Great! Thank you Dean, and thanks Jo and the horses!
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 26, 2014, at 11:56 PM, "Dean Mason dean.mason@xxxxxxxxx
[ConstellationTalk]" <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear friends and colleagues,
Last week I experienced a constellation with horses, in a very large paddock,
and am keen to share the process and its lessons with colleagues interested
in the benefits to be gained from using animals as representatives.
A huge ’thank you' to Saan Ecker and Joanne (Jo) Byrnes of Peakgrove Equine
Assisted Experiences, for hosting my visit to their property near Canberra,
in a very beautiful part of NSW, Australia. And an especially big THANK YOU
to Jo for facilitating this constellation so generously and skilfully.
The issue was personal, regarding a long-term estrangement. What I wish to
share here is how I, as a client, gained such helpful insights through the
horses’ representations and the process as a whole.
SETTING: me (the client) and Jo (the facilitator) standing in a large paddock
(approx .5 of a square kilometre, with several gates open to other paddocks
where the horses could go if they wanted) with nine horses (6 Arabs, 3 small,
like Shetlands) scattered around, chewing grass, dozing in the sun.
PROCESS: After agreeing on the issue, Jo asked me to invite three horses to
be representatives for three people.
LESSON 1, about the ‘knowing field': ‘Do I have to go up close to ask each
horse?’ I asked. Jo answered, with a laugh: 'oh no, the horses’ energy fields
are very large, you can just do it from here’. This was a real opening for
me, to trust not just in the process, but in the enormity of the energy field
shared by us and these beautiful animals.
PROCESS c’td: After selecting and receiving permission from three horses
(they showed no noticeable dissent, so we took that as acceptance), Jo then
invited me to select a space, anywhere on the farm, that I might like to take
the three horses to in the constellation. Jo emphasised that it needed to be
a space that had meaning for me. The place I chose was in a corner of the
paddock with a large tree that had branches forming a canopy, like a safe
harbour but one without fences so if they went there they could also leave as
they please. It turned out another horse was there too, but I was trying to
ignore him.
LESSON 2, more about the 'knowing field': even if the ‘field' is real, I
thought, how can I possibly get these three huge animals into a space without
any ropes, fencing or other aids? And so I chose to trust, taking my trust in
the field to a new level, and then ’the work' really started. (Later, Jo also
shared with me her own apprehension at this point. Clients usually, and
perhaps more sensibly, select smaller fenced yards in an adjacent paddock
where the horses are accustomed to working.)
PROCESS c’td: From a distance, Jo asked me what I saw when I looked at the
space. I described the canopy, some ‘mess’ of fallen branches, but still not
the horse that had been standing there throughout. Jo invited me to go closer
and to look in more detail, kindly not confronting me with the glaringly
obvious horse I was still trying to ignore. Once up close, the horse and I
were agitated by each other, and we looked at each other quite strongly. Jo
then asked me who the horse might represent. It was quickly apparent –
someone closely connected to the three people I had chosen to focus on.
LESSON 3, the beauty of blindness: in this space stood a horse who I had not
attributed any meaning to. I thought he was a distraction and part of my
challenge would be to get him out of the way. How wrong I was, real meaning
soon emerged from his position as a representative and my position in
relation to her (the female person this male horse was representing).
PROCESS c’td: By this point, representative 1 had gone over the hill and out
of sight, while representatives 2 and 3 were about 30 metres away and doing
their own thing. I was wanting to say a few things, but Jo gently guided me
to focus on what could be said by way of indisputable truths, things that the
representative would not dispute, and I came up with three. At the start the
representative was breathing heavily but when I spoke the first truth she
fully relaxed, almost dozing off. When I spoke the second truth she became
energised and (literally!) nodded her head several times. At this point
representative 2 let out a big whinnying out-breath. After the third truth
was spoken, we heard a flurry of activity over the hill and representative 1
came into view, sounding like he was kicked into action by another horse. As
these things happened, I was deeply moved by the exchange with the
representative under the tree and was not at all surprised by hearing these
movements. (Also during this process the family dog came and sat by my side
with a menacing tone toward the representative under the tree. I knew who he
represented but was too busy with speaking my indisputable truths to pay him
much attention, and he eventually left, but his presence – and departure -
was very accurate to the truth of the situation.)
LESSON 4: when energy moves, it moves!
PROCESS c’td: I now began to turn my mind to see how it might be possible to
move the three other representatives into this space with the fourth
representative. As I stood back, I saw representative 1, about 50 metres
away, casually walking directly toward the space. He paused to look at me, I
paused to see what he would do, and he kept walking – directly in to the
middle of the space I had chosen, not far from representative 4. Ok, I
thought, 1 in, 2 to go… I approached representatives 2 and 3, and they were
very strongly not interested in my words or my attention. Each walked briskly
(but not frightened) a long distance away to another paddock. Fair enough, I
thought, so I went back to the tree. As I sat on the ground, representative 1
was startled by my movement, but did not move away, he just stayed close in
between me and representative 4.
PROCESS end: I signalled to Jo that this was enough for me, it had taken
about 45 minutes and I was astonished in a peaceful and very moving way. As
we stood, just checking if there were any final things to be said, the horse
that had been the representative under the tree walked to about 3 metres in
front of me (away from the tree) rolled on to its back, wriggled around on
the ground, then got up and stood to the side. Jo informed this is one of the
most trusting signs a horse can give – to show their underbelly in such close
range. To close, I had not only identified the key indisputable truths to
hold on to, found an image for the place where I wanted to be with these
three people, but I also received this truly beautiful salute of trust and
acknowledgement from the very representative who I had been so reluctant to
acknowledge. From where I stood I shouted a big 'thank you' to each horse
followed by their real names to release them from their representations…and
they kept grazing or sunning themselves as they were before.
LESSON 5, about intent: the non-verbal language of the horses, together with
their remarkably gentle and kind natures, taught me something special about
intent. Judith Hemming, at the Sydney Intensive last year, gave us a precious
lesson when she said that holding an intent to 'discern the truth' is going
to serve our clients much more than any intent to ‘heal', to ‘solve', to
‘fix', or to ‘do’ anything ‘for’ our clients. This experience with the horses
added another layer to this lesson for me. That is, the quality of our intent
is as important as its focus. Listening to the whole environment, the
enormity of the field and all of its components, making observations and
holding this intent to discern the truth no matter the outcome, are some of
the ingredients of this quality. It was a major feature of Jo’s facilitation
skill, and it was also something I gradually became more awake to as the
constellation unfolded. This may not be very different to what we experience
in conventional constellations much of the time, but to experience it in the
context of ‘inter-species connectedness’ was thoroughly enriching and one I
highly recommend to anyone who wishes to further deepen their own experience
of constellation work.
For any specific questions (skeptical enquiry also welcome!), please email Jo
or myself directly: joannebyrnes@xxxxxxxxx or dean.mason@xxxxxxxxx
Also, for past CT posts on related topics, refer these discussion threads:
23 January 2013, Julio Principe, 'SCW with Horses?'
24 September 2012, Dean Mason, 'Monty Roberts Join-up Clinic'
17 April 2010, Anni, 'using animal fields in constellations'
Kind regards,
Dean
Dean Mason
office: +61(0)3 9398 6262
cell: +61(0)402 846 696
Skype: deanwmason
