Systemic structural constellations

1. Introduction

Version followed: Systemic Structural Constellations (Systemische Strukturaufstellungen, SySt®) as taught by the SySt-Institut München, which Insa Sparrer and Matthias Varga von Kibéd founded in 1994. Main texts: Sparrer, Systemische Strukturaufstellungen: Theorie und Praxis (3rd ed., 2016); Varga von Kibéd & Sparrer, Ganz im Gegenteil (11th ed., 2020); and Daimler's Basics der Systemischen Strukturaufstellungen (9th rev. ed., 2026), written with both founders. The system board is described from the separate Familienbrett/Systembrett tradition (see below). [source: SG workshop page 2016; Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt]

SySt is Sparrer's and Varga von Kibéd's work. The system board is not: the family board (Familienbrett) came from Ludewig and Wilken (Hamburg, 1978), and the system board (Systembrett) from Polt and Rimser (book 2006, dated 2004 in one secondary source). SySt formats are often run on such a board or with table figures in one-to-one work, but none of the SySt excerpts describes a board procedure. [source: IGFH workshop handout; Conrady; uncertain: Polt & Rimser]

What it is. SySt is not a single therapy with a fixed course. It is an intervention method, which its authors call a transverbal language used by a group as a model system. The client sets up the structure of a concern in space, using people (representatives) or objects. The elements can be family members, inner parts, goals, obstacles, options, body organs, an organisation or a script. Representatives then report how their bodily perception changes as the picture is altered. SySt adds solution-focused brief therapy (de Shazer, Berg) and a grammar of interventions to constellation work, and it is used in therapy, coaching, supervision and organisational consulting. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Conrady; sfwork book page]

How change happens (core idea). The arrangement is an externalised version of the client's inner picture, not an objective map of the real system. SySt sets up a structure, not the system itself. Changing that structure in space, and letting the client experience the changed picture from their own position, alters the inner picture. The founders hold that the experience changes the client more than any explanation does. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Conrady]

2. Framework

SySt has no phase model in the sense of a treatment course, and no source gives a fixed number of sessions. What it does have is a set sequence within one constellation, set inside solution-focused talks before and after. [source: Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Conrady] [uncertain: how many sessions or constellations make up a course is not stated; in practice one constellation often deals with one concern, and work can continue in a later session (Conrady)]

Settings and format

Group/workshop: the client works with representatives taken from the group. Typical length of one constellation: not stated in the sources [uncertain].
Individual: the client stands on floor anchors (cards or sheets on the floor) and takes each role in turn. Symbols, figures, a monitor or a system board can also be used. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Conrady; uni-koeln handout]
Organisational, including large groups: team, project, hierarchy-level and organisation structure constellations. These can be run fully covert, so a team can work on internal matters without disclosing content. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt]

Stages of one constellation

Stage	Goal	Move on when
1. Solution-focused pre-talk and contract	Clarify the client's own wish and concern, who holds the problem, and which elements belong in the picture. The question decides the elements.	A clear, client-owned request and an agreed set of elements exist.
2. Choose the format	Match the format to the concern, e.g. problem, Tetralemma, belief polarities, solution or nine-field, body, organisation, covert.	Format and elements are agreed.
3. Set up	The client chooses representatives or objects and places each one intuitively, guiding them until the position feels right.	The client says the first picture fits.
4. Representative perception	Ask difference questions, i.e. what changed, not how they feel.	Differences are collected; the picture's tensions are visible.
5. Position work (Stellungsarbeit)	Rearrange, add missing elements, change distance or gaze, and test the effects.	Representatives' states improve or stop changing.
6. Process work (Prozessarbeit)	Sentences, eye contact, gestures and rituals between elements.	Every representative is at least neutral, ideally better.
7. Transfer to the client	The client steps into their own representative's place, experiences the solution picture and anchors it with a gesture.	The client agrees the picture is complete enough for now.
8. Closing	Respectful farewell, de-roling, and a picture to take home. An unfinished picture can be "rolled in" and taken up again later.	—
9. Follow-up talk	Talk the work through solution-focused; continue or repeat later if needed.	—

[source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt ch. 1.1; Conrady; Daimler 2026 excerpt; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt]

Criteria for ending. Sparrer says a picture is complete when every representative feels at least neutral and the client agrees. The solution picture is a beginning, not an end point. Daimler adds that a pause is acceptable: a picture that is not finished can be closed as the next fitting step and rolled in for later. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt]

3. Guiding principles

[source for this section unless marked: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Conrady; uni-koeln handout]

Host, not doer (Gastgeber/in). You set a good frame and offer suggestions, and the process is not yours alone to steer. Practical meaning: offer each intervention as a proposal and check it with the client and the representatives.
Multi-directional partiality. Take the side of every element, including excluded or difficult ones. Practical meaning: no element is the villain, and you ask every representative how a change is for them.
Freedom from intention. Don't aim for a picture you have already decided on. Practical meaning: let differences reported by the representatives choose the next step.
Work with differences, not states or interpretations. Practical meaning: ask "what changed for you when…" rather than "how do you feel?", and don't decode body signals (a stiff shoulder can mean many things).
No causal explanations; few hypotheses. Systems are treated as too complex for single causes. Practical meaning: don't tell the client why the problem exists.
Solution focus throughout. Talk before and after is solution-focused; you look for resources, exceptions, goals and the miracle. Practical meaning: ask what is already good and can stay before you change anything.
Client as expert; only the client connects picture to reality. Practical meaning: don't say "this shows your father…"; ask the client what, if anything, the picture means for them.
Structures, not systems; representatives are not being diagnosed. Representatives' perceptions belong to the element, not to the representative's own personality. Never use a constellation as a projective test. Practical meaning: protect representatives from personal readings, and de-role them.
Systematic ambiguity. Interventions and sentences can be phrased so they work on several system levels without naming them. Practical meaning: keep sentences short and open, and let the client fill in the meaning.
Pacing and gentleness. Pacing is watched more closely than in (Hellinger-style) family constellations. Provocation is held to be unnecessary, and a constellation is not broken off by the facilitator's authority. Practical meaning: slow down, offer smaller steps, and allow a pause.
Resistance is cooperation. Resistance is a useful signal about the context. Practical meaning: treat a representative's or client's "no" as information about a missing element or a step that came too early.
Systemic principles as orientation, not law. They are read constructively and as curative pointers, "richtungsweisend, nicht bestimmend" (Daimler). The book lists: system orientations I–IV (security of existence; growth and reproduction; building immune strength; individuation); basic principles 0–4 (non-denial; right to belong; recognition of temporal order; recognition of higher commitment to the whole; precedence of higher performance and abilities); and balancing principles for giving and taking. The uni-koeln handout describes two meta-principles: acknowledging what is given, and the order in which the basic principles are considered. Practical meaning: when a picture is stuck, check whether an element is denied, excluded or put out of order. Use this to generate offers to test, not verdicts. [uncertain: the full definitions are in Sparrer 2004/2016 and Daimler, beyond the excerpts]
Confidentiality through covert work. Content need not be disclosed. Practical meaning: offer covert formats for sensitive topics and in organisations.
Experience over insight. Practical meaning: keep after-talk short, and don't analyse the picture to death.

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory has three parts: (A) the core moves used in every format, (B) the named formats, and (C) individual and board settings. Where a source names a technique but its procedure is not drawn on, the entry says so and gives no steps. All therapist language is illustrative unless it is in quotation marks with a citation.

A1. Solution-focused pre-talk and contract (Auftragsklärung)

Purpose / when: Before every constellation. It establishes the client's own wish and the elements to set up.
Steps: (1) Ask what the client wants to be different afterwards. (2) Check ownership of the problem: who has it, and is this the client's own concern? Von Foerster's foreword lists both questions. (3) Ask what is already good. (4) Identify the system: which people or abstract elements belong to this question? (5) Propose a format and its elements. (6) In covert work, gather only the request, the number of elements and their order or hierarchy, not content. [source: Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt]
Example language (illustrative): "Suppose this constellation turned out useful — what would you notice afterwards?" · "Whose concern is this, first of all?" · "Which elements belong to this question, and is anything still missing?"
Watch for: A request on behalf of someone else, or one aimed at changing another person. Go back to the client's own part before you set anything up. It is working when the client can state the request in one sentence in their own words.

A2. Setting up the picture (Aufstellen)

Purpose / when: To externalise the client's inner picture as the first, current-state picture.
Steps: (1) The client chooses a representative (a person, or in individual work an object or anchor) for each element and names it. As a rule the client chooses, because the role is often a useful learning chance for the representative. (2) The client places each one in the room, guiding them until the position feels right, including the direction they face. (3) The client steps out and watches. (4) Abstract elements such as "what is still missing" can be placed too. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Conrady]
Example language (illustrative): "Take your time. Bring each one to where it fits for you right now, facing the way it fits." · "Look at it from outside. Is this how it is for you at the moment?"
Watch for: Clients who arrange the picture they wish for rather than the current one. Ask for the current one first. [uncertain: how the client physically guides representatives, e.g. by touch, is not specified; ask representatives' consent before any touch (synthesis)]

A3. Representative perception and difference questions

Purpose / when: After setup and after every intervention. It gives the feedback that steers the work.
Steps: (1) Give representatives a moment to notice. (2) Ask each one about differences: what changed when they entered the picture, when others were added, and after each move. Ask whether it is better, worse, the same or different. (3) Take the answers as information about the element, not about the representative. (4) Don't interpret; tell the client what changed, briefly. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt]
Example language: "Was hat sich für dich geändert…?" (Daimler, stem of her recommended question). Illustrative: "Compared with before this move, is it better, worse, the same or just different?"
Watch for: Reports phrased as personal feelings or long stories. Bring them back to the difference. Avoid asking "How do you feel?". The process is working when the representatives' differences converge towards neutral or better.

A4. Position work: rearranging, adding, distance and gaze (Stellungsarbeit)

Purpose / when: To test structural changes by simulating them in space.
Steps: (1) Offer one change at a time: move an element, change distance, turn the gaze towards or away, or add a missing element (e.g. a free element, the "rest of the world", a resource). (2) Ask every affected representative about the difference. (3) Keep what improves things, and take back what does not. (4) Look at the client to confirm. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt (named: arrangement principles, free elements, rest of the world); uni-koeln handout]
Example language (illustrative): "Let's try something — I'll put an element here for whatever is still missing. What changes for each of you?"
Watch for: One element getting better while others get worse. Look for a position that is acceptable to all, following multi-directional partiality.

A5. Process work: sentences, eye contact, gestures, rituals (Prozessarbeit)

Purpose / when: After the positions are clearer. It starts relational processes, for example acknowledgement, order or saying goodbye.
Steps: (1) Offer a short sentence or gesture to a representative, as an experiment. (2) The representative says it to the other element, with eye contact. (3) Ask both representatives about the difference. (4) If it doesn't fit, reword it or drop it. If a client cannot say a sentence, frame it as a trial and check whether it feels better or worse afterwards. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt]
Example language: Short ritual sentences from Daimler: "Du vor mir, ich nach dir" (for order); "Ich anerkenne jetzt, dass du vor mir da warst." Illustrative: "Try this sentence as an experiment, and then just notice whether it is better or worse."
Watch for: Sentences pressed on someone, or long sentences full of meaning. SySt prefers short, ambiguous offers. It is working when representatives settle and the receiving element reports relief or more contact.

A6. Tests

Purpose / when: To check whether an element, position or sentence makes a difference before you build on it.
Steps: Try the change briefly, collect the differences, and keep it or reverse it. Daimler also lists tests that use the cataleptic hand (see A10). [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt (named)] [uncertain: the full list of test types]
Example language (illustrative): "Only as a test: … — what's different now?"
Watch for: Treating a test result as a fact about the real system. It is only information about this picture.

A7. Transfer to the client and anchoring

Purpose / when: Once the picture is at least neutral for everyone. The client takes in the solution bodily.
Steps: (1) The client replaces their own representative. (2) They take time to notice the picture from inside, looking at each element. (3) Anchoring gesture, as Sparrer describes it: arms open wide, then brought to the heart while looking at all the representatives. (4) Ask whether the picture is fine as it is. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt ch. 1.1]
Example language (illustrative): "Take your place now. Look at each of them in turn … and when it fits, gather what is good here and bring it to yourself."
Watch for: A client who flinches in the solution picture. Return the representative, or take one step back in the process.

A8. Closing, farewell, rolling in and out, de-roling

Purpose / when: At the end, or when you pause an unfinished picture.
Steps: (1) Ask a closing question with a systemic angle. (2) Give the client a picture to take home. (3) Say a respectful farewell to the elements. Daimler warns that without one, themes can come back unexpectedly. (4) For an unfinished picture, roll it in (einrollen) so it can be unrolled again later. (5) Release the representatives from their roles; Daimler lists role-return work. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt]
Example language: "Und in diesem Augenblick ist dies vielleicht der nächste passende Schritt." (Daimler, accepting a pause). Illustrative: "Thank you for standing in. Step out, shake it off, and say your own name." [synthesis: the wording of the de-roling]
Watch for: Representatives who still carry the role. Do an extra de-roling step and talk with them briefly before they leave.

A9. Echo; focus and multifocal work; context separation; structural-level changes; time-stretching ritual; Alter-Ego method; hypnotherapeutic elements

Status: Daimler 2026 names all of these as facilitation tools (Alter-Ego for working with younger parts; context separation "die fünf V" and a context-overlay ritual; timelines; changes of structural level). They are not described in the excerpt. Of the hypnotherapeutic elements, only one is given: voice changes and pauses to help the client move out of their head. I give no steps for the others; learn them from Daimler, ch. on facilitation tools, or from SySt training. [uncertain]

A10. Cataleptic hand (kataleptische Hand)

Status: Named by Varga von Kibéd's workshop page and by Daimler, for tests and interventions in therapy, counselling and constellation work. It comes from Erickson's ideomotor signalling and Cheek's finger signals. The procedure is not in the sources, so no steps are given. Use it only with hypnotherapy training. [uncertain]

B1. Covert constellation (verdeckte Aufstellung)

Purpose / when: For sensitive or confidential topics, when group members want anonymity, and for team-internal work in organisations. Sparrer reports that the quality of representation seemed to improve when it was covert.
Steps: (1) Pre-talk: the client tells you only the request, the number of elements and their order or hierarchy. (2) Elements get letters or numbers (A, B, C…) and are set up with those labels only. (3) Ask for further members. (4) Work as usual with difference questions and position and process work. Neither you nor the representatives need to know the content. (5) Only the client links the picture to the real topic. A change of structural level is one route to privacy. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Sparrer 2016 excerpt; uni-koeln handout; Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt]
Example language: "Und wer gehört noch dazu?" (Daimler). Illustrative: "You don't need to tell me who A is. Just tell me whether A came before or after B."
Watch for: Ritual sentences that need content. Keep sentences generic. It is working when the client reports a shift without having disclosed anything.

B2. Problem constellation (Problemaufstellung, PA)

Purpose / when: For a stuck problem whose structure is unclear. It is a standard SySt format and is taught in the introductory workshop.
Elements: Focus, the person or group that has the problem (usually the client). Goal, what cannot be reached at the moment. Obstacles. Resource, what is needed for a solution. Hidden gain, the benefit of keeping the problem, e.g. not having to change. Future task, what will need doing once the goal is reached. [source: Conrady (secondary); named in SG workshop page and Daimler 2026 excerpt] [uncertain: the authors' exact element definitions and sequence]
Steps (sequence as Conrady and the general SySt order give it; the details are synthesis): (1) Agree the problem and its elements. (2) The client sets up Focus, Goal, Obstacles, Resource, Hidden gain and Future task. (3) Ask each about differences, especially Focus and Goal. (4) Position work: test the Resource's place and how Focus relates to Obstacles. Treat the Hidden gain with respect, as something the solution must keep or replace, not as an enemy. (5) Put the Future task in place so the Focus can see beyond the Goal. (6) Process work, then the client steps into the Focus. [synthesis built on A3–A7]
Example language (illustrative): "Let's give an element to whatever is gained by things staying as they are — not to blame it, but so it has a place." · "Focus, what changes for you when the Resource stands beside you?"
Watch for: The Goal turning away from the Focus, or the Hidden gain blocking. These often point to an unacknowledged benefit that needs an answer first. It is working when the Focus can see the Goal and stays at least neutral.

B3. Tetralemma constellation (TLA) and Tetralemma walk

Purpose / when: For dilemmas and either/or deadlock, when the client has already thought both options through and still cannot decide. A Tetralemma walk with anchors also works one-to-one or in coaching.
Positions: "das Eine" (one option); "das Andere" (the other); "Beides" (both, an overlooked compatibility or synthesis); "Keines von Beiden" (neither, i.e. what both overlook, or the background context); and the fifth, "… all dies nicht – und selbst das nicht" (none of these, and not even that). The fifth is a non-position that interrupts the pattern. The client is represented by the Focus. [source: Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt (positions named in the foreword); Kleve 2011 contents page; Conrady; Kießling 2023]
Steps, group version (from Conrady; the details are partly synthesis): (1) Name the two options precisely. (2) Set up Focus, the One, the Other, Both and Neither, and the fifth position at a distance. (3) Ask the Focus and the other representatives about differences. (4) Let the Focus approach each position, testing as it goes. (5) The pattern interrupt happens when the Focus makes a creative step into the non-position. (6) The client takes the Focus's place.
Steps, individual walk with floor anchors (Kießling 2023, secondary): (1) Check that the client can say clearly which option is the One and which the Other. (2) Lay the cards out one at a time; a square for positions 1–4 laid out first is an alternative. The fifth goes at a distance. (3) At each position: the client steps on, you step back about two paces, the client relaxes (eyes closed if they wish), you name the position, and the client notices body sensations and describes them. You ask whether there is anything more. (4) Between positions, distract briefly so the client separates from the last position. (5) Both: invite the client to imagine combining the best of both. Don't allow a rational feasibility debate. Ask what A and B have in common. (6) Neither: name it only, then let the client describe. It often gives a calm outside view. (7) Fifth position: invite free exploration, where fantasy is allowed. Ask where a completely different solution might lie and what it might look like. (8) Step out of the anchors together, summarise each position, and reflect.
Example language (illustrative): "Step onto this one: here you have chosen the One. What do you notice?" · "Here, combine the best of both — no need to know how yet." · "And here, none of all this, and not even that. Just see what comes."
Watch for: A positive One or Other gives clear direction. A positive Both means asking how they could be linked. A positive Neither may point to hidden fears, others' expectations or not being ready; respect it and don't read it as "the decision is wrong". A positive fifth position means exploring an alternative never considered. [source: Kießling 2023] Varga and Sparrer also teach a staged Tetralemma; it is not drawn on [uncertain].

B4. Belief polarities constellation (Glaubenspolaritätenaufstellung)

Purpose / when: For limiting beliefs. It works on them by contacting inner resources (Part V of Ganz im Gegenteil).
Elements: Three poles in a triangle, Insight/Knowledge (Erkenntnis), Love and Order, with the client as Focus. [source: Conrady (secondary); Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt contents]
Steps (Conrady, secondary; thin): (1) The Focus says the burdensome beliefs aloud at the start. (2) Set up the triangle of the three poles and the Focus. (3) Through the work, keep asking the Focus about those beliefs. (4) Note with the client when, and during which rituals, the beliefs are strongest and how they change. (5) The aim is for the Focus to use all three poles as a source of strength. [uncertain: the pole-specific rituals, intermediate positions and sequence in the primary text are not drawn on; use only after SySt training]
Example language (illustrative): "Say the belief out loud once, just as it sounds inside." · "Now, standing here, say it again. Is it stronger, weaker, or different?"
Watch for: One pole being rejected ("I don't need love/order"). Treat this as information, and test small approaches rather than pushing.

B5. Solution-focused formats: nine- and twelve-field constellation, goal approximation, solution constellation, solution geometrical interview (LGI)

Purpose / when: To work directly with goals, exceptions, resources and the miracle (Sparrer, Miracle, Solution and System, ch. VI–IX).
Nine/twelve-field steps (uni-koeln handout, secondary): (1) Mark a grid on the floor. One axis is time: past, present, future. The other is inner context, the boundary (the person) and outer context. (2) Place the Focus, the Goal and the Miracle, and sometimes the Miracle's context. (3) Place solutions as resources in the past, exceptions in the present and the miracle in the future. (4) If a placed solution acts as an obstacle, move it; adjust distance and gaze. (5) The client may stand in the Miracle's place to experience the state bodily, without having to name it. [uncertain: what the twelve-field version adds]
Goal approximation and solution constellations: chapter titles only; no steps given [uncertain].
Solution geometrical interview (LGI): Representatives sit on chairs placed behind them. You ask solution-focused questions about past, present and future solutions from a position where you have eye contact. Answers come from noticing body sensations, images and words, not from deliberate thinking. [source: Sparrer 2016 excerpt]
Example language (illustrative): "Stand here in the Miracle's place. You don't have to say what it is — just notice how it is to be here." · "From where you sit, what tells you a small part of the solution is already happening?"
Watch for: A client who cannot step into the miracle. Use the present exceptions first.

B6. Body structure and symptom constellations (Körperstrukturaufstellung, Körperaufstellung, Symptomaufstellung)

Purpose / when: To model relations between body parts, organs, symptoms and outside influences such as treatments. It complements medical care and never replaces it.
Steps (sources give principles, not a full sequence): (1) Confirm medical care is in place. (2) The client chooses representatives for body parts or symptoms and, if relevant, for treatments, aids or significant people. (3) Work with difference questions and position work. Show relationships, not causes; Daimler's example places a son's lung in relation to the father without any claim of causation. (4) Close and de-role. [source: Conrady; Daimler 2026 excerpt] Daimler also names a version without a client who sets up [uncertain].
Example language (illustrative): "We'll look at how these parts stand in relation to each other — not at what causes what."
Watch for: Clients reading the picture as diagnosis, or stopping treatment. Say explicitly that it does not replace medical care. [synthesis]

B7. Organisation, team, project and hierarchy-level constellations (OSA, TSA, PSA, HEA; large-group and in-house formats)

Purpose / when: For supervision, team conflict, project structure and decisions. They can be run fully covert for in-house teams. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt (named); Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt]
Steps: The general sequence A1–A8 applies, with elements such as roles, departments, clients, the goal or the market. Format-specific steps are not drawn on [uncertain]. A supervision constellation (Supervisionsaufstellung) is also named.
Watch for: Hierarchy and confidentiality. Use covert labels when people in the room hold the represented roles. [synthesis]

B8. Family structure constellation (Familienstrukturaufstellung, FSA)

Purpose / when: For family themes, worked through SySt principles: solution focus, difference questions, no authoritative interpretation. It can be combined with other formats. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt (named, with steps and combinations listed in its contents)]
Steps: General sequence A1–A8. Use the systemic principles in section 3 as offers to test, e.g. giving an excluded member a place (right to belong), or a sentence acknowledging who came first (temporal order). Daimler's chapter-specific steps are not drawn on [uncertain].
Example language: "Ich anerkenne jetzt, dass du vor mir da warst." (Daimler)
Watch for: Drift into Hellinger-style verdicts about what the family "must" do. SySt explicitly avoids this.

B9. Other named formats (procedures not drawn on)

Daimler 2026 and Conrady name the following. I give no steps for them [uncertain]: script structure constellation (Drehbuchstrukturaufstellung, for stories, theatre and organisations); outline structure constellation (Gliederungsstrukturaufstellung, e.g. the structure of a book project); prototypical structure constellations (PTA); constellation of the blanked-out topic (AAT); search-process intervention; values-polarity constellation; multiple decision constellation; logo and dream structure constellations; and the accidental constellation (versehentliche Aufstellung, Part VI of Ganz im Gegenteil). From Conrady: a syllogistic constellation with Always, Never, Sometimes and Sometimes-not, for testing prejudice and rigid attitudes (based on Aristotle's square of opposition); a value-square variant; and the meta-constellation, a format nested in another, e.g. a family constellation opened inside a Tetralemma.

C1. Individual work with floor anchors (Bodenanker)

Purpose / when: One-to-one therapy or coaching, with no group available. Any SySt format can be used this way (Problem, Tetralemma, nine-field…).
Steps: (1) Write each element on a card or sheet. (2) The client places the anchors on the floor and decides the facing direction, e.g. with an arrow on the card. (3) The client steps onto each anchor in turn and takes the role, noticing body sensations, images and words. Between anchors, step off and shake off the role. (4) You ask difference questions from a position with eye contact. (5) Test moves by moving anchors, then the client re-enters the positions. (6) The client ends in their own Focus position, anchors the solution and steps out. Clear the anchors, or photograph them with permission. [source: Daimler 2026 excerpt; Conrady; Kießling 2023; IGFH handout] [synthesis: the arrow marking and the step-off between anchors are practical details, not from primary text]
Example language (illustrative): "Step on here as the Goal. Leave yourself behind for a moment. What do you notice from here?" · "Step off, shake it out — and now back to your own place."
Watch for: Clients flooded in one role. Bring them back to their own place (see section 5).

C2. Table figures and the system board (Systembrett)

Origin and status: Family sculpture comes from Kantor and Duhl (USA, late 1960s); the family board from Wilken and Ludewig (Hamburg, 1978); the system board from Polt and Rimser (Austria, Ökotopia 2006; Breiner & Polt 2012). These are a related tool tradition, not part of SySt proper, but SySt elements and formats are often set up on a board or with table figures. [source: IGFH handout; Conrady] [uncertain: Polt & Rimser]
Materials: A board with a defined frame. Basic figures in different sizes and shapes, often with a marked face so facing direction shows. Special figures, e.g. block (barrier), black stone, sphere, frame, pedestal. [source: IGFH handout] [synthesis: the marked face]
Steps: (1) Choose an undisturbed time and place with enough time, and confirm the contract. (2) The client chooses a figure for themselves, then for each person or element: who belongs, who belongs to whom, who lives together, who is close, who is missing. (3) Hands off the board: only the client places or moves figures. (4) Work standing, and walk around the board to see it from several sides. (5) Ask empathy and perspective questions: how the picture is for the client, who is doing best or worst, where the problem or symptom sits, and how it might be for each figure. (6) Special figures show barriers, exclusion, power, outside constraints, illness or pets. (7) Ask the wish question and try out changes on the board: distance, facing, adding or removing figures. Then compare the client's experience of each picture, using SySt difference questions. (8) Close: thank the client, say how the picture helped you understand, and photograph only with permission. Clarify the gap between the wish picture and reality. The picture can be revisited in later sessions. [source: IGFH handout; Gräßer & Hovermann 2019 card-set excerpt]
Example language: IGFH's family questions, paraphrased: who belongs, who is close, who is missing. Illustrative: "Choose one for yourself first. Now place the others where they belong for you — and which way are they looking?" · "Move only what you want to try. What is different now?"
Watch for: Facilitator interpretation, e.g. "your mother looks very far away". Ask instead ("Is there a reason X stands this far away?", Gräßer & Hovermann, paraphrased). It is working when the client spontaneously reports a new view or a next step.

5. Handling problems

Where the sources say nothing, the guidance is marked [synthesis].

Client or representative resistance (a "no", refusing a position or sentence). SySt reads resistance as a cooperative signal about context [source: Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt; Daimler 2026 excerpt]. Response: drop or reword the offer, ask what would have to be added first, and consider a missing element ("what is still missing"). You can also reframe it as an experiment and check better or worse afterwards [source: Daimler]. Never insist.
Stuck picture (nothing improves after several moves). Response: (1) Ask "what is good and can stay?" [Daimler]. (2) Check the systemic principles as offers: is something denied, excluded or out of temporal order? [source: Daimler; uni-koeln]. (3) Add a free element or the "rest of the world". (4) Change format, e.g. open a Tetralemma within the picture as a meta-constellation [Conrady]. (5) Pause: roll the picture in and name it as the next fitting step [Daimler].
Overwhelm or strong emotion in the client. Pacing and gentleness are core; provocation is unnecessary [Varga/Sparrer 2020]. Response [synthesis]: slow down, take the client out of any role back to their own place or to the observer position, ground them (feet, breath, orienting to the room), shift to resources or exceptions, and end with a stable partial picture. With trauma histories, prefer covert or object-based work and keep a trauma-focused treatment plan running alongside. Don't do floor-anchor role-taking with clients in acute crisis, psychosis or severe dissociation, or set it up very carefully. [synthesis]
Representative carries over the role or has a strong reaction. The feelings belong to the element, not to the person [Sparrer 2016]. Response: de-role explicitly (role-return [Daimler, named]), talk with them afterwards, and forbid personal interpretations from the group. [synthesis: the after-talk]
Client treats the picture as truth ("the constellation proved my mother rejected me"). Response: restate that the picture shows the client's inner image and only the client links it to reality [Sparrer 2016; Daimler]. Turn to what the client wants to do with it in real life. Discourage confronting family members on the basis of the constellation alone. [synthesis]
Requests to change someone else, or a third party's problem. Response: use the ownership questions ("Wer hat das Problem?" per von Foerster's foreword) and re-contract around the client's own part. [source: Varga/Sparrer 2020 excerpt]
Confidentiality worries, especially in groups or organisations. Response: go covert (letters or numbers; pre-talk limited to the number and order of elements) [Daimler; Sparrer 2016].
Non-adherence or no follow-through after the session. SySt offers no homework protocol in the sources. Response [synthesis]: in the solution-focused follow-up talk, ask what the client noticed since and what the smallest next step is. Give them the final picture to take home, or a photo of the board or anchors. Schedule a later session to continue, or to unroll a rolled-in picture.
Rupture with the facilitator (client feels judged or steered). Response [synthesis, consistent with the host stance]: name it, take responsibility for any interpretation you made, return the lead to the client, and offer to take back the last intervention.
Clients who expect Hellinger-style family constellations (verdicts, "orders of love" imposed, confrontation). SySt explicitly avoids provocation, authoritative interpretation and breaking off constellations [Daimler; Varga/Sparrer 2020]. Response: explain the differences in the pre-talk, and decline contracts asking you to "find the hidden family cause". [synthesis: the wording]
Body or symptom work replacing medical care. Response: make continued medical treatment a condition of the contract [Conrady says it does not replace treatment; condition = synthesis].
Tetralemma that "lands" on Neither. Don't read it as the wrong decision. Explore hidden fears or others' expectations, or accept the need to wait [Kießling 2023].
System board: client wants you to arrange it, or asks for your reading. Keep hands off the board and ask questions instead of interpreting [IGFH]. If the wish picture is far from reality, discuss the gap before ending [IGFH].
Training and qualification. SySt is a trademarked method taught by the SySt-Institut and affiliated trainers. The sources do not say whether certification is required to use it. Formats marked [uncertain] above, especially the cataleptic hand, belief polarities and the body formats, should be learned in training before use. [uncertain]

Sources

Sources

Books cited (excerpts or contents only, or not drawn on)

Varga von Kibéd, M. & Sparrer, I. (2000; 11th ed. 2020). Ganz im Gegenteil. Tetralemmaarbeit und andere Grundformen Systemischer Strukturaufstellungen. Carl-Auer.
Sparrer, I. (2006; 3rd ed. 2016). Systemische Strukturaufstellungen. Theorie und Praxis. Carl-Auer.
Sparrer, I. (2001/2004). Wunder, Lösung und System. Carl-Auer. English: Miracle, Solution and System (2007), SolutionsBooks.
Daimler, R. (2008; 9th rev. ed. 2026). Basics der Systemischen Strukturaufstellungen. Kösel.
Polt, W. & Rimser, M. (2006). Aufstellungen mit dem Systembrett. Ökotopia (not drawn on).
Breiner, G. & Polt, W. (2012). Lösungen mit dem Systembrett. Ökotopia (not drawn on).
Kleve, H. (2011). Aufgestellte Unterschiede. Carl-Auer (contents only).

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