lonely Edges,” and “The Blindspot,” and he taught the Minnesota IEA’s March 2021 Workshop “Passions and Purposes.” He holds a degree in East Asian Studies from Bates College. He is an apprentice at the Maine Primitive Skills School and a long-time student of the Animas Valley Institute. Ben is also President and founder of Enneagram Northeast USA, an official chapter of the International Enneagram Association.
Christopher T. Copeland
Rev. Dr. Christopher T. Copeland (he/they) is the Dean of Faculty and Certification Director for The Narrative Enneagram, the oldest Enneagram school in the world.
For 10 years, Christopher worked at Wake Forest University, serving as the founder and director of the Enneagram Studies Project and as Associate Professor of the Practice of
Spirituality.
In 2009, Dr. Copeland launched Illuminating Paths, through which he offers spiritual direction as well as Enneagram education to individuals and organizations.
Christopher is the co-creator and co-author of Heart of the Enneagram, a podcast and companion book to help people take a deeper dive into the transformative power of the Enneagram.
Dr. Copeland studied at Wake Forest University, Candler School of Theology, Emory Law School, and San Francisco Theological Seminary earning degrees in mathematics, theology, law, and spirituality.
Christopher loves hiking in nature, traveling to new places, and expressing creativity through baking. They live in Winston-Salem, NC with their husband Bernie.
Milton Stewart
Milton Stewart, MBA is the founder of Kaizen Careers, Coaching and Consulting LLC, loves facilitating the Enneagram and helping people feel seen. He is one of the very few African-American male Enneagram teachers in the world. Milton believes the Enneagram is more than just a personal tool but a map of how to truly honor the humanity of others. He uses the Enneagram in many ways but the most powerful way he uses it is in spaces of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Milton is the creator and host of “Do It For The Gram: An Enneagram Podcast”, that teaches the Enneagram from a very practical standpoint. Milton is the first African-American male International Enneagram Association Global Board Member. Prior to full-time work in the Enneagram space, he worked in education. He helped with adult students who were working to achieve their high school diplomas. He also worked as an administrator in an elementary school, providing tools for the students and staff to succeed.
Learn more about Milton at kaizencareers.com
Abi Robins
Abi Robins (they/them) is a trained Enneagram Teacher who studied with Helen Palmer, Marion Gilbert, Peter O’Hanrahan, and others via “The Narrative Enneagram” in Menlo Park, CA. Robins is also an interning CIAYT Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists and studied at Yoga Yoga in Austin, TX.
Abi’s guidance combines the deep and transformative insight of the Enneagram with the holistic and down to earth practices of Yoga Therapy. Seeking to blend these two powerful systems to help people better understand themselves and those around them, Robins companions us towards more fulfilling and meaningful lives.
Schedule
Ten live weekly 90 minute sessions, Wednesdays beginning April 3, 2024. (15 hour total duration.)
The webinar series will run 10 consecutive Wednesdays: April 3, 10, 17, 24 & May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 & June 5, 2024 – 1 PM Seattle/Los Angeles, 3 PM Chicago, 4 PM New York, 9 PM London; April 4, 11, 18, 25 & May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 & June 6, 2024: 5 AM Hong Kong, 8 AM Sydney, Australia.
Find your own local time here.
This series has been scheduled to be convenient to as many people around the world as possible. With that said, if that timing doesn’t work, you can enjoy the webinar any time you like.
Each session is recorded so you can watch at your convenience.
Sessions
Session 1: April 3 - Sandra Smith
As the series begins, Sandra Smith will discuss what the Enneagram is and is not. As a pyschospiritual map, the Enneagram has much to offer in our Spiritual Direction profession as well as in our navigation of the difficult and uncertain times we live in. Remembering that we are not our type is an entry point into the process of opening our hearts in a world that needs us to be be grounded, courageous and open-hearted. Additionally, Sandra will lead us in some practices for building a relationship with our heart center of intelligence.
Session 2: April 10 - Rev. Nhien Vuong
In our second session, join Rev. Nhien as she takes us on a journey on the Enneagram from passion/vice to virtue. You’ll learn how the Enneagram map of conscious, and in particular The Enneagram of the Passions and The Enneagram of the Virtues, helps us to face our individual suffering and through the conversion our heart’s passion (from the Latin “passio” or “suffering”) to each of our Type’s virtues, we become freer from our Enneagram Type’s reactivity and more able to respond with compassion and faith even to others’ reactivity–in the furtherance of our collective liberation and unity.
Session 3: April 17 - Dina El-Badry
Immortality – The Higher Human Potential: From Gurdjieffian & Sufi Perspectives
“When I first learned the Enneagram I was disappointed by my type, and even more disappointed to know that it doesn’t change. But when I started studying Gurdjieff, I became fascinated by the concept of Essence. I found a lot of inspiration in realizing that the personality isn’t the only option for us humans, and that the human can be much more. In such troubled times, dealing with the world and ourselves from our higher self is what the world needs most now. In this presentation I aim to correlate the Gurdjieffian & Sufi teachings about the full potential of the human being which was referred to in Gurdjieff as “Man Becoming Immortal” and by Sufis as “Al-Insan Al-Kamil”.” – Dina ElBadry
In this session, Dina aims to present their perspectives about the human developmental process for spiritual growth and provide attendees with a practical practice inspired by Sufi Schools.
Session 4: April 24 - Erlina Edwards
Three Centers of Intelligence
In this session, we’ll explore how each Enneagram type has a home base in one of the three centers of intelligence – head, heart, or body – that shapes our way of being in the world. While everyone experiences all three, each personality type has a particular strength in one of them. This primary center is a key to overcoming blind spots, developing our potential, and improving our relationships. Balancing the three centers helps us achieve a more balanced life. Join us as we go deeper into understanding the centers.
Session 5: May 1 - Chelsea Forbrook & Milton Stewart
Undoing Racial Oppression with the Enneagram
The American paradigm of treating white culture and white bodies to be superior and normative has (very unfortunately) become pervasive in our institutions, communities, and spiritual/religious spaces. Just like working with our Enneagram type, once we see “whiteness” clearly and understand it within a larger framework, we suddenly WAKE UP to our patterns and have the freedom to choose more skillful ways of living (regardless of our race). The individual work we’ve already done with our Enneagram type will be used and useful in this exploration.
In this session, Milton and Chelsea will use the tools of the Enneagram, presence, compassion, and curiosity to explore the legacy of Whiteness and race within our cultures (in the USA and elsewhere). They will create a safe atmosphere free of shame, lecturing or advice. We will do this work together with curiosity and compassion for all. Chelsea and Milton will help you explore the harmful aspects of Whiteness and how your Enneagram type plays into this cycle, as well as how your personality’s unique gifts can contribute to liberation and freedom from oppression for all.
Session 6: May 8 - Christopher T. Copeland
In session six, Christopher T. Copeland encourages us to reimagine what have been traditionally called the “Holy Ideas” of the Enneagram and explore how these expansive perspectives can serve as a powerful doorway into greater personal and spiritual freedom. As spiritual directors and companions, we can use the “Greater Knowing” of each Enneagram type to invite others to touch the deeper truths that we know but have lost sight of through the lens of our type. These received experiences can empower us all to meet troubled times with greater hope, love, and faith.
Session 7: May 15 - TBA
Session 8: May 22 - Allen Proctor
The Enneagram and Jungian Psychology in Spiritual Direction Embark on a transformative journey into the depths of the psyche through the unique lens of the Enneagram and Jungian Psychology in Spiritual Direction. Join us for an immersive session that delves into the profound interplay between these two rich frameworks, guided by a seasoned spiritual director with over four decades of experience in both modalities.
In this session, we will unravel the intricate connections between the Enneagram, a powerful tool for understanding personality dynamics, and Jungian Psychology, renowned for its exploration of the unconscious and archetypal forces shaping human behavior. Our facilitator, Allen Proctor, deeply rooted in Jungian principles, brings a fresh perspective by integrating the Enneagram as a complementary map to navigate the complexities of the psyche.
Session 9: May 29 - Rev. Nhien
As we near our final session, join Rev. Nhien as she discusses Enneagram-informed contemplative activism. How might the term “activism” be redefined through a contemplative lens? How might we avoid the pitfalls of contemplation becoming ways we become more self-absorbed rather than more whole, unified, and spiritually free. Rev. Nhien will help us to integrate the prior week’s Enneagram sessions, offering somatic inquiry practices to support an embodied, incarnational spirituality.
Session 10: June 5 - Ben Campbell
The Enneagram for Ecospirituality & Earth Stewardship These troubled times provide us an opportunity: to fulfill our destiny as human beings by stepping into our true role as stewards of the Earth. This is what Thomas Berry called “The Great Work”: for humanity to make the transition from being a destructive force on this planet to a truly nurturing and generative one, where our species exists in absolute reciprocity with all of life.
The Enneagram can be a powerful tool for this transition-but not so long as we consider it to be separate from nature. The ways we think about the Enneagram have to adapt to include the more-than-human world. In this final session, join us as we explore ways we can do that through nature-based Enneagram awareness and practices, and experience a profound deepening both of your inner work experience, and of your relationship with the Earth.
Additional Information
- Participants from all spiritual traditions and orientations are welcome in this webinar series as are those with all levels of spiritual experience.
- Each session will run 90 minutes. We understand that the timing of the seminar will not be convenient in every time zone on the planet. For those who have trouble making this time, a recorded copy of each session will be made available to all those who sign up.
- CEU credits are available for all those who participate. SDI will provide a certificate of completion for self-reporting to agencies. More information can be found here: continuing education units (CEUs).
- Cost: $299 for non-members, with significant discounts for SDI members
- Scholarships are available for those facing financial hardship. Please apply here.
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