SYSTEMIC

CONSTELLATIONS
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Systemic Family Constellations is a solution-focused therapeutic approach that looks at the deeper systemic sources of our difficulties, offering us a much wider perspective into our problems, as well as their solutions. Systemic constellations is a therapeutic practice that is based on ritual and animistic principles. In this work we meet everything with deep respect, as if it is alive and available for dialogue and relationship.

At the heart of this work is ancestral intergenerational healing; looking at generational patterns of wounding that we carry and cannot sufficiently attend to through our individual work. We discern the hidden bonds of loyalty to those that came before us and see how we keep their legacy in our lives, often through destructive patterns of behaviour. Once we have a chance to witness honour these connections, our destructive patterns are no longer necessary reminders of what needs to be remembered.

Systemic family constellations initially developed as a group process but has also been adapted to individual one to one work. However, in my experience, the power of the group is where the greatest potential of this work lies.

Benefits of Systemic Family Constellations:

– Bringing fresh insight to address, clarify and attend to issues that feel stuck.

– Revealing hidden inter-generational patterns and dynamics affecting our lives.

– Understanding the bigger picture of our family history.

– Discovering movements.

– Developing our ability to acknowledge and accept “what is”.

– Growing our self-compassion.

– Growing from a child’s blind love to the mature love of a conscious human being.

Group

Constellations

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In group family constellations workshops you can find yourself in three different positions:

– Issue holder-the person who has a constellation

– Representative-a person that represents a part in someone else’s constellation

– Circle holder-a person sitting in the outer circle through a constellation, observing and holding the outer energy

The steps of a constellation are:

– The facilitator invites the issue holder to share some information about what they would like to work with and what they hope to get from their constellation. This will include details of their family structure and significant family events.

– The facilitator and issue holder will agree on a constellation that will open the exploration of the issue at hand. The issue holder chooses representatives from the group (for family members, feelings etc.) and places them in the space.

– The constellation is set, and the representatives allow themselves to experience their positions. The issue holder usualy stays outside the constellation and witnesses what’s unfolding.

During the workshop, not everyone has their constellation done, however this is not the only valuable experience and process in the day. Being a representative or a circle holder in someone else’s constellation is a beautiful gift that supports our own healing journey and paves the way for opening up to our own future constellations. My own most significant insights have emerge from being a representative in other people’s work. Family constellations work is collective and together we hold the field in a confidential, compassionate, inclusive and honouring way. What unfolds on the day will resonate deeply with us all.

INDIVIDUAL

CONSTELLATIONS

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In individual constellations, instead of people representing the various elements of the system you wish to explore, we use objects and floor mats. This helps us create a three-dimensional image in the physical space, that we can explore from different angles and perspectives.

People choose individual constellation sessions because:

• They prefer the privacy of an individual setting
• They want to make sure they have a constellation done
• They want to use a few sessions to work in depth and explore various aspects of an issue.

Individual constellation sessions are also sometimes used as a first step towards preparing for a group setting, or as a follow up integration session to a group workshop experience.