Method
Different facilitators will work in their own unique ways but generally participants wishing to set up their families are asked by the facilitator what their particular issue is or what their heart’s desire would be. The facilitator then gathers factual information from the participant such as: who’s missing, who died young, possible extra marital relationships.
The participant is then asked to choose representatives from the group for each member of their family. Sometimes, only part of the family may be set up and it may be the current family or the family of origin. At other times, someone may be asked to represent an illness or a country. These representatives are placed intuitively in the middle of the room by the participant. Slowly these representatives then begin to feel in their bodies the way those people felt and by listening to those feelings and noting the position in which they have been placed, the facilitator then moves people around and/or brings in extra representatives. At other times, the participants are asked to follow their own movement. This first stage is to see if the hidden dynamics of the family can be uncovered. Sometimes this is not possible and the constellation has to be stopped. This may be because there is information we do not have or simply that we do not have permission from the family soul to go any further. At other times, it is possible to move towards a solution where everyone feels as if they are in the right place. Healing sentences and rituals are then offered to help to open the heart.
Occasionally, the effects of a constellation are immediate and dramatic with family members who were not present at the workshop feeling or acting differently or someone making contact with the family after a long absence. Sometimes there is no effect at all and more frequently, there is a gradual change in the family dynamics with individuals feeling more at peace, and family rifts or difficulties beginning to improve.