Sandtray Therapy:
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Sandtray Therapy is a form of play therapy used with children and adults. It is a powerful modality that helps the client express his/her thoughts and feelings without having to use words. It takes therapy to a whole new dimension, as it goes deep into the psyche of repressed emotions and safely brings them to the surface. Hence, Sandtray can help break down the walls of resistance and unblock fears and anxieties.
Sandtray offers an integrative therapeutic experience, linking image and emotion through movement and play. The client is empowered as he/she directs the session choosing objects to place into their sand world. The sand invites a person to move and create. Symbolic expression and powerful emotions arise as the senses awake: tactile, visual, auditory and even olfactory senses. (Which you don’t have with traditional “talk” therapy) The Therapist is present to be a safe and receptive “holder” offering an unconditional space for the client to process their thoughts and feelings. The Therapist deepens the experience further, through appropriate facilitation, designing new possibilities for facing life’s challenges.The process of Sandtray bears witness to profound physical, emotional and interpersonal healing!!! A letter from a client after a year of Sandtray Therapy: I’m looking at the last world I just built, and it’s hard to believe that it was built by the same person who built a world with such darkness and pain. The world I just built shows me that it is not an underground world, not a world filled with rocks or heavy stones, rather a world of purpose. It’s showing me a world that I can enjoy, a world that means something to me, and most importantly a world that I want to be in. Looking back at pictures of the first few worlds I built, I am shocked at how much pain I was in. I am shocked that a human being - someone with a soul, and a beating heart - was able to withstand such dark lifelessness. Not only did I survive, but I am on the other side. When I first walked in, I was a dead corpse wearing a mask. I did not want to continue. I did not have the strength, nor did I want to have the strength, and now that I think of it, I didn’t want anything. I wanted… “nothing”. At that point I was exhausted, I was triggered, I did not want to continue anymore. Nevertheless something in me was telling me that there was more to life than this painful phase. I pushed on. I began my healing journey with Miriam Ahuva Schecter, an amazing therapist. I built sand worlds and she helped me regain my inner strength and transform my pain into power. One year later, and I have a job, I have received multiple promotions, and I am currently seeking a new career position. I found a group of young men like myself with whom I play ball with. I started connecting with friends whom I had lost contact with, and I am experiencing new passions and interests. I would have never believed that all of this growth was possible within one year. Truly unbelievable. When I was in a dark and depressed state, I didn’t want to do anymore therapy, I didn’t want to have to try and explain to someone else ‘what was going on’ or ‘what I was feeling’. However a close relative of mine begged me to give sand tray a shot. I was told that it is ‘different’ and is not the same as the regular talk therapy. When I walked in for my first session, I did not say much nor did I need to say much, because the world that you built speaks for itself. It speaks for those who can’t. It says everything a person cannot say, and says what a person doesn’t want to say. Most importantly it requires no talk at all if that is what you wish. There are stages in ones life where he/she can’t talk, or doesn’t have the strength to do so. That is what sand tray is for. You do not need to say the right words, or try to make the person across from you understand your feelings. You can let your gut do the work. All you need to do, is do as your heart directs, and the ‘feelings’, the ‘emotions’, the ‘words’ will describe themselves in a way that you would not have been able to. They will speak for themselves, because in sand tray you talk with your heart. A review from a client : Sand tray therapy has been one of the most healing forms of therapy for me. It’s a safe place to turn off my brain and tune into my subconscious. The sand is magical, whatever needs to appear in the sand does appear. I’ve worked through complex trauma in such a soft, non-intrusive way. The fact that I didn’t have to talk my way through what I was working through relieved so much pressure and allowed me to work through the trauma without having to re-experience the pain. Shira |
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