Family Constellations is a therapeutic approach developed by Bert Hellinger - a Gestalt and Systems Therapist and a Roman Catholic priest.
Family Constellations is a psycho-dynamic, somatic, and spiritual approach to resolving current problems by looking into family systems and ancestral lines. It explores hidden trans-generational family dynamics, traumas, secrets, and exclusions that can cause emotional entanglements and disruptive attachment patterns. The approach reveals how we carry our parents’ emotional burdens that often began generations before. Family Constellations takes us on a journey of handing back responsibility for emotional issues that did not begin with us, yet simultaneously honors our parents and ancestors for the life given to us through them. The healing process requires us to drop deeply into our bodies, and to notice what sensations arise, so that the body does the talking and not the rational, discursive mind.
Family Constellation work requires us to put aside the conditioned narrative we have about our life and to enter the experience with a sense of openness and curiosity. It takes us to the core of an issue and rapidly resolves long held difficulties and traumas.
There are two entry points into Family Constellation workshops:
Having your own personal issue and family constellated
Acting as a Representative in someone else’s constellation
How it works
In Family Constellations, the facilitator creates an open space for whatever needs to come out to come out. It uses a somatic approach and favors a whole body sensing and feeling experience over thinking and analyzing, to uncover hidden dynamics of the unconscious mind and soul.
The facilitator will ask you to briefly describe an issue that is impacting you the most right now. The clearer you are about the issue, the deeper your constellation will go. The facilitator will then ask you to give some information about your current family, family or origin (parents) and both maternal and paternal grandparents. You will be asked about any major traumas in you family line such as death, divorce, migration, war, pregnancy loss and abuse. From the information you have given, the facilitator will decide who will be represented in your constellation.
You will be asked to choose people to represent both your family members and issue. For example if your current issue is depression, the facilitator will ask you to chose a person to represent yourself, your mother, father, possibly grandparents and depression. You will then be asked to place those people and issue in relationship to yourself. These people are referred to as representatives. The facilitator will then guide the constellation based on feedback given by representatives on what they are feeling in the form of sensations in their body. You will then view your constellation unfold through the representatives. You will be asked to join the constellation when either you feel compelled to or when the facilitator thinks it’s appropriate for you to be included. You can choose to observe the entire constellation, however, it is a more powerful experience when you become part of it.
