How do we work with Family Constellations within the field of Collective Trauma Healing?
How do we work with Family Constellations within the field of Collective Trauma Healing?
After many years working and training with the same format of opening group Constellations by choosing representatives for the essential elements and then witnessing the deeper movements in representatives. I am passionate about the soul of this work but I was bored by this format. So I started experimenting with a new way of working and this is very much how Collective Trauma Healing was born. I notice in the old format of constellating, especially in larger groups that it is easy to become disengaged from what is happening in the Constellation if you are sitting in the holding circle and when the group is big you can be sitting in that holding circle for days! I also notice the importance of both presence and silence and the effect that it has on healing movements being able to take place and so the way I work now prioritises the importance of collective presence and silence.
Different formats used within Collective Trauma Healing to facilitate Movements of Soul:
(All formats are engaged within a field of consciously created collective presence, supporting the whole group to connect with one another through the eyes of the heart is the foundation for everything else.)
Collective Presencing - In this format everyone in the circle is part of an intended collective constellation, everyone is invited to let themselves feel more deeply as part of the circle and people take turns to share how they feel in the present moment. As in representation, orienting only to feelings not thoughts. The group is guided not to respond to other people’s sharing and maintain integrity with their own feeling states. Relational Presence with the whole group in silence is encouraged.
Collective Presencing of an Issue - Sometimes a person with an issue will come to the hot seat in front of the rest of the circle, similar to the usual Constellation format. The difference being we don’t open a traditional constellation, I invite the client to look around the circle at the support available and remind them initially that we can carry it together (myself and the client) and slowly ask the client to look around at the support in the circle and begin opening to the possibility that we all carry it together. This process is sometimes quicker and sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes some representatives are chosen and sometimes some specific representatives become apparent. Collectively we all represent the solution to all issues, by sharing presence all tensions dissolve into the strength of this light. We all discover lightness together. Not every client is ready to share the weight their soul carries, even if they wish to be. Honouring the limits of each client is important to the integrity of the whole. We are not trying to fix anything in this work, we are simply opening for whatever deeper healing movements want to happen through us.
Constellation Exercises and Systemic Rituals - This format is working in pairs and small groups engaging soul movements through representation around different themes. We might work with issues of individuals within each small group or pair, we might also do inner exploration working with collectively or archetypally themed material.
Systemic Themed TI Breathwork - This format is a deep dive into exploring themes of Systemic Healing through Conscious Connected Breathing.
Experiencing Trans-generational Healing through the vessel of Trauma Informed Breathwork. We begin by creating safe space if that is not already established leading up to the breathe. I then give a talk on a specific aspect of Systemic Healing. It could be many things, examples are: Aborted & Miscarried Children, Families touched by War, Forced Migration, different nationalities/religions in the same family etc. Whatever the topic I am clear to introduce the concept of receiving blessings and our ability to recognise the past from the present. This sets a clear intention for the breathe in motion.
Each person in the group finds a spot to lie down and close their eyes. For around 1 hour the group is guided into a gentle consciously connected breathing rhythm sometimes supported by music and sometimes supported by silence. Healing movements are supported and witnessed.
Then after the breathe completes we come back to the whole circle for slow integration and collective presencing.
