Sandplay Therapy (Jungian Sandplay)

A non-verbal therapy method created by Dora Kalff on the basis of Jungian theory, Margaret Lowenfeld's "World Technique", and Buddhist philosophy. The client creates a three-dimensional scene from miniature figures in a sand tray in a "free and protected space". It gives access to preverbal, somatic, and archetypal layers of the unconscious. What matters is the process of the series, not a single scene.

Step-by-step guide

1. Create a "free and protected space" — silent presence of the therapist without interpretation or instructions
2. Invite the client to create a scene in the tray (60×72 cm, blue bottom — water/sky) using miniature figures
3. The therapist observes the process of creation — does not intervene, does not comment
4. After the creation — photograph the scene; if the client wishes, they may describe it
5. Interpret only in the context of a series — a single scene is not interpreted; what matters is the process over time
6. With adults — some time later discuss what they "placed" into the scene

When to use

• Clients who find it hard to speak (trauma, alexithymia, children)
• Preverbal and early trauma
• Work with images that "do not translate into words"
• Psychosomatics — symptoms without an obvious psychological cause
• Acute crisis states (as a stabilizing method through the "hands")
• Stagnation in verbal work — when words "go in circles"

Key phrases

Follow-up questions