Ammann, Ruth. THE SANDTRAY AS A GARDEN OF THE SOUL

Ammann, Ruth
THE SANDTRAY AS A GARDEN OF THE SOUL

Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 4, Number 1, 1994

KEY WORDS: sandtray, garden, soul, sandplay therapy, symbol, training of therapist, projection, sand, role of therapist, resonance, therapeutic relationship, soul-garden, clinical example.

ABSTRACT: This edited version of a presentation at the C.G. Jung Institute in 1993 considers the sandtray as a soul-garden, a space for the expression for the individual’s interior life. This in-between space in the sandtray, holds the bridge between the inner and outer realities of the individual. The interactive space between the client and therapist, the sandtray, is the interactive field. The author uses the analogy of the gardener, the therapist, awakening the creativity of the gardener of the sandplayer in the process. This creates resonance between them. Activating the resonance lies on the development, professionally and personally, of the therapist, with the hopes that the sandplayer becomes the tender of his/her own soul-garden.