Ammann, Ruth
THE INNER BEAUTY OF HAKONIWA: THE INNER BEAUTY OF SANDPLAY THERAPY
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 19, Number 2, 2010
KEY WORDS: inner beauty, client, therapist, transience, transitions, Sandplay therapy, opening address. Congress, ISST, Inner Beauty of Hakoniwa, art, inner beauty, hidden, emergence of beauty, special meaning, deep feelings, emotions, clinical examples.
ABSTRACT: The author, in her opening address at the 20th Congress of the ISST: The Inner Beauty of Hakoniwa, refers to the beauty that is consciously created such as pieces of art as well as the beauty which is not created with awareness and which has to do with transience and special moments of changes and transitions in processes, such as therapeutic processes. The author describes inner beauty in sandplay therapy as a hidden, small, often modest and not glamorous beauty which has a transitory quality. This small, fugitive beauty needs to be seen, appreciated and valued otherwise it emerges into consciousness only to sink back into the unconscious. The therapist or the client, or both, experience and notice its special meaning, because the emergence of beauty is accompanied by deep feelings and emotions. Often this inner beauty becomes visible only later, when the deeper meaning of the process becomes evident. Two case examples are presented.