A workshop experience – Physical manifestation from unresolved trauma

Yesterday I attended a Systemic Constellation Workshop held by one of my fully trained facilitators. It was heartwarming to witness the professionalism of his work—most of yesterday’s constellations that were set up related to physical ailments.  

It reminded me of how little attention we give to the emotional component of a physical ailment. Setting up a constellation to reveal the hidden aspects of a physical condition brings a different insight to the fore.  

Did you know that physical ailments often, or even mainly, are manifested from a trauma that has gone unresolved?  

Yes, unresolved trauma is stored as pain in the body. At the time when the trauma happens, the urge to live life forward is followed. The trauma is then suppressed, yet the body holds the score. It is important to note that the body keeps the score as a survival mechanism so that it is prepared to take action for further survival at the next threat. Each time this happens, the original trauma and the resulting stresses are suppressed and repressed until the physical ailment emerges in whatever form. We then treat the symptoms of the physical disorders, never reaching the origin of the emotional pain that underpins the body’s weakness.  

How can we ever link a body’s expression of pain to the original emotional pain?

It is an almost impossible task as life has so many different twists and turns. Various therapies are used to explore the finding of origin of emotional dis-eases. For me, Family Constellations is a preferred route. After all of us, as a body is,  the body emerged from two family systems uniting. Each family system has a history of traumatic experiences as well as life-enhancing and joyful experiences. Each family system has survived for your life to be. We are born from bodies in which the trauma is scored. It is in the DNA and given forward as such. We are already born with a particular trauma score in our bodies. Have you ever questioned why a child is born with a disease?  

Yes, trauma is an integral part of life. Why then do we need to address trauma to resolve it? Indeed it is more important to live life forward and make things happen?  

Create a positive mindset, and life will work out well.  

The difficulty arises when we can no longer repress the pain.  

The pain wants to be recognised. 

Pain wants to be acknowledged.  

Pain wants to be healed.

So, what are the hidden aspects of a disease that want to be revealed?

Can a Family Constellation heal a disease?

Revealing a hidden emotional pain, whether experienced in the body you were born with or from a family system, serves only one purpose. The emotional pain is recognised and acknowledged, and the emotional pain underpinning the disease is lifted. The client still has the choice of letting it go. Your psychotherapist or coach can support you in an ongoing journey.  

I, personally, have witnessed spontaneous healing but do not promote that this is always the case. The illness or disease has manifested over a long period.  

Yesterday one of the constellations was set up for a woman in her sixties who has complications related to fibromyalgia. Without much detail, the constellation was set up with representatives for the foetus (client) in the womb. The foetus was petrified, although the womb was embracing and welcoming, nurturing and nourishing the foetus. The facilitator then brought in a representative for the mother, who appeared disinterested in the child. The representative for the father was brought in, and while he stayed looking on, he just wanted to distance himself. With only the womb as life support, the representative foetus felt utterly alone and abandoned. “I have to live life alone depending solely on my strength solely”. There is resistance to living life on one’s own, and the wanting support from both parents is a constant longing. In this case, the parents were not able to give this to the child.

In the constellation, the healing movement was facilitated where the parents could recognise the child’s needs and voice acknowledgement to her plight. This movement allowed the foetus representative to stand up from the foetal position and look at life forward. She felt tingles up in her legs as if life energy was entering through her legs. The client, at this stage of her illness, struggles with pain in her feet and legs.  

Addressing the dis-eased emotional component for the client allowed the client to see her painful and stressful experience as a foetus. The client knew of this pain cognitively. It is how her life played out. Stress in each step forward into life without support, feeling utterly abandoned at each of life’s turns. Experiencing it and witnessing the circumstance in which she felt completely at the mercy of pain and shame of her parents allowed her to hand back the pain and embarrassment to where it originated for them. The client felt calm and open to life’s future experiences.

Will the illness heal?

We cannot give an outcome at this stage. The client did feel a sense of freedom of movement. She also became aware of support she could not freely accept due to her distrust in people. She was willing to open up to take on the support offered and ask for help when needed. The healing movements forward will depend on the client’s continued desire for healing.