What are Family Constellations and how can they help?
Would you like to release yourself from family entanglements that burden your life and bind you to carry what does not belong to you? Would you like to find a different way to be in your family with better boundaries and support?
"Unresolved traumas from past generations must be brought to light. As long as they remain buried in the pain or silence that surrounds them, fears and feelings that don't belong to us can reappear in our lives—and we will think they're ours."
- Mark Woylnn, Author of It Didn't Start With You
In Family Constellations we look at dynamics that are hidden in a family system, sometime over many generations. Family Constellations create a model of the family system that reveal the underlying disturbances that can influence our thoughts, behaviors, emotional experiences, physical symptoms and illnesses.
Family Constellations give us a chance to charge our lives and move forward into our possibilities while still feeling the strength and support of our family system behind us.
The science of epigenetics is rapidly proving that we carry the past within us. It also shows that healing trauma and developing a capacity to restore well-being can change genetics within our lifetime. Unconscious entanglements are behind most of the issues that are explored in constellations, particularly with those ancestors who have been excluded, forgotten, shunned, or have experienced a difficult fate. Once we reveal what was hidden, we can create new boundaries that help the client to have a different and healthier way of being in their family.
A powerful insight of Bert Hellinger, the founder of Family Constellations, is that each family system has a conscience. It requires that all members be connected and remembered in a particular way. If someone in the system is not remembered correctly then younger members, out of love or the need to belong, can become "entangled" with specific ancestors.
- Mark Woylnn, Author of It Didn't Start With You
In Family Constellations we look at dynamics that are hidden in a family system, sometime over many generations. Family Constellations create a model of the family system that reveal the underlying disturbances that can influence our thoughts, behaviors, emotional experiences, physical symptoms and illnesses.
Family Constellations give us a chance to charge our lives and move forward into our possibilities while still feeling the strength and support of our family system behind us.
The science of epigenetics is rapidly proving that we carry the past within us. It also shows that healing trauma and developing a capacity to restore well-being can change genetics within our lifetime. Unconscious entanglements are behind most of the issues that are explored in constellations, particularly with those ancestors who have been excluded, forgotten, shunned, or have experienced a difficult fate. Once we reveal what was hidden, we can create new boundaries that help the client to have a different and healthier way of being in their family.
A powerful insight of Bert Hellinger, the founder of Family Constellations, is that each family system has a conscience. It requires that all members be connected and remembered in a particular way. If someone in the system is not remembered correctly then younger members, out of love or the need to belong, can become "entangled" with specific ancestors.
Photo by Arden Wong
In Family Constellations, we set up a model of a system with volunteer representatives, objects or guided visualization. In a typical workshop, participants are chosen to represent members or elements of the family or organization that is being addressed.
In these roles the representatives can give us information about what has happened and perhaps clues about what can be changed, released or acknowledged to create healing for the client and the system. The process is mysterious but truthful and transformative.
In an individual session we use paper, objects or visualizations. In this process, hidden and unexpected dynamics operating within the system are revealed and addressed in a way that aims to find a healthy and respectful place for all members of the system in question. We can then grow, mature and thrive.
In these roles the representatives can give us information about what has happened and perhaps clues about what can be changed, released or acknowledged to create healing for the client and the system. The process is mysterious but truthful and transformative.
In an individual session we use paper, objects or visualizations. In this process, hidden and unexpected dynamics operating within the system are revealed and addressed in a way that aims to find a healthy and respectful place for all members of the system in question. We can then grow, mature and thrive.
Issues that can benefit from Family Constellations
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Testimonials about Family Constellations sessions and workshop
Where things felt chaotic before, now it felt as if my universe was finally aligning itself. I was blown away from this first session, thinking about it gives me goose bumps.
- J.B. San Antonio, TX
I have been receiving individual Family Constellation sessions from Barry for almost a year. Barry is gifted in accessing and directly attending to deep wounds and facilitating transformation at a soul level. I struggled with multiple layers of trauma for many years before receiving sessions with Barry. Very early on and in every session, I developed clarity and healing around complex traumatic issues that I was previously feeling perplexed by and hopeless about. Family Constellation sessions with Barry have refreshed and illuminated my nervous system, psyche, and soul after years of agony, confusion, and fatigue.
I transitioned to online Family Constellation sessions with Barry in March after the stay-at-home orders in Illinois were implemented. I have experienced the same quality of profound depth, intuition, and healing through Family Constellation online sessions as I did in person. Barry is able to pick up on and address vibrational realities that he addresses in Family Constellation work regardless of physical distance. This further speaks to the healing that takes place on a fine vibrational field beyond physical limitations in Family Constellation sessions.
I am a psychotherapist in training. The clearing of my aura and psyche as a result of Family Constellation work has greatly improved my presence with my clients and significantly expanded on the positive changes I witness in them as a result. I have gained so much greater access to my deeply buried true nature as a result of this priceless work, and I will always be grateful to Barry."
-- L.A., Chicago, IL, Psychotherapist in training
I didn’t know what Family Constellations was initially. When I found out, I was a bit skeptical. But when I did it the first time, I was blown away. The amount of healing I was able to bring for myself, my family and my ancestors will forever change my life. Barry was solid. Grounded. Wise. And led me through numerous sessions over the course of the year. I will be forever grateful.
--Anonymous.
"For the first time in my life, I don't walk around laden with feelings of guilt for everything I did/do/say/think. For once I can look at myself and consider myself created just as God wanted to create me, not full of flaws that make me faulty, less than a real person, and a disappointment to God and other people.”
--R. P. Chicago, IL
"What I didn’t realize until I met Barry Krost is that the thing for which I was searching, the reason I was exhausting all available therapies, the piece of my life for which I was longing so terribly was within me. In my first session with Barry, he created a space for me so that I could feel what love is. “Do you feel that expansiveness? Right here,” he asked as he put his hand on my heart. “That is always there. You can have that whenever you want.”
Since then, Barry and I have had breakthroughs in every session. From children to career, to my theatrical life, to education, to cleaning, to math, to test taking, to childhood, to in-laws and grandparents, Barry has shown me through Family Constellations that we can find the root of whatever keeps us from moving forward. Never have I experienced a therapy or therapist so truthful, pure, and effective. I owe him more than I can express."
-- E. C., (Chicago, IL)
"It took me many years to attend a Family Constellation Workshop with Barry Krost. I tend to lean towards evidence-based interventions that are logical and pragmatic. Eventually I found this approach to be limiting, and my conventional strategies of psychotherapy and medication were not working. I felt stuck, in a rut, revisiting the same past hurts again and again and living a day-to-day life haunted by a pervasive anxiety and chronic pain. One day, I took a what-the-hell it's only $45 attitude, and figured at the very least it couldn't hurt.
I was completely blown away. This form of therapy is so much more holistic than anything that I have tried before, and I have done the gamut (CBT, EMDR, MBSR, somatic-emotional release, client-centered psychotherapy, internal family systems, etc.) Family Constellation Workshops are physical, kinesthetic, emotional, and spiritual work. I grew up in a less than supportive environment and I tend to be highly critical of myself, and often unfairly of others. The unconditional and unwavering support of this group was truly profound. The people in the workshop helped ground me in knowledge that I began to accept at an emotional level rather than superficial intellectual understanding.
To give an example, at one point I leaned back into a line of about seven women who were standing there with the sole purpose of supporting me. As my resistance and need to be in control finally began to soften, the woman behind me spontaneously began to hum like a mother does to a child. Almost immediately, I melted and I began to weep, not in the half choked sobs I am familiar with, but a gentle catharsis of grief I had been holding on to for years. I had held so many others up in times of pain, given when I had nothing left to give, and now I leaned back into the steady strength of a literal line of women and a symbolic lineage of mothers. Their wordless, selfless compassion registered in my body and soul and lifted me up. Barry intuited that I was rushing myself, ashamed of taking too much time... and he told me "take all the time you need. This is for you," and he whispered to the woman behind me "she's never had this before." He was right. For the first time I truly *felt* that I was not alone. I was supported, I was cherished, loved, and safe. In the sacredness of that space I was finally able to *receive* and I will carry it with me always.
-- E, (Madison, WI)
Barry is a well of knowledge in regards to the Family Constellation and systemic work. As a participant of one of his Online Groups, I was really impressed by his facilitating skills and approach and loved how the all session unfold in its perfect way. I greatly recommend working with him.
--Anonymous.
- J.B. San Antonio, TX
I have been receiving individual Family Constellation sessions from Barry for almost a year. Barry is gifted in accessing and directly attending to deep wounds and facilitating transformation at a soul level. I struggled with multiple layers of trauma for many years before receiving sessions with Barry. Very early on and in every session, I developed clarity and healing around complex traumatic issues that I was previously feeling perplexed by and hopeless about. Family Constellation sessions with Barry have refreshed and illuminated my nervous system, psyche, and soul after years of agony, confusion, and fatigue.
I transitioned to online Family Constellation sessions with Barry in March after the stay-at-home orders in Illinois were implemented. I have experienced the same quality of profound depth, intuition, and healing through Family Constellation online sessions as I did in person. Barry is able to pick up on and address vibrational realities that he addresses in Family Constellation work regardless of physical distance. This further speaks to the healing that takes place on a fine vibrational field beyond physical limitations in Family Constellation sessions.
I am a psychotherapist in training. The clearing of my aura and psyche as a result of Family Constellation work has greatly improved my presence with my clients and significantly expanded on the positive changes I witness in them as a result. I have gained so much greater access to my deeply buried true nature as a result of this priceless work, and I will always be grateful to Barry."
-- L.A., Chicago, IL, Psychotherapist in training
I didn’t know what Family Constellations was initially. When I found out, I was a bit skeptical. But when I did it the first time, I was blown away. The amount of healing I was able to bring for myself, my family and my ancestors will forever change my life. Barry was solid. Grounded. Wise. And led me through numerous sessions over the course of the year. I will be forever grateful.
--Anonymous.
"For the first time in my life, I don't walk around laden with feelings of guilt for everything I did/do/say/think. For once I can look at myself and consider myself created just as God wanted to create me, not full of flaws that make me faulty, less than a real person, and a disappointment to God and other people.”
--R. P. Chicago, IL
"What I didn’t realize until I met Barry Krost is that the thing for which I was searching, the reason I was exhausting all available therapies, the piece of my life for which I was longing so terribly was within me. In my first session with Barry, he created a space for me so that I could feel what love is. “Do you feel that expansiveness? Right here,” he asked as he put his hand on my heart. “That is always there. You can have that whenever you want.”
Since then, Barry and I have had breakthroughs in every session. From children to career, to my theatrical life, to education, to cleaning, to math, to test taking, to childhood, to in-laws and grandparents, Barry has shown me through Family Constellations that we can find the root of whatever keeps us from moving forward. Never have I experienced a therapy or therapist so truthful, pure, and effective. I owe him more than I can express."
-- E. C., (Chicago, IL)
"It took me many years to attend a Family Constellation Workshop with Barry Krost. I tend to lean towards evidence-based interventions that are logical and pragmatic. Eventually I found this approach to be limiting, and my conventional strategies of psychotherapy and medication were not working. I felt stuck, in a rut, revisiting the same past hurts again and again and living a day-to-day life haunted by a pervasive anxiety and chronic pain. One day, I took a what-the-hell it's only $45 attitude, and figured at the very least it couldn't hurt.
I was completely blown away. This form of therapy is so much more holistic than anything that I have tried before, and I have done the gamut (CBT, EMDR, MBSR, somatic-emotional release, client-centered psychotherapy, internal family systems, etc.) Family Constellation Workshops are physical, kinesthetic, emotional, and spiritual work. I grew up in a less than supportive environment and I tend to be highly critical of myself, and often unfairly of others. The unconditional and unwavering support of this group was truly profound. The people in the workshop helped ground me in knowledge that I began to accept at an emotional level rather than superficial intellectual understanding.
To give an example, at one point I leaned back into a line of about seven women who were standing there with the sole purpose of supporting me. As my resistance and need to be in control finally began to soften, the woman behind me spontaneously began to hum like a mother does to a child. Almost immediately, I melted and I began to weep, not in the half choked sobs I am familiar with, but a gentle catharsis of grief I had been holding on to for years. I had held so many others up in times of pain, given when I had nothing left to give, and now I leaned back into the steady strength of a literal line of women and a symbolic lineage of mothers. Their wordless, selfless compassion registered in my body and soul and lifted me up. Barry intuited that I was rushing myself, ashamed of taking too much time... and he told me "take all the time you need. This is for you," and he whispered to the woman behind me "she's never had this before." He was right. For the first time I truly *felt* that I was not alone. I was supported, I was cherished, loved, and safe. In the sacredness of that space I was finally able to *receive* and I will carry it with me always.
-- E, (Madison, WI)
Barry is a well of knowledge in regards to the Family Constellation and systemic work. As a participant of one of his Online Groups, I was really impressed by his facilitating skills and approach and loved how the all session unfold in its perfect way. I greatly recommend working with him.
--Anonymous.