I’ve been practising yoga for over 20 years, and I can tell you that I’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time on my mat doing absolutely everything except being present.
Comparing myself with the person next to me. Judging other people’s yoga clothes. Wondering what I’m going to do after class. Wishing the teacher would teach like my favourite teacher.
And occasionally doing some yoga.
Which is rather funny when you consider that one of the reasons we practise yoga is to become more present with ourselves.
But that’s the thing about our unconscious personality patterns. They don’t disappear just because we’ve rolled out a yoga mat.
We bring them with us.
And perhaps that’s what makes yoga such an interesting opportunity for Enneagram growth work.
We can use our yoga practice to reinforce our habitual patterns, or we can use it to become more aware of them and gradually expand beyond them.
And sometimes we need to do a bit of both.
The personality we bring to our yoga mat
Over the years, I’ve tried all sorts of yoga.
Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, Kundalini, Yin, Vinyasa, Ki and Yang. Probably a few others I’ve forgotten.
But for a long time, my favourite styles were Ki and Yang yoga.
Both involve lots of movement. You’re rarely physically still, and the sequences are varied and often unexpected.
Ki yoga was particularly wonderful because the teachers talked about the meridians associated with each pose.
So I could move my body, learn something interesting, and never quite know what was coming next.
Perfect.
As a Self-Preservation Seven, I love novelty, possibilities, stimulation and having something interesting for my mind to do.
These classes gave me all of that.
Ashtanga, on the other hand?
Absolutely not.
The same sequence of poses, over and over again. Repetition. Routine. Physical intensity. Very little novelty.
I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do that.
But looking back, I can see how much my preferences were shaped by my personality.
I wasn’t simply choosing a yoga style based on what my body needed. I was also choosing experiences that kept my Seven pattern comfortable.
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
Sometimes we need a practice that meets us where we are
I think we can be too quick to assume that personal development means challenging ourselves.
That if something feels easy or comfortable, we must not be growing.
But sometimes we need to begin with what feels familiar and supportive.
For me, Ki yoga helped me connect with my body because the movement and variety gave my busy mind enough to engage with.
I could relax into the practice without feeling trapped by stillness or repetition.
And that mattered.
Because before we can observe our unconscious patterns, we often need to develop enough presence and inner capacity to stay with what we’re experiencing.
A practice that feels supportive can help us become more familiar with our bodily sensations, emotions and reactions.
It gives us somewhere to begin.
For someone else, that might mean choosing a predictable sequence that feels reassuring. Or a gentle practice that allows them to move slowly and gradually become more comfortable in their body.
The important question isn’t necessarily Which yoga style is best for my Enneagram type?
It’s Which practice helps me become more present with myself?
And what is it about that practice that allows me to settle?
When your yoga practice becomes an opportunity for growth
Something interesting has happened as I’ve continued my inner work.
I’ve started to appreciate Ashtanga.
Yes, the yoga practice I once avoided because it was repetitive, structured and rather demanding.
Now there’s something comforting about getting up in the morning and knowing exactly which sequence I’ll be doing.
I don’t need the teacher to entertain me or the practice to surprise me.
I can simply begin.
And the repetition gives me opportunities to notice things I might otherwise overlook.
The moment my mind starts searching for something more interesting.
The frustration when a pose doesn’t feel particularly good.
The impulse to rush through something uncomfortable or think about what I’m going to do afterwards.
These are all familiar Seven patterns.
And because I’m practising in a relatively safe, manageable environment, I have an opportunity to observe them rather than automatically follow them.
I can notice the desire for novelty without needing to act on it.
I can experience frustration without immediately trying to make it go away.
And I can discover that repetition and routine have qualities I hadn’t previously appreciated.
The growth isn’t in doing Ashtanga. It’s in how I’m relating to the experience.
Someone else might find that same practice completely comfortable because it aligns with their existing personality patterns.
For them, growth might involve trying something less structured or becoming more willing to follow their own instincts rather than a prescribed sequence.
It’s not the yoga style itself that determines the growth opportunity.
It’s what happens inside us when we practise.
What might your Enneagram patterns be doing?
Think about what happens when you’re on your mat.
Do you find yourself trying to get every pose exactly right?
Comparing your flexibility or strength with the person next to you?
Worrying whether the teacher approves of what you’re doing?
Planning what comes next?
Trying to keep up with everyone else, even when your body is asking you to slow down?
Perhaps you’re constantly watching the clock, waiting for the difficult part to be over.
Or maybe you’re so focused on following the teacher’s instructions that you forget to check what your own body needs.
These reactions can tell us something about the unconscious strategies we bring into our everyday lives.
A One might notice their desire to get the poses right.
A Three might turn the practice into another achievement.
A Six might become preoccupied with whether they’re following the instructions correctly.
A Seven might spend the class anticipating what comes next.
And a Nine might find themselves following everyone else’s pace rather than recognising their own preferences.
Of course, any type can experience any of these things. And not every reaction needs an Enneagram explanation.
But our habitual responses often show up in surprisingly ordinary moments.
Which means we don’t have to wait for a difficult conversation or major life crisis to begin observing them.
Sometimes all we need is a yoga mat.
Finding your growth edge
If you’ve been practising yoga for a while, you might want to experiment with something that stretches you.
Not necessarily physically.
I’m talking about the psychological and emotional patterns that shape how you experience the practice.
If you’re always trying to do things correctly, perhaps experiment with a class that encourages playfulness and improvisation.
If you’re constantly measuring your progress, try practising without setting a goal.
If you tend to follow everyone else’s lead, explore what happens when you choose your own pace.
And if you’re like me, always looking for something new and interesting, perhaps try repeating the same sequence for a while.
Notice what happens.
What thoughts arise? What feelings appear? What does your body do when the practice isn’t giving your personality what it expects?
And what happens when you don’t immediately respond in your usual way?
These aren’t challenges to push through regardless of how you feel.
A yoga practice should still be appropriate for your physical capacity, health and circumstances. And sometimes discomfort is a sign that something needs adjusting, not an invitation to persevere.
The aim is to create opportunities for curiosity, not to force ourselves beyond what we can comfortably manage.
You don’t need a new practice to do inner work
One of the things I appreciate about the Enneagram is that it can help us work with the experiences we’re already having.
We don’t always need another course, workshop or development programme.
We can start by becoming more conscious of how we’re approaching the things we already do.
Yoga is one example, but the same principle applies to walking, gardening, cooking, exercising, painting or any number of everyday activities.
We can begin with a practice that helps us feel safe, grounded and connected to ourselves.
And as our capacity grows, we can experiment with experiences that reveal and stretch our habitual patterns.
Sometimes that means trying something new.
And sometimes, as I’ve discovered with Ashtanga, it means learning to appreciate something we’ve spent years avoiding.
So the next time you’re on your yoga mat, I’d invite you to notice more than what your body is doing.
Notice what your personality is doing too.
Because the practice doesn’t have to change for your relationship with it to become an opportunity for growth.