What is an Instinctual Stack? Do you know yours? We all have three instincts. None of us are absent one. However, one does tend to be dominant. But what are instincts and how do they influence how each type shows up in the world?
Today’s guest, Elan Benami, creator of the EnneaApp and author of Enneagram Patterns & Poetics, provides a great overview of Instincts, Subtypes, and the Instinctual Stack and shares how they play out for him in his personal and professional life.
Listen here to the Podcast on Instinctual stack
Elan is an LPC with a MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology and BA in Philosophy. In addition to his own private counseling practice, Elan is Clinical Director of People House – a non-profit that provides affordable counseling in Colorado.
Elan was introduced to the Enneagram in 2008 by his first therapist. He then did intense studying with Lori Ohlson, who was his supervisor. Claudio Naranjo was Lori’s primary teacher, so there is a deep kinship with his work. Other major Enneagram teachers who have shaped Elan include Helen Palmer, Russ Hudson, Don Riso and Sandra Maitri.
Elan and Lori Ohlson have co-facilitated many Enneagram classes/workshops, most of them in the narrative tradition. Through Lori’s Enneagram material (of over 25 years of teaching the Enneagram), Elan created the EnneaApp, initially for the purpose of having something to quickly reference between sessions. Through the years, he has adapted the content to be more reflective of his own experience while also preserving Lori’s lineage. The app has over 1.5 million downloads.
