“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.” Ilya Prigogine, Nobel chemist
It seems fair to say that in this time of transition, many things seem far from equilibrium, and things that we counted on to be stable seem to have the faint (or strong) odor of chaos around the edges. This can be seen through the lens of crisis, or of opportunity.
We are taking it as an opportunity.
The aim of the growth group this year is three-fold. First, it is to help each of us connect more deeply to our vital, creative, erotic life force, much of which has been, for many, suppressed under a sheaf of personal, familial, ancestral and cultural entanglements. The second aim is to do this transformational work within community, creating, we hope, an island of coherence. The third aim of the growth group: to expose participants to the principles and mechanisms underlying the practice of systemic constellations.
Each of us has a birthright of innocence, vibrancy, joy, playfulness, creativity and love. Another way to phrase this is that we all have deep within us a vital, erotic life force. This becomes, for many of us, attenuated almost to the point that we are disconnected/dismembered from it over years and decades of living. How does this happen? Sometimes, we think, due to family and generational trauma. Yes, and. Many larger forces are at play – collective traumas, wars, famines, forced immigration and others. And. There are ways our very society is structured (think ‘isms’, such as capitalism, sexism, classism and more) that force the life right out of us. What looks like chaos in some of our systems thus becomes an opportunity to withdraw our dependency on such systems and instead to go deeper into our selves, reclaiming the vital energy that is actually the true thing we need to sustain us – a font of love, creativity and joy.
Suppression has led to separation from ourselves and each other, and since we believe that true healing takes place as we are restored to community, the format of all sessions is designed to encourage re-connection to community, to create an island of coherence.
We use the methodology of family and systemic constellations to explore our blocks, and call in earthly, ancestral, archetypal and divine resources to help re-integrate and reclaim our full dynamism and liveliness, as we return to community. In this way we are freed up to find the full expression of our sacred work in the world. Thus, the third aim of the growth group: to expose participants to the principles and mechanisms underlying the practice of systemic constellations. In that sense, the program is the foundation for the Level 2 training, which focuses more specifically on helping participants learn how to facilitate constellations.
“We all long to know ourselves as something more than what we experience in the day to day world” --Bree Greenberg
In this program, we will:
Move beyond the illusion of separateness through experiencing phenomenologically the primacy of community
Strengthen our connection with our vital, erotic life force, as we untangle what is blocking that expression
Develop a clearer sense of how our sacred vocation lands in the web of life (Indra’s net)
Understand how the structures of constellations work in helping us shift these dynamics
Features:
Opportunities to have more personal constellations done than on weekend workshops
Formation of a supportive learning community
Part of the foundation for a constellation facilitator training. We believe comprehensive trainings should include three components:
Didactic elements - theory and background of constellations, brought to life through application to participants own issues
Personal growth
Practice of new skills, including practicing facilitating constellations, with developmental feedback
This cohort program is mainly focused on the first two components. In a second year, these two components will be revisited and practice of facilitating one-on-one and group constellations added, so that at the end, participants will emerge as trained constellation facilitators.
Format
Seven day-long workshops; six with Katherine Curran, and one with Katie Ibes, MA, assisted by senior student/colleagues: Shante Sojourn-Zenith, MFA, MA, and Carey Meyer, JD, each facilitators in their own right. (Note: we anticipate starting on the April date, but will actually start when we reach a critical mass of participants – 8 to 12)
Please note that the dates have been modified from what earlier appeared on the website - most training days are on Sundays, with the exception of Saturday, June 14.
Sunday, April 27
Sunday May 18
Saturday, June 14
Sunday, July 13 (Katie Ibes on “Exploring the Masculine and Feminine”)
Sunday, September 28
Sunday, October 19
Sunday, November 16
Apart from spending a good part of the time experiencing constellations, learning topics will include: The orders of love, the phenomenological approach, systemic perception, family of origin patterns, mother’s line patterns, father’s line patterns, disease and illness, war and conflict, immigration/migration and others.
One four-day non-residential mini-intensive, August 21-24: Galloping to Personal and Collective Healing, with Meghan Kelly, MA, Kathy Boisjoli, MA, LPCC, and Katherine Curran, Ph. D. During this workshop we will explore the interplay of personal and collective healing through the use of personal constellations, systemic ritual, and constellations with horses. You can find out more about this exciting intensive HERE. Note: the cost of the intensive IS included in the fee for the growth group.
Constellations practice groups that meet in between sessions
In these groups of three or four, participants will have a chance to practice skills learned during monthly sessions, including experimenting with one-on-one constellations, or small group constellations, if desired.
Two individual check-in sessions with Katherine
Readings/videos for the training that will include one or more constellation resource books, and online resources from REAL Academy. You will be invited to obtain the books yourself, and to register for certain courses from REAL Academy, for which there is a cost. You can preview these online resources at www.realacademy.net. Expense for these: approximately $100
Group size limited to 12
Location: The home of Katherine Curran, near White Bear Lake, MN, except for the four-day August workshop. Locations for this intensive will be the Sheraton St. Paul/Woodbury Hotel, and Wild Acres Wellness in Afton.
Tuition: $1500 if paid in monthly installments; $1400 if paid in full one month before the start date.
Application process:
•Fill out the application form on the website
•Send in the non-refundable $50 application fee (to be applied to your tuition once accepted), to katherine@mnconstellations.com via PayPal, or by check made out to the Minnesota Center for Systemic Constellations, 9930 Heron Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55110.
•Complete an interview onceapplication formeceive your application
For more information: Katherine Curran, Ph.D. 651-269-1400;katherine@mnconstellations.com
