Nowadays, Hellinger constellations are very popular . Reviews about them are the most positive, but there are opponents of this method. No wonder, because it does not fit into the framework of traditional psychology. The author of the method is Bert Hellinger. His books, published at the end of the last and the beginning of this century, are gaining an increasing audience. We invite you to get acquainted with the Hellinger method, as well as with him.
The biography of this person is quite interesting. Burt Antoine Hellinger is a famous German philosopher, theologian, psychotherapist, and spiritual teacher. His figure sometimes causes controversy, but this only fuels interest in this person. Bert Hellinger's quotes are often found in scientific papers and popular articles.
Origin and childhood
Hellinger was born on December 16, 1925 in the city of Laimen (Germany). His father was Albert Hellinger, a German engineer and Catholic. Burt was the middle of his three sons.
In 1936, the boy graduated from elementary school and left his parental home at the age of 9. He went to Loor am Main, where the boarding house for the missionary congregation was located, in which Bert intended to continue his studies. In the future, he wanted to become a missionary and a priest.
The boarding school in 1941 was closed, so the guy returned to his parents. He continued his studies at the gymnasium. Bert Hellinger at this time joined the Catholic youth movement banned by the Wehrmacht. The local Hitler Youth organization tried unsuccessfully to recruit him. As a result, Bert Hellinger began to be considered as a potential enemy of the people. The administration of the gymnasium even wanted to refuse to receive a certificate after completing the gymnasium science course.
Captivity and Escape
In 1942, Hellinger went to France, to the construction battalions of the Wehrmacht, where he was called up for service. And in 1945, American troops captured him. So Bert Hellinger ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Belgium. A year later, he escaped from captivity, hiding in a freight car. After the escape, Hellinger returned to Germany. Here he learned about the death of his brother Robert, who died at the front in Russia.
Monasticism, university studies and a trip to South Africa
Hellinger, once in Germany, joined the religious Catholic order of Marianhill. He became a monk and took the name Suitbert, for short - Burt. In 1971, Hellinger left the order, but retained this name.
Burt studied theology and philosophy at the University of Würzburg. After graduating, he accepted obedience, after which he served as chaplain for six months. Then he went to South Africa, to the parish of Marianhill, where he was supposed to carry out missionary activity among the Zulus. Here, Hellinger continued his studies. He graduated from the University of South Africa and the University of Petermaritzburg, where he studied pedagogy and English.
Bert's life in Africa
Bert has lived in Africa for 16 years. He taught in schools, was a parish priest and the leader of a complex comprising 150 regional missionary schools. Bert studied Zulu, actively communicated with the local population, participated in its rituals. Over time, he began to understand the worldview of these people and earned respect and fame.
Bert Hellinger, working as the head of schools, faced with conflicts and mutual rejection that arose between representatives of different faiths and races. Trying to resolve these conflicts, he collaborated with members of the psychodynamic group, which the Anglican Church sent to Marianhill for this purpose. So Bert learned about the methods of group psychotherapy. He was impressed with how they could bring opposites together through mutual respect.
Return to Germany, withdrawal from the order, marriage
In 1968, Bert returned to Germany. He decided to get an education in psychotherapy. In the order, the man began to be considered a heretic, but for several years he worked in it, while receiving education and conducting his own practice with psychodynamic groups. But in 1971, Hellinger left the order. He decided that he no longer wanted to be a priest. At this time, Bert met Hertha, his future wife. He had no children in marriage with her. Together with Hertha, he continued to conduct psychotherapeutic consultations and groups.
The book that influenced the fate of Hellinger
Hellinger did not stop absorbing new knowledge. In the early 1970s He studied classical psychoanalysis in the Vienna Society of Deep Psychology with I. Schaed and R. Schindler, and also studied at the Munich Psychoanalytic Institute. The work “The Primary Cry” by Arthur Yanov, which Hellinger read in 1972 when the book was just released, made a very strong impression on him. Burt even interrupted his psychoanalytic education. He left Germany for a year. During this time, Bert Hellinger studied with Janov in the United States and underwent personal therapy.
Returning back, Bert used the ideas of Arthur Yanov in his thesis on psychoanalysis. The scientific community did not accept these ideas, and Hellinger was not qualified as a psychoanalyst.
Introducing New Methods
After that, he studied and practiced the methods of therapy used at that time: transactional analysis, non-directive hypnotherapy, provocative therapy, gestalt therapy, etc. Burt studied NLP with Gundl Kuchera. By the way, his first book, which remained unpublished, is devoted to this method. Burt studied family therapy with Ruth McLendon and Leslie Cadiz. Their groups first introduced him to the work, which became the prototype of the subsequently created method of family arrangement.
Family arrangement
After some time, it became the main method that Bert used. He developed it by combining two positions in it:
- a systematic approach in which the client and the topic stated by him were considered in relation to him with members of the system (family);
- phenomenological approach, which implies following what occurs during work, without using preliminary concepts, as well as without further interpretations.
Orders of love
The studies conducted by Hellinger convincingly proved that a person should not be considered as a unit, but as a component of a certain system, which is larger than the sum of its constituent parts. Burt soon became convinced that members of the same family (brothers and sisters, fathers and children, not only living, but also dead) are connected by invisible threads. These communications are based on three basic laws. The general name given to them by Bert Hellinger is "Orders of Love."
The law of ownership is the first of these laws. It states that any member of the family system has the right to accept and belong to it. The next, called the law of hierarchy, suggests that the new system, that is, the young family, has an unconditional priority over the old (parent) one. Finally, the law of balance presupposes the need for balance in the relations of acceptance and bestowal.
Violation of laws
If the family system is functioning normally, then living people give their children the love that their parents once gave them. A lack of love can cause a malfunction in a system called authentication. This phenomenon describes a situation in which children are “parents” for their fathers and mothers.
It also happens that the law of ownership is violated. As a result of this, a person feels his whole life as if he is reproducing other people's feelings and fulfilling other people's requests. Fortunately, family constellations shed light on the situation in the family and transform relations within it.
How are the constellations
Most of all, they resemble psychodrama. Those participating in it play the roles of other people. However, this is only an external resemblance. Spectators and participants in the arrangement find themselves in a world of real people, their joys, tragedies, emotions and feelings. There is no game in this. Participants replace strangers. Moreover, they very accurately convey what is happening in the life of a given person.
A deputy is a person who is selected to replace one of the participants in the client’s life history. This man is led by what Hellinger called substitute perception. Tragedies and dramas are played out in the arrangement. This is evidenced by the words, movements, reactions of substituents.
The benefits of constellations
How can family constellations be useful? All people, as you know, belong to their own family. They carry in their lives something that their ancestors, members of the clan, could not realize or live. In the constellations, the doctrine of karma looks completely new. It turns out that a person, being born in a particular family, carries its karma. He resolves situations that were not resolved by his ancestors, and also experiences emotions that some representative of his kind could not express.
The field of substitution through deputies can tell about what is the root of the problem of this client. Sessions conducted by the Hellinger method can help a person understand himself, as well as the processes taking place with him and his partners in the family, in the family. This will help improve relationships with relatives, overcome crises, change your life, find peace of mind and love.
Should I recommend the Hellinger lineup? Reviews about them are ambiguous, because this method has not yet received scientific recognition. However, many note its benefits. Of course, in order to get the desired result, you need to find a good specialist. Many psychologists today practice the Bert Hellinger method, so you can easily find an experienced person based on reviews.
Love as the basis of the method
Bert considers himself a practitioner who, having experienced many different methods, eventually found his own. He says that the most important element of this approach that distinguishes it from classical family therapy is the understanding that love is behind any behavior. It is also the latent acting force of all kinds of symptoms. Therefore, it is very important for the therapist to find the point at which the energy of love of his client is concentrated, since here lies both the root of his problem and the key to solving it.
Constellation popularity
The basis of Bert's therapeutic work are acts of respect, recognition, acceptance of fate, truth, courage and humility. His method (family constellations) very quickly became popular both in Germany and outside this country. Burt has worked with many groups around the world. He says that he does not teach the method, but releases all practitioners for free research. Around him is a group of colleagues keen on his method. They quickly master and develop new techniques and directions of constellation work: organizational constellations, structural ones, those in which figures are used, etc.
Bert Hellinger: Books and Speeches
Bert's further fate after the discovery of the method is developing successfully. Hellinger actively works in the 1980s. He is also a member of the German Family Therapist Society. However, Bert still does not write books and does not conduct training. Gunhard Weber, his student, in the early 1990s received Hellinger’s permission to publish notes from the seminars he conducted (scripts for comments and arrangements). In 1992, Bert's first book on family constellations appeared ("Two Kinds of Happiness ..."). This publication immediately becomes a bestseller.
Since 1994, Hellinger’s work has become increasingly public - he speaks to audiences of several hundred people. Burt begins to describe his method of arrangement in books, as well as in CDs and videos. In 1992-2007 more than 30 of his books have been published. They are mainly recordings from seminars held by Bert Hellinger around the world. "The source does not need to ask the way" - one of his most famous books. Like his other works, she is popular all over the world. Another interesting book authored by Bert Hellinger is Healing. It presents many meditations and exercises that allow you to learn the experience of the healing and liberating movement. As you know, all diseases have a psychological component. It is necessary to strive to heal not only your body, but also your soul. We invite you to pay attention to another book - "The Big Conflict." Hellinger in it talks about the mental mechanisms that lead to conflicts and wars between religions and peoples of the world.
In the period from 2000 to 2009, 11 Hellinger books appeared in our country, as well as 2 versions of the translation of the publication of Gunhard Weber (in 2001 - “Two kinds of happiness”, in 2005 - “Crises of love”).
Bert Hellinger recently turned 90 years old. He is currently actively traveling. Hellinger conducts training courses and seminars, gives lectures throughout Europe, as well as in South and Central America, USA, China, Russia and Japan.