Much of the suffering, dysfunction, and inertia in
our personal, family, and professional lives arises
because of unresolved problems and issues that are
seated within our unconscious, rooted in the family
systems we were born into and with those who come
before us in the organizations to which we belong.
Conventional therapeutic and consultancy interventions
often focus attention on the individual who is manifesting
the greatest distress and disturbance, rather than
on the subtle, often hidden, dynamics of the system
he or she is part of.
Systemic Constellations, originally developed by Bert
Hellinger in Germany, provides an innovative way of
working with individuals within family, organizational
and wider social systems. By bringing forward that
which is hidden within these systems, constellations
offer a larger frame of reference that can invite
life-enhancing and life-changing solutions to issues
ranging from difficult personal or family relationships,
to traumatic events and troubling thematic issues,
to challenging issues within work and other organizations.
How Do Constellations Work?
The approach is typically used in a workshop setting
with small groups of people who want to explore deeply
felt family and/or organizational issues in a confidential
and creative environment. A facilitator (the “constellator”)
works with phenomenological data offered by the group,
creating a constellation that provides a living map
of key systemic elements that are impacting one or
more issues.
Stripped of detais, opinions, and stories that can
clutter true understanding and decision-making, people
are able to look at issues with a freshness and objectivity,
as if for the first time. They have literal and visceral
experiences that create fundamental shifts in how
they perceive themselves and otheres in relationship
systems. Observation of shifts and resolutions can
suggest a healthier alignment of elements in the system,
as well as new truths and opportunities, which often
correlate with important shifts in daily life.
What are constellations?
Relationship is the key. In Western cultures, we tend
to assume that all useful knowledge comes from the
intellect. Yet, the truth is that we live and experience
the world through our bodies in the context of relationships,
that is, in complex and changing positions relative
to "others" who inhabit our physical, emotional
and/or mental space.
Systemic Constellations offers a new way of looking
at relationships by recognizing that our bodies have
an unconscious knowing of "where we stand"
relative to others in our families, workplaces and
social systems. It allows us to tap into this embodied
wisdom by making the felt "inner maps" of
our relationships visible. By using the bodies of
workshop participants to recreate these “maps”
in three-dimensional space, we can see with great
clarity "where we really stand." This allows
us to uncover the roots of dysfunction in our systems
and see possible solutions to many of the issues that
we have found challenging in our daily lives.
Benefits of Constellations
Constellations offer relatively quick and yet thorough
windows into our networks of relationships. Whether
we are therapists, change agents, managers, leaders
or lay people, they can profoundly alter how we see
ourselves and our relationships in the world by showing
us how we can change, as well as how we can accept
and live in harmony with what we cannot change.
