Sandtray or Sandplay, anyone?

Just wondering if anyone here uses sandtray or sandplay in their treatment with their therapist?

No sandtray here. But current art T works with the clayfield. Never heard of it before and when she suggested it I though she was joking... Took me a while to "get in touch" with the clay, but ever since then I'm hooked and smitten. And I'm noticing changes, profound changes.

Just search for clayfield therapy if you want to know more. Simple method, but very effective, I find.

Interesting, ill look it up. sounds lke another way to connect with the earth (lke the sand.)

The clay really helps me to stay grounded (or to re-ground, if necessary). Also, it really helps me to stay connected to myself and my emotions.

I have used it in the past but not with this t.
I live to use it. You can say so much with so little words.

Your sandtray looks very interesting!

that ones not mine personally i just found it online. my therapist is hardcore- m not allowed to take pictures of my trays. she says i cant see them for years after i have enough that they will show clear progression as a cohesive unit.


but we did negotiate that i can take one photo once a year but i havent found a tray yet that i want to use my photo on, lol.


but i really do love sandplay so much. its so helpful for my trauma work.

I've been on a sand tray workshop where we did exercises and reflected on our experiences afterwards. I liked it a lot. It was very eye opening. One exercise uncovered some such deep seated issues in me that the normal talk therapy had never even gotten to and it did it in about 15 min while regular therapy took me years.

Neither T had one. However one of my coworkers has one that she uses to allow patients to relax. She is not trained to interpret it. On really stress days I will play and just get out of my head..

Not exactly a sandtray, but a similar exercise.
It allowed me to get an overview and some new angles.

With current T and his old office, yes. My favorite one was when I put the representational T with his head in the sand.

I found it similar to journaling about traumatic topics, that the sand somehow got me out of my head and into a more open and edit-free space. It was really good for me. I started doing them after I came home from a creative retreat where we did them.

No. I don't like to get sand or clay on my hands in general and I would not do a toy thing with the therapist unless there was a great deal of explanation as to the purpose and what I could reasonably expect to get out of it.

That was over four years ago. I had forgotten what it was all about, so I looked it up. I keep good therapy records!

love this!

That's what's happening for me in the clay as well. Being connected with my innermost core and not having all those censoring entities get in the way. Which can be exhilarating and frightening at the same time.

Although art T keeps hinting at the fact, that the "frightening" bit might be some sort of "sensation seeking" like going on a scary roller coaster over and over again...

cinnamon, i shared this with my therapist and now shes off buying books about it and wants to add it to her practice, lol.

ouch, this was very painful..did you do this activity with madam t?

stopdog, i think sandplay would reveal something you would not want to reveal to your therapist (or yourself.) it seems superficial bc it uses toys, but it really is a deep dive into the essence of yourself without the barriers we hold n place as protection...it can be surprising and exhilarating, revealing and scary.

No. Madame T didn't do sand trays.
This was with Mr T afterwards.

Tell her to be prepared for a big mess in her office

I would love to do it, maybe I will ask my T if this would be something she considers getting into at some point in the future. She has some other stuff quite close to that as an idea in her office.

are you a therapist?


yes ive done trays like that...went so deep it made me cry to look at it, and i had to disassemble the tray immediately...

after uncovering it, were you able to work on the material you uncovered in the tray?

lol my exact words were "you must REALLY like messes. why don't we just walk to the beach, cleanup is free."

she says she wants a new office that has a sink, that a sink would be good enough. i told her everyone needs their delusions. that the office would be covered in clay handprints...and undoubtedly someone would put the minis in the clay tray and ruin them, lol. i can just imagine.

The clay won't necessarily stay inside the tray... It could go anywhere. And I'm not just talking handprints. Non-carpet floor is a must as well.

lol the sand stays in the tray pretty well. id hope no adult client would fling the clay out of the tray

The first time I did sand tray I was pretty skeptical. I didn't understand it and I was a bit scared to try. My T didn't force me and just suggested I give it a try. It was tough because I always want to 'understand' but my understanding tends towards intellectualizing. To be able to let go of analytical mind is tough.

Still, it was amazing. Even with my hesitation and my discomfort, some inner workings of my emotions came forth in the 'story' that was created in the tray. (btw, I never touched the sand. I'm like stopdog - don't like my hands dirty).

I did sand tray a couple more times after that first experience with a few months between. The results were always fascinating.

me me! I do sand trays every now & again. i did one a couple weeks or so ago. I have been doing them for going on 7 years with current t, i've lost count how many I've done by now. (during the period of time she lived in another state and we did phone sessions, i made my own sand tray at home so i could still do them, i didn't have near as many miniatures as she does though so those were kinda limited) but they've been really helpful to me in getting me talking about stuff. also i occasionally have done Active Imaginations using the scenes I've created, and that's been really helpful too.


also i tend to talk to myself and to the objects i'm placing in the sand while i'm doing them, and i know t is listening really closely to what i say even though i feel like i'm just babbling. after i make one, we stand side by side and look at it together. then i name it. after i leave, she takes pictures before she takes it apart. she told me one time you should never take apart your own sand tray. i guess that makes sense. i would love to learn more about the theory behind sand play, but then i don't, because i'm afraid knowing too much might take away the magic of making them, or something.

Now i want to do one again, will have to this coming week!