Family Constellations?
What are Family Constellations?
Family Constellations are a transgenerational and systemic therapeutic method developed in the 1990s by German psychoanalyst Bert Hellinger.
This method helps us bring hidden family patterns to light, so we can better understand how unresolved conflicts and traumas — personal, collective, or ancestral — continue to influence our lives.
Through this process, unconscious identifications with family members are revealed. We begin to see clearly the patterns that shape us, allowing us to release old entanglements and step into harmony with ourselves, here and now.
By externalising elements of our family system, we can witness the invisible becoming visible. This gentle yet powerful approach helps us uncover the roots of our difficulties and transform inherited stories into opportunities for healing.
“There is only one way to know where to go: follow the fear. Only it can show the way. Fleeing from what frightens you only leads you further from what you seek. If you are afraid to face this person or situation, that is where the knot lies. And if you meet it with courage, it will give you the keys to your freedom. The greatest treasures are always guarded by the fiercest dragon — and to reach them, you must embrace the dragon itself.”
- Bert Hellinger -
“Family Constellations: where the unseen becomes visible, and healing begins."
- Myriam Chabanel -
Systemic and Somatic Family Constellations
Our nervous system is like a living hard drive. It carries information across generations, storing the memory of the traumas experienced by our ancestors. With each generation, these traumatic imprints can grow heavier, sometimes reaching back four, five, or even six generations.
This means that our family system is vast — a unity where the living and the dead remain deeply connected. When we take into account parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and beyond, we are linked to at least 126 people who form part of our family field.
As Françoise Dolto, French paediatrician and psychoanalyst, wrote:
“What is silent in the first generation, the second carries in the body.”
“What is silent in the first generation, the second carries in the body.”
This is true for everything we go through but are unable or unready to heal in our own lives.
When Hidden Stories Live Within Us
The impact of unhealed trauma can appear in many different areas of life:
- Relationship difficulties (separations, recurring conflicts)
- Family tensions (births, parent–child dynamics, sibling relationships)
- Unresolved grief (miscarriages, tragic deaths, abortions, suicides)
- Behavioural or emotional struggles (low self-esteem, anxiety, eating or sleep disorders, addictions, chronic pain, unexplained symptoms, fears)
- Inherited burdens (family traumas, secrets, wars, accidents, bankruptcies, betrayals, incest)
What remains hidden in one generation — unspoken grief, uncried tears, shame, silence, or unconscious loyalties — often weighs heavily on those who follow. This can block our life energy, leaving us frozen or stuck for years, sometimes for generations. At other times, it may show up as constant alertness or inner tension, where rest feels impossible.
From this perspective, the connection between illness and family secrets becomes clear. We are part of a larger whole, interwoven with many bonds, and what we experience as suffering in the present often belongs to a story far greater than our own.
How Family Constellations Bring Healing
Illness, discomfort, or repeating patterns can be seen as invitations — a call to bring hidden family conflicts into the light. Even though these traumas belong to the past, healing can only take place in the present, through the movement of the soul. Our body and nervous system live only in the here and now.
Family Constellations allow us to quickly uncover the root of a blockage or unease, whether inherited or rooted in our own life experiences. By bringing clarity, we can break negative cycles that have been passed down and reclaim our rightful place and freedom of action.
Once the trauma is recognised and restored to its rightful context within the natural order, Somatic work provides a safe space for release. This may include letting go of tension, restoring smooth breathing, feeling safe in the body, opening to new directions, and stepping into greater ease in our relationships and social connections.
A Simple and Effective Path
This approach is both surprisingly simple and deeply effective. It helps restore a sense of safety, fluidity, and clarity, allowing us to move forward with lightness and renewed inner strength.