I am about to enjoy a holiday for a couple of weeks. So before I go I would
like to say I really appreciated LoVina Louie's open hearted post about
American Indians & Australian Aboriginals. I hope it stimulates further thought
and discussion.
Secondly I would like to thank people who have given me helpful feedback about
the constellation I posted recently about a woman who was having trouble
dealing with her obesity. I only wish that those who gave helpful advice to me
privately would share it with the group.
Libby Nottle, who facilitated the larger part of this constellation,
communicated to me the following extra information about it (see below for the
original):
The little sister was quite distressed when the representative for her sister
left and needed reassurance until the new representative was in place and the
energy of the group was distracted to the distressed representative. The group
energy needed some refocussing and collecting before the constellation could
continue.
I appreciate Anne Marie's comments also. She suggests that for: safety of
participants, that facilitators have updated qualifications in first aid, if
they are not medical practitioners or nurses.
Anne Marie is in good company here. Gunthard Weber, who is one of the
co-authors of Hellinger's seminal work in English - Love's Hidden Symmetry -
says the following, in an article about organisational constellations:
The constellation work is a highly effective and impactful method, and thus
requires an especially attentive attitude and sufficient prior experience. Even
if organizational constellations are not as moving, emotional processes are
still set in motion, although these are less powerful than in family
constellations. Once and a while it can lead to intense emotional reactions and
stressful experiences - for the representatives as well as for the clients.
Those who want to offer constellation seminars should therefore know how to
deal with, for example, fainting or circulatory problems, hyperventilation,
asthma or migraine attacks, suicide danger, abrupt withdrawals from the group
and emotional escalations (for instance, panic attacks, crying fits, etc.). I
don't want to create fear, and I want to remind you to be equipped for such
situations. Recently a colleague of mine came into one of my supervision
workshops. During a workshop of hers a participant had developed a heart
attack. The first distinct physical symptoms were wrongly interpreted by the
facilitator and by the participant as the after-effect of a constellation, in
which the participant had stood in a very stressful place.
The full article can be found at:
http://www.human-systems-institute.com/ELSCIE/artshow.php?articleid=5
I am sure there could be much more worth discussing here, regarding the issues
raised by this constellation which are outlined in the beginning of the
original message below.
Anyway I am off to find Nemo, in Australia's tropical north..
So see you in 2 weeks.
hasta la vista
Chris Walsh
An Australian Constellation Website:
www.constellationflow.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Walsh
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, 11 September 2003 9:48 PM
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] obesity constellation
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.
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 role 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
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