When we do the constellation, I ask you to write all five bodies on a separate piece of paper with an arrow next to them. If you wish, you can also take a piece of paper with 'I' on it, which does not need to have an arrow. This is the place to come back to yourself when you have sensed one of the five bodies. This allows you to let go of that experience and open up to the next body. You do this by standing on the piece of paper with ‘I’ on it and emptying yourself of the previous experience. If you are used to working with constellations, you can also choose not to do this and move directly from one body to the next.

If you are doing the constellation based on a theme or event, write this down on a piece of paper and place it next to the constellation. There is no need to put an arrow on it. You can also choose a symbol for the theme or event. You place the theme or event next to the constellation, but nothing else happens with it.

It is good to supplement this with symbols representing your body being, your inner child and your ancestors. Your body being is, as it were, the manager of your earthly existence. I think you are familiar with your inner child. Of course, you have many inner children. These are energies from your childhood that you carry with you and that strongly influence you. Much of what is in and around us comes from the inner child. ‘The inner children’, plural, means that you have had many different experiences as a child and were different at other ages. All those experiences can be recalled. In the constellation of the five bodies, we do not directly address your inner child. It is present through a symbol. The ancestors are included because you derive a great deal of strength and wisdom from them. However, they can also impose limitations.

If you have multiple symbols, it is important to know during the constellation what each symbol represents. If you choose abstract symbols, they may not be easily recognisable to you during the constellation, and you may not remember what each symbol represents. Even if nothing special happens with the symbols and the theme (present on paper or with a symbol), you may look at a symbol from one of the papers you are standing on. That is meaningful. That is why it is important to know what each symbol stands for. The position of the symbols and the theme can also be meaningful.

The arrangement on the floor

Place the five papers representing the five bodies and their arrows randomly on the floor, along with a paper labelled ‘I’ if desired. The arrows indicate which direction your gaze is directed when you stand on a piece of paper. This is not necessary for the ‘I’ because it only represents an intermediate phase between two bodies. You also place a piece of paper or a symbol for your theme, if you have one. Then you randomly place the symbols for your body being, your inner child and your ancestors.

It is important that I have a clear picture of how everything is positioned on the floor. The easiest way is to take a photo and send it to me. You will also need to explain exactly what each piece of paper represents and which way the arrow is pointing. We will take a moment to make sure this is clear to both of us.

How do you position the recording device?

If the papers are far apart and the arrow is pointing away from the recording device, I may not be able to hear you clearly. I don't necessarily need to see you, but I do need to be able to hear you. That's why it's useful to have a recording device that you can move if necessary.

Would you like to use a piece of paper with “I” on it?

If you are not very familiar with constellations, the ‘I’ period can be useful in between, otherwise it is not necessary. This means that after you have sensed a body, you always return to the ‘I’ paper with which you also started. On that paper, you empty yourself and prepare to experience a new body.

Order of tuning in

You start by tuning into your physical body, always standing with your face in the direction of the arrow. You do this very patiently. You empty yourself and then check what comes to mind, what you feel. This takes time. You do this calmly and carefully. You check what you are aware of physically and internally and express this. When this has been sufficiently worked out, (go to the paper with ‘I’ on it and empty your mind. When you feel you are ready,) go to the paper of the etheric body. Here you do the same thing again: feel deeply, take your time, express what comes to mind, what you feel, what wants to be said. Your doubts are also important here. When people in a constellation have doubts, they often think that these doubts are their own. In the constellation, this is an expression of the energy you are constellating. Once the etheric body has also been sufficiently worked through, (go back to the paper with ‘I’, empty yourself) and move on to the emotional body. Do the same thing there. (Then go back to ‘I’) then to the mental body, (back to ‘I’ to empty yourself) and finally to the spiritual body.

As you can see, all five bodies are examined in the first instance.

Would you like an overview of all five bodies at the start, or is that not necessary?

You may want to change the constellation in the first round by standing on a different piece of paper, looking in a different direction, or moving a piece of paper, because a lot is already happening in one place. Then you have two options:

1. You go along with that movement immediately. That means you let it happen as it goes. Before you have an overview of how the five bodies are at the start, you move along with the process. Then you will no longer be able to see and experience how it was for you at the beginning of the constellation.

2. If you do want to know, you do not yet move with the changes in the direction of gaze that you want to make, but we stop time, as it were, and you first continue to experience all five bodies, so that you are clear about your starting position. Then you pick up the bodies that wanted to move. Again, this is to be able to see clearly from which position you are starting, but of course this is not necessary. When the five bodies are ready in the first round, you move on to the body that wanted to change.

How do you choose between the two options?

If you are not sure which option you want in advance, this can also be examined in the constellation. A constellation in which a lot is happening right away cannot be stopped. Then the movement calls for movement. That is not always the case. Sometimes things go quietly and the movement starts gradually. If that is the case, an overview can first be obtained and, if necessary, moments of pause can be introduced.

In the first round, check all bodies in order

If a body wants to start moving by standing differently or by placing a piece of paper in a different place, there is room for that in the first phase, even though you will miss the overall overview of the initial phase. In the first round, all bodies are always checked one by one. If, in the first round, you feel the urge not to move on to the next body but to skip a body, you do not follow that movement in the first round.

After the first round

From the second round onwards, movement is essentially free. If you have chosen the option to stop the time in the first round, you will first check the stopping moments in the second round. So after the first round is over, the time is taken back to the moment it was stopped, and that moment is followed. If two bodies wanted to initiate a change in direction, you would have two stop moments in time. You can then choose to take the first stop moment first and then follow the second, or you can take whatever feels best to you at the moment you are free.

It may be that something happens in the session that makes you think: I want to know the reaction of all bodies to this, then we can stop the movement again, stop time, and check all bodies first, as in the first round. So it's not that you're not allowed to do that anymore. But usually it will no longer be necessary to introduce a round like the first round.

You don't have to figure all this out yourself; I will guide you through it. But then you know what to expect. And if you want to do it on your own, you have a tool to help you deal with it.

If a lot happens in the first round, the session will probably not go any further than that. If a lot happens, it not only takes time, but also your attention and energy. Too much is not helpful. Often you will feel that too: it is enough.

In principle, you remain interested in all five bodies during a constellation. Sometimes the movement is so strong that you don't think about it or get around to it. But in principle, you remain attentive to all of them, even if a body does not demand much attention. Sometimes help for the whole process comes from an unexpected source.

Taking notes

I will make notes for you if something comes up that is not addressed in this constellation, because there is no room for it in the constellation with the five bodies. A constellation with the five bodies is more than enough. Nothing else can be added to it. You will experience this yourself.

The facilitator also participates in the constellation

If the facilitator thinks of something or, conversely, does not think of something, or suddenly does something other than what they had intended, then that is part of the constellation as it is happening at that moment. Have faith.