A central theme of Family Constellations Philosophy is making peace with the past, gathering resources from it, and moving forward into the future with greater ease. We may carry guilt over a our ancestor’s transgressions, terminating a pregnancy, losing a loved one by suicide, or an inability to save a family member from a difficult fate.
When we carry the great burden of guilt it may keep us married to the past. Sometimes this is an unconscious way that we punish ourselves and refuse to move on. Guilt is circular, and thwarts forward movement. At first, atonement seems like a way to right past wrongs, but it often keeps us stuck in repeating cycles.
In this workshop, we’ll explore how guilt prevents us from moving forward, the relationship between guilt and atonement, and the movements that support us in letting go.
Perhaps we’ve lost a job, lost a loved one, ended a meaningful relationship, received a difficult diagnosis, or experienced an abrupt end to something we thought would continue on indefinitely. We’ve been blindsided by a change to something essential whose familiarity we hold dear.
When things fall apart they often get stitched back together in a new way.
In this workshop we’ll explore: how we can gather ourselves. What stances we can adopt that give us peace, or a sense of hope. We’ll look for ways that this emptiness may become fertile ground for what’s next, preparing ourselves for the future with what we’ve learned.
As I have learned from my own teachers, shame lives in family systems not as an individual entity, but rather as a part of the collective ecosystem. Shame may exist without addiction, but addiction is usually accompanied by shame.
According to Family Constellations expert Suzi Tucker, addiction is a resource. (An unhealthy resource, but a resource nonetheless.) It is often cultivated to cope with shame, grief, or a whole host of equally difficult circumstances. Like shame, addiction lives in family systems not in isolation, but permeates multiple spheres.
In this workshop we’ll explore the relationship between addiction and shame. We’ll look at addiction as a resource for both individuals and family systems, and identify more generative alternative resources that come from deeper in the ancestry as well as from the present moment.
SCHEDULE
Workshops alternate between meeting on:
Saturdays from noon-2pm ET
Mondays from 11am-1pm ET
LOCATION
All workshops listed below take place on Zoom.
COST
The cost of each workshop is $60.
All online workshops are recorded and accessible for two weeks after the event.
No refunds are available for online workshops. Please contact Ellen directly with any questions: elle@ellebrowning.com
According to Family Constellations expert Suzi Tucker, addiction is a resource. (An unhealthy resource, but a resource nonetheless.) It is often cultivated to cope with shame, grief, or a whole host of equally difficult circumstances. Like shame, addiction lives in family systems not in isolation, but permeates multiple spheres.
In this workshop we’ll explore the relationship between addiction and shame. We’ll look at addiction as a resource for both individuals and family systems, and identify more generative alternative resources that come from deeper in the ancestry as well as from the present moment.
SCHEDULE
Each in-person workshop meets on a Saturday from noon-4pm ET.
LOCATION
Center City, Philadelphia PA (exact location provided upon registration.)
COST
The cost of each workshop is $120.
Please contact Ellen directly with any questions: elle@ellebrowning.com
