FAMILY & HUMAN SYSTEMS CONSTELLATION
FOR PAIN
After a brief conversation with a colleague about the application of Family & Human Systems for persons with chronic/intractable pain, it seemed appropriate to share some observations.
First, my training in Family & Human Systems Constellation ran concurrent with my early employment at an Alternative Health clinic. An Osteopath, acupuncturist, massage therapists, and Physical Therapists were all on staff. I had experience in Medical Social Service, health education, and community based human service programs, and provided Neuro-feedback under the direction of the D.O., who frequently worked with “pain patients”. (The Osteopath and I began providing Constellation workshops, moved in part by what we observed could happen with patients who had pain.)
In Systems Constellations we see that the physical pain may at times actually have roots in some incident, trauma, or experience, even generations ago. Some individuals seem to be “stuck” in inexplicable pain…(no injury, no visible causation, but consistent report of pain despite the persistence and expertise of accomplished providers).
In one instance, a woman with remarkable scoliosis and pain did a family constellation, which seemed to create great resolve. Seeing her several months later, it was obvious that her spine had straightened considerable. When I spoke with her she indicated that for several weeks she experienced consistent “popping” in her spine. Apparently, the generational stress had constricted her muscles consistently, to the point that her back was continually pulled severely out of alignment. In this instance, although it would never have been presented as a possibility, the resolution of issues in her family system had a positive impact on both her history of pain, and her physical structure.
One instance of persistent asthma was resolved when an ancestor who had drowned was honored. The family had been so traumatized by the death that the individual had been “forgotten”. The asthmatic individual had been honoring an ancestor by continually gasping for breath. Shortly after the constellation was done, the symptoms resolved.
Physical medicine is one field where the practitioners are consistently confronted with the mystery of pain. In Constellation work, what we see is that physical (and emotional) pain, may at times reflect a sort of misunderstood family contract. We have a loyalty at the level of the soul to our parents, grandparents, and beyond. If we have experienced a sibling death as a child, at the level of the soul we may make an agreement with that dead child, not to enjoy life. We agree to die as well, in some respect. In making that unspoken agreement, we forfeit healthy relationships, prosperity, comfort, and even joy.
There are a surprising number of situations/traumas that mistakenly become a soul’s commitment to “stay” with the dead, or the lost, compelling us to sacrifice any type of success or peace…requiring us to live in pain.
In this powerful phenomenological work, the specific dynamic is identified, and that impulse is interrupted. This happens in a way that strengthens the individual doing their own work, and actually seems to bring a peace to the “field” of trauma.
The somatic, (the body sensations), is one of the most definitive ways in which the soul is able to have unhindered expression. It is common to see the body expressing a truth that an individual is not able to state at a cognitive level. Many clients report that they are not stressed, and yet they may have neck pain, back pain, headaches, insomnia, heart palpitations, constricted breathing, and bowel dysfunctions.
Systems Constellation Work is somewhat akin to acupuncture. The flow of love in a family, or the flow of health in a system is “blocked” by some fragment of family history, or some personal trauma. The specific place in which the energy is interrupted is identified in the interview with the facilitator. The key individuals are identified and placed in a constellation.
Then, with movements of the soul, and subtle direction from the facilitator, (much like the subtle application of needles in acupuncture) the area is stimulated, and a movement begins in the system. Some individuals have had improvements consistently reported in their family system, or personal relationships for months, or even years after one constellation.
As with all healing, stepping into the field of possibility is not for the faint of heart.
But, I have seen something gentle in this profoundly transformative work.
Walk Well,
-Francesca Mason Boring
All My Relations Constellations
www.allmyrelationsconstellations.com
Copyright: Francesca Mason Boring 2003
