Theoretical Understanding of the Sandplay ProcessIn General, Sandplay on July 20, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Relational sandplay therapy embraces all of these Kalffian theoretical principles:

Unconscious processes are expressed in concrete, visible form.

“Energies in the form of ‘living symbols’ are touched upon in the personal and collective unconscious, and healing then happens spontaneously at the unconscious level” (Lauren Cunningham, 2004).

Contact with archetypal energies results in a change in relationship between inner and outer worlds. There is then a return to a more integrated state.

The Jungian individuation process leading to Wholeness is visible in sandplay.

Neumann’s stages of development are foundational.

The freeing up of blocked psychic energy may be visible in the tray.

Sandplay facilitates a regression to the mother-infant unity and healing on the matriarchal level of consciousness.

The recovery of the Feminine is profoundly healing.

Play is the mediator between conscious and unconscious and the avenue to the expression of preverbal material.

Healing is implicit in the union of opposites and the transcendent function.

The constellation/manifestation of the Self, “this inner order, this pattern of wholeness” (Kalff, 2005, p.6) is the most important moment in development of the personality and in healing.

The relativization of the ego to the Self is crucial.

The clinician holds a developmental perspective of any given series of trays (Rogers & Mitchell, 1994).

The transference may be recognizable in the sandplay itself.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields

In Four Archetypal Relational Fields on July 23, 2010 at 6:03 pm

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This diagram of Self in Relationship shows the Four Archetypal Relational Fields, from Field One in the center, moving outwards through Field Two, Field Three and Field Four. These fields represent the somatic, emotional, symbolic, and spiritual realms of human relational experience.

All of these relational fields are normal aspects of human experience, and may be experienced fleetingly or at any time in life. Experience in these fields follows a developmental path. In health, one experiences an easy oscillation between all fields.

In psychotherapy, the fields become “constellated” between therapist and client. The first two fields arise from early relational trauma, and may present as “stuckness” in the clinical relationship. These early fields normalize and provide a framework for working with confusing or disturbing countertransference experience.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields are:

Field One: The Field of Original Oneness and Merger

Field Two: The Field of Twoness and Rupture

Field Three: The Field of Differentiated Oneness/ Transitional Space

Field Four: The Numinous Field of The Transcendent Function

I will describe each of these fields in depth in the next three posts.

Important note: Please do not use this field theory for pathologizing clients. We speak of the nature of the field that is co-created between therapist and client, i.e., “a feeling of field one,” “a field one experience,” and not “a field one client.”

Also, these fields move in an out, or may be layered, and are rarely found in pure form. However, with early relational trauma, the therapist may encounter a more pervasive  experience of the field.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields: Field OneIn Expanding Sandplay Theory, Sandplay on July 27, 2010 at 6:15 pm

Field One: The Field of Original Oneness/Merger

In Field One the therapist’s subjective experience is often a sensory, presymbolic one. Symbolic meaning is difficult or impossible to find, and boredom, confusion, or emptiness are often the predominant countertransference states in this field. This sensory rather than emotional or thinking experience may include a focus of sensation in one’s head; dizziness; confusion; a sense of deadness; a watery feeling; a feeling of dissolving into space; a sense of being disconnected; being unable to think; a distortion of objects or people in space; or feelings of being controlled, empty, or paralyzed. The therapist will often feel held at bay, ineffective, and completely useless. It is the hallmark of the field of Original Oneness/Merger to feel boredom, anxiety, or dissociation. Therapeutic work in this field requires that the therapist tolerate, contain and digest presymbolized experience. This takes time, patience and a full use of the therapist’s reverie, including countertransference images and body sensations. This field takes us into our bodies—or out of our bodies— but always involves sensory experience. In the diagram below, the Field One area is in the center of the Self In Relationship circle. This represents the somatic core of the Self. The therapeutic goal is to gradually move into embodied, emotionally connected self-reflection, and to establish fluid oscillation between all four fields.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields: Field TwoIn Early relational trauma, Expanding Sandplay Theory, Sandplay on July 30, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Field Two: The Field of Twoness/ Rupture

When we find ourselves in Field Two: The Field of Twoness/Rupture, also a field of relational trauma and presymbolic experiencing, our subjective experience is that of intense affective turmoil and discontinuity. In this field we feel “held captive” in relational conflict. We find ourselves embroiled in a struggle with disturbing unconscious contents, intense affect, and mutually activated complexes. It is a field of discomfort, conflict, and difficulty, and often entails a visceral, extremely disturbing experience. A therapist may feel taken over by feelings of anxiety, terror, shame, dread, or physical illness. “Rupture” refers to the ambient anxiety in this field that empathic rupture is imminent. We fear that no matter how hard we try, we will somehow fail to provide holding in a way that avoids this rupture. Yet the sheer dynamic aliveness of this field lends itself to profound transformation. Therapeutic work in this field often requires that the therapist look to her own complexes’ involvement in the field in order to move

from, a “feeling against” to a “feeling with.” (The terms “feeling with” and “feeling against” were coined by Kay Bradway (1991; 1997), but she used them in a different context.) The goal is to find within ourselves our own resistance, and to surrender into deep empathy for the primitive, traumatized places we may share with the client.

In the diagram below, the Field Two area is the second ring from the center of the Self In Relationship circle. This represents the emotional core of the Self. The therapeutic goal is to gradually move into embodied, emotionally connected self-reflection, and to establish fluid oscillation between all four fields.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields: Field ThreeIn Expanding Sandplay Theory, Four Archetypal Relational Fields, Sandplay on August 3, 2010 at 7:09 pm

Field Three: The Field of Differentiated Oneness/ Transitional Space

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Field Three is characterized by the meaningful use of the symbol and deep relational connection. It holds the experience of fluent empathy where the unconscious minds of patient and therapist are aligned. It is a field of rich symbolic meaning, full associations, or meaningful silence. This is the secured-symbolizing field of transitional space (Goodheart, 1980). It is also the field that is most often described in sandplay, and it is usually experienced as a field of fluid, symbolic understanding. Experiences of meaningful resonance with the movement of psychic energies are common in this field. Dreams and sandplay often activate this field of deep meaning and connection. In the diagram below, the Field Three area is represented by the third ring from the center in the Self In Relationship circle. This represents the integrated somatic/ emotional/ symbolic-relational aspect of the Self. The therapeutic goal is to gradually move into easy connection with this field of embodied, emotionally connected self-reflection, and to establish fluid oscillation between all four fields.

The Four Archetypal Relational Fields: Field Four

In Expanding Sandplay Theory, Four Archetypal Relational Fields, Sandplay on August 7, 2010 at 7:13 pm

Field Four: The Numinous Field of the Transcendent Function

Sometimes, Field Three leads us into Field Four (O’Connell, 1986), The Numinous Field, the heart of the transcendent function. The essence of Field Four is a dramatic shift in attitude accompanied by a sense of awe and the constellation of the Self that is so familiar to Jungian sandplay therapists. Field Four is a shared, transcendent, relational experience of the union of conscious and unconscious, and it is an experience completely void of anxiety. In the diagram below, the Field Four area is the outer layer of the Self In Relationship circle. This represents an ever present, numinous psychic holding. The therapeutic goal, within this timeless container of shared psychic experience, is to gradually move into embodied, emotionally connected self-reflection, and to establish fluid oscillation between all four fields. Field Four is the ever present, numinous container.