The Certification
From knowing the types to teaching them.
Most people who love the Enneagram reach the same quiet wall. They recognize the nine types on a page and still cannot reliably type a real person, hold the system with any confidence in front of a room, or feel the work change the way they actually live. Our certification is built for that gap, the distance between recognizing the map and being changed by the territory, and for learning to take others across it with you.
See how the path works →
Who this is for
For people who know the types, and want the work to do more than describe them.
This is the Online Teacher Certification, the self-paced certification at the center of the path. It is one program rather than a menu, and it certifies you to teach the Enneagram with a real method behind you. People arrive at it from different places and for different reasons, but the ones it genuinely fits tend to recognize themselves in one of these.
The longtime student
You have followed the Enneagram for years and want to study it properly now, in depth and within a lineage. If you mainly want to go deeper for your own understanding, Foundations is the better place to start; if you want the full structure and the credential, this is where that leads.
The coach or therapist
You work with clients already, and you want a typing method accurate enough to rely on alongside a framework deep enough to help someone actually change. The certification is your ground, and it is also the prerequisite for the live Coach Certification if you want to take it into your client work formally.
The future teacher
You want to teach the Enneagram with a real credential behind you and enough depth of your own that you teach from understanding rather than a step ahead of your students. This is the teacher credential itself, built for exactly that.
The work rewards depth over speed and a lineage over a label, and it asks for that seriousness from the start.
If you are newer than this, begin with Foundations and come back when you are ready. If you finish the certification and want to coach others with it, the live Coach Certification is the next step, opening by application as cohorts form.
The path
One path, with three places to stand on it.
There are no overlapping levels to decode. There is one path with three tiers, and you can start where you are and go as far as you want to take it. Each one is the prerequisite for the next.
Tier One
Foundations
The self-paced entry point, and a course rather than a credential. It lays down the structure of the system properly, the nine types, the instincts, and the architecture underneath them, so anything after it has something solid to build on. Most people start here, and for many it is all they need.
Explore FoundationsTier Two
Online Teacher Certification
The core of the program, and the certification this page is about. Sixty hours that fold the Foundations material in and carry through to the credential, with the typing precision, the certified-teacher community, and live guidance that take a serious student to someone who can teach the Enneagram and type accurately. It is self-paced and complete on its own.
See pricingTier Three
Coach Certification, live
The certification taken further, in person, for people who want to coach others with the system. Completing the Online Teacher Certification is the prerequisite. It runs by application as cohorts form, in small groups with a real minimum before a date is set, so no one pays for a live week until there is one to attend.
The live pathInside the certification
Sixty hours, built to take you past the shorthand.
The certification runs about sixty hours, sequenced so each part builds on the one before it. The number is not the selling point; it is simply what the depth requires. The Foundations material is folded in, so the certification stands on its own with nothing required beforehand, and much of it is hands-on, worked through real cases rather than lecture alone, with all of it aimed at getting you past Enneagram shorthand and into the structure of the system, accurately enough to type it and teach it.
Foundations and structure
The Enneagram's history and its conceptualization by Oscar Ichazo as a dynamic system built on the Law of Three and the Law of Seven, the three centers of intelligence, the lines of connection and wings, and the nine types in depth with exemplars for each. This is where the system stops being a list of traits and becomes a structure you can work with.
The instincts and the 27 subtypes
The three instincts, self-preservation, social, and sexual, and the full set of twenty-seven instinctual subtypes, each with its own patterns and psychological signatures, including the countertypes that cause most mistyping.
Trifix and full mapping
Trifix, the use of one type in each center, and the twenty-seven trifix archetypes, so you map a whole personality rather than assigning a single number. This is what makes accurate, durable typing possible.
Typing through microexpressions and somatics
The typing method itself, taught through behavioral observation, facial microexpressions, energetic signatures, and somatic character structure. You practice it in live group calls held every two months, working real cases with direct feedback, so the skill is built in practice and not only in theory.
Lexical analysis and deep inquiry
Language as a typing and teaching tool, including our Enneagram Lexical Analysis Test and the Deep Inquiry method for guiding someone toward their own type through attuned, reflective questioning rather than guesswork or verdicts.
Reconciling the modern Enneagram
Ichazo's original dissemination of the types set against the popular descriptions most people have absorbed, so you can teach the system as it was actually built rather than passing along the distortions that crept in along the way.
Empathy, narcissism, and the ego
How each subtype expresses both empathy and narcissism, how ego defense operates, and how to tell spiritual bypassing from genuine development. This is the depth-psychological core, drawn in part from our own published work on the subject.
The credential
A teacher certification you can stand behind, earned through a final assessment rather than simply finishing the videos.
The teacher community
Ongoing access to the community of certified teachers, so you are not left on your own afterward.
Live practicum calls
Group calls every two months where you practice typing on real cases and bring your questions, included as you go.
A money-back window
A short window after you begin to decide it is right for you, with your money back if it is not.
The live path
Where the work goes from learned to lived.
For those who want to coach others with the system, there is a five-day in-person intensive beyond the certification. It is the same lineage and method, worked in person, in a small group, with live typing and direct feedback you cannot get on your own. It is the apex of the path, and it runs differently from everything else here.
01
Finish the certification first
Completing the Online Teacher Certification is the prerequisite. The live week builds on it rather than repeating it, so everyone arrives on the same ground.
02
Apply when you are ready
The live path is by application rather than open enrollment, so the group stays small and the people in it are genuinely prepared for the depth of the work.
03
A date is set when a cohort forms
A cohort runs once enough certified applicants have committed. We announce dates and the cost when one forms, so no one pays for a live week before there is one to attend.
The lineage
Where the work comes from.
We did not invent this, and we are deliberate about how we describe where it comes from. We teach within a contemplative, depth-psychological tradition, the Enneagram as Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo developed it, which we inherit once removed rather than having studied under either man directly. Between us we have worked with the system since 1999, and both of us trained at the graduate level in counseling and personality psychology, so the teaching rests on clinical grounding rather than on personality-test culture.
We have also held the work to a measurable standard. In 2021 we ran an IRB-approved lexical-analysis study built on hundreds of typing interviews, and the typing instrument that came from it was independently validated at 77 percent accuracy for instinctual type and 54 percent for Enneagram type. Those figures read as modest only until you know that most type assessments never report accuracy at all, since type is genuinely difficult to measure, and we would rather show you a real number than a flattering one.
1999
The year we began studying the system.
77% / 54%
Independently validated accuracy for instinctual type and Enneagram type.
2021
An IRB-approved lexical-analysis study built on hundreds of interviews.
Aaron leads the coaching and has certified dozens of practitioners, and Sterlin is a certified teacher of presence through the Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening. We teach from our own continuing practice, not from theory alone.
A living tradition, taught by people still practicing it.
In their words
From people who have actually done it.
I probably learned more over the last two days of diving into this course than I ever have in any other study. Sterlin and Aaron present the information in a sophisticated way, full of relatable examples that make inquiring further about your type both a deep and accessible experience.
Abby K Artist and certified graduate
The depth of knowledge Sterlin and Aaron have, combined with wisdom and experience, makes this one of the best courses out there. I would recommend it whether you want the certification or just want to know as much as you can for yourself.
Erika K Certified graduate
This class deepened my understanding of trait and motivation discernment between the character structures. It is a research-based resource, and I will pay to learn more from them.
Sarah N Enneagram student
Your perspective offers more nuance and humanity than most. I am really looking forward to learning from you two.
Chelsea Harvey Garner Psychotherapist and certified graduate
Their experience brings nuanced depth to the subject. I especially loved their overview of the 27 trifixes.
Nancy J Certified graduate
It does not ask us to change the way we learn. It uses what we already enjoy and how we naturally learn to bring us to light.
Frank Humble Certified graduate
It was mind blowing. I cannot explain the depth they went into, but it was genuinely eye opening.
Enneagram typing client
Pricing
Priced for the depth of the work.
Three places to enter, two of them with a set price and one set when a cohort forms. The certification is the offer at the center; Foundations is the lighter way in, and the live path is the step beyond it.
Foundations
$497
One-time, self-paced
The advanced course bundle that lays down the structure. A course, not a credential, and the natural place to begin if you are not ready for the full certification.
Explore FoundationsThe certification
Online Teacher Certification
$4,500
In full, or $395 a month on a payment plan
The full self-paced certification, complete on its own, with the credential, the certified-teacher community, live Q&A, and a money-back window after you begin.
Enroll in the certificationCoach Certification, live
By application
Priced when a cohort forms
The five-day in-person intensive for those coaching others with the system. Completing the certification is the prerequisite, and a date is set once a cohort is confirmed.
The live pathAlready certified with us from an earlier cohort? Your title stands, and there is a discounted path into the current certification. Reach out and we will sort it with you.
The live path
Where the work goes from learned to lived.
For those who want to coach others with the system, there is a five-day in-person intensive beyond the certification. It is the same lineage and method, worked in person, in a small group, with live typing and direct feedback you cannot get on your own. It is the apex of the path, and it runs differently from everything else here.
01
Finish the certification first
Completing the Online Teacher Certification is the prerequisite. The live week builds on it rather than repeating it, so everyone arrives on the same ground.
02
Apply when you are ready
The live path is by application rather than open enrollment, so the group stays small and the people in it are genuinely prepared for the depth of the work.
03
A date is set when a cohort forms
A cohort runs once enough certified applicants have committed. We announce dates and the cost when one forms, so no one pays for a live week before there is one to attend.
Questions
What people ask before they begin.
How long does it take, and is it really self-paced?
It is fully self-paced, so you move through the roughly sixty hours on your own schedule; most people take a few months alongside ordinary life, though you can go faster or slower. The one recurring commitment is the live practicum call every two months, which you join as it fits.
How does the payment plan work, and when do I receive the credential?
You can pay in full at $4,500 or spread it across twelve monthly payments of $395. You have full access to the material from the moment you enroll on either option; the certificate itself, and your listing among our certified graduates, is issued once payment is complete, which is standard for a credential of this kind.
What does this certification qualify me to do?
It certifies you to teach the Enneagram with a real method and lineage behind you, whether that means leading workshops, bringing it into work you already do, or typing others with more accuracy than the popular shorthand allows. Coaching others formally through the live path is a further step.
Do I need to take Foundations first?
No. The Foundations material is folded into the certification, so you can begin here with nothing beforehand. Foundations exists as a lighter, lower-cost way in for people who want the structure without the full credential, rather than as a required prerequisite.
How is this different from the live Coach Certification?
This certification is self-paced and certifies you to teach. The live Coach Certification is a five-day in-person intensive for people who want to coach others with the system, and completing this certification is its prerequisite. They are different steps on one path, not two versions of the same thing.
When does the live intensive run?
It runs by application as cohorts form, with a date set once enough certified applicants have committed. We announce dates and cost when a cohort is confirmed, so no one pays for a live week before there is one to attend.
What if it turns out not to be right for me?
There is a short money-back window after you begin, so you can start the material and step away with your money back if it is not the right fit. If you are unsure beforehand, write to us and we will tell you honestly whether it suits where you are.
Begin
When you are ready to teach it, not just know it.
The certification is open now, self-paced, with the full path waiting beyond it when you want it. You can begin today and move at whatever pace your life allows.
Enroll in the certificationPay in full or across twelve months at $395, with a money-back window after you begin.
