The following constellation raises issues of:
1. Safety for representatives
· With distress & chest pain which could have been a heart attack.
· With communication in a second language.
2 Holding the group when a crisis occurs in the constellation.
3 The practice of replacing a representative.
4 Displacement of symptoms from one representative (the sister) to
another (Mary).
(False names are used and the people discussed have both given their permission
for me to publish this experience.)
Mary asked to do a constellation regarding her issue of obesity. She was
clearly distressed about this issue. Firstly she could not control her eating
and secondly she could not accept her obesity. After an interview by myself
and Libby Nottle, we decided to set up one representative for Mary and another
representative for nourishment. The representative for Mary(Carmen) had not
been a representative before. She only had basic English language skills, her
first language being Spanish. Mary asked to do a constellation regarding her
issue of obesity.
Libby began facilitating the constellation. As it progressed, it became clear
that the representative for nourishment was moving like a little girl. I asked
Mary if she had a younger sister. She said "yes". The representative for
nourishment stated it was very clear that she was in fact the sister. Once
this was affirmed Mary's representative immediately became very distressed and
started speaking Spanish. Fortunately as I'm able to speak Spanish I was able
to get a history from her. She was complaining of a heavy chest pain, which
was consistent with the pain people get with angina or heart attack. So I
removed her from the constellation and attended to her distress and pain. At
the same time Libby selected an experienced participant to take over the role
of Mary's representative and continued on facilitating the constellation.
Very soon after Carmen was removed from the roll as Mary's representative her
chest pain and distress disappeared. I reported this back to the group as soon
as possible so that they would not be distracted by their concerns for Carmen.
When the new representative took that position in the constellation, she
started to experience quite severe pain in her throat. At this point Mary
volunteered that her younger sister had almost died from swallowing turpentine
when she was only a toddler. Mary felt responsible for her younger sister at
the time this occurred. Mary brought her sister's plight to the attention of
their mother who then took her sister to hospital where she was treated. As
soon as this was mentioned, the symptoms experienced by Mary's representative
started to settle. It became clear that Mary was carrying the physical pain
and the fear of death for her sister. A representative for the mother was
introduced and the constellation eventually reached a good resolution.
As the constellation proceeded Carmen returned to the holding circle. After
the constellation, she reported that when she had to leave the constellation
she felt weak for leaving and ashamed of this weakness. This however settled
as she was reassured and brought back into the holding circle. Mary reported
this feeling of weakness and the shame about this weakness were feelings she
had struggled with for a large part of her life.
Since the constellation Mary reports that she has much less craving for sweet
food, her chronic feeling of depression has lifted & the world literally looks
as if it has more light in it. She also states she feels a sense of inner peace
that she had never experienced before. Carmen reports that she is much more
aware of the cost to herself and others of continually taking on other people's
suffering, something she has done for most of her life.
I would be interested to hear anyone's comments or related experiences in
regard to this constellation & the issues it raises
hasta la vista
Chris Walsh
An Australian Constellation Website:
www.constellationflow.com
