Educational Background

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1978:

Graduated from Santa Barbara High School.

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1978 - 1983:

Attended the University of California at San Diego and the University of California at Santa Barbara. B.A. in Liberal Studies. Graduated with Honors.

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1987 - 1990:

Attended the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. 

M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology, with a concentration in the anthropology of religion and spiritual communities.

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1999 - 2002:

Attended New York University in Manhattan. M.A. in Religious Studies, with a concentration in feminist and postmodern philosophy of religion. Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Dept. of Religious Studies.

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Enneagram Background

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1987:

Introduced to the Enneagram in San Francisco, CA.

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1993 - 1997:

Discovered Enneagram type. Read numerous Enneagram books and articles.  Attended many workshops in California.

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1998:

Taught first Enneagram workshop in Dharamsala, India, to over forty people from at least twelve different countries.

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1999:

Offered Enneagram workshops in Reykjavik, Iceland for staff and faculty members of Namsflokkar Reykjavikur, an adult education college.

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1999 - 2001:

Continued Enneagram studies and practices. Began attending International Enneagram Association Conferences.

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2002 - 2004:

raduated from the Enneagram Professional Training Program of Helen Palmer and David Daniels, M.D.  in Menlo Park, CA.

Became a certified Enneagram Teacher in the Narrative Tradition.

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2005 - 2009:

Trained with Sandra Maitri in the Diamond Approach to the Enneagram in her International Retreat Groups held in San Rafael, CA.

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2004 - 2025:

Taught Enneagram workshops, classes and presentations in numerous locations, including California, Oregon, Virginia, Pennsylvania, England and The Findhorn Foundation, Scotland. Wrote several articles for The Enneagram Monthly and The Enneagram Journal.

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The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)

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Taught many Enneagram and other classes for the OLLI at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR, and for the OLLI at the University of New Mexico (UNM) between 2010 and 2025, both in-person and online.

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Courses included:

• Introduction to the Enneagram

• Enneagram Type Panels

• Coping with Stress in Difficult Times: Using the Enneagram to Access Inner and Outer Resources

• The Enneagram and the Dramatic Life: Using Film to Understand Character Types

• Guiding the Nine Enneagram Types to Change

• The Enneagram of Aging

• The Enneagram: Revelations of Essence

• Enneagram Applications for the 21st Century

Other classes included:

• Mystics, Saints and Saints

• Spiritual Cinema Afternoons

• Core Shamanism: The Work of Angeles Arrien

• The Possible Elder: Conscious Aging and Spiritual Development in the Later Years of Life

• Growing Gold: Soul-making in the Second Half of Life

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Other Teaching Highlights

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• Presented six times at the International Enneagram Association Conferences on the topics: “Spiritual Initiation and the Enneagram” (2004); "Theosophical Understandings of the Enneagram" (2007); The Coming of Wisdom with Time: Applying Enneagram Theory and Practice to the Emerging Field of Transpersonal Gerontology“ (2013);The Enneagram of Aging: A 9 Points Panel of Spiritual Elders” (2014); “Psychological Bypassing and the Repression of the Sublime: What Psychosynthesis Can Contribute to Enneagram Theory and Practice” (2021); "Becoming Enneasattvas: Exploring the Enneagram Through the Lens of Tibetan Buddhism (2023).

• Shared the Enneagram with Mercy Hospital Hospice Staff and Volunteers, Mt. Shasta, CA (2006).

• Taught the system to a large group of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers at the University of Pennsylvania Counseling Center in Philadelphia, PA (2006).

• Offered many “Pay it Forward workshops” on the Enneagram to large and small groups at various venues, including Village Books in Mt. Shasta, CA, The Wisdom Café and Gallery in Nevada City, CA, the Ashland Public Library and the Board of the Ashland Independent Film Festival, in OR.

• Ran small, personalized Enneagram Inquiry Groups (2004-2015).

• Led workshops for members and long-term guests at The Findhorn Foundation in Scotland (2004, 2006).

• Taught for the Dent Meditation Centre in Cumbria, England (2004).

• Spoke about the Enneagram to over 500 people at the 2006 Wesak Festival in Mt. Shasta, CA.

• Led a weekend workshop at the Center for Spiritual Living (Church of Religious Science) in Redding, CA, in February 2008.

• Was a guest speaker at the California Institute of Integral Studies in December 2007, in a graduate class on Transpersonal Psychotherapy. Contextualized the Enneagram in a larger, spiritual framework of understanding and practice.

• In 2011 and 2012 created and led two weekend workshops in
  Sebastopol, CA for the Giving Spirit Form healing community.
  Based on the principles of Native American spirituality, we
  integrated the Enneagram with shamanic journeywork, self-
  inquiry and Lakota Sioux spirituality.

• Taught the Enneagram in 2006 ("To Function as a Soul: The Enneagram and the Restoration of the Mysteries") and 2007 ("The Enneagram of Relationship: Understanding the 9 Personality Types and Learning to Communicate More Effectively") at the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library in Ashland, OR.

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