Thanks annie again for your generous explications of your work - it
brings it alive for me.
from what you say here i can understand that the client participates in
the field by contacting the 'sacred space' of the dynamic set up in teh
sand tray with his body in the form of touching and moving the pieces.
hence he is participating as well as observing - he imbibes the dynamic
by becoming part of the field that has emerged in the sand play space
according to what has been represented there in the set up.
thanks annie again and hope to catch up some time maybe even in
australia not in europe! lol.
as to my other questions i'll repose them here to people that do work in
groups, cos, although they weren't written too well, the questions for
me remain as something i'd like to pose to those that feel moved to
answer in this group:
so here we go quote from before:
...ie does the fact the client is in there themselves have a greater
effect than standing back. (i tend to hypothesise that it does)
if that is so, in broader group constellation work another question arises:
how much of the time should the client watch the group to absorb the
field information as an 'observer'
cw how much of the time should the client be representing himself or
alternatively important members of his or her field in his constellation.
both positions obviously allow for different learnings about the
clien'ts life and field and different types of integration because they
are very different experiences - one being in the constellation as
oneself or even as a rep being bodily and emotionally experiential, the
other also arousing emotions and thoughts but being less bodily involved
and therefore perhaps more potential to allow defensive posturing away
from absorbing the potential learnings of the field exposed int he
constellation. of course people do defend once they are in the field as
well and that's part of the facilitators art to reconnect the person to
what is going on right now rather than dissociating or going into a
story or defensive reconstruction as a response to anxiety aroused by
the field or what they have learnt from it, or their story of what
should be rather than what is right now.
love to all
sarah
Hi Sarah
Getting back at last to sand tray.....
Playing in sand or dirt is an early learning experience, tactile and primal, an age old pastime.
As such, I believe that working with, and in, sand in therapy ,can be very powerful.
The sand tray becomes the client's world and as such is sacred space.
In a way the client is still outside as an observer with a piece representing him or her.
At the same time they can experience the feelings that come as they move the various pieces.
So this gives them the potential for objectification and identification.
As therapist I want to be there seeing the whole, and working as a facilitator.
I can't comment on groups as I don't work with them in constellation practice.
Regards
Annie
-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Moore [mailto:sarahmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 4:56 AM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Sand tray work with Constellations
hi annie,
thank you heaps for y our detailed and very gracious explanation of how you work here. it sounds fascinating and, reading through it, hearing about the beautiful items you use and the feel of the sand and imagining it in my mind's vision, i instantly felt like i wanted to get in there and experiment myself with a sandbox - it felt like it would be a great tactile experience whether or not i could use it with others in the future. so thanks for giving me a great image this morning and inspiring me to have a play in the sand myself at some time soon.
i've got a few musings and questions that come up as i read your mail:
they're sort of general as well, questions i ask myself quite a bit, and i don't know that there's any right answer but i'll ask them anyway cos i'm sure there's many opinions on this group about all this:
do you think that the tactility and involvement of it with the body in this sort of work tends to cement the deeper experience of learning by circumventing standing back and intellectualisation and by involving the senses as well as the intellect of the patient? and if so does that account for it's relative power c/w the therapist standing int eh positions or moving the pieces ie does the fact the client is in there themselves have a greater effect than standing back. (i tend to hypothesise that it does)
if that is so, in broader group constellation work another question arises:
how much of the time should the client watch the group to absorb the field information as an 'observer'
cw how much of the time should the client be representing himself or alternatively important members of his or her field in his constellation.
both positions obviously allow for different learnings about the clien'ts life and field and different types of integration because they are very different experiences - one being in the constellation as oneself or even as a rep being bodily and emotionally experiential, the other also arousing emotions and thoughts but being less bodily involved and therefore perhaps more potential to allow defensive posturing away from absorbing the potential learnings of the field exposed int he constellation. of course people do defend once they are in the field as well and that's part of the facilitators art to reconnect the person to what is going on right now rather than dissociating or going into a story or defensive reconstruction as a response to anxiety aroused by the field or what they have learnt from it, or their story of what should be rather than what is right now.
anyway, i'll end now its early in the morning and this is a bit of a rave in the form of questions to you annie and to myself and anyone who cares to read and chime in on this constellation e group. adn i'm sorry its not very grammatically constructed or well thought through but email thinking tends to do that to me, esp with little sleep. hope you can pick out the question or conversational line and get back to me with some comments from your practice or understanding of the work.
love to you annie and to all
thanks again for your generous description of your sand box work
sarah
