Movement, resonance and accuracy in constellations. A fragment of my theory of constellation work
This article was published in ‘Praxis der Systemaufstellung – Beiträge zu Lösungen in Familien und Organisationen’ (Journal of the German Society for System Constellations, DGfS, issue 2/2014).
Preliminary remark
I refer here to phenomenologically facilitated constellations because this is the only method I know from my own practice. Phenomenological’ means that I take as reality what I perceive in my encounters with clients, in the constellation and in myself (e.g. bodily sensations, emotions and thoughts). In concrete constellation work, I follow this perception without considering further concepts (such as ‘solution’, ‘body, mind, soul’ or ‘structure’). It leads me and all the other participants to where and as far as is possible and appropriate at that moment.
Movement in constellations
Now to the point: constellations show movement. This applies to the constellation of relationship systems (‘me and the others’) as well as to the constellation of one’s own life stages in the Life Integration Process (LIP) according to Wilfried Nelles (‘me and my younger self’). In both cases, the visible or perceptible movements are strictly related to the person who brings the issue as a client. In their totality they represent something like the crystallisation core of a resonance field. Luckily resonance is a very broad term. I use it here to refer to all human possibilities of participating in information through resonance. Obviously not only our anatomically defined sensory organs are capable of this, but our body as a whole. This ability to resonate is used by the ‘constellation facilitator’, the ‘representatives’, the ‘observers’ and the person undergoing the constellation. We call this process ‘vicarious perception’. Common models for this, such as the ‘field of knowledge’, ‘morphogenetic field’ or ‘quantum field’, also describe resonance phenomena in my view, but in different conceptual categories.
Physical impulses, emotions, thoughts, ideas and insights arise in all participants from the resonance field of the constellation. The truth of the present moment flashes out of this field. Each participant encounters the truth of their own present moment. This means that as a client in a constellation you see yourself in the aspects and relationships that are currently relevant. You only see yourself or your own reality. Nothing else is revealed in a constellation. More on the implications of this below.
Constellations draw their energy from suspended motion, from states that have not yet relaxed. The tension in them is the fuel of the constellation. In everyday life we often experience this tension as psychological stress which manifests itself in the veiled form of a problem or symptom. As the suspended movement begins to flow in a constellation, it is accompanied by contact with the original pain that caused the movement to be suspended in the first place. It flows away with the movement and the tension is released as much as possible. Movement in a constellation can only unfold to the extent that it takes place in the person setting up the constellation, in the client. The constellation is a mirror of both their current relationship system and their inner physical and conscious states. When a movement has been allowed to flow to relaxation, there is no more pain. The tension is gone. Constellations on themes without the tension of a held movement therefore have no energy. With a purely intellectual urge to explore, for example in cases where the issue is part of a symptom and a distraction, constellations seem to remain unproductive.
An everyday example of movement in constellation work would be a man in his fifties constellating his family of origin. His constellation reveals the dynamics of his present moment. Through the representatives we can see where he still has attachments to the past, where movements have been stopped and are under tension (entanglements, identifications, loyalties arising from unconscious attachments or whatever you want to call it). You cannot see what was ‘really’ going on in his life back then. No one has reliable access to that, not even he. Constellations are not factual reports, but expressions of current inner attachments, tensions and movements.
Phenomenology and precision
Constellations can therefore be very imprecise and at the same time reliably precise. How can this be? The precision of constellations lies in their highly significant representation of the present moment and its inner dynamics in relation to the client who has set up the constellation. Prior to the constellation, the client has expressed their relevant attachments (held movements) as their concern, to the extent that they were aware of them. These have taken the form of a problem or symptom for them. The tension within this now determines the unfolding and direction of the constellation. It provides an accurate and reliable ‘script’. As a constellation facilitator, the more you allow yourself to be guided by the phenomena themselves and the less you cling to other concepts, the more you benefit from this precision in representing the present. In this respect, the phenomenological approach and precision in constellation work are directly related.
Of course, our model client, the man in his fifties, also shows signs from his history with his family of origin which still cause certain patterns to persist and the resulting tensions within him. These clues are often associated with an extreme or prolonged threat, resulting in trauma. Following Peter A. Levine, I define trauma as a self-entrenched survival pattern that has not yet been able to release the ‘frozen’ survival forces of the past. The representation of such clues, such as an unapproachable father, an abusive mother or dramatic war events experienced by grandparents, remains vague in the constellation. It is not the facts themselves that are the focus of the constellation, but the current relationship to them. What is clearly depicted is the client’s current relationship to their inner representation of their father, mother and the war events of the past.
Constellations are not about the past. They sometimes give that impression if someone is still very attached to the past, but don’t be fooled: constellations deal exclusively with the present. Constellations focus on how we deal with the threats of the past, the facts, events and stories that still burden us today because of the way we deal with them. The facts, events and stories themselves are neither the problem nor the goal of a constellation. The problems and symptoms of our example client arise solely and exclusively from the way he deals with the facts, events and stories of the past.
Now and then
A constellation shows our present relationship to our past and present, nothing else. It is therefore not very promising to use constellations to uncover family secrets or lost information in the sense of factual reports. Anyone who tries to do this is falling prey to childish curiosity. This may be entertaining, but as a constellation facilitator you run the risk of further tying your clients to their threatening past. By searching for ‘facts’ you methodically reinforce the problem trance of the past instead of showing them the safety of the present. Opening to the present is the whole solution. However, opening up to the present does not seem to be something that can be achieved by an act of will, otherwise we would not need constellations. So let us continue to look at how movement behaves in constellations.
Movement in constellations can only unfold to the extent that the ‘constellation facilitator’, i.e. the person holding the resonance field in the sense of ‘holding space’, allows it to happen internally. The resonance field of the constellation prevents movements that the ‘constellation facilitator’ internally rejects. This is no different in constellations than in other counselling or therapeutic settings: sometimes the client’s concern resonates with a ‘stopped movement’, i.e. a pain in the self of the ‘constellation facilitator’. If they cannot allow this to happen, but have to avoid it because it hurts too much or frightens them too much, or because they do not even notice it due to lack of experience, then their limited ability to resonate inhibits the constellation field and also limits it. Of course, over time, the inner space of the ‘constellation facilitator’ can expand through the movements of the resonance field, if they are open to it. Their own ‘stopped movement’ can begin to flow and relax. This stimulates their own inner processes as well as those of their clients. This dynamic makes constellation work an ever new and challenging gift for me and an infinite field of growth for all involved.
Resonances
How do we deal with the current system of suspended motion as it appears in constellations? Is it part of our work as constellators to resolve ‘suspended movements’ once they have been identified? I am often asked this question, usually in the context of ‘solution orientation’. I am sceptical about this. I do not feel that I have the right to deliberately intervene in a stuck movement, as if I were knocking away the block at the launch of a ship, and thus making a ‘targeted’ intervention in my client’s physical and emotional system. You can ‘disturb’ a system, but you cannot control it. From a systems theory perspective, constellations can be very powerful ‘perturbations’ but you cannot influence how these perturbations play out. A client’s physical and mental system may find a more relaxed balance as essential movements that have been held back begin to flow, but no one knows in advance what these movements will be or where they will lead. So I do not look for a ‘solution’ but simply follow the movement as far and as long as it wants to flow. I use it as a guide. If it does not want to flow, I stay where it stops to give the client the opportunity to absorb this. Then I end the constellation. I trust in the precision of what appears in the resonance field of the constellation.
A movement that has stopped and does not want to flow is not at the end of its possibilities. Sometimes representatives show certain states with great intensity, indicating fear of death, humiliation, powerlessness, abuse or other existential threats. They show particularly rigid movements. The most common ones I encounter are the ‘interrupted movement towards’ the mother/father, the flight/fight movement frozen in trauma, or the movement into adult freedom held back by unconscious attachment love. The challenge for me as a ‘constellation facilitator’ is to recognise and acknowledge the stuck movement in such states. There is nothing I can do except look with an open heart and encourage my clients to do the same. Every movement that is held back, no matter how hard, including every state of intense suffering, holds the possibility of gradually loosening and flowing. But it needs space to do so.
Wilfried Nelles calls this the ‘potential of movement’ (Sommerakademie Nettersheim 2014, verbal statement). This potential only unfolds when you allow the stopped movement to come to you as it is and simply wait without intervening. Waiting without intervening and without turning away seems to open up a ‘space of possibilities’ in which even threatening situations can relax into flowing movement. As soon as this happens, as soon as the tension that has often been maintained for years or decades is allowed to release, the movement itself begins to change. It is only then that what else existed alongside the threat at the time can become apparent. Often the previously hidden flip side emerges: the success of one’s own handling of the threat at the time. This can reveal powerful resources, such as intact vitality, helpful supporters, special skills, or one’s own strength and greatness, which had not been noticed before.
To summarise my observations: For me, phenomenologically facilitated constellations are a resonance phenomenon which enables clients to see themselves like in a mirror that expands their everyday consciousness. Constellations show with great accuracy the present state of a person or their relationship system and the attachments to the past that are currently active. They do not show the past itself. Constellations make it possible to perceive which movements have been held back and are waiting to be released and which may be ready to flow at that moment.
In order to further develop the immense potential of constellation work for myself and my clients, I find it useful to make a clear distinction between the safe present and the past that is experienced as threatening. This requires that all participants maintain a reasonably stable contact with the present, at least for the duration of the constellation. For me as a facilitator, this amounts to a rather withdrawn attitude and a sense of relief: an inner non-doing. It is my responsibility to distinguish between the present and the past, to support the clients in their contact with the present moment and to stop when this contact becomes fragile. This is where my action lies. The rest is non-doing.
