The Enneagram School of Awakening and the Embodiment Tradition began with Dr. Lissa Friedman, who studied the Enneagram in the 1990s with Oscar Ichazo’s Arica Mystery School. Her work with the Enneagram started in her private practice, where she discovered the Enneagram was a profound tool for transformation.

In the early 2000s, she decided to bring the Enneagram to more people and began holding workshops. At this time, the Enneagram was not well known and there were not many teachers – Lissa is one of the original Enneagram teachers from Ichazo’s tradition. Lissa’s daughter, Tammy Hendrix, LCSW, learned directly from Lissa and other Enneagram teachers beginning in the 2000s.

Around 2010, Lissa’s workshops had grown into a three-part series and her students were asking for more. She developed a yearlong training program. In 2013, Lissa partnered with Tammy and formalized the Enneagram School of Awakening in the Embodiment Tradition.

Lissa and Tammy taught many yearlong trainings together in Asheville NC. Around 2019, Tammy wanted to dive deeper into the Essence of the Enneagram. She took a break from teaching to research and develop the Enneagram of Essence model, an evolution of Lissa’s embodiment work.

At this time, the ESOA invited new faculty members: Ali McGhee, PhD and Valerie Wanamaker, LCSW, who began leading the yearlong trainings. In 2023, Lissa retired from teaching the Enneagram and was thrilled for the ESOA core faculty to continue the school’s vision and mission.