The 7th IEA Brazil Enneagram Conference took place August 21st-24th in the city of Teresopolis, a mountainous region outside Rio de Janeiro. In a city that struggles with the pain of a 2011 devastating and deadly flood, Enneagram professionals and enthusiasts gathered to share the experience of “Transforming with Joy,” this year´s theme. IEA Brazil Board´s purpose was to bring to this wounded community the gentle love that transmutes suffering into an opportunity for growth.
Inspired by this mission, we respectfully called upon IEA´s members and Conference attendees alike to create and hold a sacred space of happiness.
The union of committed conference volunteers, motivated participants and dedicated teachers resulted in a profound conference in which laughter was part of the awakening of consciousness.
The kick-off was a loving and insightful lecture by Russ Hudson in the pre-conference, which left everyone moved and enchanted.
The Conference’s simultaneous learning experiences were organized in three blocks: 1) profound experiential processes, 2) advanced level lectures led by Brazilian Enneagram professionals highly recognized in their application areas. And third, as this year’s innovation, we opened space for new professionals to share experiences and workplace knowledge in roundtables – with three shorter lectures each led by those professionals.
Saturday afternoon all the Conference attendees left the comfort of the hotel and partook of ten Enneagram Social Workshops. After such an indescribable experience (more about it later), we had ourselves a wonderful party, complete with samba (typical Brazilian music) and also a very special guest artist, Russ Hudson, singing and playing to a very thrilled audience.
IEA Brazil’s two most valued treasures are: (1) we are fostering mutual respect and even friendship between professionals and schools with different approaches of the Enneagram; and (2) social work with local communities done during our conferences.
Regarding the first “treasure”, this year’s launch of the “The Enneagram in Union” book sealed this spirit of inclusion. This is our association’s first publication and its focus is the presentation of different Enneagram applications through articles written by the following teachers: Andre Prudente, Sister Anelise, Alaor Passos, Domingos Cunha, Leandro Romani, Marilena Bigoto, Mario Sikora (heartfelt thanks for our international guest collaboration), and Uranio Paes.
The social work mentioned above is the crown jewel of our Conference. With the intent of celebrating the World Enneagram Day, in the last six years we have dedicated every Conference Saturday afternoon to special community work with the Enneagram.
As this year´s Saturday afternoon event in Teresopolis, ten speakers took a group of participants to a different community that helps people in various situations of social vulnerability. All ten groups held an Oficina Social – an onsite Enneagram workshop for the struggling members of these communities who do not have the financial means to attend a course.
The interaction between the Enneagram speaker, participants and community members was (and has always been) a transformative experience. All were amazed seeing that in a two hour workshop, even illiterate participants were able to identify with the information presented and perceived how they can change their lives using the self-knowledge provided by the Enneagram. It is difficult to describe in words what this means for all of us. During such moments we perceive and experience that despite the social, racial, ethnic and geographic differences, in essence we are much more alike than our egos imagine.
I extend the invitation to all enthusiast and professional Enneagramers of any country anywhere in the globe to come to our next Conference and experience such life changing moments with us. It will be a pleasure to receive each of you with Brazilian joy and the warmth of the tropics!
Much love,
Andre Prudente (IEA Brazil President)
