Phone/Fax:  513-697-0260
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Carolyn is available, by appointment, for private sessions. 

For System Constellation Workshop schedule and information see "Events" page of this website. For further information about what Systems Constellation work is, see Carolyn's article at the bottom of this page or contact Carolyn.  Inquiries welcome.  To Register for a System Constellation Workshop contact Carolyn.

By Gary Vollbracht

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to Carolyn Zahner upon her return from Bernried, Germany where last week she attended the “5th International Intensive Workshop on Systemic Resolutions”. As we talked, I was drawn into her enthusiasm, drawn into what is alive in her regarding the Systemic Constellation work she does here at Tourmaline and how this workshop led by the international leaders of this field validated what she has been doing intuitively here in Cincinnati over the past year or so. I want to share with you some of what she shared with me.

For a full week, she had the opportunity to participate in the in-depth study and practice of Systemic Constellation work. Her week included a private conversation with Bert Hellinger, the original developer of this work, and the opportunity to witness his work and instruction. The staff she had the opportunity to witness and work with included Hunter Beaumont, Albrecht Mahr, Gunthard Weber, Bertold Ulsamer, Guni Baxa and Christine Essen and several others. All of these teachers are experienced and educated psychotherapists who have studied, developed and practiced along side of Bert Hellinger over the 25 years of evolution of this practice.

Carolyn was most impacted by the deep integrity, clarity, maturity and knowledge base held by the staff. She had the opportunity to do her own personal constellation and have the most skilled and talented staff members facilitate and serve as representatives in her constellation. As a psychotherapist, she was also able to participate in the group who was given the opportunity to facilitate and receive feed back on their skills and abilities as facilitators.

Carolyn came away with no question that Constellation work has been in rapid evolution over the past 25 years, with many styles and practices emerging and changing as this work develops. Most importantly, Carolyn came away from the workshop knowing that the intuitive work she has been doing with the psychodynamic and energetic movement of the soul is what the foremost teachers and practitioners are also emerging into. Many of the workshops demonstrated and named the work Carolyn has been engaged in since she began this work several years ago. Her opportunity to work closely with the teachers and give name and form to what has been spontaneously developing in her practice as she follows the “informing field” has provided the professional and spiritual validation that one knows to ask for.

Besides the deep and meaningful learning and personal experiences with the staff, Carolyn was incredibly enriched by the 80+ other participants who represented over 17 countries. The international network and personal friendships are among the most profound gifts she takes from this experience. The week was a gift she cannot even give words to.

I see her passion for this work. Carolyn is committed to continuing her study and supervision with this gifted group of teachers and has been invited to do so. She has always felt honored to do this work and is now even more aware of the beauty and profound healing that is provided in this deep and transformative space of Constellation Work.

The beauty, wisdom and universality of collective wisdom was profoundly and gracefully clear and present during the entire week and will undoubtedly feed and fuel Carolyn personally and professionally though out her life’s journey. With no hesitation, Carolyn knows this is the work she is called to do! I am pleased she is doing this work at Tourmaline.

Gary Vollbracht
May 12, 2006

Carolyn provides in-depth, transformational psychotherapy (care of the soul) utilizing the client's spiritual wisdom and direction.  Carolyn practices Mind-Body-Spirit modalities; guided imagery, transformational body movement, systemic archetype exploration and education.  Her work contains body-oriented, Earth-based integration of spiritual flow and psychodynamic bodies of knowledge and practice. 

Carolyn is highly productive in assisting clients with integrating the wisdom of spirit by exploring the messages held within the dis-ease and strength of their physical and emotional bodies.  Most of her work with individuals has been with those healing from trauma/abuse, chronic and/or catastrophic illnesses, and grief issues. 

As therapist, consultant, and mediation specialist, she has worked with all ages in a variety of settings, including mental health facilities, schools, court systems, churches, and other spiritual communities.  With over 25 years of professional experience, Carolyn remains honored and delighted to participate in the awesome unfurling of the Divine as it manifests through each of us, on our paths to healing, wholeness, and peace.

Carolyn is a skilled and experienced Workshop /Retreat Facilitator opening collective systems to the movement of Spirit in a variety of ways.  Contact Carolyn for a list of workshops or to discuss creating specific retreats for your group.

To schedule a private appointment, to discuss options for your group, or to learn more about Systems Constellation work, contact Carolyn.

(Note: A version of this article appears in the July/August 2004 issue of "The Whole Living Journal")

How does love (the Divine) want to be? How does love want to express its Self? Systems Constellation work asks these questions in a grounded, dynamic, transformative way allowing exploration of the Infinite in the context of the present human condition. In contrast to apathy, resignation, and fear, the client is opened to acceptance of “what is.” The result is deep, positive soul movement that often leads to the most creative next step —claiming power within the present and releasing into the freedom needed to create a full and abundant future. Individuals participating in the work find clarity in dealing with a wide variety of issues ranging from family issues, to business/career concerns, to exploring their experiences of the Divine.

Systems Constellation work, a relatively new discipline, found its rapid evolution through the work and extensive life experiences of Bert Hellinger. A 92-year-old German psychoanalyst and former Catholic priest, Hellinger was heavily influenced by his teen-age experiences in Nazi Germany. His life progressed in a profound study of religious, cultural, and psychoanalytic theories and practices. Hellinger’s work is a unique integration of diverse elements, based in the humble wisdom to trust in one’s own soul. Widespread in Europe, this work now is taking root in American soil. Hellinger does not consider this process a form of psychotherapy, owing to its intuitive and phenomenological nature. He simply explains this phenomenon as a mystery. It is precisely this mystery that separates the work from the therapeutic paradigms where treatment is assumed to be controlled and applied to specific symptomology. Author and psychotherapist Bertold Ulsamer states, “Doing constellations is very personal work, which is influenced by life experience, personal knowledge and understanding, and therapeutic background.”

The process of the Systems Constellation creates an experience that is phenomenological in nature--meaning that a phenomenon, or happening, occurs. The work is done with other group members standing in as representatives of family members for the individual doing the work. Thus, this model does not require an individual to do the work in the physical presence of actual family members. By opening to the Informing Field, generated by authentic questions and intention, the representatives participating in the constellation have access to knowledge, feelings and awareness that actually belong to the people they are representing; people they do not know and have little or no information about. The individual representatives relate to the other members in the constellation through verbal statements reporting physical sensations and emotions and through physical positioning within the system. As a result, the relational movement, structure, and "truth" of the system are depicted. The Informing Field and access to this phenomenon can also be used by a facilitator working with an individual.

The constellation extends itself to incorporating dynamics that may still be active— energetically, emotionally and behaviorally—through generations of family history. With acknowledgment comes transformation, and the opportunity to recreate family roles and myths, allowing individual and systemic healing. The Systems Constellation process engages the individual at a depth beyond that of the ego, allowing space for release from familial entanglements. The systemic approach sees each person as a member of his/her family, possibly carrying burdens of which s/he may or may not consciously be aware. The work offers an opportunity to become conscious of these burdens, thereby easing them on a subtle level.

In addition to being highly productive in healing individual emotional issues and relationship issues, this process is profoundly effective in providing insights into how an individual’s physical disease process may be a reflection or accommodation of the dis- ease process inherent in the structure of the family system. The effects of constellations tend to continue over substantial periods, owing to their depth and subtlety.

This process is an integration of systems theory, archetypal exploration, energy work, and the full acknowledgement of the healing field of the Divine. The work suggests that, at their core, harmful or stuck systemic entanglements are expressions of “love misdirected,” but still love. The constellation allows the harmful misdirection to find redirection and resolution. It allows love to express itself in the way it wants and needs—toward healing, wholeness, and peace, both collectively and individually.

About the author: Carolyn Zahner, LISW, brings more than 20 years of professional experience to her holistic private practice as a psychotherapist and spiritual retreat leader. For further information about Systems Constellation Workshops, or to schedule a private session or retreat for your group, contact Carolyn at 513.697.0260 or email via "Send E-mail" at top of page.

Additional References:

www.hellinger.com

Acknowledging What Is: Conversations with Bert Hellinger, by Bert Hellinger and Gabriele ten Hovel

The Art and Practice of Family Constellations, by Bertold Ulsamer

Love’s Hidden Symmetry: What Makes Love Work in Relationships, by Bert Hellinger, with Gunthard Weber and Hunter Beaumont

Supporting Love: How Love Works in Couple Relationships; transcripts of Hellinger’s work, edited by Johannes Neuhauser

To the Heart of the Matter: Brief Therapies, by Bert Hellinger