Family Constellation Work
DATE for next Family constellation workshop: Saturday April 5, 2025 10:00 to 5:00
Cost: $125
Do you want to understand more about how ancestor history impacts you? Do you want to be released from those entanglements?
Did you know that unresolved ancestral family issues can unconsciously effect:
- our daily lives as unresolved personal problems and relationship issues
- present family, work, or professional relationships
- your present health status
- your ability to be happy, feel free, and take risks
- how well you address conflicts and make decisions.
Family Constellations allows us to actually witness the dynamics that impacted these ancestors and gently and respectfully provides an opportunity to energetically release us from the entanglements.
Family Constellation is a gentle, yet powerful process developed by Bert Hellinger, which connects us with our ancestors through the energetic "Knowing Field" that creates a living model of the original family system.
More About Family Constellation Work
Family Constellations are the most amazing things. You get to see and feel the family history at work. How it impacts our actions, behaviors, thoughts. How did I get into this mess? Watch the past unfold as representatives allow the character to flow through them and illuminate the dynamics of a family’s knots. Untie them. Peel away the layers to understand the truth beneath. The truth releases, relieves, shows the whys and affirms our sense of the way the world was and should have been.
Bert Hellinger pioneered Family Constellation work in Germany, and it is currently one of the fastest growing therapies in the world. The goal of constellation work is to see and understand the impact of historic dynamics of a family or organization. Once we see the dynamics, it is easy to understand the connection to personal issues we have. It is very affirming to see that there really were dynamics that cause certain issues in our lives. The work can help to heal old patterns and it shows us ways to approach current relationships in a healthy manner. In some cases, healing occurs regarding long-standing issues.
How it works: Participants come to the workshop to address a particular issue or they come to witness others work. Issues addressed are often long-standing problems (physical or emotional) that plague a person's life, regardless of repeated attempts at change. The issue would be one of a serious nature (not just because one is interested or curious about their family). It could be an issue one might take to a therapist. A few examples of such issues: a problem (such as fighting or distancing) with a spouse or child; an ongoing problem with one’s child (such as sadness, anxiety, acting out); illness that impairs ones ability to function (emotionally or physically); addictions; emotions that feel "over the top" in particular situations; behavior that feels stuck or unchangeable regardless what you do; anxiety; inability to commit in relationships.
At the beginning of the workshop, we talk about constellations and how they work. A volunteer (the client) then works on an issue s/he wants to address by doing the constellation. The client will then pick individuals from the group to represent his/her family members. The client places representatives in the circle without comment, based on how it "felt" to be in the family. The representatives become a living model of the original family system. The representatives begin to notice feelings and thoughts which reflect those of the actual family members. The best explanation for this phenomenon (often called the “knowing field”) can be found in the work of biologist, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (www.sheldrake.org/Research/ morphic/). Sheldrake refers to a field of energy, which connects us, as the morphic field, which has memory and influence.
Once we understand the family dynamic and its impact on the problem, representatives will move to a new position to find a place of healing that will bring some resolution to the issue. The goal is to see the family system as it actually is and then what movement for healing is possible within that structure. After the constellation is finished, there is time for group discussion regarding the constellation.
We continue this process throughout the day, stopping for breaks and lunch. We won’t have time to do everyone’s constellation, so know that you may not get to do your personal constellation. But you will find that each constellation provides insight or understanding about your own family.
For more information about family constellations, go to: www.systemicfamilysolutions.com and click on “articles”
Bert Hellinger's book, Love's Hidden Symetry is very good;
journal abstracts at: www.theknowingfield.co.uk/journalextracts.php.