I want to talk with you about the health patterns of the Ennea Type 2, the “Helper”, the “Giver”.
I’m gonna say I see a lot of Types 2s in the clinic. And the reason that I see this is there’s a very consistent pattern for the Type 2 of stuck pain, long-standing pain in a fixed location: back pain in a certain spot, sciatica in a certain spot… You know, you’ve been working on it for a while…
What’s going on there? Why should the Type 2 in particular have such a stuck pain? Well, this is exactly where I love looking at how temperament is playing a role in health, because Type 2s tend to get themselves in pretty stuck relationships. They find themselves in one-sided relationships because the 2 is chasing “being needed”; and so they will often hop in a relationship with somebody who is happy to be the taker as long as they (the Type 2s) are ready to be the giver. And, in the beginning this feels good to help this person and meet their needs.
But 15 years later have they (the Takers) said “thank you” in that many years? No. Did they notice that you’ve been cooking for them, doing their laundry, buy them special things, fixing their special thing. No! That all gets forgotten and ignored and the Type 2 starts to become very tired and depressed. They start to feel forgotten and sad, this is when we start to see health patterns stick in the body.
So what I, find myself saying to type Twos is what else is stuck? And we are gonna work on this pain, we are gonna move this energy through the body, but what’s causing it to be frozen like this? What’s going on in your life that is frozen like this?
It is really worth for the Type 2s to take a look at how their dysfunctional relationships are keeping them trapped in their life.
The other piece that I see very often in the clinic with the 2s is wheat and sugar addiction. We have a lot of obesity in Type 2s and diabetes and I believe that this comes from the fact that sugar in particular triggers the exact same chemical, the pleasure chemical in the brain that love does.
This is our Dopamine, we want to get a nice big hit of love and we can’t get that, we settle for sugar. So, the Type 2 is actually self-medicating loneliness and despair by eating sweets.
So, we take a pretty good look at this. It’s a long process getting off of sugar but taking to look at the emotional reasons why you might be eating sugar can really help you have more control over it.
So, if you are interested in taking a look at how your temperament maybe showing up your health, please come in. I’d love to work with you!
Candice Thomas, Licensed Acupuncturist, Enneagram Teacher
Owner of LightWorks Acupuncture, a Holistic Medical Center
LightWorks Acupuncture: 520-318-5560
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