”Blessings of ancestors are greater than those of living human beings.”

Netflix’s Turkish series Zeytin Ağacı (Another Self) first aired on 28th of July and by the end of August it has over 100 million views under its belt. That’s quite an achievement for a Turkish series, especially for one that is not packed with action and is led by 3 women’s stories but I’m not surprised at all. I didn’t even know about this when I started writing the draft of this review. I knew the series would be as successful as it is, despite some of its issues, because the story and the characters are very relatable. What I didn’t know is that even a skeptic like me could learn a lot from their stories and maybe you could too.

I was really impressed with the casting and their chemistry with each other. Zeytin Ağacı’s story centers around 3 women who are best friends. Ada (Tuba Büyüküstün) is a surgeon, Sevgi (Boncuk Yılmaz) is a lawyer and Leyla (Seda Bakan) is an influencer/housewife. Due to Sevgi’s health problems, one day they find themselves in Ayvalık, which is a beautiful town in northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. Here they meet Zaman Bey (Mr. Zaman) who is essentially a family/ancestral constellation therapist.

What Is Family Constellation All About?

Family constellation is a therapeutic tool that allows the invisible influences from the present and past to be made visible and therefore acknowledged. Especially in cases where trauma is not evident, this method can be beneficial to reveal some familial trauma that the person is not aware of. Epigenetic research has shown that trans-generational trauma can affect us in ways that are sometimes mysterious to us. Actually this was one of the things that sold the Zeytin Ağacı series to me when I watched the trailer. For years I have been wondering why certain patterns keep repeating in our lives. The series deals with this question and answers it through the characters’ various storylines.

I have a lot of friends who have tried family constellation therapy over the years who generously shared their experiences with me. They all spoke very positively about it. Even though the results they got from it were not always as dramatic as the ones in Zeytin Ağacı, they all said that it’s something they learned a lot from and not just as the caller of a session but also merely as one of the participants. Trying family constellation therapy at least once is definitely in my bucket list. However it is worth noting that, as it is shown in the series, it’s not a one-session solution at all. As with many other methods of recovery, as you dig deeper you may find different things to uncover and work on.

Who’s Behind the Wheel?

Zeytin Ağacı is written by Nuran Evren Şit and directed by Burcu Alptekin. If you have already watched one of Netflix’s first........

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