For me I think it is important to NOT talk about the constellation too soon
(and much of my reflection comes from my Holotropic Breathwork training and
working with clients in non-ordinary states of consciousness)
I see talking about the constellation too soon after the constellation,
particularly as it concerns analysis and moving from the body to the head. As
clients shift to the mental realm they lose the feeling (in their bodies) of
the constellation. I think this is a great loss. I believe that this felt sense
is super-important to integrate.
It seems to me that one of the biggest reasons we bring a focus client into the
field towards the end of their constellation is so that they can feel and
absorb this energetic imprint. I think it would be a shame if they lost this
felt-imprint too soon.
I see no reason not to talk about/share about experiences once their energetic
feeling has subsided as long as it is not picked apart too much through
critical analysis. I also find that many times representatives have important
insights that it can be helpful to share. I offer that the representatives wait
2 days before sharing with the focus clients.
One of the things I do as I lead workshops to support my focus clients in
having the best integration experience is to have them leave the room for the
following constellation. So that they are not chosen as reps, do not get
involved emotionally or intellectually in the next constellation and so that
they can stay with their experience as long as possible, to write, reflect, do
a mandala, etc. I am offering this more consistently now. (I provide art
supplies)
Again much of my awareness around this comes from my 2-year Holotropic
Breathwork training. I want to give credit to their integration structures.
Much love, Jack
________________________________
Jack Blackwell(720) 458-5363
Connecting Spirit & Psychology ~ Creating profound insights and Healing
Family Constellation Workshops & Trainings, Holotropic Breathwork
Visit us at ArtistryInHealing.com
And like us at:facebook.com/ArtistryinHealing
________________________________
________________________________
From: "Heiki Eesmaa heiki.eesmaa@xxxxxxxxx [ConstellationTalk]"
<ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 12:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Talking about your Constellation: Superstition?
"Don't talk about your constellation" - it does seem to me a practical
injunction against dissipating what was lived through in an altered state of
consciousness. Specifically, even though the representatives are within the
gross realm, what opens up is the subtle realm (compare assumption of godforms
in ceremonial magic). The subtle realm is worked through with images, taking
them as they are, without verbalizing or mentalizing what they are. A good
summary of this is in John Rowan's book The Transpersonal, p 125 et seq
(http://books.google.ee/books?id=oZBmAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA108&ots=C0iskVPahN&dq=john%20rowan%20subtle&pg=PA125#v=onepage&q=john%20rowan%20subtle&f=false)
There may be a superstition attached to this principle also besides its
practical importance. That can be processed and done away with via favorite
technique of emotional processing.
Interested in discussing this further.
best regards
Heiki
On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 12:28 PM, Alison Fornes maitreya71@xxxxxxxxx
[ConstellationTalk] <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi All,
(Note - SKIP TO "Here are my questions" if you just want to skim this email.)
I am recently returned from the 7th North American Systemic Constellations
Intensive, which I had the privilege of directing this year. I feel the
expansiveness in my heart as I think about it! It was wonderful. Thanks to the
faculty: Francesca Mason Boring, Dan Booth Cohen, Ed Lynch and Bill Mannle!
And to all who attended and co-created such a beautiful, sacred space.
My wondering comes out of a Constellation I asked for in my group on the last
day. It was not a personal Constellation in the usual sense, and it wasn't
clearly resolved because we didn't have time.
A few people from that group have reached out to me, and I noticed my
hesitance in talking about it too much. However, the hesitance feels more like
my response to the "rule" that we shouldn't talk about our Constellations. And
so I'm left wondering about the evidence for that restriction. Or if perhaps I
have been misinterpreting, in which case, perhaps I'm not the only one?
HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS / thoughts:
1. We acknowledge that our day-to-day, personal consciousness is not the main
driver of our lives. Constellations clearly reveal that aspects of our deeper
systemic consciousness manifest through _symptoms_ in our personal
consciousness but are usually not seen for what they are in terms of ancestral
roots of trauma, etc. AND even if we do have a sense of their ancestral roots,
talking about it doesn't seem to resolve it. This is shown by the experience
of very slow process of talk therapy, vs. the much shorter and incredibly
effective Constellation healing. So one might say in this case: talking has
very little effect on the larger field.
The one place talk therapy is recognized as effective, though, is when the
talk hits on the deeper roots of an issue. Then we can feel in our bodies, as
in the Focusing work of Eugene Gendlin, that something has resonated and moved.
2. I also have started engaging in dream work, especially the practice of
"Lightning Dream Work" described by Robert Moss. In this process, once the
dream is presented to a group, participants respond to it with the statement
"If this were my dream..." and they give their thoughts as if it were
LITERALLY their dream. It's quite a special process, as it reveals multiple
facets of what's in the larger field of that dream. The dreamer can then take
what's relevant to them, and is often shown new things they had never
considered. That information, provided not just through the experiencing of
the dream but also through the elucidation of the dream using words, is quite
valuable. Again, it feels like it has the effect of moving something resonant
from the wordless Field into our personal consciousness, which can be very
healing.
The "If this were my dream" has started moving into my Constellation work, and
now when I experience a Constellation that is not mine, there are times when I
talk about it using that language, especially if the seeker is confused by the
Constellation.
Silence vs. Words -
3. On the other hand, there is a clear place for silence. The profound, sacred
beauty of a Constellation often creates its own silence, naturally. It's a
silence that emerges from the movement in the Field. You can also feel how, if
you try to tell someone of the experience, there's a way it can feel like
profanity, as in irreverence or desecration. That contrast between silence and
words makes sense to me in the context of Constellation work.
4. Finally, there is the way I have interpreted / misinterpreted the idea
"don't talk about your constellation" - this is where the superstition part
comes in. I have had the idea (where did it come from?) that talking about
your constellation in the wrong way can somehow undo the healing of the
Constellation. I am noticing that I feel that in my body as an actual fear. Is
that idea in the larger field? Where did it come from? Is it true? Is there
evidence for such a thing.
My thoughts right now are that I have direct experience that shows me that 1,
2, and 3 are true, and my conclusions are that talk can get in the way of the
"sacred silence" that emerges from a powerful Constellation, but not the
healing movement itself.
Alison Fornés
It is the courageous heart that loves. It is the loving heart that heals.
alisonfornes.com
