Why Your Enneagram Type Might Need Art Therapy

The Enneagram has been pretty impactful for me personally, and my clients. I'd go so far as to say the Enneagram is revolutionary in the way that it can change how we see ourselves.

There is an incredible, profound sigh of relief that comes when you first realize that someone out there - a book, a teacher, another person with a shared type - actually "gets" your lived experience.

If you are brand new to the Enneagram world, diving into your type is a rite of passage. You attend the workshops, buy the books, and listen to the podcasts. Maybe you even learn everyone else’s type first, so you can figure out who is to blame for the problems in your relationships.

Until you realize that the quest you were on, was never about the other.

This phase is enlightening as you learn through cognitive download, and it feels meaningful to finally have the knowledge about oneself. I know, because I've done exactly that.

But here is the truth: You will find growth and pleasure through information... until you don’t.

The Plateau of "Knowing"

Eventually, many of us hit a plateau. You might be able to recite the wisdom of the Big Blue Book cover to cover. You’ve had some wins; you catch yourself when you’re acting out your patterns (hello, narcotisation!), and your relationships might have improved slightly.

But then, you feel stuck.

The wins you had along the way weren’t actually achieved through the absorption of knowledge. Information alone doesn't produce results. It is when knowledge becomes a knowing, a being, and a doing - or not-doing as is often the case when it comes to our personality patterns. Only then have we truly integrated what we have learned.

Think of it like this: You can spend years studying a map of a forest. You can memorize every trail, every elevation change, and every water source. But studying the map is not the same as having the mud of the trail on your boots and the scent of the eucalypts in your nose hairs. The map tells you where you are; the knowing where you are, being one with the forest, and doing the work at hand is what actually moves you through the trees.

The Subconscious Referee

For many, the knowing phase doesn't quite land. You’re standing on the edge of the forest, holding the map, but the trees in front of you (your lived experience) don't match the lines on the paper. You may have an intellectual understanding of your Type, but no deep knowing of how your type takes root in your life. You feel like a spectator in your own life, reading the map while still having no idea which path to take.

This may occur if we are trying to make sense of our world by way of our conscious mind only. I don't mean to suggest that no problems can be solved by thinking them through. In fact, I've coached hundreds of clients who have successfully 'belief changed' their way out of a problematic pattern of behaviour through conversational dialogue in coaching.

However, one thing I've noted that seems to be true is that when a thinking pattern changes, there is also a somatic change that occurs. So, sometimes we can get there through thinking, and sometimes we can't.

If talk therapy, coaching or 'thinking your way out' of a problem is not working for you, this is your invitation to listen to your body.

The body is the only part of us that is actually in touch with the real world. While the mind is busy building constructs, belief systems, and biases (sometimes filtering reality until it is barely recognizable) the body is directly, physically in touch with our surroundings. It is our first filter for the world.

Let's consider the Type 9 pattern as an example of how a pattern doesn't simply exist in your mind. A Type 9 might recognise that rumination is getting in the way of taking action, yet they find themselves unable to stop ruminating by thinking their way out of it. This is because the instruction to ruminate didn't start in the mind; it started as a somatic response to a core wound.

Long ago, your body developed a specific muscular and energetic posture to cope with a world that felt unsafe or disharmonious. In the case of the Type 9, it informed their entire organism that withdrawal was the safest path.

It became a habit that lives in the mind as rumination, in the heart as self-forgetting, and in the body as inertia.

This is why our patterns feel so "sticky."

For type 9’s the path of growth is inviting the somatic opposite of these patterns to take root: transforming rumination into Presence, self-forgetting into Self-Remembrance, and inertia into Right Action. Yet how can we do this when our entire organism is positioning itself for safety?

For some, learning the Enneagram framework shines a light on the area for breakthrough instantly. But for many of us, that anchor is buried deep in the silent, unconscious sediment of the body.

How the Unconscious Speaks

How do we bring the unconscious to consciousness? We have to work with it. We have to let it speak.

But the unconscious doesn't speak in sentences or bullet points. It speaks through the body. It speaks in sensations, colours, textures, and symbols. When you give the body a brush, a pencil, or a piece of clay, you are giving the unconscious a voice.

If we consider that our Enneagram fixations are deep-seated somatic (body-based) responses, it seems reasonable that we would work within a somatic framework. Furthermore, our personalities are often hardened by the interference of stress or trauma. In moments of trauma, the Broca’s area - the part of our brain responsible for turning thoughts into spoken words - literally goes offline.

This is why 'talking about it' can feel like running in place. If the speech centre is closed for business, and we need a different door if we are to understand what is happening within.

The Case for Art Therapy: The Third Object

When you create in an art therapy session, you are putting your unconscious content into an external form. You can put your anger, your fear, or your shame into a piece of art.

Suddenly, you are able to look at it, rather than as it.

This creates the objectivity and distance we need for growth to happen.

Working with different materials also forces us to confront our personality's preferences, for example:

• Type 6's may find the unpredictable and uncertain flow of watercolours challenging.

• Type 1's may find the idea of an abstract, messy page of uncontrolled emotions challenging.

• Type 4's may find working with repetitive geometric stencils or straight edged rulers challenging.

The Challenge is exactly where the neuroplasticity (the growth) lies.

Coming Home to The 9 Within

When we begin to integrate these parts, the head, the heart, and the body, something shifts. We move from the fixation of our type into the essence of our being.

This is what I call The 9 Within. A whole self, encompassing all 3 centres, and all 9 ways of being, not just one.

It is the version of you that is no longer 'refereed' by the ego and one habituated pattern, but rather displays flexibility and freedom in how you respond to any given stimulus.

The idea of integration, wholeness, and aligning all three centres is a path paved by many wisdom teachers and somatic practitioners before me. And it became my life’s work through a personal 'perfect storm' of influences: the knowledge and guidance of incredible Enneagram mentors, Psychotherapists, Gurdjieff studies, a background in dance, and a lifelong artistic practice. These experiences converged to show me that many of my own instances of healing occurred when all 3 centres were online and listened to.

In physics, the "Three-Body Problem" is famously complex and unpredictable. In the Enneagram, we also have a three-body problem of our own: how to integrate our Head, our Heart, and our Body. Which often feels like a complex and unpredictable problem for those doing inner work.

To find lasting alignment and peace, the body cannot remain a silent passenger; it must be an active participant and have a voice.

Reconnecting with the breath, and meditation or presence practices to bring the body online are a great start. If you want to deepen your journey even further, I invite you to reach out for a somatic art therapy session.

Let’s get some mud on your boots.

Warmly,

Don 🪷

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