Sandtray Therapy Class Dream Analysis Tray

by Amanda Johnson
(Mercer University)

Amanda Johnson
Dream Analysis Sandtray Therapy Class 6/25/12
This is my dream sandtray. In class when we shared about our dreams in the dream circle I shared about the last dream that really had an emotional impact on me. The morning of my father’s birthday I woke up from a dream in which he had died. I do not remember exactly how he died, expect that it wasn’t violent. It seems that he died of an illness. What stuck out to me most to me was that the aftermath of his death was so vivid in my dream. In my dream I experienced the grief of my mom and brother and having to hold everything together. I was very frightened when I woke. I was so afraid that he would die. It made me realize how much my life would change and that it would bring changes that I did not want. I found the information we learned about dreams in class to be fascinating. It made my dream seem less scary when we learned that the part of the brain (the reptile brain) that dreams come from is associated with fear. It still scares me to think of this dream, but its power has been lessened.
The rocks in this sandtray represent the stability that my dad brings to mine and my family’s life. The bark represents age and wisdom that he possesses. The leaf that is dying and changing color represents our morality and death, especially my dad’s. The acorns also represent wisdom that I have learned from him. To the far right is a black rat that represents death, horror, and extreme fear, essentially all that is bad to me. On the left is a family of horses with a filly in the middle. This represents my family to me, I am in the middle protected and loved by my parents. This would be taken away from me if my dad was to die. Standing in front of the family is a police officer. He represents protection. I felt anxious building the sandtray, it did not feel safe. This was not my favorite sandtray, it did not bring feelings of peace like others have. I would like to make this an extended sandtray and work on this until I work out some of the emotions associated with this tray.