How is Collective Trauma Healing different from Family Constellations?
How is Collective Trauma Healing different from Family Constellations?
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 begun to feel bored by this format. Although still very passionate about the deeper reference points in Family Constellation work. I am also interested in finding ways of working with what I have learned as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and facilitating Trauma Healing in groups. So I started experimenting with new ways of working that integrated these desires 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 relational 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 healing & 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.)
Looking through eyes of heart – Finding safety in connecting with the eyes of the other, building safety by looking through the eyes of the heart. Eventually bringing that presence into relationship with the whole, coming into a powerful experience of the collective heart together. This is the foundation of Collective Trauma Healing.
Essence Inquiry – Depth inquiry into different aspects of who we are. Making contact with our true selves and breaking out of feeling identification. Who am I? What is beauty? Peace, Joy, Freedom, Love, Compassion. Wisdom, Courage, Grace, Hope, Balance, Trust etc
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.
Trauma Informed Breathwork - This format is a deep dive into exploring Healing states through Conscious Connected Breathing. In Collective Trauma Healing we explore various themes in the breathwork mainly working within the realms of Trans-generational, Pre-perinatal & early childhood trauma. We begin by creating safe space if that is not already established leading up to the breathe. I then give a talk around a specific aspect of the realms we are breathing into. There are many possible themes, Systemic examples are: Aborted & Miscarried Children, Families touched by War, Forced Migration, different nationalities/religions in the same family etc. Of course topics change in resonance with whichever realm we are working within. 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.
Honoring The Inner Survivor Ritual – A ritual honoring of our survival energies. Of the parts of us who have kept us safe for so long. This is really a ritual of honoring limits, so that we can begin to experience the beauty of the unlimited. Its about honoring the limits of our nervous system in service of a kind of moving beyond.
Trauma Healing Circles/Survival Circles – Bringing light to the collective pain body. Various invitations in small group and large group for sharing our vulnerabilities and unresolved pains into safe space.
Sharing Circles – Encouraging stillness. Giving each in small group space for sharing out of the present moment to aid process integration. Sharing groups sometimes have themes.
Active Meditation & Conscious Dance – Daily Meditation to deepen process & plenty of dancing in between larger processes to help integrate the soul work.
