Beatrice Chestnut: "Going Deeper with the Enneagram”

About this episode

What if the type you've been typing yourself as isn't the whole story? Tami Simon sits down with Enneagram pioneer Beatrice Chestnut to mark the re-release of her classic guide, The Complete Enneagram, and to ask why facing our shadow, not avoiding it, is the real path to waking up. Beatrice Chestnut, PhD, is a global expert, researcher, and educator on the Enneagram. She holds a PhD in communication studies and a master's degree in clinical psychology, and is a licensed psychotherapist, coach, and business consultant based in San Francisco. She is the author of several acclaimed books on the Enneagram, including the newly re-released edition of The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge, widely considered a classic in Enneagram literature. In this conversation, Tami and Beatrice explore: • The difference between personality (the protective "false self" formed in childhood) and our essential, true nature • Why each of the nine Enneagram types has its own distinct shadow challenge to confront and integrate • The 27 subtypes, and why Beatrice believes they matter far more than Enneagram "wings" • How the connecting lines, or arrows, reveal each type's specific grow