PART 1: Beyond Theory—Why Somatics and the Enneagram Need Each Other
My Journey with “Embodying Essence”
Growing up with the Enneagram wove this complex model into the fabric of my psyche, shaping how I make sense of the world and guiding my personal growth. My professional journey has been a quest to explore ways to bring the Enneagram to life in a more profound way. For me, it’s not just about study—it’s about embodying and living it. Early on, I realized that while many of us can discuss the Nine Types extensively, we often struggle to translate this knowledge into real, lasting growth in our everyday behaviors and relationships.
The missing link, I discovered, was somatic engagement: tuning into our bodily sensations, nervous system states, and the subtle qualities that arise when we connect with what the Enneagram calls “essence.” Essence is the core, universal quality at the heart of each Enneagram type—it’s “where” we find our deepest peace and wholeness. When we embody this essence, we do more than understand the Enneagram; we live it in a way that’s deeply healing and transformative.
Sharing This Work
Over two decades, my private practice has evolved to embrace somatics as an essential aspect of effective psychotherapy, integrating the body and nervous system into the healing process. This journey paralleled my deepening understanding and work with the Enneagram.
After years of practicing and refining my embodiment approach, I introduced it to the Enneagram community at a regional conference in Amsterdam in the summer of 2024. The response was exhilarating—attendees were eager for ways to experience the Enneagram not just intellectually, but physically. Since then, I’ve been speaking, writing, facilitating workshops, and teaching longer training programs that marry somatic science with Enneagram wisdom. This embodied approach, focusing on the types and their essence, remains at the heart of all these offerings."
I’m excited to delve even deeper at the upcoming International Enneagram Association’s (IEA) Global Conference this summer. There, I’ll unveil new insights and guide participants through practical somatic practices. Simultaneously, I am writing a book that will present this embodied approach in a comprehensive and accessible manner, offering readers a way to deeply integrate the Enneagram into their personal and professional lives.
Why Somatic Engagement Matters
Modern somatic psychology has shown that the body isn’t just a passive bystander to the mind. Defensive patterns, reactivity, and emotional triggers all have corresponding physical (and often subconscious) elements—muscle tension, shifts in breathing, the fight-flight-freeze response, and more.
Healing the Roots: By focusing on the body, we address the underlying patterns fueling our personality fixations, rather than just the surface behaviors.
Tangible Change: When we sense our essence physically—relaxation in the chest, warmth in the belly, or tingling in the spine—we’re more likely to sustain that transformation in daily life.
Integration: Rather than seeing the Enneagram merely as a mental map, somatic engagement allows us to integrate head, heart, and body—what I call “Embodying Essence.”
Beyond Labels—From Concept to Lived Experience
All too often, people treat their Enneagram type as just a label: “I’m a Type Four, so I’m emotional,” or “I’m a Type Seven, so I’m adventurous.” While these descriptions have value, they can also keep us at the level of abstract analysis. The real power of the Enneagram emerges when we explore not only the felt sense of each type’s patterning—that is, how tension, breath, and muscle activation show up in real time—but also the felt sense of each type’s medicinal/healing essence.
Felt Sense of Patterning: Where do we clamp down, brace, or hold our breath when we slip into fixation? How does our posture or energy shift when we’re triggered?
Felt Sense of Essence: What is the physical experience of each type’s universal quality—like a soothing warmth for Type Two’s universal love, or a strong, grounded sensation for Type Eight’s true strength?
By exploring both the fixation and the essential “medicine” in a tangible, embodied way, we gain a direct understanding of where and how we can find relief, solace, and genuine change.
What’s Next?
In the next blog post, we’ll delve into the Nine Types through a somatic lens—looking at what I call the “medicine” or healing quality of each type’s essence.
