Voice, Power, and Belonging: Exploring Emerging Patterns and Expressions in Individuals and Collectives
In this post, we provide examples of how, through systems sensing and systemic constellations practice, it is possible to identify and explore ingrained patterns related to voice, power, and belonging, ultimately contributing to transformation within an individual or organization.
At Collective Transitions, we help societal change organizations move forward and flourish by acknowledging and healing past challenges and co-creating new patterns for the future. Through our unique approach, which uses systems sensing and the systemic constellations approach, we support groups and facilitators in navigating these shifts both as individuals and as collectives.
Identifying common patterns and themes
In our conversations with key players within organizations, we’ve noticed a mirroring pattern between the external work that an organization does and the inner transformation that this demands of those doing the work. Specifically, the themes of voice, power, and belonging continued to show up for individuals and teams working to serve marginalized groups (such as farmers, women, and people of color) and people who work with innate ways of knowing.
For example, we spoke with the founder of an organization that aims to promote food security and to empower farmers worldwide by decentralizing the sharing of knowledge. He relayed his personal struggles with communicating effectively and “feeling heard,” noting that, “[m]y biggest trauma is not the times I’ve almost died, but being attacked and feeling voiceless at the dinner table, jumped on by my siblings. The inability to communicate still haunts me.”
Through his organization, which gives voice to farmers who are often marginalized, disempowered, and voiceless, this individual has been able to go through a process of inner transformation, regaining his personal sense of power and command of language: “Every day, I fight for people that were not invited to sit at a table with those with resources and power.”
Leaders and teams of societal change organizations often must go through such inner transformations to manifest the changes they want to bring about in their work and in the world. For example, being a voice for the voiceless may create conditions that help leaders or teams refine how they are heard or seen. It can help them regain a sense of ownership of their mission, in ways that provide more autonomy, power, and belonging. This movement from inner to outer refines the embodied “how” of what these organisations set out to manifest, and thus aligns the “how” more consciously with the “what.”
The themes of voice, power, and belonging have also emerged in our own organization and in our practice community. To better understand these effects, we began exploring how social change organizations could address the ingrained patterns that are at the root of large-scale societal issues — looking at them from the inside out and in a way that acknowledges their interrelated nature across different scales, from individual to interpersonal, team, organization, and ecosystem-wide. We brought these themes into our bimonthly practice group to understand whether a system sensing approach could help reveal more about what’s at the root of these patterns.
Tackling ingrained patterns through collective inquiry
In March 2020, we invited practitioners to participate in an “asynchronous” collective inquiry and sensing practice around these shared topics, with participants engaging individually on their own time schedules rather than in a shared group setting. We adapted the practice of asynchronous or “async” constellations from the broader systemic constellations approach. During a group online practice session, we first workshopped the collective inquiry practice together, then practitioners later did the exercise on their own or in pairs. (Read more about the evolution of this practice and see async instructions.)
In the exercise, the practitioners developed a calling question or focused intention, providing an individual entry point into the shared themes. The themes of Voice, Power, and Belonging became elements of the constellation (the key aspects, people, places, and qualities being spotlighted through the constellation approach). Practitioners were also invited to add additional elements including themselves (Self) as well as a supportive Resource or an Unknown aspect. The Resource or Unknown could present itself as a quality such as creativity, or as a material such as financial resources or a person.
Practitioners shared the highlights of their sensing experiences in many forms — written summaries, poetry, journal entries, visuals, drawings, maps, artwork, and audio recording. With such diverse and rich content, tracking and making meaning raised many questions. To explore these questions and create space for collective sense-making, we hosted a meta lab on the topic of harvest and sharing. Participants shared experiences and harvests on the themes of voice, power, and belonging, not only focusing on the content but also engaging in an applied inquiry into how sharing can inform individual and collective action moving forward.
Sharing expressions of voice, power, and belonging
In total, five individuals contributed to the practice space (these persons are referred to below as practitioners “A,” “B,” “C,” etc.). Each developed a unique inquiry but used common elements: Voice, Power, Belonging, Self, Resource, and the Unknown. Each participant “sensed into” each element using the intention of his or her own calling question. (Read more about systems sensing and async constellations practice.)
The following are highlights from what four of the practitioners shared during the practice space, as well as several of the artifacts — images, maps, sounds, etc. — that were generated during the exercise. These reflections point to some of the inner transformations that participants have experienced during the systemic constellation practice.
Practitioner A
“I started by journaling and I noticed I was stuck, as I could not find words to express the elements. I got out watercolors and colored pens and I started putting images on a page, which is a new process to me…..
This thin layer of black (the upside-down ‘U’) is the Unknown. I started here. Then I felt like there is something that wants to come through that I felt as my Voice depicted in yellow. When I started painting, I didn’t have these cracks. The cracks came later as the sensing and constellation evolved.
Then I started to think about Power like lava streams under the earth, powering Voice which is longing to be heard. I remember hearing the message, ‘My depths are reached in the present moment. The more aware you are to what is happening and what is, and the more you lean in with joy and curiosity, the more accessible I become.’
Resource is about not suppressing my feelings but to sit with them, acknowledge them, and be curious to understand them. Then the Power of my Voice can be channeled to the outside, like the wind or even curiosity to the outside. And then I heard from Belonging. ‘I belong. I am here. I am earth. Here I belong.’”
In response to the above presentation from Practitioner A, someone reflected: “Thank you. I loved the image. It really spoke so much in the way you described it. I just resonate and I think you put words and articulation to that inner experience, the complexity and the relationships of these things, like our Voice and Power and the pressures that get built up inside of us, as well as the fear and the crust that keeps it in. So, yeah, just resonating with that.”
Practitioner B
Voice
“For Voice, I heard a call to let myself speak in all the ways that I want to express. This seems very similar to what we were just talking about, like letting in the energy and the excitement in my body and allowing that to move through my vocal chords almost as a voice, that comes up from the depths of my being. This creates a resonant sound where it can move, touch, and change things by just being out in the world.
Then I heard ‘it is safe to share and express again.’ I relate to threads [shared today] that there are deep feelings that haven’t always felt safe for me to share. Especially the last few years, there have been a lot of situations where I’ve been asked not to speak about my experience, and that has been painful. It really takes a healing journey to reclaim voice as important and powerful. So I felt that permission and invitation and that voice creates a groundedness and an anchor to be in the world by speaking. [For example,] by speaking, I can create the ways that I want to engage in the world and the visions that I see in the things I want to experience.”
Power
“When I came to Power, I had this image of these beautiful, soft flower petals that just envelop me. So it felt like an invitation to explore a new relationship with Power — a gentler, softer, more receptive form of power that was about a lot more receptivity, flow, and grace.
I felt a way to honor the tenderness and the fear that comes with a new relationship to Power in that, like the trusting that can be real and it can be powerful because it is so counter to the power we see in the world. I was really feeling in my body, a rawness of ‘what does it mean to actually embody this type of power?’ And to acknowledge the change that it could bring.”
Self
“With that, I felt encouragement: ‘I’m more ready than I may think. And an encouragement to welcome my ancestors along the way. I felt them present. I felt a sensation that seemed to say: ‘You can dissolve into yourself; you don’t have to be so upright. Sink in and feel your process. Allow the non-linear, windy, snakelike patterns of your way of being, dipping and twirling you through the world.’ I felt spacious. It was very different than I expected to feel.”
Belonging
“The words that then came for belonging were: ‘Let there be more space between you than you’re used to. Float. Suspend in time and space. You can trust that Belonging is still there. What can you see in your suspension?”
Resource
“Resource appeared as an image, like a flower. It felt like a flower coming out of my mouth through Voice and through speaking, like nourishment that fed Voice when it was used, that came back to regenerate me and others in the world. ‘When you speak, let blossoms emerge from your mouth. Let their flow nourish, lift, regenerate and feed you.’
At the end, I wrote down the following notes:
- Notice where the energy wants to go and flow with it.
- Connect to what’s moving and what wants to be alive. Feed life.
- ‘Power within’ is a way to relate with energy movement, by having agency without attachment to the outcome.”
Practitioner C
Practitioner C shared a short voice memo with the group: “I started with the question ‘What is important for me to know about my current project now in order to effectively bring voice, power, and belonging to be in service to the world?’
Looking at my photos, we started out with a Resource at the bottom, supporting Power, Self, and Belonging, with Voice flying off toward the top of the page. This is about feeling resourced and seeking belonging and seeking to be in my power. And my voice is longing to express and starting to express, before a solid foundation is built in the next image.
Then Belonging moves up to center itself between Voice and Power. This reminds me of the chakra system — the root chakra, the heart chakra, and perhaps the throat chakra or 7th chakra in the head supported by a Resource as the foundation.
Next, we have Self getting closer to Belonging, and I think that represents a longing for Belonging. And then we have Power moving up to support that Belonging underneath it.
In the next image, we have a Resource coming to back up Self, almost coming to her awareness from behind. And then we have Voice coming behind a Resource and all the other elements. I believe that’s about using my voice to identify and express this resource and also make this resource available to others through a healing process. Voice is like identifying the resource…. And the Voice can bring all of [the other elements] into alignment and into being.”
In response to Practitioner C, someone reflected: “It’s like a little word play with ‘belonging’ and ‘be,’ like ‘longing to be.’ And there is ‘being long’, like a widening of space. This also came up in the previous share, like having more spaciousness to create…. So am I going to keep playing with that — be long, belonging, longing to be.”
Practitioner D
“I started with the question, ‘How can I activate my voice and power in a healthy way to feel I fully belong here on earth?’ Then I included the following elements, which I represented intuitively by placing a few stones next to each other on the table:
- Myself — small round stone
- Power — grey flat stone
- Voice — white oval stone
- Belonging — big round stone
An additional element emerged during the exercise that I named ‘Resource,’ which turned out to be the light shining onto the table.
The sensing exercise unfolded in three general stages: beginning, middle, and end.”
Beginning stage
“I started by observing how the different stones were laid out and how Belonging created a long shadow, encompassing Myself, Power, and Voice as if it both shaded these three elements as well as cradled and held them together. The realization of the shade or shadow layer over my sense of voice and power, struck ‘an inner chord’ relating to the theme of belonging, which I took as meaning belonging to this Earth.
What further stood out was that the light from the table lamp became an important ‘player’ throughout this constellation, as it seemed to become an additional ‘element’ that I felt represented as a Resource.
Then the first shift of position took place by Voice moving into the light ray on the left side of Belonging, and Power releasing itself from Myself. There was a sigh and an exhale, which seemed to signify a relief of a burden.”
Middle stage
“Then I leaned behind Belonging, as if I could recharge myself a bit and regain a new sense of inner centeredness. Then, surprisingly, Power came closer to help me move onto it. It felt like a tickling, and a little push to help me actually step up and onto my sense of power. Belonging welcomed it and, with a sense of ease, actually invited it further.
Power and Myself moved next to Belonging and into facing the light. This shift of meeting the light and being shined onto, while standing on my place of Power, shifted how I sat on my chair, how my feet related to the ground, and made my spine move more upright. A little shiver running from top to toe. Then another shift was Voice moving next to Power and Myself and equally facing light all together.”
End stage
“The last shift that announced itself was that Voice moved onto Power and below Myself, forming a triad together. Feeling Voice as a supportive force rather than something far from Myself and supported by Power at the bottom created a new inner alignment. This became more highlighted when this triad moved in front of Belonging, focusing toward the light.”
Reflection from the different elements
Voice: “At first there was a sense of wanting to scream and to be loud, but Myself became swallowed by a sense of silence as if there was no air that would transport the scream. Voice then found a way to move toward the light and that led to a big release for Voice and marked the beginning of speaking outwardly and being able to communicate in the world and with the world. Looking at the light felt like a guidance and connector.”
Light: “It represented a more subtle energy and energetic or spiritual dimension that manifested itself in matter. There was a message of: ‘All is spirit. Just show yourself, it’s safe now!!!’”
Power: “At the beginning, it was on top of Myself and was trying to crush it. It said: ‘I don’t want to crush you, but I don’t know how else to show you the beauty that I am. I want to be a gift. I ask you to surrender. Can you dare to not see me as evil?’”
Self: “There was a sense of wonder from the element Myself: ‘Am I that tall? I thought I was not visible.’ During the whole exercise the realization grew that one of the things that Myself is asked to shift is the attitude toward ‘being receptive’ and ‘receiving gifts’ such as welcoming and receiving power and potential. Yet in that there was also a genuine sense that I need support to express myself. This led to the movement of being able and allowed to lean onto Belonging in order to receive help to grow and Power. In this movement, it became clear to me that Power and Belonging felt like twins.”
Belonging: “The element shared a message: ‘I am a rock, steady, clear, central. and grounded. I move slowly. I am a stable milestone in the scenery. I am your home both spiritually and physically.’ That gave a sense of groundedness and also a release that there is no need to choose between either the earthly realm or the more spiritual realm, but that both are part of the sense of belonging.”
Essential steps and insight
- “The moving of Myself into the light, allowing Myself to be seen, and receiving support and being received;
- Myself becoming receptive and welcoming Power as a new, stable ground;
- Voice moving underneath the feet of Myself;
- The trio of Voice, Power, and Myself formed and moved like a canoe in front of Belonging, looking toward Resource (the light) with Belonging supporting at their back;
- Inviting a sense of community for this ride and being open, receptive, experimental, and playful that includes ease, trust, joy, and confidence in sharing in communion with others.”
Key learnings and takeaways:
- “It’s time to move into the light and become visible.
- It’s time to become receptive and receive gifts.
- It’s time to reach out for help.
- It’s time to lean onto my sense of belonging.
- It’s time to stop seeing power as evil.
- It’s time to feel power and voice under my feet, a steady ground.
- It’s time to be playful and welcome a sense of communion.
- It’s time to be confident.”
Final reflections of the shared practice
As reflected in the experiences described above, each individual gained insights through the systems sensing exercises that were uniquely suited to that person’s current situation and inquiry. Even when looking at a small sample size of five people, it is possible to start seeing patterns across different stages of a transition and how they interact as a whole.
Voice reveals an invitation — a phase of transition and a process of maturation toward a more authentic and centered expression. The way each person finds their voice often reveals the lesson or gift they will bring out in the world and through their work and engagements.
The Resource tends to support balancing and aligning voice with power. Resource can also help illuminate other resources that are unknown or not yet acknowledged in a system.
The essence of Power often came as a surprise, shifting the sense of the story that the individual had of what power represents. For example, it can be soft like a blossoming flower or flowing like the wind, rather than a force to be exerted upon something else. Power often mirrored different forms of the quality of love and care. These qualities are empowering by helping to bridge a new identity and authentic sense of self in and with the world .
A sense of Belonging is a fundamental principle and can be deepened as the other elements are brought into balance. Belonging is a birthright and is accessible and available to everyone unconditionally.
In summary, what is often a seemingly small shift of perception can bring awareness of how a pattern may play out in our individual storylines and also in our work environments. As noted earlier, this was the case for the leader of the food security organization who initially felt voiceless. The asynchronous constellation sessions conducted with Collective Transitions practitioners provide insights into how patterns can be mirrored both in our own lives and in other people’s stories.
Learn more
If you’re interested in exploring how the themes of voice, power, and belonging show up in your life, we invite you to follow these guidelines and to share your insights with us here.
To learn more about and to experience systems sensing and a systemic constellation, see our upcoming training and practice sessions.
Many thanks to the contributors who participated in the sharing and discussion: Stacey Sude, Allie Armitage, Julia Mande, Milla McLachlan, Keith Riggs, Luea Ritter, and Nancy Zamierowski. Nancy Zamierowski adapted this piece from a transcript.
