Fall at Omega: The Continuing Evolution of Constellations

Fall at Omega

In early October approximately 90 people gathered at the Lake Theater, Omega Institute, near Rhinebeck NY, participating in the conference The Continuing Evolution of Constellations. Originally created for Bert and Sophie Hellinger's long-awaited return to share their newest work in the USA, by September the announcement came that they would not be able to make the trip (Bert is now in his late-eighties and had just returned from work in Mexico; it was felt that another long trip so soon would compromise his health). Rather than forfeit the dates and location, organizers Suzi Tucker and Steve Jimenez produced an Autumn "phoenix" and, as Suzi recently posted, the decision "...was right in line with Bert Hellinger’s emphasis on being in accord with life. Life shifts, ebbs and flows, and sometimes takes sharp turns. If we insist on staying in one place, refuse to release our expectations and absolutes, we get left behind. At the same time, life requests our generosity and confidence to meet it half-way. The Omega event worked out because everyone who participated in it was able to hold a sense both of flow and sure-footedness."

https://suzitucker.squarespace.com/blog/10/16/2014/you-asked-for-it-omega

(I wrote a fairly lengthy description of the conference earlier today, then, when the Save To Drafts function on the blog platform failed, all was lost! I took that as a message to rewrite, being more concise the second time in relating some reflections of the event: Take Two!)

Organizers, Suzi and Steve, shared the introduction and overall facilitation by interspersing their perspectives through short readings, reflections on the importance of the systemic work in their own lives, holding the integral space for the seven other teachers to share their respective offerings in short, workshop-style segments, as well as introducing themselves via their work and participating in the facilitation.

Some personal highlights for me, as for many, were found in the small group or couple exercises. Core language, being pared down to more and more essential phrases, allowing for one's truest expressions to be revealed through the other's softly persistent questioning, was a gift. I felt my mother very close and my commitment to the Systemic Constellation Work to be of value to her healing as much as in mine and also for others in the family, providing a new and fresh awareness of support that was felt to be flowing both ways. (Thank you Mark, your core language approach cuts straight to the heart and moves with a laser-like precision and tempo! And thank you, Emily, for your invitation to see my mother in your warm brown eyes!)

In groups of four we were invited to choose three people in our young lives who had been "living angels" for us and to use the three other people in our group to represent them and to then communicate why we considered them so; they then exchanged with us what being an angel for us had meant to them. Many felt profoundly buoyed by this experience and some angels were discovered in surprising guises. (Thank you Ed, your energy, vision and inclusiveness is angel-light!)

During one mid-day break, I was asked to represent someone for a fellow participant who wanted to "finish a piece of work" for himself. By the lake, I sat with him while he voiced, in his first language, all the words he needed to speak; I did not understand the words, the experience for me was a beautifully calming and restorative one, as sunlight on the lake sparkled and strong, warm winds blew old cobwebs from the relationship, while the majesty of a mature tree, ablaze in colour, bore witness to the man's vitality and growth. For those who don't know Constellation work, to represent for someone is an invitation to simply be in the Knowing Field of the person's family soul (or system), responding not from an intellectual stance but instinctively, with respect to the Truth implicitly waiting in the Field. Knowing when my being near was enough, I got up and walked away, leaving him to feel a new fullness in the emptiness of the departure of the one I represented for him. Simple is often so beautiful in the work and world of Constellations. And nature abides. (Thank you, friend!)

The beauty of this work is that it is open to one and all. What one needs is to do their own work, apply it, integrate it into what they already do and give it their own voice. 

Rosalba Stocco, http://guelphfamilyconstellations.com/category/soulart

So many/much contributed to a full and complete experience at Omega and I am grateful to them all: The gift of warm Autumn days; the beautiful acreage and facility that is Omega's home; the staff that smile, helpful and attentive, yet unobtrusive; the teachers -- Suzi Tucker, Steve Jimenez, Jamy and Peter Faust, Mark Wolynn, Susan Ulfelder, Ed Lynch, Dan Booth Cohen and Emily Volden; my co-traveling sisters, participants from Venezuela and their friend, who translated quietly at the back of the room, connecting them through his heartfelt understanding of the immensity of the work, again, lovingly unobtrusive; the history of Constellations from those who preceded Bert Hellinger, informing him, standing behind him as he synthesized this amazing approach, which evolved through his marriage to Sophie and beyond, out through the generations of his students. Which brings me back to Omega: thank you to the first generation for your combined mastery, grace, strength, impeccability, keen sight, creative inspiration and for the expansion to me and through me, to others. The gifts are so many...

Judy Young Melanson