Sacred River Constellations

Healing Family, Relational and Systemic Trauma

Family Constellations

' A constellation shows us what hasn't yet happened in reality, so that it can happen in reality'

Matthias von Kibed

'Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children, than the unlived life of the parent.'

Bert Hellinger

Family constellation therapy, systemic constellations, or simply constellations, are a therapeutic approach that seeks to explore entanglements, identifications and what's missing and to uncover and resolve underlying unhelpful patterns in family and other relationships. Developed originally by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger in the late 20th century, it has been adopted and adapted by practitioners around the world. This is a unique therapy based on the idea that family systems/ any system is an intricately woven web; that all elements are interconnected and that patterns of behaviour and emotions can be passed on, over or down through generations. The process involves creating a physical representation of the family system - either using other people ( in groups) , floor markers, figurines or stones ( in individual constellations) , and positioning them in a way that reflects and represents the client's perception of the family dynamics. Through guided exploration and observation, the therapist and client work together to uncover hidden dynamics within the family system. This may involve identifying patterns of behaviour, exploring unresolved traumas or conflicts and addressing issues related to disorders of belonging, guilt, loyalty and shame. By bringing these patterns to light and working to reframe them, the facilitator seeks to help clients create new , healthier patterns of thought, behaviour and relationships within their family system. The approach has been used to address a wide range of issues, including entanglements, relationship conflicts, anxiety, depression, illness, suicide and addiction.

Systemic Constellations- 'It didn't start with you'

'Many of us spend our whole lives running from feelings with the mistaken belief that you cannot bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are, beyond that pain.'

Khalil Gibran

' Unresolved traumas from past generations must be brought to light. As long as they remain buried in the pain or silence that surrounds them, fears and feelings that don't belong to us can reappear in our lives- and we will think they are ours.'

Mark Wolynn

Constellation Therapy

or systemic therapy is a way of understanding our individual experience in a relational context- the patterns that run through families and affect our way of being-;those that bind and entangle us and how we can disentangle and create freedom, space and perspective and how inclusion and acceptance can help us to resolve and heal generational and intergenerational threads. .

Body Constellations

Constellation therapy can be applied to illness and health. By externalising and creating a visual image of the unconscious aspects of our state of health we can enable ways of seeing and understanding the messages from our body