Benefits of Sand Play Therapy

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love the beach. I love sitting in a beach chair, feeling the sea breeze and wading my feet in the surf. I don’t care much for the sand. Yes, I know it exfoliates these dry feet, but I’d rather not get it on me.

My son, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it. He wallows in it, throws it, and probably eats a bit of it. It sticks to his skin, covers his scalp and creates drifts in his swimsuit. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that must be, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.

There is a peace to watching him build sandcastles or roads for his sand cars – for both of us. He moves effortlessly over the sand, grabbing fistfuls and moving piles. He doesn’t worry if it gets under his nails or blows in his face. When he creates sand things he is focused and deliberate. He is engaged. And there is a moment of silence and stillness that pours over me, too, like warm oil. It is therapeutic for us all.

At the beach I was reminded of a story I read about the true therapeutic benefits of sand therapy. Carl Jung actually hit on the idea of “sand play therapy” as a way of accessing “unconscious, archetypal energies” to bring about “profound change.” A Utah-based psychotherapy group, Western Sand Play Associates, specializes in this curiuos therapy of sand play and explains it this way: “It is not unlike dreamwork in its ability to tap very deep levels of consciousness and provide healing and enlightenment. By providing a free and protected space, the therapist or educator establishes a deep empathic connection with the client and therefore provides a living connection to the Sacred and the Self.”

Sand play therapy works with most individuals because it “facilitates access to their deepest self.” But the organization says it is most beneficial for individuals who suffer from psychological or physical ailments such as children with learning difficulties or behavioral problems, those dealing with grief or are in the dying process, and sufferers of eating disorders, post-traumatic stress and infertility. I’ve even read that sand play therapy helps children with autism express themselves.

Sand play therapy usually lasts six to eight sessions. In each session, patients are asked to choose figures of animals and fairies and such. What they choose and how the items are used once the patient places them in the sand speaks volumes to the therapists. “Along with a therapist who assimilates the feeling of the sandplay process and who maintains a wordless rapport with the client, the work takes on a kind of ritualistic aura where the (sand) tray becomes a sacred ground. The process activates a drive toward wholeness and self-realization in which the psyche (and body) can heal itself.”

I’m not sure what my son is expressing as I watch him play on the beach. His dad has helped him build a large castle with a moat. As I consider this, my son’s voice raises. He has a fistful of sand and he is now waging war on their creation. It was fun to build the castle, but now it is time to destroy it. As the sand pounds down into an incoming wave, my son bounces up, shrills with laughter, and races into the tide.

Photos, JWJourney