Shadow Constellation
FAMILY CONSTELLATION
Family Constellation is a therapeutic method developed by Bert Hellinger, a German psychotherapist and former priest. It is a powerful approach to understanding hidden dynamics in family systems that unconsciously affect our lives, health, and relationships.
What Is Family Constellation?
Core Idea: Each person belongs to a “family system” that carries an invisible energy field and memory. Unresolved traumas, guilt, or entanglements (such as excluded members, early deaths, abortions, war trauma, or injustices) can pass unconsciously through generations.
How It Works: In a Family Constellation session, the client selects people (or objects) to represent family members and places them in a physical space. Through movements, body sensations, and emotions of these representatives, hidden patterns are revealed.
Goal: To bring unconscious entanglements to light, allowing the client to acknowledge and honour them with love and respect. This process often leads to healing, release, and personal freedom.
Key Principles by Hellinger:
- Belonging: Everyone in the family system has a right to belong.
- Order: A natural hierarchy exists (parents before children, earlier partners before later ones).
- Balance: Healthy relationships rely on a balance of giving and receiving.
Bert Hellinger’s Wisdom: Healing happens when we acknowledge what is, without judgment, restoring the natural flow of love in the system.
Ways to Experience It:
- Group Session: Other participants stand in as representatives.
- One-on-One Session: Figurines, mats, or paper are used for representation.
A Typical Session:
- The Setting: Small group circle or private session.
- Starting Point: The facilitator asks, “What issue would you like to look at?” without diving deep into personal history.
- Setting Up: Representatives are placed intuitively. They tune into the energy field and respond without being told how to act.
- Observing the Field: Movements, sensations, or statements emerge spontaneously.
- Healing Movements: Facilitator suggests sentences such as:
- “I honour your fate.”
- “You are the big one, and I am the small one.”
- “I carry it for you out of love—but now I give it back.”
- Resolution: Energy shifts, tears or relief may arise, and the client may feel peace.
- After the Session: Let the constellation integrate naturally over time. No need to mentally process it.
Emotional Experience:
- Mysterious, deeply emotional, and grounding.
- Often surprising as hidden burdens are revealed.
Quote from Hellinger: “Love is the most powerful force, but it must flow correctly through the family system.”
What Is Shadow Constellation?
Shadow Constellation is a method that:
- Uses the constellation format to explore inner dynamics — not just family ones.
- Maps the inner world: you might set up parts like “My Fear,” “My Inner Child,” “My Rage,” or “My Saboteur.”
- Allows you to externalize the denied or fragmented parts of your psyche, so you can face them with compassion and integration.
Example of a Shadow Constellation Session:
A client is always sabotaging their success. In the session, the facilitator might set up:
- The Client (Self)
- “The Saboteur”
- “The Fear of Being Seen”
- “The Critical Parent Voice”
- “Inner Child Who Wants to Be Loved”
Each is placed like a representative on the field. As these elements interact, truths emerge — perhaps the Saboteur is trying to protect the Inner Child from rejection.
With support, the client can:
- Acknowledge the pain behind the sabotage.
- Give the Saboteur a new role.
- Reclaim power and clarity.
Why Use Shadow Constellations?
- For deep inner healing, beyond family issues.
- To work with trauma, inner conflict, addiction, anxiety, self-sabotage.
- To integrate polarities: light and dark, good and bad, strength and vulnerability.The
Healing Impact:
- Greater self-awareness.
- Less judgment and more compassion toward yourself and others.
- Reclaiming of lost energy, creativity, and vitality.
- Break free from unconscious patterns.
Origin and Influence
Though Bert Hellinger didn’t formally develop “Shadow Constellation” as a method, his work influenced many who merged Family Constellations with Jungian shadow work.
Facilitators like Jirina Prekop, Franz Ruppert, and Albrecht Mahr evolved these approaches further, combining trauma constellations with shadow aspects.
Nir Esterman
Nir Esterman is a teacher and facilitator specializing in Family and Systemic Constellations, Embodied Shadow Work, and Bodywork. As the developer of Shadow Constellations, he teaches these transformative practices both in-person and online around the world.
A prominent speaker at international online conferences, Nir works primarily with therapists and facilitators of various modalities, helping them integrate these powerful tools into their own work. He is a dedicated staff member of the Constellation Way School of Systemic Constellations, the Virtual Trauma University, and the Embodiment Facilitator Course (EFC) in Russia.
Nir holds a Master’s degree in Science Teaching, focusing on interdisciplinary learning, and a Bachelor’s in Bioinformatics. His extensive background enhances his ability to bridge science with transformative healing practices.
Dr. Anu Mehta is India’s first International Trainer in META-Health, EFT, Matrix Reimprinting, and Advanced Clearing Energetics. With over 20 years of experience in healing, she has empowered countless individuals worldwide in achieving emotional and physical transformation.
A visionary leader, Dr. Mehta is the Head of the India and serves as a Board Member for META-Health International. She is a passionate advocate for Sound Therapy, Family Constellation, and Shadow Healing, integrating these modalities into her transformative work.
Dr. Mehta will host Nir Esterman, an expert in Family and Shadow Constellations, this November in Mumbai, where Nir will lead a profound Shadow Constellation workshop for deep healing and integration
Dr. Anu Mehta
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