We all carry protective patterns — habitual ways of responding to the world that once kept us safe but have since hardened into something that keeps us from ourselves, from others, and from God. The Enneagram calls these our defense mechanisms: the unique, type-specific strategies each of us unconsciously employs to guard our idealized self-image and avoid the deeper fears and longings underneath. In this workshop, we will explore how these patterns are formed, how they operate on autopilot, and how they quietly become the source of the very suffering we are trying to escape.

Drawing on the Narrative Enneagram tradition, we will examine each of the nine types and their distinct defense mechanisms — from reaction formation and repression to projection, rationalization, and beyond. More than a diagnostic exercise, this is an invitation into transformation: learning to notice our armor without shame, to meet our defended places with curiosity and compassion, and to gently practice the surrender that allows for authentic spiritual growth. Grounded in grace, this workshop offers practical tools for awareness, self-compassion, and the daily contemplative practices that help us live more freely from our true self.