This thoughtful and comprehensive book sheds new light on Sandplay Therapy, a method founded in the 1960s by Dora Kalff. It is based on the psychology of C.G. Jung and Margaret Lowenfeld, with inspiration from eastern contemplative traditions. This method is effectively used for psychotherapy, psychological counselling and development of the personality with children and adults.
This book grew out of the collaboration of a supervision and research group with Italian therapists which regularly met for a period of over 10 years under the guidance of Martin Kalff. It focuses on how to understand in more depth the processes clients experience in Sandplay Therapy. An important feature of Sandplay is the possibility to create scenes in a box with sand. Worlds arise through the shaping of the sand and the use of miniatures, humans, animals, trees, etc. These creations manifest inner conflicts as well as untouched healing potential.
This book discusses a number of techniques based on mindfulness such as ‘spontaneous embodiment’, the use of colours, spontaneous poetry, ‘entering into the dream’, to understand the work done in a Sandplay process and dreams and presents examples of clinical cases. These techniques are not only valuable for supervision but can also be used in therapy to help clients reconnect with body and feelings.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Paolo Ferliga
First part
A New Perspective
The Individuation process in Sandplay Therapy: Neural Integration, Resonances in Soma and Psyche
1 Historical premises by Martin Kalff
2 Neural Integration and Individuation by Martin Kalff
3 A New Supervision and Therapeutic Method by Martin Kalff
4 A Process of Healing: Neural Integration and Individuation in Sandplay by Martin Kalff
Second part
The Method and the Group
1 Prelude by Luciana Battini
2 Like a Ritual by Michele De Toma
3 The Importance of the Group by Maria Teresa Pasolini
4 Body and Movement by Ezia Palma
5 Countertransference in the Analytic Couple by Eleonora Tramaloni
6 Sandplay and Meditation: Creative Grains of Transformation by Maria Polidoro
Third part
Clinical Experiences
1 The Story of a Child Who Would Not Talk by Chiara Bottari
2 Perceptions of the Body within the Research Group by Iside Piccini
3 Artwork in Black: Drawing and Therapy by Paola Gherardi
4 Body and Sand: Dramatisation by Emilia Canato
5 A Rebirth: The Story of a Woman by Maria Teresa Pasolini
6 Acknowledging the Wound: The Story of a Man by Paolo Ferliga
Dora and Martin Kalff’s Sandplay House in Zollikon
Bibliography
Editorial notes