Work with The Clay Field is a mix of all kinds of therapy concepts. We can see elements of art therapy, Jungian symbolism, gestalt therapy and sensorimotor therapy. I like to think of it as a form of body work where the main body-focus is on the hands and on experiencing things with our hands as representatives of our whole body and being. Hands are special, because being touched there means we are actively touching at the same time, and the other way round. That often feels safer and more powerful, even for those who usually dissociate their body awareness.
Work with The Clay Field starts with a solid wooden box full of clay, a bowl of water and paper towels on the table.
The box of clay, the Clay Field, becomes a mirror of our life, our relationships or our own soul.
We move within it by following our motor impulses with our hands. When ever we have finished the necessary movements we pause to take in the felt sense of what we have done. The therapist will guide us and make sure that we won’t get lost in mindless movement or intense feelings.
The first task in the Clay Field is to find a safe space, something we can return to when emotions get too difficult for us. That could be a place within the Clay Field, the wonderfully solid box itself or even the water bowl. It is important that the safety is felt with the body and with awareness; for some people this might be the first time they experience a felt sense of safety, so this alone can be a huge step for trauma survivors.
After exploring what the clay feels like and how it responds to different actions with our hands we can give ourselves permission to follow our motor impulses. This is known to be an important part of trauma healing (Levine), since these movements were repressed during the traumatic experience and the energy ends up ‘stuck’ in our system. Every impulse to hit, push, scratch, punch etc can find release within the Clay Field. Hands that want to hide can hide underneath the clay and experience being held there. Disgusted hands can free the box from all the yucky clay and clean it until it feels pure and free. At this stage we can feel a release when we are done and we feel good about it. We probably also created a scene within the box that reflects the problem we are living with right now, today. We move from wrestling with the past to arriving in the present. While this stage feels like a huge relief, only half of the work is done.
In the next stage it is all about creating something new within our life. When the box was empty before, we can fill it with something new. We still follow motor impulses though, our instinct for healing, not our brain, so nobody really knows what we will create: it is all up to our hands. Often things that were moved outside the box return to it, with a new meaning. Water from the bowl can be added to the box at any time to soften the clay. Hands that had been working separately (dissociated) from each other might find connection. The problem that became visible gets solved in some way and the felt sense of that changes us as a person. It goes surprisingly deep and unfreezes abilities in us that help us to live a different life.
After all the sensory work, the Clay Field therapist will help us to understand all these things with our mind. It was all body and sensing before, but to make it stick we need to grasp it on all levels. So there will be some more talking toward the end of the session.
The Clay Field therapist stays at our side with encouragement, validation and pacing. They will keep on eye on us so that we are always safe and remind us of our safe space for regulation and pendulation (Levine). It is necessary since the work with trauma is tricky and these little breaks help with the resolution.
You need a certified Clay Field Therapist to work with you, you cannot do this at home.
People with a history of childhood trauma and/or neglect who are pretty stable and advanced in their therapy will see the greatest benefits. The Clay Field is good with traumatic experiences in preverbal stages of development too.
Basic stabilization can be supported with this approach, but that is not necessarily where it is the strongest. Like all body work, I think it is best to do this parallel to regular talk therapy and learn more skills in self-regulation and self-soothing there. All trauma work, including that in a Clay Field, needs foundations first.
I wouldn’t recommend this approach for highly dissociative people or those with DID, unless you find someone who specialized on that specifically.
Since I know how difficult this kind of inner work is to explain I will give you a case example (addressing conflict with mother, no sexual abuse) to give you a better idea of what it can look like.
Theresa comes to Clay Field therapy to work on her broken relationship with her mother and mistrust in females in general.
In her first session with the Clay Field Theresa doesn’t touch the clay at all. Her T watches her shrink back from it with defensive gestures and small anxious noises. The first rule of the Clay Field is that we can handle anything as long as we can touch the clay. When that is not possible it is important to respect that. The T invites her to try the water bowl instead but while she can look at it she doesn’t trust it enough to put her hands in there. So the T invites her to listen to her impulses on what to do. She pushes the Clay Field away from herself, then pushes it off the table (where the T catches it and puts it on the floor, no Clay Fields harmed!). Since that doesn’t feel like it is enough, the T encourages her to leave the room, then to shut the door to remove herself from the Clay Field completely and sense how that feels. Theresa is able to calm herself and practices leaving the room several times, noticing that nothing terrible happens.
Talk is about being able to say ‘no’ and dethroning the mother in her life.
Back home she finally finds the courage to set limits with her mother and removes herself from the ongoing emotional transgressions. This action had never felt safe before, but it does after sensing how safe it was to leave the Clay Field behind.
In her second session Theresa enters the room and pushes the Clay Field to the back of the table where she can tolerate it. Her T invites her to explore the water bowl with her hands. Theresa reaches into it with her right hand and feels clarity of mind and pleasure at moving the water in patterns. Her left hand is hidden underneath the table. Theresa asks for really cold water because that would feel even better. Her right hand feels crystal clear in it. Her T invites her to put her left hand in the water too. She removes her right hand, it feels like there is not enough pace for 2 hands although there is, and puts her left hand in, only to shriek and pull it out again. The cool water seems to hurt. Her T gives her warm water instead. Her left hand, all withered and tight slowly uncurls in the warm water and relaxes.
Theresa and her T talk about the gap between the hands. Since Theresa’s T works with parts she sees very clearly that one hand represents the clarity of pure thought of Theresa’s ANP, and the needy, neglected and vulnerable EP is represented in her other hand, with dissociation between them. Theresa notices how much better it feels when there is warm water for the left hand, what a little care, warmth and presence can do for that part of her.
Back home she improves her self-care considerably and pays more attention to her body and needs instead of only being in the mind.
Next session Theresa finds a safe place for her left hand in her water bowl with warm water and she is finally ready to touch some clay. She is pretty scared, touches the surface and gets confused when she sees that her hands leave marks in the clay. Being seen and leaving behind signs of her presence cause huge feelings and mild dissociation and she goes straight for her water bowl again to regulate. Later in the session she is able to grab the clay and hold on to it and feel how the clay is supporting her and giving her stability and a solid footing (well, with hands, never mind). Her posture changes and she starts to find stability in her spine and balance through her feet as she explores the heavy weight of the clay.
Back home she finds more and more places where the floor, a chair, mat etc are supporting her. She learns how to ground through this feeling of being held up by the floor and her dissociation goes down considerably. Her posture looks more stable and connected.
Back with the Clay Field Theresa starts to get into the clay. She feels impulses to punch and to push away and follows them. Whenever her T thinks that it might be too intense for her to cope she reminds Theresa of the water bowl and a small break for regulation before she goes back to pushing the clay away and out of the box. Once the clay is outside the feeling of despair and disgust go down. Theresa washes her box with water and cleans it with paper towels until it is absolutely empty. She then rests her hands and her arms in the box, pressed to opposite sides to help her feel the boundary of the box. It feels extremely good and like she has finally arrived at Herself, her own space without meddling by the mother.
The conversation also shows that she is pretty lonely there and doesn’t allow any female presence close to her box, there is no trust and her hands are pressing in opposite directions away from each other and avoiding the center, maybe a sign that there is still a lot of avoidance?
The session is not over at this point. The T invites Theresa to explore, with whatever feels right. So Theresa pours some of the water from the bowl into the empty box and allows her hands to rest in it. Her right had is tense at first but over time, after touching the solid box for orientation, it can relax in the warm water too. After feeling that for a while, it becomes clear that something is missing and Theresa takes chunks of clay (that lost its prior meaning on the table) and builds an island in the middle of the box, on top of her left hand. The left hand feels extremly held and cared for and the weight of the clay is calming and protective. After sensing that with awareness the left hand moves to the side of the little hill and explores what it feels like from the outside while the right hand keeps building it up. Then the hands take turns resting on top of the hill. The T thinks that it reminds her of resting at the mothers breast but she knows Theresa hates these kinds of symbols so she keeps it for herself and only provides more meaning later. Finally, the hands come together at the top of the hill, the right hand cupping the left hand in a protective gesture.
The ANP took care of the needs of the EP and brought them to a place of female care. The rejection is dissolved, the hands can come together and a motherly gesture is accepted.
Back home Theresa connects more deeply with her female existence and her wishes to care as well as her need to be taken care of. She becomes more open and vulnerable in her friendships with women and allows her talk therapy T to support her emotionally during a different kind of trauma work.
As you can see, sessions can look very different and the benefits we gain can vary a lot, but it is rare that nothing happens that could be useful for our present life unless we disengage intentionally. If symbolic work is something you cannot relate to at all that will influence how much you can get from this though.
I think the Clay Field is a valuable addition to more traditional treatment and helps to work through deep feelings where words fails us.
More information about this can be found at www.clay-field.com
For more structured therapy in a box check
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