Just last month, I saw how a father who disapproved of his daughter’s relationship was really mourning his eldest son, a child lost to miscarriage. I saw how a woman’s problems with her teeth was tied to a long-ago war that her grandfather fought. I saw how a wife’s annoyance with her husband’s smothered laughter was dissolved into a greater understanding of his pain – and he began laughing out loud.
Each of these stories was uncovered during a personal growth group where we used the alternative healing process known as systemic constellations, which aims to change the consciousness about a problem or difficulty within a person’s life.
For the past 10 years, I have been immersed in the study and practice of systemic constellations, which offers a powerful process to inquire into the hidden energetic connections within individuals, families and groups.
This approach stems from the work of Bert Hellinger, a German philosopher and psychotherapist, who came to understand that hidden energies are unconsciously embedded in families and groups and pass from generation to generation.
The result?
We feel detrimental effects to our health, relationships and ability to function. And apart from the family, larger groups also suffer the effects of multi-generational trauma, such as community tragedies, senseless violence and mass shootings that are not simply “unexplainable,” but rather unconscious echoes from the past.
Systemic constellations – sometimes called family constellations – developed during the past 30 years in Germany by Hellinger and his followers. Constellations are extremely popular in Europe, Russia and Latin America. They are now growing rapidly in the United States, with several established training programs and a biennial conference that brings together top facilitators throughout North America to share innovations with the method.
The constellation approach involves a process where ordinary people, without any training or expertise in psychology or any other healing modality, are able to sense the hidden dimensions of persistent and troubling problems that defy resolution with rational analysis.
Once the distorted dynamics are discovered, a trained facilitator is able to direct changes within the grouping to release trauma and create a greater sense of peace, harmony and resolution.
Anecdotal reports, as well as a limited but growing body of research, testify to the life-changing effects of this experiential approach – illness that has mysteriously healed, relationships that improve and business success that unfolds easily in unexpected ways.
The constellation approach adds its own lessons that teach us more about the nature of consciousness and how to access it. Here are key points:
There is an ancestral consciousness in addition our individual consciousness – our personal experiences and what we think and feel – and the collective consciousness – which connects us to our world at large.
This ancestral consciousness comes to us from our parents, grandparents and those who came before them.
This ancestral consciousness is also present in non-family groups, including organizations, ethnic tribes and nations.
There is a “field” that holds this information.
We are able to access unconscious information about a group when we intentionally step into this field.
The body is the “receiver” of this information, and continued practice and willingness to perceive new information repeatedly demonstrates the wisdom of the body.
With the now-conscious awareness of these ancestral patterns, we can work to alter and release these patterns.
The practice of systemic constellations is one tool that provides an actual means to work with and change our destiny.
Dan Booth Cohen, a colleague and internationally known trainer, explains the three dimensions of consciousness in this video.
Constellations are now being effectively employed in business and organizational settings, well as psychotherapy, medical practice and education. New innovations also allow for one-on-one work, sometimes from a distance, and work that includes horses, small figures or guided imagery. It is sometimes combined with bodywork, energy work, hypnosis or other methods.
2015 North American Systemic Constellations Conference
For more information on the 2015 North American Systemic Constellations Conference Nov. 12-15 in San Diego, see this conference site or sign up for the conference e-mail newsletter.
About Karen
Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is a certified facilitator of constellation work, a board-certified trainer, educator and practitioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy, and author of Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-Body Therapies and Energy Healing and other books on mind-body therapies. For more information, see www.lakehousecenter.com.
The post Constellations Change the Consciousness in a Family appeared first on Expanded Consciousness.