Hi Doug,
What a creative idea! This was indeed an interesting experiment which intrigues
me because I too work with the Playskool figures in Individual constellations.
A further progression of this experiment might have been to allow the
representatives to "follow their movements" if so inclined. My hypothesis is
that in the elapsed time from the first constellation there might already have
been some further movements. Did you sense any inclinations for this?
Annie Block Pearl, M.S.
New York, New York, USA
www.annieblockpearl.com
-- In ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Dawn & Doug Smith" <family.tree@...>
wrote:
Dear Chris, I had been encouraging my client to attend my family
constellation workshop which was only a couple of weeks away as an
introduction to live constellation work rather than going ahead immediately
with a doll constellation on an issue that she was very urgent about. My
sense was that she was ready to constellate the issue and she was familiar
with working with the dolls because she had done a doll constellation with
me about three years previous on a different issue and that had been very
useful for her. I went with the client's urgency and constellated her issue
using the dolls in a private therapy session. This went well, but I thought
the impact of seeing this work live would be even more useful. Having the
understanding that we don't re-do (re-constellate) the same issue, I
suggested that the client come to the workshop and that with her permission,
I bring the photo of the resolution constellation with the dolls and that we
could set that up live so she could both see it live and then stand in her
place to experience it live. She agreed to this proposition with the
additional offer on her part of supporting my workshop and the others
attending by being an active participant,which was helpful to me to achieve
a good sized group to work with.
Her energy to set up her resolution constellation was strong on the day and
it has a completely authentic feel within the workshop. I explained the
previous work that had been done privately in my clinic using the dolls to
the group. I then set up the resolution constellation with the dolls in the
centre of the group on the floor using the photo to ensure I chose the same
colour dolls and the same order was reproduced. I asked my client would she
like me to choose the live representative and to just set it up. She said
that she would like to choose the reps and have me place them. I placed the
people by pointing to the place they should stand rather than placing them
as a seeker does in the beginning of a constellation. Having set up the
resolution constellation I interviewed the representatives while my client
witnessed from her chair in the holding circle. The representatives comments
affirmed what a complete resolution had been reached using the dolls but
added an element of hearing the experience of each rep as they stood in
their places. I invited my client to then stand in her place in the
constellation. This had a profoundly deepening effect for her to the
resolution.
There were some very positive outcomes from this experiment.(I call this an
experiment because I had not done this or never witnessed setting up a
resolution with dolls to a live situation before, and I thought this was
authentically following the principle of not re-constellating the same
issue). For the people in the group who were new to constellation work it
served as a sort of warm up experience without all of the more stressful
stages of a constellation. For me it allowed me to follow an idea that
seemed really authentic and to validate it by testing in a live workshop
situation. I am feeling confident to do something similar in the future if
the need arises because I quite often use doll constellations with my
clients in private therapy sessions. For the group, the woman entered into
the workshop as a member and she represented in other constellations very
fully. I hope this is useful information and I would like to hear from
others their comments and experiences if they have done anything similar.
Doug Smith, Melbourne
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