Technically, EnneaMotion uses a movement vocabulary of space, time and energy that allows us to name and classify the physical movement components that accompany each thought or emotion. For example, if we’re angry, we’re probably moving in a “sharp, fast, direct, forceful and angular” way; or if we’re depressed or sad, we might move in a manner that is “slow, limp, unfocused and weak,” or be almost still. Confidence could be translated as direct and forceful; nurturing could be translated as indirect and gentle. Each thought and feeling has its exact counterpart in the physical realm.
Imagine this:
You feel angry at your friend and would like to stop feeling that way. You may tell yourself “stop it,” but if you find yourself yelling at your dog for no reason, minutes later, you know that you have simply shifted your anger onto a different object. If instead, you would briefly “stop and notice” how are you moving (sharp, fast, direct, forceful and angular)? And now try to simply move in the opposite manner for a minute or two (vague, slow, indirect, gentle and round), you would immediately notice how this “opposite” set of movements makes it difficult to remember why you were angry, let alone still feel it.
Effectiveness of EnneaMotion
This experiential approach to studying the Enneagram changes the “channel” through which information comes to you. Usually, the intellectual channel is used as you read or
listen to a lecture or to panels. By changing to the “body channel,” the picture looks different and often gives rise to new insights — about yourself and about the others in your life. The theory is that if we can learn to recognize which type of movement corresponds to a particular feeling/thought, we could either provoke a desired feeling/thinking state by moving in a corresponding way, or stop such a feeling/thinking state by moving in its opposite way.
With a little practice, we can discover and explore emotionally-fixated states through value-neutral movements, making it easier to approach “taboo” areas and effect personal change.
Our fixations are at the root of our behaviors, and movement is the most concrete expression of those behaviors, and therefore the most easily recognized and altered.
What It Looks Like and What Others Have to Say
“EnneaMotion is Andrea Isaacs’ original contribution to Enneagam work which is not only vitalizing, but also helpful in grounding insights and an understanding of the Enneagram types in our bodies. EnneaMotion has to be experienced to be fully appreciated…it is powerful and transformative work.”
— Don Richard Riso
Author of Personality Types, Using the Enneagram, Discovering Your Personality Type, and Enneagram Transformations
“What I experienced during the EnneaMotion process was something more fascinating than I would have expected — a cooperative venture between my mind, emotions, and body.”
— Terri Waite
NASA scientist, editor
“I’m writing to thank you and let you know how helpful and entirely original your EnneaMotion work is. This experience changed our lives in important ways, primarily by loosening up our bodies in order to gain greater understanding of our own personality type and, thus creating new levels of compassion and ins ight into each other.”
— Mona Coates, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
Enneagram teacher
