What is "Energy Shifting" and Systemic Constellation Work and Why It's So Powerful?

Energy, as I talk about it, is our experience (the thoughts, sensations, emotions, and stories based on our lived experience). So in order to "shift" that, we have first to become aware of it and then release or redirect the charge- literally, the electrical current that communicates in our nervous system- that typically prompts a specific behavior.

My teacher, Leigha Lake, used principles from the Systemic Constellation Theory** by Burt Hellinger to "shift" the relationship we have with abstract/non-human items with the understanding that "missed opportunities" (i.e. the experience of money/love/support being inconsistent) can similarly create the blueprint we use out in the world.

An energy constellation allows my clients to "see" (based on their felt experience) the dynamic that they have been participating in and the contrast (the healthy experience), so they are better able to take actions that move them toward a healthier dynamic. For example, many of my clients have an experience where one or both of their parents were not able to soothe their emotional experience. This experience creates a habit of "doing it myself" which, as an adult, often will keep women from experiencing the support they would like-financially, relationally, romantically, and even from their own bodies.

Either they didn't get the experiential practice of (first identifying) asking for their needs to be met, usually because they believed it wouldn't happen, or they became so good at meeting their own needs that waiting for someone else to step up (even a healthy partner) feels too vulnerable and they resist it. The "good girl" they became will keep her from developing trust in herself to take healthy risks- like creating something new, challenging her body, dating outside of "her type" (usually underwhelming connections)- and keep her locked into objectively risky behaviors like over-eating, -spending, -giving, and other ways of limiting her personal growth and fulfillment.

Often, it is the release of pressure they experience as a result of being witnessed and expressing emotions around a situation that would have "rocked the boat" in their family system. It's the feeling you have when you share something and someone really "gets you".

The nervous system is calmed when this pressure is released, and they are able to experience safety (which means they don't need to spend energy defending themselves). The previously triggering situation becomes neutral giving them an opportunity to behave in a way that allows for a new outcome.

This is what makes this work so powerful. It allows clients to "retrieve" authentic parts of themselves that were previously buried under unprocessed emotions.

This isn't about blaming your parents, but rather learning to step in as the parent you most need (and relieve your parent from needing to be perfect).

In order to move through life in a bigger, bolder way, many women need to learn how to validate themselves. And the best way I've found to experience something you may never have had is to do this type of work.

If this seems like something you have been looking for, I have built several programs to take you there.

In Arise: The Art of Empowered Relationships, we clean up the unconscious wounds that result from the dynamic you witnessed in your home growing up (often we are blindly loyal to one or both of our parents and will remain in a childlike role in other aspects of our life). We open up your ability to receive love, support, nurturance, willingness to play/not be "so serious", and creative expression based on the most common client feedback.

Find Out More About Arise Coaching

In Nourished: Using your Appetite to Heal your Relationship to Food, we release you from the toxic relationship you may have developed with the scale, tracking, plateaus, free you from the compulsion to "do it perfectly", and any blind spots you've had in how you've been relating to your body. This allows clients to use these tools (since they no longer carry negative associations) to help them create the body they feel best reflects them.

Find Out More About Nourished Coaching

I love this work because it gives us a chance to change the relationship patterns we are most familiar with permanently and gives us the awareness we need to live from a more authentic, empowered place.

I have 2 spots for Nourished if you want to beat the New Year's Resolution rush and quit dieting for good and I have 1 space for Arise in September.

Need help deciding where to start? Schedule a free discovery call

**This is not Family Constellation Theory training, the work I do is a blend of several elements that I have found empower my clients to experience their story and give voice to the part of themselves that needs healing in a way that supports growth out of their childhood dynamic.