Good afternoon! I get asked a lot of questions about what vicarious perception is, why a stranger can feel another complete stranger, how can this be explained from a scientific point of view? Indeed, this phenomenon seems like a miracle. Sometimes the deputy exactly repeats gestures, movements, voice intonation, and even speaks verbatim in the words of the person he is replacing. There is an opinion that at the level of neurophysiology, mirror neurons are also involved in this process. These are nerve cells in the brain that are excited when a person performs a certain action and are also excited when observing how others perform the same action. It is believed that these cells are responsible for empathy, for when one person yawns, those around them begin to yawn. However, there is also a statement that mirror neurons work when a person sees something, then he “tryes on” it for himself. It cannot be stated unequivocally that only mirror neurons take part in vicarious perception. However, if the Deputy sees how the client expresses any emotion, is in one state or another, he also begins to feel it. In other words, external manifestations can be explained by mirror neurons, but internal ones cannot. Sometimes vicarious perception is called the conscious transference technique. In conventional therapy, a therapeutic relationship is established over a long period of time in which the client begins to transfer feelings to the therapist. Thus, in psychoanalysis, the therapist becomes a substitute for the client’s Mother; it is the therapist who transfers feelings towards the mother. And in everyday life, this phenomenon occurs quite often and is not disputed by traditional psychological schools. These are the so-called phenomena of triangulation, parentification, etc. One example is when a person is a mother for a mother: then at the level of consciousness there is, as it were, a dialogue between a person and a mother, only if you turn on the recorder, record such a dialogue, remove names and regalia, the diametrically opposite will develop, i.e. mother and child switch places. And indeed, if we remove “consciousness,” then at the level of feelings and emotions there will be a change or replacement of roles, when the mother becomes a child, and the child becomes a mother for the mother. I must say that this is the most difficult case. There is also an opinion that substitute perception is closely related to the concepts of age and biographical regression, when the brain goes into a childish state, its critical perception decreases and the so-called game identification is activated. If you look at children as they play, you can see that they use substitute perception (game identification) very actively: first they play the role of a fluffy bunny and a gray wolf, playing out the scenario of the victim and the aggressor, and then they suddenly have a third reconciling force and the conflict resolves itself. Children in such games are much wiser than adults. What Hellinger is so criticized for is his new “spiritual” constellations, where spontaneous movement of the “soul” occurs, where free movement tends to balance and without the participation of a constellator, the system finds a good solution, practically repeats with adults what children do in kindergarten daily. Have you seen how children play in the sandbox? There is even a whole direction of sand psychotherapy. Each figure in the sandbox stands for significant figures in the child’s life. During the game in the sandbox, internal conflicts are resolved, all projections are very clearly visible. And it’s much easier to work with children. Although projective techniques work great with adults. When becoming a substitute in the arrangement, it is necessary to turn off the consciousness as a controller, because in children it is much less than in an adult. Then emotions and feelings become more vivid, they are more felt at the bodily level. These emotions are more difficult to control. That is why deputies can demonstrate them so clearly and the client very often=46410