constellations workshops & healing sessions
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Family Constellations is a decades-old therapeutic method for bringing people into an embodied understanding of the connections between personal disease and dysfunction, and their family of origin and inherited ancestral trauma and patterns.
Developed in the 1980's by German therapist Bert Hellinger, Family Constellations is based on the premise of the presence of the "knowing field" that encompasses a community of individuals as they relate to each other and to the whole (see also the work of parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake on morphic fields). The original Hellinger Family Constellations method still exists as the foundation for thousands of practitioners, and equally as many ways of using the work for personal, familial, community and organizational healing. I have learned, and continue to learn, from very talented constellators including Johanna Lynn and Susan Ulfelder of the Hellinger Institute of DC. I apply these teachings, and those of other constellators from around the world, to my one-on-one, ceremonial, and group healing work. I have experienced tremendous personal gain from applying these teachings to my own life, and have witnessed profound transformations for many clients for whom deeply embedded family trauma (directly experienced or inherited) had formed rigid barriers between themselves and their healing aspirations. What happens in a Family Constellations workshop? In a circle group setting the "issueholder" presents their issue, and in so doing they also offer access to their own energetic field. The facilitator guides the issueholder to identify various other workshop participants of the group to serve as representatives for the different relevant energies to include. These energies might be friends or family members (passed or present), symptoms, archetypal energies like "birth" "purpose" or "death", ancestral life experiences like war or emigration, or many other things. When a workshop participant agrees to represent, their own knowing accesses the knowing field of the client, and otherwise inexplicable somatic (felt as sensations, emotions and also simply "known") experiences result. The facilitator works to see how the energies represented are in relationship to each other, where love is blocked, and what needs to be acknowledged and included in order for the flow of love to resume. This can often take the form of healing statements, that when spoken aloud by a representative in service the field, can bring relief to the entire system. The result for the issueholder is usually tremendous insight, and often also a palpable change in their relationship to the issue presented - always in the direction of healing. What happens in a private Family Constellations healing session? The process is similar to the above, but in place of human representatives we use energetic footprints, laying them out in physical space, and tuning in to them to feel how they are in relationship to each other. This way of working often astounds the client, who sees that they know things that they did not know that they knew! We say in this way that this work makes the invisible, visible. |
Family Constellations In-Person Workshops
May 2026 (Date TBC) Curious about the work of Family Constellations and what it can do for you? A full day workshop includes 3-5 full facilitated constellations for participants with presenting issues, guided group embodiment exercises and a closing integrative Constellations meditation journey. Whether or not you are one of the presenting issue holders, you will be involved in the healing through what unfolds as a member of this powerful group journey of deep transformation. Truly these workshops are an experience to be experienced! Constellations FOCUS Sessions One Wednesday a month, 6:30-8:00pm Virtual (zoom) Shed light on any issue through a family constellations group process. How? You bring yourself and your issue to a group consisting of experienced constellators that have worked with me over the last several years. I facilitate, and they serve as a pool of possible representatives for the various components (people, symptoms, beliefs, etc) that want to be included as we put you and your issue at the center of the experience. This work is very illuminating, and often deeply transformative. Workshop runs 75-90 mins. For existing clients only, and standard session fees apply ($145+HST). Contact me if you are interested. |
