The Power of Sand Play Therapy
by Jennifer Axinn-Weiss

Sometimes people have things happen to them that are so awful that we describe the event or trauma as "unspeakable." A trained therapist knows that traumatic events occasionally do become literally "unspeakable"; that is, the unfortunate person is unable to talk about the event, or even possibly incorporate it as part of his or her life's history, even after much time has passed. Even people who have not experienced a dramatically horrific event can have "unspeakable" emotional pain that they carry around, often for years, as a result of some troubling event in their childhood or adolescence. Often when these buried traumas remain unexamined for long periods of time, other problems develop—sometimes negative habits, beliefs, or relationships can emerge, or even addiction of one kind or another.

Sandplay, a kind of therapy created in the 1950s, provides the opportunity for people to express themselves nonverbally, which in turn empowers individuals to find the keys to psychological healing and transformation.

What exactly is sandplay? A typical sandplay studio has an array of miniature figurines.: Kings and queens, pirates, mermaids, dragons, monsters and angels may be used to express the many aspects of the client's self, along with a myriad of animals, plants, buildings, temples, and natural artifacts. The client arranges these items in a small, 19- by 23-inch sandbox. The result is a kind of symbolic landscape akin to a dream world. And like the symbols in dreams, this symbolic landscape is an expression of deeper, hidden parts of the psyche. Through the process of creating a sand scene, an individual is able to nonverbally create an outer expression of his or her inner world, bringing to light unconscious patterns and dynamics. By making the unconscious world conscious, one is able to change unproductive behavioral patterns and experience profound transformation. Sometimes a client in the sandplay studio may only want to shape the sand and water. Even the simple act of molding the sand can be a powerful way to express emotion.

The founder of sandplay was a woman named Dora Kalff, a Jungian therapist, who developed the idea in Switzerland in the 1950s and 1960s. It's said that Kalff's inspiration for sandplay came from a dream wherein she dreamt that two Tibetan Lamas presented her with a golden rectangle. As a student of Zen and Tibetan thought, she understood that this "golden rectangle" (which would evolve over the course of several years into the sandplay model) could create a bridge between the contemplative traditions of Asia and western psychology.

Sand plays a role in many cultures. Tibetan Monks use it to create the ephemeral mandalas. Sand is also used in the creation of the contemplative gardens of Japan as well as in Native American healing ceremonies. There is something powerful about the substance of sand.

I've been practicing sandplay in my studio in Rhinebeck for the past year. Sandplay sessions usually last around an hour. I use hypnotherapy in concert with sandplay, and find that the combination can be extremely beneficial to clients. Becoming a sandplay facilitator grew naturally out of my interest in art (I've been an artist for twenty-five years), and my desire to help people. I worked for several years in the California school system practicing art therapy with kids. It took ten years of training for me to become a qualified sandplay facilitator, and I went through sandplay therapy myself. I feel that it is an extremely powerful form of therapy.

For example, I recently had a client who had suffered an extremely traumatic incident many years ago. The reason she came for therapy had nothing to do with this trauma, at least on the surface. But as her landscape began to take shape, it was remarkable how quickly and clearly the client portrayed what had happened, and how it had affected her life. Also, the symbols in the sand tray became clues about what needed to be done in order for the client to heal. I believe it could have taken years of talk therapy before we reached the significance of that event. With sandplay, though, the client was able to express what was going on deep inside her psyche, something that she had not really been able to do before. The unspeakable trauma that had hindered her for 20 years has begun to lose its power.