sandplay in switzerland · kendler and ruth ammann (who honored us with a lecture at the jung...
TRANSCRIPT
© 2014 Sandplay® Therapists of America™/Journal of Sandplay® Therapy™ Bernardo Malamut, MS is a psychoanalyst and an analytically oriented psychotherapist and trainee at the C.G. Jung Institute of Minas Gerais, Associação Junguiana do Brasil (AJB), International Association Analytical Psychology (IAAP).
Bright Niches in the
Castle Wall © Jenny Badger Sultan, San Francisco, USA, p.2 & details pp.3 & 4.
jennybadgersultan.com
R E V I E W JOURNAL
OF SANDPLAY®
THERAPY™
© 2014
SANDPLAY IN SWITZERLAND
Reviewed by Bernardo S. Malamut
Minas Gerais, Brazil
Einsiedeln has been a pilgrimage destination since the Middle Ages because of the Black Madonna. The Lady of the Black Forest has a magic and aura that go far beyond the dogma of the Catholic Church. Einsiedeln was also home to the physician, chemist and alchemist Paracelsus, born in 1493, to whom Jung pays homage in his writings and lectures. The city provides the perfect setting for working with symbols and images, and it was Einsiedeln that welcomed us for the Two Week Sandplay Training in Switzerland directed with careful mastery by Judy Zappacosta and Patty Flowers. The program has been held in Switzerland since 1984. This year it was attended by a teaching faculty of ISST members Judy Zappacosta, Martin Kalff, Maria Kendler and Ruth Ammann, and also Sabine Kalff. There were seventeen participants from various parts of the world–Australia, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and USA–working together in harmony. The cultural diversity of the group contributed to the richness of our group discussions as well as to the personal growth of each individual. The program began with a one-week pre-conference workshop which included visits to Kusnacht to see the Jung Institute, Jung’s family home and the cemetery where Jung rests, and to Zurich (the Chagall windows are incredible!). The week introduced us to the soul of the local geography and prepared the ground for the two weeks that would follow. Of course we cannot forget the shopping trips! It’s impressive how sandplay therapists can find amazing miniatures in the most unexpected places.
Bright Niches in the Castle Wall © Jenny Badger Sultan ~ jennybadgersultan.com
It is quite difficult to describe the two week intense training
program. The days began with sandplay essentials, including techniques of perception and interpretation of sand scenes, and then followed integrating sessions of Soul Painting or Interior Rhythms which consolidated learning that went beyond any theoretical knowledge found in books. Taking classes with Martin Kalff in one of the rooms of his mother’s house, for example, is unique to this program.
We learned from Martin Kalff how the meditative mind is a tool of immense power in the sandplay method, as well as body awareness and other techniques. He showed us how knowledge of Eastern thought, sometimes
forgotten in sandplay teachings, provides an important tool for understanding and interpreting sand scenes. Sabine Kalff led us in the practice of painting as an excellent method for the integration of everything we were learning. Maria Kendler and Ruth Ammann (who honored us with a lecture at the Jung Institute) emphasized analytical psychology as a theoretical basis essential to sandplay. Ruth Ammann supported the theoretical rigor of the method and the originality of Dora Kalff. Maria Kendler talked about the Holy Grail and read part of Emma Jung’s work on it, and presented a beautiful case. Judy Zappacosta presented her material with sweetness, clarity, and rigor, sparking theoretical debates and discussions of clinical experiences which were extremely enriching. Her knowledge of sandplay, and its connection to her experience of work with Marion Woodman, appeared shining clear in the Interior Rhythms sessions.
However, the living experience of the program cannot fully be expressed in words. Dora Kalff said: “with sandplay we deal with a living experience, and it would be presumptuous to think that it is possible to describe it thoroughly on a conceptual level” (1993, p.15). Although the program happened over a month ago, it still feels recent, I can still feel in my body the nearby cold waters of Lake Silhl, the sound of the bells of our cow-friends, the pure and cold air from the top of Mt. Rigi, the taste in the mouth and soul of food that went far beyond our physical body, going deep into our psyche and spirit. Finally, a shared experience with Patty Flowers became a part of one of the most valuable lessons in my growth process as an analyst and sandplay therapist: “The miniature makes the dreaming,” says Bachelard, “the detail of a thing can be a sign of a new world, a world that, like all worlds, contains attributes of greatness. The miniature is one of the abodes of greatness” (Bachelard, 2008, p.164).
These two weeks are a miniature in the learning process of a sandplay therapist, and I recommend them with all my being; after all, “It is necessary to understand that in the miniature values are condensed and become richer....It is necessary to overcome the classic logic in order to live the greatness in the smallness" (Bachelard, 2008, p.159).
Detail from Bright Niches in the Castle Wall
© Jenny Badger Sultan~jennybadgersultan.com
REFERENCES
Bachelard, G. (2008). A poética do espaço (trad. Antônio de Pádua Danesi). São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
Kalff, D. (1993). Prefácio. In: Estelle Weinrib’s Imagens do Self (trad. David Aubert. São Paulo: Summus Editorial.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER:
BERNARDO S. MALAMUT, MS in Health Education, is a psychoanalyst and a Jungian analytically oriented psychotherapist and trainee at the C.G. Jung Institute of Minas Gerais, Associação Junguiana do Brasil (AJB), International Association Analytical Psychology (IAAP). He is in private practice with adults and teenagers. CORRESPONDENCE: R. Paraíba, 1352, sala 908. Funcionários. Belo Horizonte, MG, 30130-141, Brazil. Email: [email protected]
Detail from Bright Niches in the Castle Wall © Jenny Badger Sultan
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
JENNY BADGER SULTAN, MFA has been an artist since she was a child, finding that working with art materials and using her imagination to create images was deeply satisfying. She attended Pomona College, where she received a BA in Art in 1962. Jenny went on to Columbia University, earning her MFA in Painting in 1963. After school she soon found that the world of inner experience--dreams, visions, symbolic representations of states of being--was the area that she wanted to express in her paintings. She has lived in the Bay Area since 1965, married Henry Sultan, a painter, and together they have raised two children, shared a studio, worked, traveled, shared dreams, and made art. For 33 years Jenny Badger Sultan taught painting, color, drawing and design at City College of San Francisco. She retired from CCSF in 2006, and has been continuing to experiment with new materials and ways of working. CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected]
Detail from Bright Niches in the Castle Wall
© Jenny Badger Sultan~ jennybadgersultan.com
KEY WORDS: Sandplay in Switzerland, program, sandplay, review, Jung, Bachelard, miniature, Interior Rhythms, soul painting. Einsieldeln, Switzerland.
PALAVRAS CHAVE: Sandplay na Suíça, treinamento, caixa-de-areia, crítica, Jung, Bachelard, miniaturas, ritmo interior, pintura da alma, Einsiedeln, Suíça.