Since being introduced to Family and Systemic Constellations in 1998, I have been compelled by the depth, mystery, and reliability of this approach. My experience has been that this work finds us, rather than we find it.
This systemic approach to healing was developed and introduced by Bert Hellinger over thirty years ago. It has significantly contributed to healing for Germany’s descendants of the Holocaust. At the peak of its’ popularity in Europe, audiences of several hundred people have gathered together to experience this work’s healing effects for individuals, families, and social groups.
Constellations offer us wisdom about the depth of our loyalty to family functioning like no other approach from western culture. While each family has its own story that makes it unique, there are universal truths that connect us to one another. By restoring balance in our ancestral maps, our personal suffering and unhappiness can be transformed into a force for healing.
Living with African Zulu tribes was an important context for the development of this approach. Family Constellations are innovative, but its roots are ancient. Our human family is in a movement of remembering that tribal wisdom existed before Western institutions and teachings.
Constellations promote freedom, clarity, and compassion regarding loss, grief, trauma, and other painful family life experiences. In the United States, the approach also offers great insight and healing around our immigration experience, history of First Nations’ genocide, and slavery. The effects of these historical events – the guilt, suffering, and grief — live on in our families and broader culture. This approach shows us how descendants can honor the past without carrying on the trauma which has been frozen in our souls.
In our culture that so deeply values self-reliance, yet experiences such distraction, compulsivity, isolation, and disassociation, this approach shows us that there is simply no replacement for ancestral connection, honoring truth, and acknowledging what is.
This work is not about trying to change or fix anything. It is also not about blaming or pathologizing. Its’ power and depth lie in simply honoring what is, especially in those places of loss, pain, or tragedy which have remained unacknowledged. When we do so, love and life can flow more freely in individuals and families, and our rightful place of belonging is restored.
Our contemporary culture names a website’s first presence a “homepage”. Please join me as our ancestral blueprints welcomes truth home.
Lisa Iversen, MSW, LCSW
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