The Image and Imagination in Therapy
The spontaneous images in dreams, sandplay, artwork, and the process of active imagination contain personal and universal symbols that are alive with meaning and possibility for renewal. A symbol’s capacity to form a bridge to unconscious emotional and relational experience opens you up to ways of thinking and feeling that can move you and change you. Using your imagination to create symbols and work with them promotes self-knowledge and self-regulation.
Clients are under no obligation to use these approaches and may be satisfied with talking alone. Symbols and images are always present and available for exploration in the play of verbal exchanges between client and therapist.
The Client/Therapist Relationship
Interactions within the client-therapist relationship mirror experiences in relationships generally. Slowly working through emotional reactions such as shame, anger, anxiety, while feeling safely contained, helps restore the capacity for emotional balance and resilience in relationships outside therapy.
A person in therapy is rewarded with learning more about the living experience in their own hearts and minds.