The Phenomenological Research on Experiencing the Stillpoint in Sandplay therapy*

This study is a qualitative study of how the stillpoint might be experienced in sandplay therapy. we selected Van Manen’s categories for phenomenological questions and reflections: lived space, lived time, lived relations, and lived body. We added an additional categories because of their importance in psychotherapy: lived emotions. We understood the lived body was 1) stillness, 2) Tears filling the clients’ eyes; Lived time was 1) Intersection of the past, the present, and the future, 2) Kairos time; Lived space was 1) Temenos within the temenos, 2) Space of the beginning; Lived relations were 1)Worldly relations, in terms of symbolic experiences, 2) Recognition of a different aspect of self in the inner world, 3) Spiritual relations; lived emotions were 1) Catharsis, 2) Divinity. In addition, We understood the essential meaning of the stillpoint was flow and Transcendence.