WHAT IS SANDPLAY

Jungian sandplay is a nonverbal therapeutic approach that allows expression of deep levels of the psyche. It is a therapeutic clinically proven modality that has been used for more than 100 years. Using sand, water and miniature figures the client creates three-dimensional scenes to express what is active in the psyche at an unconscious level. In this way, it allows for an in-depth exploration of the inner world. Interpretation is not offered at the time the pictures are created as this allows the psyche to move deeper more quickly.

It was first developed by Margaret Lowenfeld, a British pediatrician in the early 1900s and was originally called ‘World Technique’. Dora Kalff was a friend and colleague of Carl Jung and was encouraged by him to explore Lowenfield’s approach. The method is predominately based on Jungian psychology and theory and is known as Jungian Sandplay.

HISTORY OF SAND PLAY

Carl Jung was the major influence in the recognition of the importance of symbols and their central place in healing and integrating into the psyche.

Jung and Kalff knew that the psyche takes a path toward wholeness and integration when presented with a receptive and accepting environment. Sandplay is that experience offering what Kalff described an ‘a free and protected space’.

HOW IT CAN HELP

Sandplay therapy can help clients with:

Self Awareness
Positive aging
Life transitions
Self exploration
Bring Unconscious to conscious
Bereavement
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma
Spiritual crises

HOW IT WORKS

Sandplay therapy creates a safe and accepting space for clients to express their experiences and thoughts in a three dimensional world of imagination. During therapy, clients use a tray to express their inner world with sand, water and small objects of their choosing. The sandtray becomes a safe space for clients to reflect their innermost experiences and thoughts together with a therapist who is highly trained in this modality. In this way clients can explore their inner world encouraging new ideas, thoughts and emotions to emerge.
It is a non-verbal process though the client may choose to spend some of the session time in traditional ‘talk therapy’ with the therapist.

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF SANDPLAY

Neuroscientific research helps to explain the therapeutic effectiveness of Sandplay even when clients are unable to access or verbally express emotional experiences or traumas (Schore, 2001; Levine, 1997; 2010). Sandplay, a depth therapy, allows the client to work safely and gently with psychic material at the level of the unconscious and pre-verbal.