Systemic and Family Constellations
A relational, field-based approach to healing trauma, restoring belonging, and supporting intergenerational repair
Systemic and Family Constellations are phenomenological and relational practices that reveal how invisible loyalties, unresolved trauma, exclusions, and disruptions in belonging continue to shape individuals, families, organizations, and communities across generations.
At their core, constellations rest on a simple but profound systemic truth articulated by Bert Hellinger:
“What has not been seen, honored, mourned, or integrated in a system does not disappear; it seeks expression through later generations—often through symptoms, relationship struggles, health challenges, or repeated life patterns.”
We do not live as isolated individuals.
We live within living systems, shaped by histories that often operate beyond conscious awareness.
The Fields That Hold Us
Many wisdom traditions, along with observations from biology and systems thinking, suggest that life is organized through patterns of relationship that extend beyond what we can see. In Family Constellations, we work with what is often called the knowing field or morphogenetic field, an unseen field of relationship, memory, and belonging that connects us with our family, our ancestors, and the generations yet to come.
The concept of morphogenetic fields was introduced by biologist Rupert Sheldrake to describe the invisible organizing patterns that shape living systems. Just as an acorn unfolds according to the inherent pattern of an oak tree, or a flock of birds moves together with remarkable coordination, living systems appear to be guided by an underlying intelligence that supports growth, relationship, and organization.
Within Family Constellations, this understanding invites us to recognize that every family has its own field of relationship. Sometimes called the knowing field or the family soul, this field holds the stories, memories, loves, losses, and unresolved experiences of a family across generations. It is through this field that unconscious loyalties, inherited burdens, and gifts of resilience can continue to live within us, often without our awareness.
As we enter a constellation, we listen with curiosity, humility, and respect for what wants to be seen. Through representatives, embodied awareness, and deep presence, the hidden movements within a family system begin to reveal themselves. What has been forgotten may be remembered. What has been excluded may find a place of belonging. As these dynamics are witnessed with compassion, new possibilities for healing and integration can emerge, allowing each person to stand more fully in their own life while remaining deeply connected to those who came before them.
Foundational Principles (Orders of Love)
Belonging
Every member of a system has an equal right to belong, including those who were:
excluded
aborted or miscarried
perpetrators or victims
forgotten, shamed, or judged
When someone is excluded, a later descendant often unconsciously identifies with them.
Order (Hierarchy / Time)
Those who came earlier have precedence over those who came later.
Children suffer when they carry burdens that belong to parents or ancestors.
Balance
Love flows when giving and receiving are in an appropriate proportion.
Over-giving, rescuing, or carrying another’s fate disrupts systemic balance.
These are not moral rules, but observed systemic laws that reveal themselves through the field.
The Knowing Field
This work is facilitated through a systemic knowing field — a relational field that holds memory, emotion, impulse, and truth beyond individual psychology.
Representatives or objects access information they do not consciously know
Sensations, emotions, movements, and phrases arise spontaneously
Healing emerges through accurate perception and right placement
Rather than analysis or interpretation, the emphasis is on slowing down, listening, and allowing truth to emerge organically.
Trauma, Development, and the Nervous System
Constellations are integrated with an understanding of early developmental trauma, attachment, and nervous system regulation.
Pre-verbal and pre-conception trauma
Titration, pacing, and safety
Working with impulse, movement, and regulation — not only words
This approach is especially supportive for infants and children, prenatal and birth themes, and trauma-sensitive or somatic practitioners.
Ethical & Facilitation Stance
No one is pathologized
Nothing is forced
The facilitator does not “know better” than the field
Healing arises through acknowledgment, humility, and truth-telling — allowing what is difficult to be seen without fixing, honoring complexity, and trusting that small, precise movements can create lasting change.
Group Constellations
A participant presents an issue or intention
Representatives stand in for family members, symptoms, or system elements
Information emerges through bodily sensations, emotions, and impulses
The facilitator follows the field with minimal intervention
Healing occurs through acknowledgment of truth, restoration of belonging, appropriate separation of burdens, and honoring fate and limits.
Benefits of group work include:
A strong and clear collective field
Healing for participants beyond the presenting client
Collective witnessing and shared integration
Individual & Object-Based Constellations
In individual sessions, objects such as figures, stones, cushions, or symbols are used instead of people.
Spatial placement of objects
Tracking bodily and emotional responses
Following relational impulses and movement
Object work offers a gentler, more contained experience and is an excellent entry point for those new to healing practices, as well as for sensitive nervous systems or particularly tender material.
Group vs Individual Constellations
Group Constellations
Strong collective field
Community witnessing
Faster pattern recognition
Powerful ancestral themes
Individual / Object Work
Highly contained and private
Slower, more regulated pacing
Ideal for early or developmental trauma
Neither approach is better — they serve different nervous systems, intentions, and stages of healing.
What Healing Looks Like
Healing does not mean:
Changing the past
Removing pain
Fixing others
Healing means:
Burdens returning to where they belong
Love flowing without sacrifice
Truth being acknowledged
Standing in one’s own life with greater clarity and choice
In Essence
Systemic and Family Constellations are a practice of truth, humility, and relational repair.
They remind us that:
We are shaped by forces larger than ourselves
Love often moves unconsciously
When what was excluded is included, life and love can flow again
Pricing
Three-Hour Gatherings
Witnessing & Representing: $75–$125 sliding scale
Setting a Constellation: $150–$300 sliding scale
Friday Evening + Saturday Gathering
Friday Evening: $100–$150
Saturday: $125–$200
Both Friday & Saturday: $200–$275
A reduced rate is offered when attending both sessions.
Scholarships: No one is turned away for lack of funds. If you need financial support, please reach out directly to Clara to explore scholarship options.
Request a Session / Intake Form
Please download and complete the Systematic and Family Constellation Intake Form below.
You are welcome to fill it out over time or together during your session.
Once completed, please email the form to:
claracunningham1008@gmail.com
You may also use the form below to request a session or consultation.