Relationship/Career/Family/Money​/Balance

/Health & Body​/Communication​

 

Whether in a workshop or a therapy group, a constellation can take anywhere from

15 minutes to an hour but there is no way to predict how long it might take to unfold.

While a constellation may be done on a one-to-one basis, it is usually done in the context of an unrelated group of people. An individual wishing to work on an issue chooses representatives for family members, living or dead, based on what the facilitator suggests.  This may also include abstractions such as alcoholism, family secret, country of origin, symptoms, dignity, success, etc.  This is a quiet process and comes after the facilitator has briefly heard what the client sees as his/her core issue and what is hoped for.  The facilitator is looking for factual information about the family,

not much re personality descriptions or beliefs. 

 

    The facilitator asks the client to place the representatives in relation to each other as (s)he experiences it in the moment, not from a pre-conceived image.  Clients are instructed not to “think about” or role play but simply to notice physical sensations, emotions or urges belonging not to themselves but to the family members they represent but generally know almost nothing about.  It is as though they have become antennae, receiving information from a “family soul” that is mysteriously present in the room  — often referred to as “the knowing field.”  Through questions, observations,  trial statements, and repositioning, the facilitator and client come to see the situation in a new way.  Then a resolution picture is created that enables the client to break his / her identification with the ancestor’s difficult fate.

 

  It is as though time is collapsed into about an hour during which ancestors come alive and shed light on the hidden dynamics which at some deeper level have driven the person’s life.  It is not magic, though definitely unusual or mysterious — and somewhat shamanic in nature.  After a constellation, the client achieves an expanded awareness. A  new perspective emerges so that (s)he can make different choices in life and hopefully experience oneself and famiy in a more realistic, positive way.