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I dance like a tightrope walker.

I’m the one who falls just after the fall of the equinox.

I am the one who has already crossed over to the other side, who sees the shadow and rejoices in the reflection of the sky in the earth!

Look at me, great king! You’ve built your certainties on an edifice of impulse and effort, of encounters and fair judgements! It’s all so reasonable, it’s sweet, you’ve done your best!

But with me the jaws open to realise the monumental abyss of the unknown that lies beneath our feet, beneath your touching attempts to define the world.

I laugh like the bone that rolls into the temporal bone just below the ear, a true fountain of mystery.

I’m invisible sometimes, terrifying if I want to be.

I’m the start of the real gold, the gold you never knew you had!

Let go for good, friend, you know that only a dancer can ride for you the impetuous flows and unthinkable caresses.

I, the first poet of the name, I the Fool, am spreading the seeds you secretly longed for.

Let it happen, the die is cast anyway, you are already adorned in lace.

Let yourself go with those laughs and tears, that’s the real harvest, the one that escapes you.

I am the real gold, the one you dreamt of in your deepest nights.

You’ve done your best, now the night-time party begins, this is a time for you.

Make the most of it !

 

Nicolas BERNARD

 

Read the article on the full body symbolism of « Les Neuf Souffles » : click here

Summary available at the bottom of the article for greater clarity.

Introduction

The aim of this article is to present an original body symbolism that links the anatomy of the body with great precision to a 9-step model of alchemy.

It’s a symbolism based on the principle that it’s our whole body that thinks, and that this « thinking » includes the sensory, emotional and mental dimensions, in the image of the body itself, which is made up of 3 main centres, as we’ll explain in detail in this article.

In our opinion, it is also original in that, as well as describing our bodies from an alchemical perspective (in other words, to put it simply, from an evolutionary perspective), it does so by vividly associating each bodily zone with a character, and therefore the whole body with a village where each member plays a specific role.

In this article we’ll look at the logic behind the emergence of these characters, and you’ll find some links to a series of articles written over the course of the seasons between 2021 and 2022 that go into more detail about what each of these characters says and does.

It is therefore a pillar article of this living symbolism that we call, in reference to the 9-step alchemical process, the « Symbolism of tLes Neuf Souffles ».

It contains most of the introductory text from the booklet of our « tarot » of the body, « Les Cartes du Corps ». As far as we know, this is the first oracle of its kind, but for the moment it only exists in French. Orders can be placed here.

A body to evolve

We tend to think that the resources of strength and intelligence lie outside us or in our ‘mind’, and that the body is merely a vehicle… or worse still, that we need to dominate it. With this symbolism, we propose that you see the body as a field of life, immensely rich, wholly connected to the beauty, precision and history of the universe.

Our starting point here is the belief that our body thinks… and that it makes choices that determine our ability to grow and evolve. Our lack of awareness and gratitude towards it keeps us from achieving our full potential.

We believe that the body is a crucible of alchemy and that it can transform all our wounds into gold… Provided we give it a big YES, through our awareness and our movement.

This vision of the human being is set out at length in the book « Le Corps au Coeur de l’Homme » (ref at the bottom of the article, in French), which we invite you to read if you want a better understanding of the foundations of this symbolism and its implications for our lives.

We also want to share with you our conviction that the body is our best teacher for relearning a sense of community, because as we said above, we are going to explore the possibility that it is itself a village in which each villager is at the service of the same cause, the same centre… and that for this reason, to enable a more ‘ecological’ evolution of our human societies, it seems to us that relearning to dialogue with our body is a priority!

The body at the heart of man

At the root of the symbolism of the Nine Breaths lies a global conception of the human being, a vision of the body as a privileged space for our evolution, our alchemy.

The choice of body zones and associated archetypes is rooted in ancient traditions and a universal knowledge of alchemical processes. Our practice of shamanism, Buddhism and modern spirituality, and the teachings of Gurdjieff from Sufism and Christianity, are important sources of this work.

Thanks to these processes, we have been able to assign precise functions to each area of the body: each connects us with the cosmos in a specific way, contributes to our internal balance, and is the foundation of one aspect of our psyche.

Describing the body as a community of characters is a very strong bias and implies, in our view, that :

• – we evolve in and through our bodies,

• – it is our entire body that thinks,

• – to know our body is to know ourselves,

• – to liberate the forces of our body is to liberate our unique power of accomplishment and participation in the world.

It’s a symbolic system that encompasses many aspects of the human being, giving us a better understanding of him or her and many ways to grow. It’s also a particularly open system, more like a system of doors than a set of boxes: we can enter into a relationship with each archetype, with our questions and our feelings, without knowing what we’re going to encounter. Each exploration is a new journey, for which knowledge of the archetype provides a direction.

These are only suggestions, not fixed truths.

Alchemy, the enneagram and the three worlds

The enneagram of processes

The model of alchemy that has most inspired us is the one presented by G. I. Gurdjieff to his students at the beginning of the twentieth century, called the « enneagram of processes », which, according to him, synthesises all the laws of evolution.

One of the most successful aspects of the Enneagram is the « Enneagram of personalities ». This describes with great precision and effectiveness the compulsive modes of the individual. Compulsive behaviours are ways of acting, feeling and thinking that are often established very early in our history to enable us to cope with situations or contexts that are experienced in one way or another as dangerous. These are protective systems that tend to organise our feelings, emotions, thoughts and actions in repetitive patterns throughout our lives.

In the vision proposed here, we have returned to the source of the Enneagram for what it is: a universal model of the laws of alchemy.

The aim here is not to detail these laws. The diagram below « The Enneagram of Processes » succinctly shows that any transformation goes through three phases (preparation/action/harvest) which are themselves made up of several stages. For more details, refer to the books by Ouspensky and J. Ph. Vidal (ref at the bottom of the article).

Based on this model, and linking it both to a broad vision of the human being in the cosmos and to its anatomy, we have discovered a representation of the body comparable to a community of characters with very precise functions, normally interacting with each other for a common cause….

… And it is these same characters who can, in certain situations, take the initiative to take control in order to ensure our survival and that of the whole body. By over-investing in their function, they cease to be equal members of this community-body, but rather leaders.

From archetypes, they become personalities.

The body then moves from a circular to a pyramidal structure, in the image of our society.

At the end of this article, you will find a correspondence between the types of the Enneagram and the evolution of the archetypes.

The Trinity and the human being

The laws of alchemy are themselves based on a concept that is widely shared throughout the world, in both shamanic and Christian cultures : a Trinitarian vision of the human being and the cosmos. Shamanism speaks of three worlds: the lower, middle and upper worlds. In Christianity, we speak, in the same order and symbolically, of the Son, the Holy Spirit (or Mother) and the Father.

In our perception, these three worlds are manifested by :

– the Earth (the world below, Son, Vitality)

– the atmosphere (middle world, Mother, envelopment)

– the universe (world above, Father, universal laws).

And the body is the image of these three planes and communicates with them :

• For the world below, the world of the Son, we have the field of the vital force. This is the instinctive force of being, concentrated in the lower part of the body (pelvis, stomach, legs). This is the instinctive centre.

• For the world of the middle, of the Mother, we have the field of the matrix force. This is the emotional and relational dimension, gathered in the middle tier of the body (spine, thorax and arms). This is the emotional centre.

• For the world above, the world of the Father, we have the field of laws. This is the mental component of the being, particularly present in the head. This is the mental centre.

The diagram below: « The body, the 3 centres and the 3 worlds » summarises these relationships.

From alchemy to body symbolism

From the 3 centres to 9 main areas

The model we are proposing is what is known in mathematics as a ‘fractal system’. The Trinitarian model allows us to define three levels for the body, and will be repeated several times, like Russian dolls, to arrive at all the archetypes we present heree : each level will be made up of 3 zones, which will themselves be made up of 3 sub-zones.

The three zones found in the three levels of the body are defined by their link with the three planes of the cosmos and the principles that govern them :

• a nerve zone, linked to the Father, the Universe.

• a zone that nourishes us, linked to the Son, Earth.

• a mobile zone, linked to the Mother, Atmosphere.

This gives us the nine main zones that form the basis of the symbolism of the Nine Breaths.

Each refers to a family of archetypes, as follows:

• for the bottom floor, the instinctive centre:

– nerve zone: the back of the pelvis, the sacrum area. Sage family.

– nutritional zone: the belly which digests food. Child family.

– mobile zone: the legs. Knight family.

• for the middle floor, the emotional centre:

– nerve zone: the back. Family of the Sovereign.

– nutritional zone: the lungs which take in air. Nurturer family.

– mobile area: the arms. Sensual family.

• for the top floor, the mental centre :

– nerve zone: the skull with the brain. Savant family.

– nutritional zone: the face which integrates the 5 senses. Family of the Instructor.

– mobile area: the jaw. Family of the Poet.

From the 9 zones to the 27 main archetypes

In turn, these nine zones are anatomically made up of three sub-zones, also linked to the three planes of the cosmos. This is particularly visible, for example, in the limbs (forearms, arms, hands, thighs, calves and feet).

Each of these sub-zones gives rise to an archetype with even more detailed functions than those of the family to which it belongs, and which is the result of its elaborate link to the three worlds.

At this stage, there are 27 archetypes.

These 27 main archetypes have been detailed in specific articles.

The links are given further down in this article.

Donated organs and heart: 40 archetypes

The system is completed by the fact that each of the nine archetype families has a gift zone and function. Creativity, emotion or speech show that we contribute to the world of which we are a part. These are anatomically marked (genitalia and vocal cords, for example) and are also associated with archetypes.

So we have nine gift archetypes.

Which brings us to 36 archetypes.

We are left with one essential organ, the heart and the entire cardiovascular system.

Present in the body everywhere through veins and arteries, it is also at the centre. We even define living by having a heart.

In this system we are presenting, it is both at the centre and in a special place in the cycle of alchemical transformation of the enneagram: at the very bottom of the circle (see diagram below: « The 9 archetypes and their link to the forces of the world »).

This is the point of alchemical transmutation beyond which things move onto a spiritual plane.

Since the heart has four lodges, we have given four more archetypes: the « Witnesses ».

This makes a total of 40 archetypes linked to the body.

A system of mathematical precision

This repeated stacking is what we call a FRACTAL system:

– trinitarian cosmos,

– body-consciousness-spirit,

– 3 levels of the body

– 9 zones, referring to 9 families of archetypes,

– 27 sub-zones, plus the gift zones and the heart zones (40 archetypes).

Fractality » is widespread in the universe.

In the body, several sub-zones show very clearly that they are still made up of

3 parts (for example, the hand with wrist, metacarpals, then fingers). It is therefore possible to go

further into this symbolism.

From alchemical principles to families of archetypes

The most vivid way to understand the alchemical functions associated with each area of the body is to name and describe them as characters.

Here is a general description of the nine families and the Witnesses of the Heart:

For the bottom floor :

The lower body is the instinctive level of our being. This is where we connect with the Earth and its three essential qualities: memory, gushing and power.

• The Sage, the area around the sacrum and kidneys. It is linked to ancient memory, to the crystals of the Earth. It is the force within us that connects with the knowledge aspect of the Earth, embodied in the crystals. The Sage is the guardian of what is essential. He has the memory of who we are, where we come from and what we came to do on Earth. So he knows what is important.

• The Child, the belly and the digestive organs. It is connected to the source of life, to the centre of the Earth. It is connected to the gushing force of the Earth: it is from the Earth that life is born. The child is connected to the source of life, to joy, to pure impetus, to everything that brings life. Physiologically, it is through the child that we absorb energy and nourishment from the Earth.

• The Knight, the legs. He is linked to the power of the Earth, to the original dragon. It connects us to the power of the earth. The Knight in us tames the dragon, loves to ride and exert his strength. He is muscle in action, the pleasure of confrontation. He carries us away with vigour, but he also protects us and knows how to use his strength to serve noble causes. It teaches us commitment.

For the middle floor :

The middle of the body is the emotional level of our being. It connects us with the world of the environment, the world of air, the world of the earth’s atmosphere, without which we wouldn’t be able to stand the sun’s rays, with its three fundamental qualities: matrix envelopment, axis and sensuality.

• The Sovereign, the vertebral axis. It is linked to the axis of the world, to what connects Heaven and Earth. It straightens us up, enabling us to feel legitimate not only on Earth, but also more specifically in our social role. The Sovereign allows us to be relaxed about the fact that we can rely on the help of others to accomplish our specific task in the midst of others.

• The Nurse, the thorax. It is linked to the matrix of the world, to the universal mother. It connects us with a universal quality of Unconditional Love, with the whole enveloping matrix of air. The nurse allows us to feel good in our relationships with others, to fill ourselves with emotional warmth, to be a good nurse for ourselves.

• The Sensual, the arms. It is connected to the web of the world, to interdependence. It allows us to reach out to others, with freedom and pleasure, and to explore the world down to its smallest ramifications. Like the air that flows around us, we can play with each other… but also celebrate life, and take part in a dynamic of elevation. The Sensual is the guardian of the doors to the sacred.

Heart zone :

The Heart is a place in the body that welcomes life. It is like a temple where all our experiences can be received and elevated to a spiritual dimension: it is a crucible of transmutation and elevation.

It is the archetypal Witness who crosses time and feels life like blood. Its function is to bear witness without judging, to welcome, to allow, not to act.

For the head area :

The head level is the mental level of the being, including the spiritual dimensions: the head is

like a world apart, a sphere turned towards the sky, the architecture of the stars, the divine word,

the creative breath.

• The Savant, the cephalic cranium. It is linked to knowledge of heaven, to cosmic laws. The brain, contained in the cranium, is like a precious image of the sky. The mind shows itself to us receptive, like a telescope in an observatory. The savant’s main faculty is to marvel at the infinite order of things and to deposit in the whole body the order and light of the stars.

• The Instructor, the face. It is connected to the stellar void, to Universal Benevolence. The sense organs on our face enable us to pick up information about the world. The Instructor chooses which information should penetrate our energy field. Through him, we can determine what is useful, favourable to our growth, to our alchemy, and what is not. The real quality of adulthood.

• The Poet, the jaw. It is connected to the divine breath, to the cosmic spiral. We articulate words as we can bite. The mandible allows us to explore the world of principles, to play with concepts and symbols. Through the poet, we masticate the divine Word, make it our own, create our own truth and share it. In this way, poetic action seeds the world with stars in its own way.

Here is a representation of those families of archetypes in the body :

Dive into the detailed symbolism of each of the archetypes

Here are all the archetypes we have described in the diagram above, organised by centre and family, with a reminder of the area of the body concerned to help you find your way around.

For the 27 main archetypes, a link is provided to a fuller description.

These articles have been written with the seasons in mind: we took the gamble of superimposing the cycles of archetypes (above) with the cycle of the year, making the end and start of the year at the winter solstice coincide with the archetype of the springing child.

We were amazed at the result, which is so often in tune with seasonal dynamics and so instructive for our lives!

You can use this part of the article as the basis for a reference to an online symbolic dictionary of body zones.

To go further, we recommend you use the « Cartes du Corps », which teach you how to dialogue with the body’s zones.

Bottom floor, instinctive centre :

All the characters in the instinctive centre are linked to vitality (the son principle and the world below in the tripartition). They should be neither masculine nor feminine.

• Family of the Sage (back of the pelvis) :

The 3 main archetypes:

– The Hermit – coccyx, the sense of the essential. More on this link.

– The Ancient One – sacrum and iliac wings, the path of life. More on this link.

– The Magus – lower lumbar region, the power to manifest. More on this link.

The giving area :

– The Conceptor – gonads (testicles and ovaries), making something new out of the old is the watchword of this archetype, in the image of what happens in our gonads, where the DNA received from our ancestors is recombined to create singular individuals, both heirs to a lineage and never having existed identically until then! This is our contribution to the great constant renewal of the universe.

• Family of the Child ( belly ) :

The 3 main archetypes :

– The Gushing – top of the belly, ground zero of the alchemy cycle, everything starts there. More on this link.

– The Gourmet – middle of the belly, the place where we make the World our own. More on this link.

– The Proud – lower abdomen, the power to say Yes and No. More on this link.

The Giving area :

– The Maturing – Uterus and Prostate, areas of the body where what is to appear in the world takes time to do so. In the mother’s womb, the baby develops without us having to do much other than connect with it. This is our contribution to this ability to be with the natural cycles and to trust them.

• Knight family (legs):

The 3 main archetypes:

– The Fiery One – hips and thighs, the joyful power of momentum. More on this link.

– The Protector – knees and calves, the art of territory and jousting. More on this link.

– The Servant – ankles and feet, putting your strength at the service of something greater than yourself. More on this link.

The giving zone:

– The Enjoyer – penis and vagina, area of relationship and activation of life force. The archetypes of the Enjoyer teach us that life is pleasure, friction and flesh, and that by honouring these dimensions of our being we make the sacredness of life on Earth and beyond laugh. This is our contribution to vitality.

Middle floor, emotional centre :

All the characters in the emotional centre are linked to envelopment and relationships (the mother principle and the middle world in the tripartition). It seemed natural to us that they should all be female.

• Sovereign Family (spinal axis):

The 3 main archetypes:

– The Regent – high lumbar, sense of balance and integrity. More on this link.

– The Queen – dorsal, being legitimate to have a place in the world. More on this link.

– The Strategist – cervical, the dignity of being a unique person. More on this link.

The giving zone :

– The radiant – solar plexus, when we are in our axis, upright, our qualities vibrate towards others without effort, without loss of energy… like the sun.

With the radiant, we all emit a unique music around us, we inspire others.

• Family of the Nurturer (chest):

– The Spontaneous – bronchial tubes and upper chest, surrender with confidence. More on this link.

– The Generous – lungs and sternum, the art of doing good with others. More on this link.

– The Discerning – diaphragm, point of sternum, discerning what is good for you. More on this link.

The giving zone :

– The Breastfeeder – the breasts. Men and women alike have the capacity to envelop, to nurse, to nourish the sensitive. With the help of the Discerning One, we can do this in a way that fills us and is good for ourselves too. Not to do so would be to fail to fulfil an essential function: to allow what is small to grow.

• Sensual family (arms) :

– The Farouche – shoulder and arm, balancing pleasure, freedom and connection. More on this link.

– The Sociable – forearms and elbows, the art of relationship. More on this link.

– The Weaver – wrists and hands, the sacred delicacy of the bond. More on this link.

The giving zone :

– The Passer – the palms of the hands. The palm of the hand is the last archetype of the instinctive and emotional levels. It’s also the last one before the alchemical tipping point in the middle of the circle. It is therefore a point of passage to a wider dimension of our being, the mental sphere linked to heaven. Our palms, freed from motor activity, make an offering to heaven of our experiences on earth and in the midst of others.

Heart zone, transformation point :

As the heart and cardiovascular system are everywhere, we have associated them with the archetypes of witnesses, who go as close as possible to each cell of the body and can, like wise men within, bear witness to the life that is passing. Each witness is symbolically associated with a direction in space, with an element, and with a quality of self-presence.

– Witness of the East- Left auricle – Fire, like the rising sun, the heart receives freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs. This witness therefore welcomes renewal.

– Witness of the South – Left Ventricle – Earth, the heart sends fresh blood to the organs, to the Earth of our body to nourish life. It welcomes vitality.

– Witness of the West – Right auricle – Water, like the sun setting, symbol of death, here returns the blood loaded with cellular waste. This is the witness of death.

– Witness from the North – Right ventricle – Air, the blood must be returned to its source, to the air in the lungs. Completing the cycle, this is the sign of wisdom.

Head level, mental centre :

• Savant family (cephalic cranium) :

– the Contemplative – reptilian brain, the ability to receive wonder. Translation of the full article not yet available.

– the Empathetic – limbic brain, emotional intelligence. More on this link

– The Mystical – Cortical brain, reflecting immensity. More on this link.

The Giving Zone:

– The Whisperer – ears. Housed in the temporal bones, the ears are part of the skull and not the face. To speak, you need to hear. We have therefore chosen to call this area of the body the « Whisperer », because perhaps without this receptivity to sound, even before we speak, we establish a silent dialogue with the fabric of the universe. It’s delicate and precious.

• Family of the Instructor (face):

– The Debonair – upper jaw, the taste of the awakened. More on this link.

– The Intuitive – nose and sense of smell, finding your way. More on this link.

– The Watcher – the eyes, opening up through the frame. More on this link.

The giving zone :

– The Teacher – the throat. Words are forged in the throat like babies in the womb… in the roundness of resonance. The throat is our drum that transmits our benevolence to everything around us like an enveloping blanket.

• Poet’s family (jaw) :

– The Fool – jaw joint, divine madness. Translation of the full article not yet available.

– The Bard – mandible, the magic of words. More on this link.

– The Master – chin, inspired authority. More on this link.

The gift zone:

– The Enluminer – tongue and lips. This is where we hone the beauty of our words as they set their colours in the world, an offering to the great creation of our capacity to be inspired and a source of inspiration. Our words, and especially our poetry, count and are creative.

The 40 archetypes and the universal process of the Enneagram

All these archetypes have a precise place in the evolutionary cycle of the enneagram.

To understand these dynamics in depth and know how to use them for yourself or in the context of a helping relationship, we offer courses and training sessions that enable you to experiment and feel in your body, in movement and interaction with others, and also through the laying on of hands and the development of metaphorical listening.

For more information on the « Dialogue with the body and the alchemy of the Nine Breaths » course, click here.

From the Nine Breaths model to the enneagram of personalities

From archetypes to modes of protection

The Nine Breaths model is perhaps the first model to offer a possible foundation for the Enneagram of personalities. A foundation linked to the very structure of the body.

It’s a big gamble, which amounts to saying:

1/ our whole body thinks…

2/ each area of our body carries a precise aspect of our thinking.

If we start from a description of healthy forces, we are no longer talking about ‘deviations’ in our character, but about living powers with unique aptitudes that do everything they can to ensure our integrity.

These forces have sometimes had to rise up and take a dominant position at times in our lives when there was a real danger to what is precious and vulnerable in us. In the absence of external protection and the space to release stress once it has passed, and regain a sense of security, these protective modes persist.

All our compulsive modes are basically always at our service and doing their best, even if we or those around us may suffer as a result. Considering them as intelligences to be reintegrated and not as defects to be corrected has a profound therapeutic effect.

This is how we approach them in all our Neuf Souffles care procedures, whether through dance, words or touch.

From characters to enneatypes

Each of the 9 families can therefore become one of the 9 types of the enneagram of personalities when it takes control:

• the perfectionist (type 1) corresponds to the Chevalier family. When the Chevalier becomes obsessed with protecting his territory, he may pay more attention to the walls than to the lifeblood. He becomes manic.

• the altruist (type 2) corresponds to the Sovereign’s family. When the Sovereign is desperate to establish her legitimacy, she runs the risk of becoming subservient in order to gain recognition.

• the battant (type 3) corresponds to the Nourrice family. When she is desperate to envelop the baby, she may panic if she feels empty. She will then fill the space by constantly acting and accomplishing.

• the romantic (type 4) corresponds to the Sensual family. The connection to life is the function of the Sensual. When this becomes an obsession, any form of banality can be perceived as deadly. Intense emotions are essential to feel alive.

• the observer (type 5) corresponds to the family of the Scholar. Initially, the Scientist is there to receive knowledge and order, and to marvel at it. If understanding becomes a mode of survival, the mind becomes much more active and, instead of allowing itself to be filled, seeks to grasp at all costs.

• the loyalist (type 6) corresponds to the Instructor’s family. The Instructor knows how to watch over a framework that serves life and gives freedom. When this function takes over, the obsession with the law can become suffocating.

• the Epicurean (type 7) corresponds to the Poet family. Receiving inspirations, being flowed through by the streams that connect Heaven and Earth, gives them a sense of participating in life. The Epicurean is the person who is constantly looking for that spiral sensation and can’t bear not to be filled with one form of intoxication or another.

• the leader (type 8) corresponds to the Wise family. The Wise Man knows what is solid, like rocks, he knows what is important… when he takes control he trusts no-one and will decide for everyone what is good.

• the mediator (type 9) corresponds to the Child’s family. The Child is looking for a carefree life… and a child who takes control will try to reproduce a paradise without conflict, will behave in such a way that nothing touches him and everything slides off him.

To see the subtleties of this archetype-by-archetype reading, we invite you to refer to the Body Cards: each time, we detail the way in which a character becomes a controller and the limits this can pose!

We’ll be exploring this aspect of the Neuf Souffles in more detail in a forthcoming book dedicated to understanding modes of protection.

Conclusion

This text is a summary of a very complete, complex, vast and yet natural perception of the human being: it is based on observation of anatomy, simple principles and natural references.

This knowledge accompanies us in our exploration of the human being therapeutically, but we are certain that it can benefit everyone, in particular by strengthening the connection to oneself, to one’s creativity, to the simple sensation of feeling alive and connected!

We’re curious to see how these teachings will flourish in the future, and be used by others in so many different ways.

………

Written by Nicolas BERNARD

with the daily support of Anne Ena BERNARD

………

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to :

– Yves Michel, our publisher, who helped to make this symbolism visible.

– Florian Sauvant, who was the first to propose the nine-zone body diagram.

– Jean-Philippe Vidal, to whom we owe a clear vision of the Process Enneagram,

without which none of this would exist.

– Gurdjieff, the founder of the enneagram.

– All our trainees and patients who experience and validate this vision of the sacred body

body.

– The teachers who have given us this simple and powerful teaching, that of our

body in movement. Yvonne Berge, Dominique Buttaud, Petter Hersnack, Ya’acov and

Susannah Darling Khan and their own teachers.

– More broadly, all the teachings that have accompanied us on our personal journey.

References

1. Bernard Nicolas, 2014, Le Corps au Cœur de l’Homme, éd. Le Souffle d’Or, 315 p.

2. Ouspensky, P. D., 1974, Fragments of an unknown teaching

3. Vidal J.-Ph., 2009, L’ennéagramme envolutif, Clefs du présent, 150 p.

Contents

Introduction.

A body for development.

The body at the heart of man.

Alchemy, the enneagram and the three worlds.

…The enneagram of processes.

…The trinity and the human being.

From alchemy to body symbolism.

…From the 3 centres to the 9 main zones

…From the 9 zones to the 27 main archetypes

…Giving organs and Heart: 40 archetypes

…Giving organs and Heart: 40 archetypes

…A mathematically precise system

From alchemical principles to families of archetypes

…For the bottom tier

…For the middle level

…The heart zone

…For the head level

Dive into the detailed symbolism of each archetype

…Bottom floor: instinctive centre

…….Wise family

…….Child family

…….Knight family

…Middle tier: emotional centre

…….Sovereign family

…….Nurturer family

…….Sensual family

…Heart zone, point of transformation

…….Witness family

…Head area: mental centre

…….family of the Savant

…….Teacher family

…….Poet family

The 40 archetypes and the universal process of the enneagram

From the Nine Breaths model to the enneagram of personalities

…From archetypes to modes of protection

…From characters to enneatypes

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Contents