THE CONSTELLATION APPROACH. Jamy Faust

carry an almost instinctive distrust or resistance to any consideration, or even discussion of soul—the reality of what comes before conception/birth and after death. These are topics which cannot be reasonably discussed in any meetings or publications of therapists that adhere to the current professional paradigm.

      My own work as a psychologist exploring different states and dimensions of consciousness in psychotherapy found a strong resonance with Hellinger’s teachings, although I came to my work from a different direction and with a different methodology. In addition, the Fausts credit the body-oriented work of Barbara Brennan with subtle energy-fields as another of the sources of their uniquely synthesized Constellation Approach. All of these approaches, including Jamy and Peter’s own application, recognize the primacy of perception over theory. The subtle energy-fields that both reflect and express our inner states can be felt and perceived, and as Hellinger continually emphasizes, his approach is phenomenological—i.e. based on perception not on theoretical speculations about inner complexes and the like.

      I especially appreciate how Jamy and Peter incorporate in their Constellation Approach “statements of empowerment.” “Statements of empowerment” are one of the strongest and most effective innovations that Hellinger introduced into the practice of family therapy. Most forms of therapy use various derivations or forms of questioning to elicit inner hidden feelings and perceptions in the client or patient. In the approach that Hellinger pioneered and that the Fausts use to great effect, the client may be asked or prompted to make what are called “statements or words of empowerment” to another member of their family system, or to that other member’s “representative.” The statements are empowering because they express the actual innermost truth of a situation or relationship from the perspective of soul, a perspective that never wavers from the truth, without defense or pretense.

      Such statements of course cannot be faked. They must be true for that individual in that situation or relationship. It is part of the skill and intuitive insight of the therapist in those situations to find the statement that exactly expresses that truth. In the case descriptions included in this book, the reader will find several examples of individual clients relating how their empowerment statements liberated them from longstanding patterns of disconnect and negativity. Jamy and Peter are to be congratulated for their clear-sighted and warm-hearted presentation of this profound work of healing.

      Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.

      Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Integral Studies

      Author of The Unfolding Self and The Well of Remembrance

       An Introduction

      Finding Peace through

      Your Family Lineage

      One person can influence their family, one family can influence another, then another, then ten, one hundred, one thousand more, and the whole of humanity will benefit.

      —Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

      There is a path that leads to inner peace. It is through your family lineage. Humanity’s movement towards peace begins one person at a time, one family at a time. We each desire peace for ourselves, our species, and our planet. Our collective progression towards peace, though, begins with each one of us. It begins with our desire for peace and our willingness to embrace the spirits of our mothers and fathers to gain understanding and compassion.

      In order to evolve your consciousness and experience inner peace, first acknowledge that peace begins in the home, with the self, and with your family lineage. Think of it this way: Each of us is the continuation of our respective mothers and fathers, of our respective family lineage, and all that has occurred by and to our ancestors. Many of our internal conflicts were handed to us in the form of unconscious beliefs. To begin a path towards peace, we need to look no further than the circumstances of our own birth to find the conflicts that have not been resolved. Our outer struggles as adults have roots in the conflicts of our developmental years and even the choices made before birth.

      The journey towards peace is not easy, but what we are offering you is a distinct path that can help you navigate your way. The Constellation Approach (TCA) is a stirring journey towards reconciliation and wholeness that offers an array of means to face these great battles, and ultimately to make amends and come to peace. The Constellation Approach is also a lifelong process that deepens as it is practiced.

      As human beings we are here to evolve our personal consciousness and contribute to the evolution of our family’s consciousness. The steps we take ultimately contribute to the evolution of the vast pool of human consciousness. The Constellation Approach is a path to exploring your family lineage, experiencing your Soul nature, and coming to peace with the masculine and feminine energies within and all around you.

      As a wife-husband team who has worked with hundreds of people with their familial relationships, we have noticed something. We’ve noticed that people come to us because they know that to arrive at lasting peace requires going beyond talk, analysis, and rehashing family stories. It requires moving into the Soul of their family lineage.

      A Continuation of Healing Traditions

      Like everyone, the two of us could say our spiritual journey began with our birth or perhaps, as we have come to believe, before our physical birth. After a decade each working as healers, our path began to crystallize when we discovered the teachings and philosophy of Bert Hellinger. Hellinger is an engaging German psychotherapist and philosopher who innovated the therapeutic method known as Family Constellations. Family Constellations reveal hidden dynamics in a family system or relationships so that conflicts can be acknowledged truthfully and healed. These dynamics typically span multiple generations. Hundreds of professional practitioners across the globe have applied Bert Hellinger’s insights to a broad range of issues.

      Our own experiences and trainings with Hellinger opened each of us up to a new path in our own healing and, ultimately, to helping our families and community. At first, we had no idea what we were getting into, but Hellinger’s constellation method changed every aspect of our lives.

      Our earlier education in healing began with Barbara Brennan, the renowned spiritual healer, physicist, and pioneer in the field of energy healing. Her work offered us the opportunity to observe the Human Energy Field and taught us how to see the healing process in a new way. She also gave us an energy-based framework to comprehend, facilitate, and ultimately teach what has evolved into the Constellation Approach. But it was Bert Hellinger, who later taught us about personal healing through the family lineage, and how to observe family members from a place of non-judgment. He showed us ways to enter the healing process through the frame of the Family Soul, enabling us to work within a larger energy template.

      A third important influence on our healing work was the teachings of Dr. Ralph Metzner, a multi-talented psychotherapist, writer, poet, and researcher. Dr. Metzner is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. When we began working with him, he shared his view of the journey of the human Soul and how it relates to the family we choose to be born into. He expanded our awareness of self immensely beyond the conscious mind into the level of Soul. Through those experiences of Soul consciousness, we were able to understand that Family Constellations not only offer a path to emotional and psychological healing but they also provide a lens into the Soul agreements that are made with parents, siblings, and ancestors. This awareness, once experienced and integrated, transcends the personality’s attachments to pain and suffering, shedding new light on why events and circumstances may have occurred in our lives.

      The Constellation Approach teachings braid together the seminal, innovative work of these three pivotal teachers—Hellinger, Brennan, and Metzner—to whom we are deeply grateful. Hellinger has often described his work “phenomenological,” meaning, “results can be observed [but one can’t fully understand how it is happening].” This book, in part, is our attempt to explain, “how it is happening”—the movement that transpires in a Constellation, how healing occurs, and the necessary skills one needs in order to master this healing