Last week, I found myself sitting in a circle surrounded by strangers—yet bound together by an invisible thread of shared humanity. We had all gathered for a 3-day Family Constellation workshop at Sadhana Works in the heart of Palma, with internationally renowned therapist Svagito Liebermeister. While we arrived with different stories, it soon became clear that we were all here to seek the same thing: understanding, healing, and a deeper connection to the unseen forces that shape our lives.
What is Family Constellation?
For those unfamiliar, Family Constellation is a therapeutic approach developed by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, which explores how unresolved traumas within our family systems—often going back several generations—can manifest in our current lives as anxiety, chronic illness, depression, or relationship difficulties. It’s a way of working not just with the individual psyche, but with the wider energetic field of the family soul and dynamic.
Hellinger believed that every family operates within a larger “systemic field” governed by natural laws of belonging, order, and balance. When these laws are disrupted—through early deaths, abortions, exclusions, unacknowledged pain or trauma—those disturbances can echo down the family line until someone acknowledges or becomes aware of the burden. Family systems can influence all aspects of life - from the relationship with our partner or with others in our workplace, to the one with creativity and money, and from the relationship we establish with our children to, importantly, our moods, inner feelings and sense of belonging. We can often feel emotions that seem to belong neither to our past nor to our present – but can result in a repeat cycle of negative behaviour, until we become conscious of this pattern. Equally the behaviour of our parents towards us can impact our lives in unconscious ways, such as the lack of love or presence of one parent, or even both. This is where Family Constellations can assist.
A Workshop Unlike Any Other
Led by Svagito—a long-time student of Osho and a deeply intuitive facilitator, with a no-nonsense approach—our workshop unfolded not through talk therapy or analysis, but through embodied exploration. A morning meditation started each day, made up of 5 forms of movement - a combination of highly energetic movement through to stillness, combined with breathwork and grounding exercises. We then moved into what’s known as ‘constellations’: a therapeutic ritual where one person presents a life issue, then chooses others in the group to represent members of their family.
What happens next feels part theatre, part energy work, and part something ancient and sacred. The representatives are placed in the room according to the seeker’s intuition, and slowly, through body language, emotion, and resonance, the hidden dynamics of the family system begin to reveal themselves. Very few words are expressed, apart from the facilitator’s guidance, with occasional dialogue with the individual in the spotlight.
No one pretends. There’s no script. And yet, what emerges often feels uncannily accurate—like a soul memory coming to the surface. As one observer put it, “It’s like the soul knows the truth before the mind catches up.
Personal Insights
I went into the workshop with nervous curiosity more than a clear goal. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping to “solve,” but I had a few topics I thought I might explore. Watching the first day’s constellations unfold, I was struck by how deeply emotional the work was—not just for the seeker, but for the representatives and even the observers.
When my turn came on the second day, I felt nervous, even skeptical that it would work for me. But as my constellation progressed, something shifted. Watching others stand in for my parents and grandparents, I witnessed patterns of unspoken grief, loss, and misalignment that made sense of some of the patterns in my life that seemed to be on repeat. It was fascinating.
There was no dramatic catharsis, no sudden epiphany—but rather a gentle realignment and understanding, like puzzle pieces softly falling into place. It’s hard to explain in words, but I walked away with a feeling of spaciousness and peace, as if a heavy backpack I hadn’t known I was carrying had been quietly lifted. Each of us was impacted differently, some more subtly, others with a more forceful impact – but we were all witness to some incredible healing moments which felt a true privilege to witness.
More Than Just Therapy
What struck me most over the three days was how communal and ritualistic the work felt. In a world that often promotes hyper-individualism, this method reminded me that our pain is not just our own. We are interwoven with the lives, loves, and losses of those who came before us. And sometimes, healing doesn’t come from fixing ourselves, but from seeing the whole picture and acknowledging what has been.
Svagito’s presence was both calming and precise. He guided us with minimal words, yet his questions cut straight to the heart. There was no sense of “fixing,” only reframing—offering dignity and belonging to those who had been forgotten or excluded, and allowing love to flow again where it had once been blocked from difficult or traumatic childhood experiences. He shared many nuggets of wisdom, and helped deftly guide us all throughout our journey over the three days, and I dare say that no one left unchanged.
Who Is This For?
If you’re navigating recurring life challenges—relationship struggles, lingering grief, patterns that seem to “repeat” in your own life or family (to include substance abuse, depression, food disorders and more)—or simply feel a yearning to understand yourself more deeply, Family Constellation may offer a window you didn’t know you needed.
It’s not always comfortable, and it certainly defies logic at times. But in my experience, it invites a profound sense of compassion, clarity, and connection that stays with you long after the workshop ends. Personally speaking, I would highly recommend every adult should try it once in their lives, and the sooner the better!
The Takeaway
In a society often focused on surface-level wellness, Family Constellation is a brave dive into the roots. It teaches us that healing doesn’t just happen in isolation—it happens in relation, across generations, and within the unseen threads of love, loss, and lineage.
As Svagito reminded us, “In life you have to learn to be easy with losing things. When we honour what is, instead of trying to change it, transformation begins.”
Marianna Harpreet of Sadhana Works has trained with Svagito and offers Family Constellation every 2 months @Sadhana-works. If you have a story or wellness related topic you wish to share, please PM me. Find me on insta @amandabmallorca.