October 22, 2025
The Living Symbol: an Introduction to Jungian Sandplay Therapy
There are times when language falls short. A client searches for words, but they don’t apply. What’s present feels deeper, older, or less formed. In Sandplay therapy, this is where the work begins. A tray of sand becomes a place for the psyche to express itself through images.
The process is simple. A rectangular tray of dry sand. A selection of figurines, toys, and natural materials. The person working in the tray manipulates the sand and places one object at a time. Once an object is placed in the tray, it cannot be moved, only added to.
The therapist is fully present but non-interfering. We witness and feel the images — without intruding into the space. Things slow down, get quiet. We tune in.
Having engaged with this method for several years, first as a student, a participant, and now a clinician, I continue to be struck by the humility it asks of both therapist and client.
A Space That Holds and Frees
Sandplay was developed in the 1950s by Swiss therapist Dora Kalff. Mentored by Jung, she drew from his ideas, along with Margaret Lowenfeld’s World Technique and Buddhist philosophy (Kalff, 2003). She described the method as a “free and protected space,” where nothing is forced and whatever shows up is held with respect. Within that field, the psyche begins to find its own order.
Kalff believed everyone has an innate drive toward healing when given safety and freedom (Freedle, 2024). The therapist’s task is not to interpret but to stay present while the unconscious expresses itself in form and gesture. Meaning arises through the image itself.
The Language of the Unconscious
A figure placed in sand carries more than an idea; it carries feeling, instinct, and memory. Martin Kalff (2006) describes this as “lunar consciousness,” a preverbal, imaginal awareness distinct from the rational, verbal mode of mind.
The symbol, in Jungian terms, is not a sign that points to a fixed meaning. It’s alive, bridging conscious and unconscious life. The therapist refrains from naming them prematurely, knowing that interpretation can fracture the image’s wholeness (Kalff, 2006).
Movement Toward Wholeness
Across sessions, trays tend to reveal a rhythm: chaos, tension, emergence, resolution. Kalff linked this to Jung’s process of individuation, the natural movement toward integration. Early trays typically feel fragmented, crowded, or barren; later ones may find space, symmetry, or dialogue. The change is visible. The sequence mirrors what Jung described in alchemical terms as nigredo, albedo, and rubedo — disintegration, clarification, and renewal (Kalff, 2003).
What Research Adds
In recent years, research has begun to describe what therapists have observed for decades, including significant improvements in anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms across children and adults (Wiersma et al., 2022). Further studies using neuroimaging suggest Sandplay activates brain regions linked to emotion, memory, and regulation (Akimoto et al., 2018).
The Therapist’s Presence
Kalff urged therapists to be “loving on a deep, inner level” (Freedle & Morena, 2020). In practice, that means attending to the atmosphere: the silence, the texture of the session, the person’s breathing as a figure lands. During the process, the therapist’s job is to protect the space from intrusion so we can stay in relationship with the image.
Interpretation comes later, if at all, and typically centers on the evolution across a series of trays rather than attempting to “decode” the symbolism of any single tray.
Sitting quietly as someone works, I feel our connection deepen — emotionally, intuitively, and somatically.
Why It Matters
Sandplay offers a way of dropping in and exploring terrain that words can’t reach. The tray becomes a stage for working through inner struggles and movements. It invites trust in a personal rhythm that knows how to restore balance.
Each tray is a living image, built, documented, and erased. What remains is unseen: a deepening relationship to one’s own center. Sandplay reminds us that, while talk therapy is vital, we also heal and transform through symbol and embodiment.
Akimoto, Y., et al. (2018). Neural correlates of Sandplay therapy.
Freedle, L. R. (2024). Seven Key Tenets of Sandplay Therapy.
Freedle, L. R., & Morena, G. D. (2020). Foreword to Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche by D. M. Kalff.
Kalff, D. M. (2003). Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche. Temenos Press.
Kalff, M. (2006). Twenty-One Points to Be Considered in the Interpretation of a Sandplay. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 16(1).
Wiersma, J. K., Freedle, L. R., McRoberts, R., & Solberg, K. B. (2022). A Meta-Analysis of Sandplay Therapy Treatment Outcomes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(4), 197–215.