Enneagram in Brazil
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in landmass, right
after the United States, and sixth largest in population (about 180
million people). In this huge South American country, dozens of
teachers, therapists, spiritual directors, coaches and consultants —
mostly local individuals — have already taught the Enneagram to
thousands of people in major cities such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro,
Brasilia and Belo Horizonte.
One indication of the
Enneagram's rapid growth in Brazil is the list of thirty Enneagram
books published in Portuguese (Brazil's mother language). Ten of these
books were written by Brazilians, while twenty were translated from
American and European originals. Another encouraging sign is that the
Enneagram is being talked about in the press and on television. In
February, 2004 there was a four-page report on the Enneagram in "VOCE
SA," one of the most important business magazines in the country. In
December 2004, there was an interview about the Enneagram on "JO
SOARES," a highly popular television talk show comparable to David
Letterman's in the U.S.
Following a familiar pattern in Brazil, a rich mixture of influences
and backgrounds led local teachers to work with the Enneagram. A few
are trained with American teachers such as Helen Palmer/David Daniels
and Don Riso/Russ Hudson; some came from the Gurdjieff work; others
belong to Christian religious orders. Also significant are assistant
teachers from Claudio Naranjo's Seekers After Truth (SAT) program,
whose enduring work has reached thousands of people. And there are some
individuals who, traveling the world in search of spiritual
development, discovered the material while living in ashrams.
Thanks to all these sources, Brazil has a long list of local Enneagram
teachers. Some of the most visible are: A. Racily, Alaor Passos,
Domingos Cunha, Frederico Port, Khristian Paterhan, Marcio Schultz,
Nelson Mariz de Lyra, Pedro Alipio and Uranio Paes.
On the business side, important local companies have already used the
Enneagram in consulting for some of their teams, in training, executive
coaching and/or coaching programs. These include, for instance:
Unibanco, Itau and Banco Nossa Caixa (banks); Editora Abril (a large
publishing organization); Amil, a Health Management Organization (HMO);
and Embraer (the third largest aircraft industry). Local branches of
large multi-national corporations such as Avon, Emerson Energy, Stora
Enso, VIVO (Portugal Telecom and Telefonica Moviles) and Yahoo are also
using the Enneagram. The system is taught as part of the MBA programs
of the two most important business schools -- FGV and USP.
As Brazilians would say," Viva o Eneagrama!"