What Are Family Constellations and What are they For?

The family constellations are a powerful therapeutic tool developed by Bert Hellinger. It is based on the idea that problems and conflicts today have roots in dynamic and loyalties unconscious within family systems. Through the representation of the members of the family, the family constellations offer a unique perspective with the opportunity to heal and solve problems.

The family constellations are an effective tool of psychotherapy that is focused on discovering how the affairs of a system, such as the family, can be afectándote in a negative way. This is so because there is an inheritance invisible in that which is stored your information and the stories of all the people who are part of that system. Without knowing it, you're in connection with this heritage invisible, that influences you at the subconscious level.

That's why, if you have problems that you have not been able to resolve, or goals have you not achieved, you should find out the cause deeper. In these cases, the technique family constellation is the most appropriate, because you get the information that you need to rid yourself of the problems and align yourself with what you want.

Family systems

A family system is a complex network of interactions and relationships among its members; each family has its own dynamics and characteristics that make it unique. This system includes not only your parents and siblings, but also previous generations and those who have been excluded or ignored. These family ties have a significant impact on your life and emotional well-being, so that it is important that you transform the way you perceive the systems that you belong to.

Elements of a family constellation

There are many ways of constelar a system. During a family constellation traditional, a group of people gather together, and then the client selects some members of the group to represent his family, placing them according to their intuition. The representatives move and give information of what is happening to the “being” members of the system of the client. Through this representation, to observe the interactions and tensions that affect the person who has requested the constellation in search of solving a problem.

How does it work?

During a family constellation, the client presents their problem or intention; then, the therapist performs the necessary questions to obtain more information. Subsequently, the latter selects some of the elements or members of the family to represent them in the workplace. These are placed in the space of the session in a way that reflects the dynamics of the family or of the system. Through observation and interaction between the representatives, will reveal patterns and tensions are hidden, which gives clarity to the client and the possibility to search for solutions or reconciliations.

The family constellations are based on the principles and techniques drawn from various disciplines of psychotherapy. Some of the methods used include the psychoanalysis, the transactional analysis, the psychodrama, the Gestalt therapy, the ericksonian hypnosis and the neuro-linguistic programming. These approaches are combined to create a single method that allows you to explore and understand the family dynamics and systemic that may be affecting an individual.

What is the purpose?

In my professional experience of 30 years as a psychotherapist, the family constellations serve to resolve the majority of personal problems. With this tool you can treat many issues, among them:

• Money.
• Disease and lack of well-being.
• Professional matters.
• Conflict in your relationships partner with the members of your family, and other relationships that are important to you.

Constelando with the method Magui Block®

Unlike the constellations traditional family, my method uses symbols and mental images instead of people to represent the members of the family system. This manages to keep the constellation clean of the personal affairs of representatives and allows you to work in a precise and clear manner. In addition, to make the constellation in an intimate space manages to provide a bra solid and privacy to delve into the issues that you want.

Example of a family constellation

Imagine Mary choosing to three participants to represent their father, mother and brother; the place in the space according to your intuition. By observing the position of the representatives, there is a significant distance between Mary and her mother, but is a close connection between her and her father, as if she was the “mother” in the family and the “partner” of his father. This revelation provides a starting point for exploring the patterns and conflicts of Mary within your family. So, it clarifies aspects deep that make sense and recognize how this has been afectándola in various aspects of your life.

How is it that a constellation helps to heal or solve a problem?

The family constellations offer an in-depth view of the problems that confront you and allow you to reconfigure and rearrange dysfunctional dynamics. To represent the members of your family, recognizing what is in your subconscious image and creating new images, and perceptions, you're challenging your limiting beliefs and recolocándote in your place within the family system. This can lead to release blockages of emotional and mental health by restoring balance in the family system.

For this reason, the family constellations are a powerful therapeutic tool that allows you to explore and heal the dynamics hidden within family systems. To represent symbolically the members of the family and reveal the loyalties and unconscious tensions, the constellations offer a unique opportunity for personal transformation and resolution of problems.

• Example: Laura has experienced difficulties in their romantic relationships, so she decides to make a constellation. During the session, we discover that it has been a loyalty, unconscious, to his grandmother, who suffered a great loss in your love life. In recognition of this loyalty and get rid of it, Laura can be open to new possibilities and healing your own relationship with the love.

What can you work in a family constellation?

The family constellations are applied to a wide range of problems and situations, providing a unique window into the dynamics underlying and often hidden within a family system. These sessions can reveal and address invisible loyalties and repetitive patterns that affect both individuals as well as to entire family groups. Here we will show you how you can explore these aspects in a family constellation, including the use of various forms and methods of systemic therapy.

Family constellation Individual and Constellation Distance

• Constellation Individual: In a family constellation individual, you only need the client and the therapist. This form allows you to work on personal issues so intense and private, representing the members of the family system by means of figures or symbols.
• Constellations Distance: Thanks to technology, the constellations sessions can be conducted online, allowing participants to connect from different parts of the world, ideal for those who reside in the southern hemisphere and other locations geographically distant.

Specific applications in Areas of Life

• Orders of Love: Explore the laws described by Bert Hellinger that govern the relationships within families. These orders help to understand the balance of give and receive, and how deviations from these orders can cause dysfunction in the family system.
• Family Tree: Like the stars form constellations in the sky, each member of the family occupies a place in the family tree, and its position has meanings and consequences that can be explored in the sessions.
• Systemic Therapy: This therapy is considered to be the individual problems as part of an interconnected system. To identify and modify the relationships and loyalties to family, you can work towards solutions that are effective and sustainable.

Exploring Common Problems with Family Constellations

• Relationships and relationship Dynamics: Using the constellations to improve the understanding and connection in relationships, exploring how the loyalties of family and the unconscious dynamics influence the interactions of today.
• Duels and Conflicts are not Resolved: The constellations can be used to address and process duels that have not found a close, helping individuals to find a place for loved ones within the family system.
• Professional challenges and Economic: From problems in the run-up to economic difficulties, the constellations they explore how beliefs, and loyalties to family members may be limiting your career success and abundance.
• Emotional and Physical health: To investigate how the tensions and conflicts within the family system can manifest as an illness or physical discomfort, looking for scientific evidence to support the resolution of these conditions through changes in perception, and emotional behavior.

Using All the Tools Available

Each constellation is an opportunity to look beyond the appearances, and discover the invisible forces that shape our lives. As the International Astronomical Union categorizes and gives meaning to clusters of stars, the family constellations help to categorize and resolve the patterns and relationships in our personal and family life. Using these techniques, individuals can expect to not only solve problems but also to achieve greater harmony and understanding in their lives.

How to choose your appropriate specialist?

Who can do it?

Make a family constellation requires a person with the proper training and a deep respect for the client and their family system. Preferably, you must have experience in psychotherapy, as well as having received specific training in family constellations and other techniques systemic. In addition, it is essential that the facilitator is service-oriented and committed to the well-being of the client, so that you can provide a space of trust and support for the therapeutic work.

Pa practicing psychotherapist with experience and proper training in family constellations

If you're considering attending a session of family constellations, it is important that you consider some aspects. In the first place, choose a psychotherapist with experience and proper training in family constellations. Each constelador has his personal style, and some are very assertive; however, you should feel that the treatment is respect and that the information that you provide for your well-being. Choose a professional that you feel more comfortable and connected, someone who is easy to trust because it inspires you and note that they are passionate about their work; a person who confronts enough to get you out of the comfort zone without hurt you, because he does so lovingly.

During the session, keep an open mind with the willingness to explore your own emotions and family patterns. To make a session with the tool of family constellations, with the attitude and the psychotherapist, it becomes an experience that can change your life for good.

What the Family Constellations are dangerous?

When you are inexperiencedthe family constellations can become dangerous. It is important that the facilitator or therapist is properly trained and has experience in this technique. Without a deep understanding of the principles of systemic and proper guidance, the constellations can generate more disorder in the system and confusion in the querent. It is essential that the facilitator has the sensitivity and skills necessary to handle situations emotionally intense, and also to provide a safe and supportive environment during the process.

Bert Hellinger: The Founder of Family Constellations

Bert Hellinger, who was born in Germany in 1925, is widely recognised as the pioneer of the therapy, family constellations, a practice that has revolutionized modern psychotherapy. Throughout his career, Hellinger deeply explored the underlying dynamics in family systems and how these affect individuals over generations.

Career and Development of his Method

After serving as a catholic missionary in south Africa for 16 years, Hellinger was formed in various areas of psychotherapy, including psychoanalysis, therapy, primal, and the dynamics of groups. It was during this period that he began to develop his unique approach, which is influenced initially by his work with the systemic family therapy.

Principles of Family Constellations

Hellinger observed that certain family dynamics, many of them cross-generational, have a profound impact on personal problems and emotional individuals. Their approach focused on the "Orders of Love", a set of natural laws that govern the relationships in family systems. These principles hold that there is a balance in the give-and receive within the families that, when perturbed, can lead to conflicts and diseases.

Impact and Legacy

The family constellations of Hellinger have been applied in multiple contexts, from individual therapy to the resolution of conflicts in organizations and companies. Despite the controversy, which has sometimes surrounded by his methods, his work has been crucial to opening up new perspectives on systemic therapy and in the understanding of human relationships.

Bert Hellinger left a lasting legacy after his death in 2019, with numerous therapists around the world who continue using and adapting their methods to help people resolve their emotional difficulties, and relational in a way deeply transformative. His holistic approach and respectful toward emotional healing continues to influence therapeutic practices to contemporary, making the family constellations a valuable tool in the field of mental health.

Sources

1. Hellinger – Official website that provides information about the history and evolution of the family constellations according to Bert Hellinger.

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