EQUINE ASSISTED FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS Dr Saan Ecker and Joanne Byrnes Peakgrove Solutions 2016

What is a Family Constellation? Family Constellations were developed by Bert Hellinger. This method offers to people a sense of belonging and directions to living in harmony with natural laws. Orders of love show love is at work behind all human behavior, that there is a great need for balance in giving and taking in the system and that every member living or dead has an equal right to belong.

EXERCISE : BRINGING IN SUPPORT

How does it work? Family Constellations work by combining information from the client, reactions of the representatives and the visual images of the constellation which indicate the direction of the search for resolutions. The “knowing field” is an informing field available in systems constellation process providing key insights to those who are representing particular components of a family system. Tips: The New Slide button is on the Standard toolbar. You can also click Insert>New Slide.

What do representatives do? Family Constellations provide a spatial map of the system which is updated by movement and feedback for representatives. It is not about their thoughts. Representatives pay attention to their bodies, their feelings, their impetus for movement and their instinctive social reactions to other representatives.

Why horses are good representatives Horses provide the truth in a way that people can’t deny Horses live the group experience Access to the energetic information from the knowing field 17 discrete facial movements indicating mood or intention Fewer pre-conceptions so more real time information Everything that creates relationship helps heal

Why horses are good representatives Peripheral awareness Remaining fully present in the moment Understand belonging, maintaining a balance of give and take and the need for order Horses are experts in non-verbal communication Horses are highly perceptive to changes. Receiving love can be easier through a horse’s eye than a human’s eye.

Truth statements Short sentences that express the facts of a possible dynamic can be tested. The client or a representative speaks it out loud and reports on how it felt to do so. It is difficult to define truth, but it is not difficult to feel it.

Resolutions Resolutions remove the need for a hidden loyalty by re-aligning the flow of life and love in the family system most pertinent to the positive shift the client wants to make. Resolutions can’t be created. They have to emerge. Tips: The New Slide button is on the Standard toolbar. You can also click Insert>New Slide.

What happens after a constellation? After a Family Constellation, do nothing, just allow the new image to take effect on it’s own. No-one else in your system has to change. The entire shift in the system occurs as a result of a shift in your inner image. “ Constellation work can be regarded as simply a treatment method, but in a wider sense it is a teaching of human relationships, a life philosophy, a life posture, and a way of living.” (Hausner, S., 2011:285)

CONSTELLATIONS TO TRY You and your heart: Walk quietly into an area with a horse or a herd. Choose a horse and say – You are representing my heart. Then wait and remain open to anything that may happen. Notice anything happening in your body, notice any images that come to you, notice anything that changes, including other horses. Allow 10 -15 minutes. Afterwards, just allow some time for it to settle.

More information can be found at www.peakgrovesolutions.com.au