the enneagram:
the secret grammar of effective communication

In this section you can learn the grammar of establishing effective communication by decoding any person’s mental processes using the Ennea method according to NLP-3.

This decoding method was developed from the results produced by enneagram scholars and classic NLP techniques. It is as close as it can get to the spirit of those that classified the enneagram types and what’s more it uses MODERN NLP-3 methodology tools that allow us to more accurately determine psychological type than the philosophy on which it is structured.

But first, let’s enter into the mystical and esoteric world of the Enneagram.

Many valid texts on the concept of the enneagram exist on the market. However, the majority of these only see the enneagram as a way of classifying psychological types. The innovation we are suggesting is called the “ENNEA method” and was set up by an integration between this ancient technique for classifying personality types and MODERN NLP. In this way, the enneagram can be read as a description of the way the mind works and the communicative strategies used from time to time when we face our environment. In texts that you commonly find in bookshops, personality types are discussed in depth but a quick and effective technique to identify those type isn’t given. They suggest you read about the nine different types and to match yourself with the one that most suits you, or to be analysed by answering a series of questions.

After conducting some research, a quick and effective technique was proposed: each enneagram personality can be matched to the representational systems that we examined previously (accessing and elaboration channels). For example type number Two, The Helper, has visual accessing and kinesthetic elaboration, while has dormant auditory. In fact a feature of number Two is that they have problems with logics, a dominant element for those having a developed auditory channel. In fact psychological compulsions arise from the dormant channel. For example type number Four, The Individualist, has kinesthetic accessing and auditory elaboration while has a dormant visual channel. This creates them problems in visualising objectives in life and putting them into action.

Before examining the various personalities and matching them with representational channels, let’s briefly study the history behind this system.

The enneagram was created in the East by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, at a time when Freudian ideas on the unconscious were scarcely known. In fact the schools that inherited the enneagram tradition didn’t supply dogmatic techniques that allowed them practical use of the system and an idea of separatism between personality and human potential existed. Today’s modern theories and psychological techniques didn’t exist and those who approached the enneagram did so out of faith. The system has an esoteric origin comparable to the Tree of Life in the Jewish Cabbala—so many are the points in which the two systems crossover that we created a fusion between the two of them, resulting in new techniques to achieve integration with essence and to overcome compulsions.

The idea behind the enneagram is that after birth we are confronted with various difficulties in the world; everyone gives a different name to difficulties and based on what we are denied we identify with a personality over and above the orhers. It’s as if we only choose one ability giving up the other eight.

The enneagram is made up of a nine pointed star inside a circle. To each point corresponds to a personality type, the points are connected by a system of arrows. These arrow paths represent personality shifts due to stress or relaxation. In fact we move from our original starting point to other personalities if we are under stress or if we are extremely relaxed; in this last situation, our “performances” are generally better and therefore can be called “best performance point.”

For example, when type number Four is under stress they move to type Two (Helper) and tend to behave like this type; while when they reach a state of calmness, they tend to move towards type One (Reformer). Naturally, when moving toward another type, it doesn’t identify completely with this personality in that it remains driven by its core type—in this example case Four—where it will eventually return to.

Stress and relaxation are indicated by the direction of the arrows. When the natural direction of the arrows is followed, we find the personality in a stress phase; when we go against this direction we find the personality in a relaxed phase. Therefore, using again type Four as an example, its stess poin will be Two and its relaxation point will be One.

Each type has a specific accessing and elaboration channel sequence. The table below allows you to easily identify personality types; the first channel indicated represents accessing, while the second represents elaboration:

1. The Reformer - Visual Auditory

2. The Helper – Kinesthetic Visual

3. The Achiever– Visual Kinesthetic

4. The Individualist – Kinesthetic Auditory

5. The Investigator – Auditory Visual

6. The Loyalist – Auditory Visual

7. The Enthusiast – Visual Kinesthetic

8. The Challenger – Auditory Kinesthetic

9. The Peace-maker – Kinesthetic Auditory

Some types have the same sequence; in order to identify them more easily you just have to ask the subject some questions; for example, if you have a Visual Kinesthetic in front of you he could be either an Achiever or an Enthusiast. Both of these types are very active and achieve many things in life but while type Three tends to bring them to fruition, number Seven tends to leave them half done to start others as their motivation is different: Achievers are hyperactive in that they identify themselves in action and are valued in the world not by who they are but what they do; The Enthusiast does many things to avoid being stuck in a rut and is in constant search of a happy-go-lucky life. By thoroughly studying the two different personalities you will have an additional tool by which to immediately identify type.

To finish, I would like to make a brief note on sub-types. Inside each figure there can be three sub-types—for example, three type Fours—which basically have the same character make up but are differentiated by a few specific features.

Everyone worries about self-perseverance (survival), sexuality, (partner relationships) and social life (group relationships). Within these three great subdivisions of man, he directs his worries to the one he feels is most damaged. Therefore he will identify himself in one of these.

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