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A creative, ancient path to growth.
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Sometimes trying to "figure things out" intellectually can pull us away from the soul's natural, intuitive
process of healing.
One of the limitations of talk therapy is, by definition, that it happens in words. Many of the struggles,
disappointments, and wounds of our childhoods are hard to describe or even access in words.
Sometimes when we talk we have a tendency to get mired in analytical thinking, or to feel at a loss because
we have no words.
Sandplay helps us tune into the voice of the soul.
Sandplay is a blend of art and drama and is especially helpful to people who are grieving a
loss, recovering from trauma, or experiencing relationship difficulties. The sandplayer sits or stands
at a large tray of wet or dry sand. She or he chooses from hundreds of colorful miniatures -- religious and mythical symbols,
people, shells, animals, fairy-tale figures -- and creates a scene, much as a young child does at play.
People who first hear about sandplay often ask, "Is it something like a Rorschach test?" The answer is an emphatic
no. It's almost a paradox to speak of the "purpose" of doing a sandtray, since the focus is on play without rules or purpose,
with the emphasis on the tangible experience of moving the objects in the sand. "It is the experiencing of molding the sand,
of adding water in sprinkles or by cupfuls, of placing the objects, of burying them, of letting something happen, be it felt
as creative or destructive, and of honoring whatever process takes over, that is healing," writes Kay Bradway in Sandplay
-- Silent Workshop of the Psyche. Rather than reductively analyzing what is going on in the tray, the therapist attends
to and appreciates the world that the client is creating within it.
You can do sandplay in the context of talk therapy. Or you can come in for a series of sessions devoted
entirely to sandplay.
With each sand tray we can discover and create images that can become inner touchstones for our lives, much the way symbols
do in dreams and stories. In ancient cultures, creating images in sand is a traditional way to record sacred events and tales.
Carl Jung discovered the healing power of sand while living on Lake Zurich. "We must be able to let things happen in the psyche,"
he wrote. "For us, this is an art of which most people know nothing. Consciousness is forever interfering, helping, correcting,
and negating, never leaving the psychic process to grow in peace." This attending and appreciating -- so rare in our analytic,
critical culture -- is at the basis of all therapy that nurtures the soul.
For more on creativity and therapy, click here.
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Worn down, hemmed in, stressed out?
Longing for something more?
for a free consultation.
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Last updated on
N.Y. Licensed Psychoanalyst
Certified, National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
Member, American Association of Pastoral Counselors
Individuals, Couples, Parent
coaching
Westchester County and New York City
914-941-6478
212-802-7333
Serving the online community as well as midtown Manhattan, 10016, 10022, 10017, Westchester Putnam Dutchess
and Fairfield counties, including Ossining Briarcliff Manor Croton-on-Hudson Yorktown Heights Sleepy Hollow Tarrytown Pleasantville
Pocantico Hills Chappaqua Millwood Mount Kisco Somers Katonah Mahopac Irvington Hastings-on-Hudson Yonkers and Valhalla.
Individual therapy, spiritual counseling, couples counseling, and parent coaching, as well as premarital
counseling and help with divorce, relationships and communication.
Copyright © 2005 Jean Fitzpatrick. All rights reserved.
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