Family Constellations

The first-ever user-friendly guide on Family Constellations—a powerful group therapy method that uses family history as an avenue for understanding and resolving conflicts of the present Mapping out a “family constellation,” explains Dr. Joy Manné, encompasses exploring previous powerful life events from accidents to adoptions and accessing the deepest dynamics in that family system. This process helps us recognize and then resolve deeply seated family patterns. For example, in order to understand a person’s inability to trust, the family history of betrayal must be uncovered and released. These insights replace resentment with respect, pain with understanding. In this book, Dr. Manné uses the knowledge gained from her own practice as well as her educational experiences with Bert Hellinger—the founder of Family Constellations therapy—to clearly describe this unique therapeutic method. Most Family Constellation sessions are carried out in a group setting, with the facilitator first seeking clarity regarding the issue or problem the client has come to work out. Representatives are then chosen from among the group and the constellation is set up and worked in until it comes to resolution. This may be followed by a closing ritual and advice about how to integrate what the constellation has revealed. Through the use of real-life examples of Family Constellations, Dr. Manné makes this increasingly popular practice understandable and relatable.

This book has been written for those who are interested in deepening their understanding of the practice of family constellations. Many might ask whether this practice hasn't already been detailed in Hellinger's own books and videos. This book is a response to many practical questions of therapists and coaches. When I speak about the 'art' and 'craft' of the work, I am using these terms in the old sense. To become a painter, you have to master colours, techniques, perspective, etc. That is the master craft which the art requires. The more finely trained the craftsmanship, the more masterly will be the result of a new expression or theme. Art and depth of expression are not things which can be learned, but craftsmanship is. In addition to the few artists who truly break new ground, we have to also recognise the great number of learned practitioners of the arts. They have mastered their craft to such an extent that there is depth and expression in their work, even though they may not have developed a new, revolutionary style. In my training programme for constellation facilitators, a core of material has emerged which I pass on to those in training as a basic foundation for practising this craft. From the feedback in these groups, I am confident that this is a solid basis for the work with constellations.

The newest edition of this classic work is presented in an updated format. Dr. Toman's revisions to the text include new interpretations of statistical data, a questionnaire for reader use, and a fully updated bibliography.

Based on the knowledge derived from family constellations, a therapeutic method developed by Bert Hellinger, Janus investigates other psychotherapeutic approaches and introduces a new perspective on human behavior. Janus addresses debated issues like nature versus nurture, the role of unconscious factors in shaping behavior, and the structure of the conscience, arguing that family constellations offer new understandings for the fields of psychotherapy, psychology, anthropology, and religious studies.

Take a moment to think hard about your relationships. The first one to come to mind may be with your partner or parents but there are many others in your life: relationships with your colleagues at work, your body, your past and future, your finances, even with the clutter still left in your closets. Many problems are relationship-related, and the good news is that you can heal all your relationship issues! With his best-selling title "Ho’oponopono", Ulrich Emil Duprée revealed a healing method for solving problems and conflicts by using the Hawaiian reconciliation ritual to forgive both ourselves and others. This is given even greater power when combined with the method of systemic family constellations. A constellation allows underlying conflicts to be aired and resolved. It helps us to experience love and inner peace through the feeling, deep in our hearts, that we are all interconnected.

Family constellations work has broadened and developed in many different fields as a method of counseling and therapy. In addition to constellations in organizations and schools, applying this approach to working with illness and disease has expanded the potential for healing effects in the field of medicine as well. A view of transgenerational entanglements and family dynamics casts a new light on health and disease, and the insights gained from constellations with illness and health problems have led to a more holistic view of those who are ill. In Even if it Costs me my Life, Stephan Hausner aims to provide a picture of the healing potential of systemic constellations, entering into the reciprocal effects of family dynamics and illness. Extensive use of case studies demonstrates this technique in action, revealing how existing illnesses and pathologies are rooted within the family dynamic, and setting up healing postures to facilitate growth, development, and direction.

Franz Ruppert's book explores the different types of trauma experience, along with the bonding theories of John Bowlby and attachment work of Mary Ainsworth and others, forming a multigenerational picture of the dynamics of trauma. Experiences of trauma can be so painful as to cause a split in the personality. It is impossible for a mother or father to avoid passing something of their own traumatic experiences on to their children through the process of bonding. These are the deeper feelings, perceptions, thoughts and embodied ways of being which form the residue of the trauma. Informed by his clinical experience Franz Ruppert introduces his insights into the origins of psychological distress. He has developed a unique way of working sensitively with Constellations to reveal and resolve the hidden dynamics of past trauma.

What helps love to flow freely? What keeps us entangled in the lives and fates of others? What can free us from entanglements? Family constellations can help us to look at these issues and take steps towards a happier and more fulfilled life. Family members often become entangled in the lives and fates of others in the family system. This book describes this process, how this appears in family constellations, and how it can be resolved. It clarifies the orders of love in the soul that support relationships between partners, parents and children, and others in the family system. It looks at how family constellations can help lay the past to rest and redirect life energy towards the future. Jakob Robert Schneider calls upon his rich background of experience in this accessible and well-grounded look at family constellations, from the basics to the depths of this work. Constellation leaders at all levels of experience will find support and inspiration in the open and informed discussion. Non-professionals can get an overview and orientation to this approach to family systems. "This is a completely up-to-date, basic introduction to family constellations that is well structured, concise, and supported by many clear and often touching case examples. It summarises the development, basic principles, focus, attitude, and various procedures of constellations and it does so in a way that is always comprehensible, logical, differentiated, and stimulating. I know of no book that describes the broad scope of family constellations in such a clear, compact, yet comprehensive way." Dr. Gunthard Weber