Jungian Sandplay is a non-verbal and symbolically based therapeutic process. It is founded on the psychology of C G Jung and the World Technique created by Margaret Lowenfeld. 'Sandplay' as she termed it, was developed by Swiss Jungian analyst and teacher Dora Kalff who had trained with both Carl Jung and Margaret Lowenfeld. Using sand, miniature objects and water in what Dora Kalff called the 'free and protected space', the client is encouraged to create images out of their experiences. Both Dora Kalff and Carl Jung believed that the image could offer greater therapeutic value and insight than words alone.
Jungian sandplay is therefore based on image making and was developed as a therapeutic method that offers a way to connect with deeper levels of experience. Through this method new areas of awareness can be brought into consciousness, helped by the broader sensory experience of working with both sand and objects and connecting with symbolic resonance. Like dreams, which through their scenes and story can give us insight into unconscious possibility, sandplay scenes similarly include forms, figures and actions that can be symbolically explored. I other words it is a form of embodied active imagination.
Jungian Sandplay therapy may also be offered in conjunction with the more familiarly known 'talk' based therapy. Sandplay is a process that engages right brain activity through its symbolic language and sensory expression. It offers an alternative route when the linguistic dependent left side of the brain, can't seem to connect to the core of the experience someone may be wrestling with. It is also an effective approach towards addressing the underlying impact of trauma experience, now known to need right brain activating methods to be effectively accessed and worked with. Simply expressed it is an effective method when something arises in a person’s process that requires non-verbal, intuitive and tactile exploration.
By using miniature figurines and sand to create pictures in a small sandtray and meeting symbolic possibility, unconscious contents can become sensed and the innate healing capacity of the psyche is activated. Sandplay is primarily a non-directive, creative form of therapy using imagination. A series of sandplay images portrayed in the sandtray create an ongoing dialogue between conscious and unconscious aspects of the client's psyche. This activates a healing process and the further development of an individual sense of self.
Jungian sandplay is often sought by people who wish to discover more about their own meaning, purpose and innateness. It is available to individuals who would like to explore more creatively and to those who find talk based therapy just doesn't reach far enough. Jungian sandplay can be of particular interest to people who experience a level of disillusionment or loss of connection with the world around them. It is a very effective therapeutic support to working with the more difficult human feelings such hopelessness, despair and futility and also where individuals may fear feeling uncontained, overwhelmed or of 'falling apart'.