Family Constellations – Uncovering And Transforming Intergenerational Patterns
- Nov 6, 2024
- 4 min read
Anda Vintila is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) and Somatic Psychotherapist. She is devoted to supporting people in processing and healing their trauma through Soul-Led Inner Work which often consists of gentle nervous system rewiring, dream exploration, fostering relational and emotional safety, and re-aligning with one’s personal Truth.
Do you feel held in a problematic pattern that you can’t seem to find movement in or resolution? Have you ever wondered if your struggles and re-occurring patterns began within you? Or if perhaps they have been passed down and inherited through your family lineage and live on inside of you?
Family constellations is a model of therapy that seeks to uncover the origins of our inner and outer conflicts, as well as our gifts, through the lens of our family system and ancestral lineage.
It seeks to bring forth patterns that have felt stuck within you or your family system to be acknowledged, felt, and processed within a community of people who share similar and different patterns within their own family systems.
In my work with clients and within my own constellations, I have observed that when we struggle with a pattern that feels like a burden to move through, it is often linked to an event or life experiences that occurred for a past member which was unacknowledged, unprocessed, hidden, stigmatized, shamed, and excluded. Out of unconscious or conscious loyalty to that member(s), we may be repeating that pattern or essence of the experience until that ancestor’s original experience is discovered and honoured. This can sometimes show up as certain core stories we carry, such as “I don’t deserve what I am desiring,” “I’m not lovable,” “I’m not worthy of community or financial abundance,” “I can only trust myself,” “I cannot trust myself and others know best for me,” or “giving and self-sacrifice feels safe, receiving feels unsafe.” There are many other alternative stories we may carry through our lineages.
As a community, we seek to understand and heal through acknowledging our experiences and our ancestors’ experiences in their truest forms so we can transform them. This work sends ripples of change and transformation through us and to the generations that came before us, and the ones that may come after us.
This modality is experiential and takes place in the present moment. You will have the opportunity to request a constellation be done for you as you observe and take in the visual map of the process. The facilitator will likely ask you to pick different members of the group to represent your relatives or abstract entities (such as a country, the land, Death, a business, Life, etc).
You may also be asked to represent and experience different family members or entities in someone’s constellation. When we are chosen to represent in another’s constellation, we naturally take on and feel what that individual family member or entity feels or felt. Representatives are asked to allow emotions, thoughts, and feelings to surface and be processed within them as if they were that family member. This modality does not consist of role-playing or pretending to be another person but rather of observing and feeling what sensations, emotions, and thoughts naturally arise as we step into representing someone or something.
There is equal beauty and benefit to having your own constellation done as well as representing because most representatives feel that they are chosen to represent that specific person or entity because there is some sort of resonance between them and a deeper significance. Through representing, we open ourselves to receiving the array of human experiences of trust, awareness, connection, disconnection, reconciliation, the ability to let go, suffering, and wholeness for the purpose of our own personal and collective healing.
This work supports us in feeling more connected to ourselves, each other, our ancestors, and the greater whole.
Although Family Constellations are often done in groups, they can also be done in one-on-one sessions using figurines or placing sheets of paper with names on them on the ground to represent different members. Another technique consists of the facilitator supporting a client to constellate an internal visualization of the issue. These techniques are elaborated on in more detail in the “Handbook of Individual Family Constellations” written by Moretti and Poggioli (2017) and other sources I have listed below.
If you have questions or wish to book a call with me to see if Family Constellations feels like the right next step for you in your inner work journey, I would love to hear from you! My email is here.
For more info, follow me on Instagram or visit my website if you are curious about working together!
Read more from Anda Vintila
Anda Vintila, Clinical Counsellor & Somatic Psychotherapist
Anda Vintila is a Registered Clinical Counsellor. She owns a private practice in Vancouver, BC where she regularly sees clients who seek a deeper way to heal from their trauma, patterns, and conditionings. Anda weaves different body-centered modalities that focus on supporting the nervous system and body to have greater capacity in moving through difficult emotions and sensations in order to feel safer in one’s self and within relationships. Anda believes the inner work is ultimately led by the Soul. She is passionate about shining awareness on aspects of the self that obstruct one’s access to flow and life-force energy and creating room for newer perspectives to emerge.
Cited Sources:
Moretti, M., & Poggioli, D. (Eds.). (2017). Handbook of Individual Family Constellations. Springer.
Manne, J. (2009). Family Constellations: A Practical Guide to Uncovering the Origins of Family Conflict. North Atlantic Books.
