What happens in a workshop?

The Workshop Experience

This way of looking at personal issues takes place in a group setting. The workshops are small and there is explanation, demonstration and time for questions throughout the day.

The group sit in a circle of chairs and under the guidance of the facilitator, use the space in the centre to set up each constellation. A constellation creates a living map of the issue, allowing hidden dynamics and fresh solutions to surface and be explored. This way of illuminating challenging problems often quickly leads to remarkable insights and fresh sources for resolution.

To begin each piece of work the person who is bringing an issue outlines it to the facilitator who then guides them in the selection of group members to represent the elements of the system being explored.

The issue holder guides each representative to stand in relationship to one another in a way that resonates with their deepest inner sense of the relationship dynamics. As a result a pattern is created, an external picture of an inner, often unconscious, image. This is the start of a constellation and, even at this early stage, often reveals fresh insights and perspectives. The form of the rest of the constellation depends on the issue, the representatives’ feedback, the facilitator’s observations and the kind of movement available within the system.

At my first workshop I brought my relationship with my father – we’d been unable to communicate for years. I’d worked at this issue in therapy but the constellation touched deeper places and opened my heart. When I visited him shortly afterwards we had a very moving exchange, from heart to heart. Our relationship had been transformed.

During the constellation the facilitator gathers information and insights from the representatives – who will often experience distinct and precise sensations. As the dynamics become clearer, the facilitator works with the representatives to bring reconnection and resolution, movement or flow to the whole system. This new image of resolution often provides the issue holder with new information and energy for action and change.

As part of the circle you may be invited to take part in other people’s constellations as a representative. It’s very common that someone else’s work will touch you deeply and that through their constellation you will clarify personal issues of your own. Even just to witness another person’s constellation can be a powerful experience in one’s own journey. Thus there are many different ways of benefitting from a constellation.

Each constellation can take just a few minutes or up to an hour, depending on the issue. Four or five constellations are usually possible within each workshop.