What are Family Constellations?

This question is one I am asked so often, that I decided to write a blog to answer it.

We are born into families where we not only inherit biological genes and systems of beliefs but we act, pattern and react from our families too both consciously and unconsciously. Bert Hellinger says that as human beings we have 3 fundamental needs:

• The need to belong so we may bond.

• The need to maintain equilibrium by balancing giving and taking.

• The need for order, predictability and safety of social conventions.

Bert Hellinger is the founder of family constellations, he combined amongst other therapies, Gestalt Therapy, body work and psychoanalysis. During his 16 years as a missionary in KwaZulu Natal (my home province) South Africa, he observed and learned from the Zulu people "the fundamental need for humans to align themselves with the forces of nature" (Love's Hidden Symmetry by Hellinger, Weber & Beaumont).

Why should you do a family constellation?</