Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
Learn More.

Learn more.

Due to road closures along Highway 1 to our north and south, Esalen is closed through April 11.
Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
past workshop

Being with Your Heart: Enneagram and Inner Work Retreat

October 25–29, 2021

with Russ Hudson and Deborah Rose Longo

As many now know, the Enneagram is an accurate and profound map of the human psyche that delineates nine vectors of the soul. These nine Enneagram Types are based on the three primary centers of intelligence: thinking, emotion and instinct.

This retreat will focus on restoring the centrality of spiritual practice and psychological rigor to Enneagram work and will emphasize the foundational role of the Heart Center. We will explore the Essential Qualities and ego-related issues of the Two, Three, and Four in much greater depth than in an ordinary Enneagram workshop, employing meditation practices, inquiry and movement exercises, and presence-based conversations. Our aim is to encounter and work through our remaining psycho-spiritual issues and to know directly the deeper mysteries of the heart. We will facilitate work on areas such as self-images, narcissism, defense mechanisms, and learn what it means to live and work from the deeper capacities of the heart. This work is not only for Twos, Threes, and Fours, of course. Regardless of our dominant Enneagram type, these issues, conflicts, and blockages play themselves out in our daily lives.

You will be invited to:

  • Learn to be with your heart, deepen your ability to be present, and know who you are.
  • Guide yourself toward living from the heart and in the world with more sincerity, joy, and gratefulness.
  • Come to recognize the Enneagram beyond typing, as a transformational map that illuminates the challenges and gifts each point represents in the journey to deepening presence.

The aim in all Inner Work Retreats is to encounter and work through our remaining, deep, psycho-spiritual blockages. To that end, they all include experiential exercises such as physical movement, spiritual teachings, meditations, music, journaling, and small group work.

Please bring shoes suitable for movement. Dance slippers are ideal, without rubber soles if possible, or these are also recommended.

Russ Hudson

Russ Hudson is one of the top teachers and developers of the Enneagram system in the world today. He is the co-author, with Don Richard Riso, of several books, including The Wisdom of the Enneagram and Personality Types.

Full Bio

Deborah Rose Longo

Deborah Rose Longo has been an instructor of the Gurdjieff Movements for over 40 years, working with groups around the world. Her approach emphasizes the importance of balancing the Three Lines of Work (Work on oneself, Work in the group and Work for the Greater Good), not only in the movements class but also in life.

Full Bio