hi annie,
thank you heaps for y our detailed and very gracious explanation of how
you work here. it sounds fascinating and, reading through it, hearing
about the beautiful items you use and the feel of the sand and imagining
it in my mind's vision, i instantly felt like i wanted to get in there
and experiment myself with a sandbox - it felt like it would be a great
tactile experience whether or not i could use it with others in the
future. so thanks for giving me a great image this morning and inspiring
me to have a play in the sand myself at some time soon.
i've got a few musings and questions that come up as i read your mail:
they're sort of general as well, questions i ask myself quite a bit, and
i don't know that there's any right answer but i'll ask them anyway cos
i'm sure there's many opinions on this group about all this:
do you think that the tactility and involvement of it with the body in
this sort of work tends to cement the deeper experience of learning by
circumventing standing back and intellectualisation and by involving the
senses as well as the intellect of the patient? and if so does that
account for it's relative power c/w the therapist standing int eh
positions or moving the pieces ie does the fact the client is in there
themselves have a greater effect than standing back. (i tend to
hypothesise that it does)
if that is so, in broader group constellation work another question arises:
how much of the time should the client watch the group to absorb the
field information as an 'observer'
cw how much of the time should the client be representing himself or
alternatively important members of his or her field in his constellation.
both positions obviously allow for different learnings about the
clien'ts life and field and different types of integration because they
are very different experiences - one being in the constellation as
oneself or even as a rep being bodily and emotionally experiential, the
other also arousing emotions and thoughts but being less bodily involved
and therefore perhaps more potential to allow defensive posturing away
from absorbing the potential learnings of the field exposed int he
constellation. of course people do defend once they are in the field as
well and that's part of the facilitators art to reconnect the person to
what is going on right now rather than dissociating or going into a
story or defensive reconstruction as a response to anxiety aroused by
the field or what they have learnt from it, or their story of what
should be rather than what is right now.
anyway, i'll end now its early in the morning and this is a bit of a
rave in the form of questions to you annie and to myself and anyone who
cares to read and chime in on this constellation e group. adn i'm sorry
its not very grammatically constructed or well thought through but email
thinking tends to do that to me, esp with little sleep. hope you can
pick out the question or conversational line and get back to me with
some comments from your practice or understanding of the work.
love to you annie and to all
thanks again for your generous description of your sand box work
sarah
Geoff Wearne wrote:
Hi Sarah
You asked about sand tray work.
I have a container made from a drawer cut across horizontally about 50cm by 80cm, filled with river sand.
I have shoe box filled with all sorts of little items eg. little wooden and plastic people, a tiny castle, a tiny car, bricks, pipe cleaners, shells, semi precious stones , tiny animals etc.( Some therapists lay these out neatly on shelves but I think there is something very right brained about rummaging.)
I then ask the individual to feel the sand using both hands for a few moments.
When they are ready, I ask them to take items from then sand tray and arrange them as seems right to them.
It may be that I suggest they choose the family members that seem significant to them in terms of what we have been talking.
It maybe that I just suggest they arrange the items that light up for them as they rummage.
I am noticing the spatial relationships and way of facing.
I then ask them to imagine "How does this piece/person feel? What is this one looking at? Who isn't here? What happens/ does it feel like, if you move this one nearer/ further?"
I do not touch any piece but let them move pieces and experience how that feels.
The sand is very powerful for burying pieces, half burying or bringing out what is buried.
Working with sand tray is very tactile and I think tends to affect people at a very deep level.
If I have a couple I will get one to put out and work and the other watch and then vice versa.(They are of course fascinated by the particular pieces the other uses for themselves and other family members, although this is secondary in constellation work.)
In this way I work with the individual or couple to some form of resolution or awareness.
Usually I move to asking them, to imagine the person in the room, for the times of honouring eg "You gave me life and I thank you for this"
Burying and fare welling however work very well in the sand.
Sometimes people will take home a piece to remind them or give them strength. This can be very powerful (eg a guy recently took home a round green 3cm reflector, originally from a garden light. that he had placed behind his figure of himself to give him strength from his ancestors).
This will give you some idea of how I use sand tray.
If ever you are in Perth we could discuss further.
Best wishes
Annie.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Moore [mailto:sarahmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 5:56 AM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Invitation
so lovely to hear from you annie! i had heard indirectly through chris about some of the things you were up to in terms of organising and presenting workshops. but lovely to hear you chime in here.
looking very forward to seeing jakob and thank you immensely for your role in encouraging and organising these international presenters to 'show us their stuff' ie how they interpret appreciate and do constellation work- whilst they're out here. you're right australian constellation work is rocking along and we're all gaining experience and hopefully wisdom in learning from the field itself and our clients and our colleagues about what is.
i'd be very interested to hear about how you use the sand tray in your work with individuals and couples. i do a lot of work too one on one but tend to use a modification of the technique eva madelung showed us in germany (drawings on pieces of paper adn them as positions).
love to you annie
hope to catch up again not too far away, and hopefully closer than the next munich zist! lol
sarah
Geoff Wearne wrote:
Hi Jo and Sarah
This is Annie Wearne from Perth.
It is great to hear how your work is progressing.
It is just a year next week, since we were with you at the Zist International Training week in Germany, along with Chris Walsh and Patrick Kavanagh from Melbourne and Denis Ladbrook and Heather Deighan from WA.
I am probably one of the last constellation Chatline participants to "clock in" in response to Chris Walsh's round up.
However I do appreciate what is written and often think of replies to contributions, which I don't end up writing, due to the pressure of life.
I also appreciate Chris's vision in setting up the Chatline.
At present I have been busy organising the visit to Perth of Jakob Schneider in August and Peter and Otteline van Lamet from the Netherlands in December.
I enclose their Flyers for the interest of Chatline participants, and of course some members may have friends in Perth that they would like to invite.
Interest in Constellation work in WA has increased greatly.
Last month Thomas Falke from Munich ran three workshops in Perth and did 68 constellations.
The Schneider workshop in August is already half full.
I have used constellation work a lot this year in my practice with individuals and couples, using sand tray.
It seems this can work very powerfully too.
Best wishes to you and all Chatline participants
Annie.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Moore [mailto:sarahmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 4:33 PM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Invitation
dear jo thank you
i too cordially extend a similar invitation to colleagues/friends here working in this area. in the spirit of sharing the beauty and wondrous experience of this most precious and always available field in which we all here work.
email off list by using my direct email (available attached to this)
or mobile 0417087069 or 97580940.
love to all
sarah
Jo Fenwick wrote:
As a gesture to the interests of furthering constellation work in Australia, I humbly extend an invitation to attend my groups as an observer/representative at no charge.
The conditions are that you already use Bert Hellinger's Orders of Love constellations in your work or you trained at Zist and naturally, that there's room for you.
Anybody who meets these criteria would be welcome and should email or phone me direct so I can forward details. If the occasion arises that you choose to convene a constellation yourself, of course I'd ask my usual fee, but would consider any extenuating circumstances.
I'm working in 'The Hills' outside Melbourne, so if you live here or are visiting you would be welcome.
I know myself that money can often be a barrier when trying to develop ones' skills and I am overwhelmingly grateful to have this privilege extended to me. I view this in concert with Hellinger's freely releasing the principles without controls, as an outreach gesture to development of the work here, as well as a win-win situation.
Due to past experience, unfortunately I feel it necessary also to say that I would expect any facilitator not to canvass my clients for any other groups, related or otherwise.
Be Loved
Jo Fenwick
(03) 9754 4196
0408 574 672
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