On The Constellation Call last night, we had a great discussion of ways in which household pets become identified with, not just their owners, but others in the family system--even deceased relatives. To begin with, I asked people to relate interesting experiences with pets as they came to mind. One person spoke of a hospital cat that always came and sat with someone who was about to die. Another told of neighborhood pets who exhibited totally unusual behavior when her father died--several came and stayed on the porch steps on the day he passed. More about this in a minute.

I summarized an article by Kari Drageset from The Knowing Field (the international constellations journal) that describes 4 family constellations done for clients wanting clarity around relationships to their pets. In three of these, the representations in the constellations pointed strongly towards the pet being bonded systemically to a re-absorbed, or "vanishing" twin of the client. As the clients came to see what lay behind their issues with the pet, they were able to feel and honor their grief in terms of its real source. But what's this vanishing twin thing?

Using this unique and caring approach, we uncover the bonds to unresolved family and ancestral experiences that have kept you unhealthy, unsuccessful, or too much alone.  You will separate your own fate from that of those who came before you, and experience a new emotional awareness--one that heals and supports both your personal well-being and a healthy connection to family.  For me personally, this amazing work was the missing link in a long series of efforts to get really well.

Constellations are a method for revealing and re-aligning hidden loyalties in tightly knit family groups.  Diseases, chronic conditions or problems, mysteriously persistent failures of many kinds are being changed strikingly for the better with this work.

Families form a trans-generational, systematic dynamic, or “soul,” in which the needs of the group come before those of the individual. Roles you play in that group persist into later life, and may or may not support your individual health and happiness. Constellation work reveals deep, often hidden loyalties. It helps you realign your family systems, so that ancestral love flows and supports  your current success. 

Successful constellations take place via Skype, over the phone, in face-to-face one-on-one’s, and in a group workshop setting. What drives the process is a client “issue”—something significant that needs to change for the better. After a short series of general questions relating to this issue and the family (including recent ancestors), representatives are set out in some pattern intuitively by the client. These might be figurines, when on the phone, colored footprints, in the face-to-face setting,  or else, in a workshop, actual people chosen by the client from those attending. This “constellation” resonates somehow with your family system and, typically, a dynamic becomes clear. As it does, the facilitator begins taking steps to resolve it. 

Wellness Coaching is a unique partnership that changes your life and health dramatically for the better.  It's done that for me.   I have the empathy, experience, and qualifications to pass that on to you.  A question:  what's the status of your real passions?  How aware of these do you allow yourself to be?  How are they currently being expressed?  It may surprise you, but this matters--especially when you are faced with ongoing physical or emotional challenges.
               Why not integrate the different pressures, various medical and professional opinions, and possible courses into balanced actions that work for YOU?  I help motivated people do this all the time.  Together, we put the disparate pieces together,  leverage your strengths, get past the blocks,  and get you where you want to be.  Honestly, this really works.

Therapists, doctors, holistic practitioners are important.  As specialists, they give us the careful, magnified views of certain areas we need.  But in the clients I've helped, there are very often two other things missing that slow progress down.  First, there's too little unified perspective on your life as whole.  How do you integrate the sometimes conflicting prescriptions from the different areas into a unified, successful approach?  And second, there's not enough effort to understand what excites you.  What do you really care about?  It's becoming clearer and clearer that strengthening what's right is often as, or more, imporrtant than fixing what's wrong.

In my coaching relationships, often in collaboration with specialists, I provide these missing ingredients.  But it goes further as well.