Dancing with the jaguar, sand play therapy, imagination and the individuation process

This article approaches the question of embodiment; that is, the physical experience of the psyche. Citing a variety of clinical situations, we show how active imagination and sandplay therapy provide the analysand with the tangible psychophysical experience of images, symbols arising from the unconscious. The importance of the body and physical sensation and the material proof of the union between the body and mind were discussed by Jung in his Seminar on Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. Alongside analysis, physical experience and the feelings conveyed by the senses are more than ever essential to the individuation process.