Joy Manne - Family Constellations: A Practical Guide to Uncovering the Origins of Family Conflict

Family Constellations is the book that I and many others have been waiting for. This introduction to Family Constellations is written in clear language that breathes on the page. Like a good chef making sauce, Dr. Mann has reduced the manifold ingredients of this branch of therapy to the essence of both the practice and its spiritual nature. Aptly illustrated with case histories, the central message uplifts and inspires: when we open our hearts and agree to what is so, rather than what we believe to be so, we meet Lovethe one and only healer.

Philippa Lubbock, Life Alignment therapist,
Constellator (Family Constellations), Healing Through the Family Soul

Joy Mann has done a wonderful job distilling Bert Hellingers Family Constellations method. If you are interested in this work, you dont need to buy a shelf-full of expensive books that you will never have time to read. Dr. Mann has done the work for you and written it all down with a clarity and directness that is all too rare in books about therapeutic approaches.

Ken Sloan, co-developer of Nature Constellations Work

Joy Mann has written a succinct, didactic book about Family Constellations that focuses on the essence of the approach. She has a gift for unveiling the method, its usefulness, and the different parts so that readers understand the overall picture before delving into the details. This book is a jewel among books on Family Constellations. Dr. Manns wisdom, respect, and love come shining through making this mini-textbook a testimony to the devotion and discipline of Family Constellation facilitators.

Kate Lindley Scheidegger, The Talent Spirit, Geneva, Switzerland

Conscious Breathing: How Shamanic Breathwork
Can Transform Your Life

Soul Therapy

Copyright 2009 by Joy Mann. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by
North Atlantic Books
P.O. Box 12327
Berkeley, California 94712

First published in 2005 as
Les Constellations Familiales by
Editions Jouvence
20 ch du Guillon, Case 184
CH-1233 Bernex-Genve, Switzerland

Cover and text illustrations iStockphoto.com/Karen Larson
Cover and book design Ayelet Maida

Family Constellations: A Practical Guide to Uncovering the Origins of Family Conflict is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mann, Joy.
Family constellations : a practical guide to uncovering the origins of family conflict / Joy Mann; foreword by Bert Hellinger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Summary: Using examples from her own practice, Dr. Joy Mann provides a clearly written, accessible guide to Family Constellations, a therapeutic method of healing in which one explores family history and powerful events of the past in order to understand and resolve problems of the presentProvided by publisher.
eISBN: 978-1-58394-486-8
1. Family psychotherapy. I. Title.
RC488.5.M335 2009
616.89156dc22

2009014673

v3.1

I dedicate this book to my much adored Uncle Morris

And to Bert Hellinger, from whom I learn so much

The case history examples in this book come from my own experience wherever possible. Otherwise, I have taken them from Bert Hellingers book Loves Hidden Symmetry and acknowledged them with LHS and the page number.

I thank Philippa Lubbock and Richard Wallstein, who introduced me to Bert Hellingers work. I thank Bert Hellinger for the great benefit that I received from the family constellations I did as a client with him personally, and with others using his method. I thank him, too, for the immense amount I learn through being a representative, observer, and facilitator. I am immensely grateful to Ewa Foley and her team at ISI seminars, who organize, with her unique grace and competence, the workshops I do in Poland.

It was a joy and pleasure to bring my experiences together and write this book. I am deeply grateful to Jacques Maire of Editions-Jouvence, who asked me to write this book. I thank Ann Harrison, who does family constellations in Australia, for being my helpful, constructively critical reader, and for her encouragement.

For the English Edition

North Atlantic Books published my first and second books. I rejoice that North Atlantic is now publishing the original version (I only know how to write in English) of this book that I wrote for the French market. A publisher is the fertile ground in which an author flourishes. I am immensely grateful to Richard Grossinger for a rich and rewarding relationship. Its a great pleasure to have Emily Boyd as my project editor again. And I thank Adrienne Armstrong for skillful copyediting and Ayelet Maida for a cover that thrills my heart and a beautiful book.

When reading the manuscript of this book, I felt constantly surprised by the clarity with which Joy Mann reduces complex issues to a simple sequence. Often I found myself inwardly nodding. Suddenly, they appear to be so obvious.

This is a special book. It serves as a long-awaited introduction to the issues that were brought to light by Family Constellations. And it is such easy and beautiful reading. Beyond this, it is soul warming with many surprising hints on how to make our lives and our relationships richer and more fulfilling.

I thank Dr. Mann for this wonderful book. I am sure it will find its way into the hearts of many readers.

Bert Hellinger, principal developer of
Family Constellations therapy and
author of more than thirty books

F AMILY S YSTEMS T HERAPY

Today, when we talk about family systems therapy we think about Bert Hellinger and his method of Family Constellations.

Bert Hellinger was born in Germany in 1925. His parents faith protected the family from becoming Nazi and, as a youth, he was suspected of being an enemy of the people. At twenty he began to train for the priesthood. For sixteen years, he worked as a missionary among the Zulus in South Africa, where he was both parish priest and director of a large school.