© 2014 /2015 Sandplay Therapists of America/Journal of Sandplay Therapy

Maria Kendler is the current president of the Swiss Society for Sandplay Therapy (Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Sandspieltherapie) and serves on the board of directors of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy. Editor of Sandspiel-Therapie

Judy Zappacosta is a past president of STA and served on the ISST board of trustees for many years. She also serves as Assistant Editor of the Journal of Sandplay Therapy.

PAINTINGS pp. 2-6 © Ellen Searle LeBel, Teaching member of STA & ISST. President NCRSS.

REFLECTIONS: BOOKS & EVENTS JOURNAL

OF SANDPLAY

THERAPY © 2014/2015

TWENTY-ONE PEARLS DEFINING MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES

Judy D. Zappacosta, Editor

A Reflection by Maria Kendler Lausanne, Switzerland

Reading Judy Zappacosta's Pearls, a collection of the accounts of significant moments in the relationships between people and their spiritual teachers or mentors, I feel that her inspiration to create such a compilation must have had its roots in her own personal experience. There are times when an encounter with another person touches us so profoundly that we are inspired to completely reconfigure our lives. This experience usually creates an overflow of gratitude and trust in a deep source of love that sustains our existence, and the impulse of sharing and passing on some of the essence of this experience is a natural next step.

Open Heart, Quiet Mind © Ellen Searle LeBel, www.dancingki.com

Pearls seems to me to be born out of the generosity that ensues when someone is

touched by the openness and presence of another in a way that provokes such a deep inner transformation. Judy Zappacosta must have recognized that others around her– within the world of Sandplay and beyond – had had similar experiences, and sensed that these transformational moments were important to share with the new generation of Sandplay therapists.

When I was invited to write a commentary about Pearls: Defining Moments in Our Lives, I was told that the little book of twenty-one short stories could be read very quickly. I reserved one evening to read through it, but after finishing the first story I knew I would need at least twenty evenings to do it justice. Judy Zappacosta writes in her introduction that her vision of the collection is that each story is like a pearl on a necklace. Indeed, as each pearl is unique, each of these stories describes a unique experience, condensing the author’s awareness of being in touch with a most challenging, precious and extraordinary shift in the conception of herself and her world, that the reader hears the resonance of this encounter long after she has finished reading the last sentence. It is not possible to continue to the next story without pause for thought.

I felt deeply impressed by each of these crucial scenes as they happened in what seem to be “ordinary” people’s lives. These events unexpectedly endowed each person’s quest with a feeling of sense and purposefulness, and opened a radically new stream of life energy allowing new forms and visions to be created in their practical lives. Interestingly, these ubiquitous steps “beyond the threshold” were taken by the author of each story during a moment of coming together in complete openness with another person; a therapist, a Sandplay teacher, a spiritual teacher, or even a family member. Some stories describe the deep impact of a meeting with Dora Kalff. What appears to be the common thread – be it during an encounter with a new acquaintance or someone very familiar – is that the person suddenly feels invited in to a place of total acceptance.

In some stories, this feeling of acceptance occurs effortlessly, in others the person needs all the courage they can muster to surrender to this vulnerable space that is completely unknown to them. Surrounded by a wider space of openness that is created by the encouragement, wisdom and presence of the other, it is possible to rise to this challenge. Thus, a hitherto unknown part of their personality is revealed to them, and each time this discovery is experienced like the unearthing of a newfound treasure.

These Pearls demand to be read slowly

and with moments of silent reflection. First,

because as readers we will inevitably be

touched and astonished by the mysterious

human capacity to follow the invitation of the

New. Second, these experiences remind us of

our own threshold moments, and thus fill us

with gratitude as we contemplate the value of

the unexpected that finds its way into our

lives. And finally because as witnesses to the

turning point in each individual life, it seems

only right that we honor this privilege with a

moment of quiet. For these reasons it takes

longer than one evening to read Judy

Zappacosta’s collection of Pearls. Wild Azalea © Ellen Searle LeBel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS REFLECTION:

MARIA KENDLER, PSYCHOLOGIST DIPL. FSP, is the current president of the Swiss Society for Sandplay Therapy (Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Sandspieltherapie--SGSST) and serves on the board of directors of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST). She is a teaching member of ISST and teaches in Switzerland as well as in several other European countries. Maria Kendler is the Editor of Sandspiel-Therapie. Her publications include different aspects of sandplay with children and adults as well as with persons with developmental delays. Maria Kendler maintains a sandplay therapy private practice near Lausanne, Switzerland. CORRESPONDENCE: mkendler@bluewin.ch

Farewell © Ellen Searle LeBel, www.dancingki.com

ABOUT THE EDITOR OF PEARLS:

JUDY D. ZAPPACOSTA, MA, MFT, is a Certified Sandplay Therapy, Teacher (CST-T) in STA) and the ISST. She is a past president of STA and served on the ISST board of trustees. She serves as Assistant Editor of the Journal of Sandplay Therapy. She has maintained a private practice in Santa Cruz, California, USA for over 25

years; the focus of her practice is Jungian psychotherapy, Sandplay, dreams, and the integration of psyche & soma. Judy Zappacosta consults and supervises therapists using Sandplay, and has published and taught both nationally and internationally. She completed the BodySoul Rhythms® Leadership Training Program with the Marion Woodman Foundation. Judy Zappacosta is a founder of Caring for the Soul and teaches its summer programs abroad offering two week intensives for Sandplay training in Switzerland which integrate Sandplay, dreams, and body awareness. CORRESPONDENCE: zappaj@sbcglobal.net

Dancing Chi © Ellen Searle LeBel, www.dancingki.com

Untitled © Ellen Searle LeBel, www.dancingki.com

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

ELLEN SEARLE LEBEL, MS, LMFT, BC-DMT, CST-T, is a certified teaching member of Sandplay Therapists of America and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist. She practices in Arcata, California offering depth psychotherapy including Sandplay and movement therapy and is a former clinical faculty member at Humboldt State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Ellen Searle LeBel serves on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Dance Therapy. Her published articles include Body, Sand and Self: Somatic Experience in Sandplay Therapy (Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 2009), The Dancing Snake Goddess (Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 2004) and Remembrances and Reflections on the Days of the Dead (The Psychotherapy Institute Journal, 1994). Ellen Searle LeBel is President of the Northern California Regional Sandplay Society and serves on both the STA Ethics Review Committee and the Ethics Committee of the American Dance Therapy Association. Her lifelong interest in movement expression and creativity inspires her visual art and calligraphy. CORRESPONDENCE: ellen@temenostherapy and com and www.dancingki.com

TWENTY-ONE PEARLS: DEFINING MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES Judy D. Zappacosta, Editor

A Reflection by Maria Kendler Lausanne, Switzerland

KEY WORDS: Pearls, defining, anthology, short stories, moments, lives, meetings, synchronicity, teachers, mentors, threshold, crossroads, body, soul, individual, sandplay, Reflections: Books & Events. ABSTRACT: Maria Kendler reflects on Pearls: Defining Moments in our Lives. An Anthology of Short Stories edited by Judy D. Zappacosta (2014).

Winter Bloom © Ellen Searle LeBel, www.dancingki.com