About Barry Krost
Family Constellations, Bodywork and Energy Healing
Barry Krost is the founder of Healing Body Therapeutics in Chicago. He is an international Family Constellations facilitator and trainer, a bodywork and energy healing practitioner, and a certified life coach.
His professional practice began in 1983. His work brings together decades of hands-on practice, somatic education, and the study of family relationships and generational dynamics.
Family Constellations is now his primary focus. He offers private sessions, groups, workshops, facilitator training, and mentoring internationally, both online and in person. He also continues to offer bodywork and energy healing in Chicago and life coaching online.
A Personal Connection to This Work
As the child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Barry developed a lifelong interest in how persecution, loss, survival, and family history continue to influence later generations.
This interest contributed to his studies in anthropology and history and later to his work with Family Constellations. It continues to inform his understanding of generational dynamics, exclusion, and the relationships between perpetrators, victims, and their descendants.
Family Constellations Education and Development
Barry began studying Family Constellations in 2003. His education includes two yearlong facilitator trainings, international intensives, conferences, and continuing study.
In 2009, he completed a yearlong facilitator training with Scott Bader that also included Peter DeVries and Volker Frank. In 2013, he completed a second yearlong training with Suzi Tucker, then Director of the Bert Hellinger Institute USA. He is certified in Family and Systemic Constellations through the Bert Hellinger Institute USA.
His studies have also included work with Bertold Ulsamer, Dan Cohen, Ursula Franke-Bryson, Thomas Bryson, Bill Mannle, Francesca Mason Boring, and Stephan Hausner.
His facilitation and teaching are grounded in the phenomenological principles of Family Constellations and the early work of Bert Hellinger. Continuing study and direct experience deepen his capacity to feel systemic dynamics and facilitate through presence, perception, insight, and intuition.
Teaching and Mentoring
Barry’s background as a social studies teacher and professional bodywork educator informs his approach to teaching Family Constellations. He has taught massage, bodywork, and continuing education since 1992 and is an NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Provider.
Students develop their capacity to feel systemic dynamics, recognize what emerges within a constellation, and respond through healing sentences, movements, and other systemic interventions. Practical skills develop alongside the inner stance required to facilitate.
His international Family Constellations Training and Certification Program combines approximately 250 hours of experiential learning, guided study, mentoring, personal work, practice, and evaluation.
He also offers Essential Elements of Family Constellations Facilitation Training, advanced training in individual sessions, and mentoring for facilitators.
In Their Words
★★★★★
“I also very much appreciate how authentic and transparent he is. It's delightful and refreshing.”
Caitriona R.
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International Presentations and Professional Contributions
Selected conference presentations, international teaching, and professional leadership include:
Presenter at the online Worldwide Constellations Day 2026, presenting Unresolved Generational Issues and ADHD.
Presenter at the 2026 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting A Phenomenological Approach to Autism.
Keynote speaker at the 2025 International Systemic Constellations Association Gathering in Mérida, Mexico, presenting A Dynamic Exchange of Life: Giving and Taking in Ancient Cultures, connecting his anthropological interests with systemic principles of reciprocity.
Workshop presenter at the same 2025 ISCA Gathering, presenting Completing Our Interrupted Reaching Out Movement to Father.
Guest faculty in Minad’s advanced Family Constellations training program presenting in Estonia in 2025 on Mental Health and Autoimmune Disorders
Presenter at the online Worldwide Constellations Day 2024, presenting The Role of Representatives in Family Constellations.
Presenter at the 2022 International Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting Resolving Systemic Schizophrenia.
Presenter at the 2021 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting Systemic Schizophrenia and Standing with Ancestral Strength and Protection.
Presenter at the 2021 International Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting Releasing the Twisted Roots of Victim-Perpetrator Patterns.
Presenter at the 2019 Society of Ortho-Bionomy Conference presenting on Pelvic Structure Release with Phase Four.
Guest presenter at the International Intensive in Systemic Resolution in Bernried, Germany, in 2017 and 2018, presenting Exaggerating Patterns in Relationship.
Program Chair and presenter at the 2015 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting Working in the Mind’s Eye: Systematic Family Constellations as Guided Meditation.
Presenter at the 2015 Society of Ortho-Bionomy Conference presenting on Focus on Neck Pain and Whiplash.
Organizer and presenter at the 2013 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, presenting Liminal Action in Indigenous People and Constellations.
Bodywork and Energy Healing Background
Barry began his professional bodywork career after graduating from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy in 1983. He has completed thousands of hours of advanced study in bodywork, somatic education, movement, meditation, and energy healing throughout the United States and Europe.
His studies have included myofascial release, lymph drainage therapy, reflexology, Reiki, Zero Balancing, Ortho-Bionomy, trigger point techniques, somatics, qigong, and tai chi chuan.
His practice combines gentle hands-on bodywork, movement-based approaches, and energy healing, with each session tailored to the individual. He considers how different parts of the body function together and how posture, movement patterns, injury, stress, and long-standing restrictions contribute to discomfort.
His approach to bodywork requires the practitioner to remain in right relationship with the client, supporting the client in coming into right relationship with their own body, mind, and spirit.
His bodywork supports people experiencing pain, tension, and restricted movement. This experience also informs his capacity to feel and recognize bodily responses during constellation work.
Writing and Educational Resources
Barry is the author of the Family Constellations Resource Library, a collection of educational articles addressing systemic principles, family relationships, generational history, and facilitator development.
His articles explain systemic concepts through family relationships and experiences, distinguishing belonging from acceptance, helping from parentification, and acknowledgment from forgiveness or reconciliation.
His published keynote, Giving and Taking in Family Constellations, connects his anthropological interests with his teaching on reciprocity, belonging, and family relationships.
Education and Professional Qualifications
Barry holds:
A Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Grinnell College.
A Master of Arts in History from Northeastern Illinois University.
A Diploma in Massage Therapy from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy, 1983.
Certification in Family and Systemic Constellations through the Bert Hellinger Institute USA.
Certification in Bodywork Therapy through the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals.
Life coaching certification through the Certified Life Coach Institute.
Massage therapy licensure in Illinois.
He is a member of the International Systemic Constellations Association and the International Professional Association for Systemic Constellations.
Working With Barry
Barry works with individuals, couples, groups, and facilitators in training. Explore his services and training:
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. Barry offers private Family Constellations sessions, group constellations, workshops, facilitator training, mentoring, and life coaching online for participants internationally. Bodywork and energy healing sessions are offered in person in Chicago.
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Yes. His Training and Certification Program combines experiential learning, guided study, mentoring, personal work, supervised practice, and evaluation. He also offers courses for trained facilitators who want to deepen their understanding and practical skills.