Is something bothering you - and thinking or talking about it has not got you to a satisfying solution?

Are you feeling stuck - and things don’t seem to move?

Are you curious and interested in experiencing a unique approach to overcome blocks on the way to your goal, make a decision or solve a conflict?

Are you a coach, counselor, consultant, or Organizational Development professional - and want to better understand a particular client’s situation? Or find new ways to support them in solving their problem, challenge or stuck-state?

If so, join me for a workshop on SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS.

What Exactly Are SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS?

In Europe, constellation work has been established as a very effective approach for personal and organizational development for many years.

SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS are a non-traditional and experiential type of group work. You may have heard of “family constellations.” And maybe you have already attended a family constellation here in California.

SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS go way beyond classical family constellations.

A combination of SySt® (a constellations approach developed and researched in Germany) and various coaching methods, they are a more refined, advanced, and solution-focused form of constellation work.

By providing a “three-dimensional representation” of an issue, a SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATION helps you to

make the structure of your issue visible
shed light on and address its underlying dynamics and interdependencies
tackle that issue more effectively in your real life.

The approach is simple, yet powerful and outcome-oriented.

What Happens In A SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS Workshop?

A workshop participant provides an issue for a constellation. This can be pretty much anything (e.g. a family or relationship issue, a conflict or challenge in a work team, organization or at home, a difficult project as well as a physical symptom, an upcoming decision or a catch-22 situation in the client’s personal or professional life).
In a dialogue with the facilitator, the client briefly clarifies what they want to achieve with the constellation: greater clarity, help with a decision, ideas to solve an issue, etc. Actually, we don’t even need a detailed explanation of the problem. Interestingly enough, by referring to the elements and structural aspects of their issue with letters, the client can also provide information in a “covert” way. For example: “I am torn between A and B and would like to get more clarity. If I go for A, this could have an effect on C and D. If I decide to go for B, this can have consequences for E and F. ”
As a next step, the client asks participants to be representatives of those identified elements and components.
The client places the chosen representatives somewhere in the room, one after the other.
Now the facilitator asks the representatives what kind of (physical or other) differences they have been experiencing since they have been placed in that particular spot and what they perceive in relation to other representatives.

Often without even knowing what or whom they are standing in for, representatives can provide very useful information and insights for the client. This “representative perception” is the starting point of a process that concludes when thoughtful interventions have led to a new balance in the system’s structure. As a result, the client typically has fresh ideas how they can tackle their issue in real life.

What’s In It For You?

By addressing an issue in a constellation you can experience that issue’s structure transform from its present form into a more balanced version. The resulting clarity and new levels of understanding usually make it easier for you to take the necessary steps in real life.

Being a representative in a constellation or just watching one as an observer is usually an impressive experience for workshop attendants as they often gain insights about their own issues.

Without prior knowledge, it frequently happens that participants are asked to stand in for a particular element of the client’s issue that actually relates to something that’s going on in their own lives at that time. So they can benefit profoundly from the interventions that are aimed to help the client.

As a representative you also have the opportunity to experience resourceful and powerful emotional states as well as what a desired development and the first steps in the right direction feel like. This increases the odds for you to enhance and integrate those qualities into your own life.

Who Can Address An Issue?

Every time someone attends a SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS workshop, they get a point. In any given workshop, participants who have the highest number of points that day get the opportunity to address their issue in a constellation.

In a three hour workshop we usually get to do two constellations. Between both, we're having a break that gives participants the opportunity to network and chat.

What is the Investment?

The Early Registration Fee of $18 is valid until 5 days before the workshop, afterwards the fee is $35.

If you bring someone who has not attended a workshop with me before, you can sign up for $10 as “Bring-Someone-New-Along”.

If you’re attending for the first time, you can sign up for $10 as “Curious First Timer”.

Skeptical Or Curious?

You’re skeptical as this sounds strange? I totally get it, I’ve been there myself. Before I attended my first constellations workshop in Germany in 2001, this concept sounded more than weird to me. In the meantime, I have been able to solve many an issue with this approach. My thanks go out to my teachers and the colleagues who hosted those constellations and clearly helped me move forward.

If you’re curious and want to experience this fascinating approach first-hand, it would be great to see you at this SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS workshop in Palo Alto.

Please not that the venue for the workshops has changed. You'll receive the address when you have signed up.

Feel free to contact me at sylvia@paifsc.com or 650.7143420 if you have any questions.

Here's what participants of past workshops say:

In a SYSTEMIC COACHING CONSTELLATIONS workshop I addressed an unresolved issue with members of my family of origin. These unspoken issues were weighing on me, and I used to make assumptions about the situation.

At the beginning, I found everything very confusing. But during the constellation I was able to recognize how these family members were interacting with each other and me, and it made total sense. The interventions Sylvia did with some of the representatives (asking them to change position and say particular statements) helped me feel much more at peace with the situation.

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The coaching constellation work was powerful. Even just the conversation with Sylvia before the workshop helped me see things I hadn’t been aware of before. Approaching my issue in a constellation allowed me to see the situation as a system with the various players that are involved, some of which I had not paid any attention to before.

It also allowed me to step into my client’s perspective and as a result experience more compassion for him. What I found unique was that I got to see myself as part of the system. It was mind-blowing when the person who represented me in the constellation said one sentence, which accurately summed up my actual attitude and made me see how I myself had contributed to the issue.