The Instincts and Inner Work
Building Practices for Transforming Our Life PatternsAn 8-week Live Video Course
Wednesdays at 11:00 AM EST starting February 18, 2026
For the first time ever, join one of the world’s most respected Enneagram teachers, Russ Hudson, on his own platform as he divulges his state-of-the-art teachings on the Instincts and the 27 Subtypes.
This material is the foundational key to unlocking your relationship with yourself and others. This is not a course on mere personality typing or a “filing system” for behavior. It is an essential, profound teaching on the transformation of our instinctual nature—the non-negotiable work required to shift your life force from serving the ego’s fixations to serving your soul’s higher nature.
Are you seeking a better understanding of the fundamental drives behind our personalities and greater balance in your life?
Are you an Enneagram student looking for greater clarity on this vital topic?
Are you an Enneagram professional seeking to master the system’s core mechanics?
This course offers a paradigm-shifting understanding of the Instincts.
This is an essential program for anyone serious about the Enneagram. It is designed for both the passionate Enneagram student ready to move from type fixation and labels to practical, dynamic development, and for the seasoned Enneagram Professional seeking to witness and master Russ Hudson’s unique, honed, and time-tested teaching on the Instincts as the basis for transformative Enneagram work.
The Instincts and Inner Work: Building Practices for Transforming our Life Patterns
An 8-week Live Video Course
Wednesdays 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM EST
Starting February 18, 2026
This course will guide you through the Enneagram Instincts: Self-Preservation, Sexual and Social—seeing each category as a cluster of behaviors and responses to basic human needs. Further, Russ’ structure promises to dissolve a lot of the confusion and vagueness that surrounds this topic.
We will also explore how these Instincts merge with the nine Enneagram Types to create the 27 Subtypes, showing you precisely why people of the same Enneagram Type can seem so dramatically different.
You will move beyond surface descriptions to understanding the deep, subconscious drives that govern your entire life, and learn how to bring the power of awareness to these fundamental forces through the lens of:
- Instinct Transformation: Shifting the power of your instinctual energy from serving the ego’s fixation to serving your higher spiritual purpose.
- Relationships: Russ will also show that the ways in which people navigate their instinctual biases are a much stronger predictor of the success or failure of a relationship. We go into relationships both seeking to address our dominant instinctual needs, and we tend to offer our dominant instinct as our way of loving and supporting others. We will delve into the various dynamics that can result from misunderstanding the role of instincts in a relationship, as well as offer some insights into how to best work with the advantages that each combination can provide.
- A Customized Map: Beyond simply identifying our dominant instinct, or even the ways we prioritize our instinctual needs (“the stack”), we will explore our specific relationship with the Zones of the Instincts, noting key behaviors, and developing a map for our instinctual strengths and weaknesses as a helpful, actionable tool for personal development. Those working professionally with the Enneagram will benefit from learning how to customize the work of the Instincts with clients and students for lasting transformation.
Self-Preservation Instinct
Caring for the well-being of the body/mind; ensuring resources; creating and keeping a home.
Sexual Instinct
Narrowing our focus towards what’s attractive and attracting what will evolve and transform us; exploring our edges; fusing and merging.
Social Instinct
Reading and responding to people; sustaining life-enhancing connections; and participating/contributing in meaningful ways.
For the first time, Russ Hudson’s most integrated and profound teaching on the Instincts, aspects of it taught only in live, in-person retreats—is being presented in an accessible online format for a global audience.
- A Revolutionary Framework for Soul Development: Russ will present his unique framework of the Instinctual Drives and their Zones as the key foundation for spiritual integration and embodiment. You will learn to move beyond the narcissistic approach of using Instincts as a fixed identity label and restore the material’s original purpose as a dynamic tool for growth.
- Discover the “why” of your least developed Instinct and how to create greater balance between all three Instincts in service to your full nature.
- See the progress of integrating your realization in how learning to live in ways more in alignment with our deepest spiritual understandings.
- The Resolution of Conflict: Discover why most relationship challenges stem from conflicts in Instincts, not Enneagram Types. This program provides the framework to begin to resolve these core conflicts, which are the root cause of relational friction.
- Double the Depth: With double the teaching time of Russ’ previous Instincts teachings, this program provides the necessary space for deep exploration, reflection, Q&A, and practical exercises, inviting genuine integration.
Here’s a Breakdown of Russ’ New Eight-Week Course on the Instincts
Session One (February 18): The Enneagram and the Instincts: Understanding the Basic Life Drives as Part of our Psychology
Session Two (February 25): The Self-Preservation Instinct: From Comfort and Habit to Thriving and Wellbeing
Session Three (March 4): The Nine Subtypes of the Self-Preservation Instinct: How the Passions Distort Our Basic Life Drives
Session Four (March 11): The Sexual Instinct: From Distraction and Obsession to Passionate Engagement with Life
Session Five (March 18): The Nine Subtypes of the Sexual Instinct: How the Passions of the Types Redirect our Instinctual Nature to Narcissism
No class March 25
Session Six (April 1): The Social Instinct: From Self-Betrayal and Abandonment to Authentic Connection and Participation in Life
Session Seven (April 8): The Nine Subtypes of the Social Instinct: How the Passions of the Types Distort Our Awareness of Unity and Connection
Session Eight (April 15): Working with our “Instinct Map’: Customizing our Journey of Integration
An Invitation from Russ Hudson
Why Study the Instincts with Russ?
By the end of this program, you will:
- Attain a deep, integrated understanding of the three core Instincts and their Zones as vital elements for living our realization.
- More than defining you, learn the Instincts from Russ’ unique point of view of soul development. Leverage this information into authentic development for your life and for your inner journey.
- Clearly recognize and understand your Subtype, revealing the hidden strategy that dictates your relationship with self and others.
- Transform the energy of your Instincts from serving the ego and biology to serving your soul and higher purpose.
- Develop a personalized “map” of your instinctual biases, pointing to the specific, actionable areas for your personal growth.
- Make space around some of your habitual fear-based relationships with your dominant Instinct.
- Learn some of the historical precedents and ideas around the Instincts, and why, in spiritual traditions, the way to handle the Instincts was suppression.
- Use the Instincts with higher purpose, and in service, rather than as a label.
- Examine how your dominant instinct acts like an addiction and how cultivating the least developed Zones brings balance.
- Unlock the root cause of recurrent relationship challenges, realizing how conflicts are often instinctual—not typological—transforming confusion into compassion and constructive action.
- Become more conscious of the ways in which these different instinctual drives and clusters operate in your life.
- For Enneagram Professionals, learn from Russ’ unique teaching model of the Instincts, enabling you to bring unparalleled depth and authority to your teaching, therapy, or coaching practice so you can be a vehicle for soul work.
- Move beyond the Type fixation to work with the essential, biological energy that drives inner work and spiritual development.
What You Will Receive
- Eight 180-minute Live Video Class Sessions with Russ Hudson
- Eight video recordings of Class Sessions
- Eight audio recordings of Class Sessions
- Eight transcripts of Class Sessions
- Russ’ original approach to developing your own customized “Instincts Map” to support your learning outside of class
- In-Class Interactive Group Exercises
- Integration Practices to deepen and expand the weekly teachings
- An Opportunity to connect with a Learning Buddy for outside class connection and exploration
- An online community forum to stay connected to fellow students between sessions
Single Pay
$499
One payment of $499
Payment Plan
$182
Three monthly payments of $182
We are offering a limited number of need-based, partial scholarships for this program ($300 tuition). Scholarships will be awarded in the first week of February, and the number depends on the total number of registrants. We ask that you please be patient for a response. Please fill out the Request for Scholarships Form before the Early Registration deadline of January 5, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your cancellation/refund policy?
Your satisfaction is our highest priority! The deadline to receive a refund is midnight, Eastern Standard Time, March 4 (giving you two full weeks to make sure it’s a fit). To request a refund, please email us at support@russhudson.com. Your refund will be processed within five business days, and we will send you an email confirmation when your refund has been completed. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at support@russhudson.com, and we’ll be happy to help!
How can I reach customer support?
Please write to support@russhudson.com so we may address your question.
What happens if I have to miss a session?
While we hope all students will be able to attend the weekends with Russ to get the full benefit of the program (live Q&A, breakout exercises, etc), our programs are recorded allowing students to review the teachings in their their time. We also provide a way that students can submit a question for Q&A, so even if you’re unable to join us on Zoom, there’s still a good chance your question will be answered.
Do I have to participate in the breakout sessions during the course with Russ?
We strongly recommend students set themselves up to participate in breakout exercises, which support learning and embodiment of the teachings. Breakout exercises are a key component of the inner-work journey and a vital part of all of Russ’ in-person and virtual teachings.
Are there partial scholarships available for this course?
Yes, there is a limited number of need-based partial scholarships ($300 tuition). Partial Scholarships will be awarded in the first week of February, and the number depends on the total number of registrants. We ask that you please be patient for a response.
Please fill out the Request for Scholarships Form before the Early Registration deadline of January 5, 2025.