(By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Stephan Hausner is the author of an amazing book Even If It Costs Me My Life: Systemic Constellations and Serious Illness.

As a master facilitator and teacher of Family and Systemic Constellations, Hausner has become internationally renowned for specializing in illness and health, particularly working with illnesses that seem resistant to conventional medical treatment.

I haven’t yet had the chance to study with Stephan, although I have read his book (twice!) and include it on my reading list for my trainees. And now I’m in the middle of watching a wonderful-wow five-part documentary produced by Ali Mezey about his profound work.

In the documentary series, Stephan shows how transgenerational trauma influences illness and how hidden loyalties and entanglements to the ancestral system hinder physical healing. It is designed for people who want greater insight about their own illness or the illnesses of people in their lives. It is also an excellent resource for professionals of all kinds who want to work more effectively with people who are ill.

 By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
 
Words have power.
 
(So be careful about what you think about your spouse, your friends, your enemies, yourself and everyone else.) In other words, notice what you're thinking.
 
Masaru Emoto, the late Japanese scientist, demonstrated the power of words with his experiments years ago when he pasted labels of "love" and "gratitude" on some jars of water and "hate" and "blasphemy" on others.  He chilled the water, then took pictures of the freezing water crystals with a high-powered microscope. The water with the uplifting words made beautiful snowflake-like crystals; the others with the words like "hate" were blotchy, discolored and malformed.
 
I've been fascinated by these reports for years and recently was inspired to start my personal experiment with a take-out box of leftover white rice from a local Chinese restaurant. The experiment seems especially pertinent now, as we struggle as people and as a country with these feelings in our personal lives and in the larger collective.