Sandplay for Healing, LLC

Sandplay for Healing, LLC Sandplay for Healing provides a full range of therapeutic services for children and adults.

Ruth Castellano sponsors and hosts a variety of workshops and trainings within many communities.

I first posted the start of this painting on January 9, 2022 (the third image here). I had been immersed in cave space ...
01/11/2026

I first posted the start of this painting on January 9, 2022 (the third image here). I had been immersed in cave space and energy for quite a few years as I sat with, felt into, and, in some sense, became the cave. I was drawn to, and often came upon, cave spaces in nature, in relationships, in art, in dreams, and deep within me.
This painting started while on a trip to the Netherlands in 2022 to visit with an aging family member. These trips were full of sorting through memories, holding space for death and dying...while simultaneously, something was uncovering within. I played with this painting numerous times, trying, for some reason to override what my soul wanted to paint. I kept seeing a cavern or container of celestial Light, a Divine Source, in the heart of the native land. The negative voices I wrote about in the January 9th, 2022 post crept in. I questioned who I thought I was to think I can paint! It was young. Yet, that uncovering and opening that was happening during my excursions to Holland were taking root. I began to not care what others thought; I began to allow myself. Maybe you can understand.

And as this was happening, I continued to see indigenous tribal figures dancing in the dark forest. About a year ago, I let the light in. I thought I would share the journey of this process. Art is not a thought. For me, it is a feeling deep within that is asking for expression.

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy; not on fighting the old, but on building the new." – Dan Millman. ...
12/27/2025

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy; not on fighting the old, but on building the new." – Dan Millman.

Just about done packing up my Chatham office, a space that has tenderly held me, my clients, my work, and other therapists sharing the space with me, since right after the pandemic shutdown began to ease. During these years, I lost my dog, my father-in-law, and my mother, among others. This office was my place of solace, and the healing work that happened here offered healing for my me, as well.

In the past year, as has been true for me for most of my life, my heart began to yearn for something new, something different...a creative energy returned and ignited. I began writing again. I worked on clinical presentations, a Sandplay Foundations training, consultation groups, and the regional group we just launched here in NJ. I painted and drew, danced, and ran. And out of all of that sprung a choice...to let go, to step forward, to open my arms wide to whatever wants to come. My new office in Morristown holds the promise of adventure and mystery.

Out of the darkest times the greatest light can come. I try to remind myself of that when things in the world, the collective, and in my personal life go dim or dark. A wise teacher of mine once told me that we can't have one without the other, and that the challenge was to hold both together....the dark and the light, and to prosper from the union of the two....that is Life.

How excited we all were....coming together for the first ever, in-person meet up of the Northeast Sandplay Association! ...
12/11/2025

How excited we all were....coming together for the first ever, in-person meet up of the Northeast Sandplay Association! Quite a few years ago, Sandplay Therapist's of America asked if I would become the Regional Rep for my area of the country. We had never had a group in this area as there were not enough certified practitioners to get a group solvent. Then Covid hit and postponed the trek! But I held onto the dream of starting up, and growing, a community of people who are looking for one another, looking for comraderie and new experience, new spaces and opportunities to learn, share, and grow together.

I am so thrilled to see a community finally coming together! This first meeting included depth of conversation and exploration, laughter, hope and a mutual love for the work that we do, and the essence of the deep processes that fill our lives! As a group, we talked of the possibilities going forward, including sponsoring teachers from around the country to come teach here in our neck of the woods

A shout out to who has lit fire in the midst of it, and, in that, was instrumental in helping me to get this done🙏

While the focus of our association is sandplay, all are welcome who are looking for a tribe, a place to be where commonality is the glue, and differences the resilience!

In memory of my beautiful, earthy, Hungarian grandma..... her sweet offering each Thanksgiving was this homemade cranber...
11/27/2025

In memory of my beautiful, earthy, Hungarian grandma..... her sweet offering each Thanksgiving was this homemade cranberry sauce recipe when I was young, I hated it! Yet, like so many things, I have grown into a taste for it. Today, I give thanks for all that I have, and I give thanks for the sadness that I can now feel at the absence of so many who have physically left my life. I wish for kindness and peace to fill as much of the world as is possible🪽🐠

Learning Together: Join the new Sandplay Consultation group - sandplayforhealing.com/store/sandplay-consultation-group-2...
11/17/2025

Learning Together: Join the new Sandplay Consultation group - sandplayforhealing.com/store/sandplay-consultation-group-2026

Together We Rise: Join Our First Meet-Up!Like birds in flight, we find strength when we move together. In a world that c...
11/07/2025

Together We Rise: Join Our First Meet-Up!

Like birds in flight, we find strength when we move together. In a world that can feel fragmented, these moments remind us: we’re not alone.

Join us for the first in-person gathering of the Northeast Sandplay Association!
📅 Sunday, December 7th
⏰ 3-5 PM
📍 Englewood, NJ

An afternoon of meaningful conversation, shared inspiration and connection.

Save your spot (free, but spaces are limited!)
sandplayforhealing.com/store


Autumn in New Jersey has always been an experience of the opposites for me. In my early 30's, I often had an unexpected...
11/07/2025

Autumn in New Jersey has always been an experience of the opposites for me. In my early 30's, I often had an unexpected anxiety that would show up, often intense and full of ambivalence about intangible worry. Yet I always deeply loved the changing color of the leaves, the letting go of the blooms and greening that had filled my gardens in anticipation of the impending winter season. At that time in my life, winters often felt deadened, too quiet, cold and harsh. It was a gift when a mentor, early in my study of sandplay, reflected on Autumn and Winter as a time of letting go, and holding the profound metamorphosis that was quietly occurring in the very inner part of the trees. While the outer covering, the trunk and branches, look deadened, the interior is hard at work preparing for the next cycle. Wow!

The changing color of the leaves has come to hold for me the inevitable cycle of life, death, rebirth, and renewal. The intensifying of the beauty of the color, right before the leaf drops, offers the possibility of pooling energy, allowing it to live in its beauty as it prepares to let go, essentially die, so as to make space for what will come. I find it beautiful that each leaf is unique, and will never come again in the same form. Next year, while the leaves will look familiar, they are each new, fresh, and ready to live their season.

Today, I no longer have the ambivalence around this season. Maybe as a result of my own metamorphosis, which is an ongoing work!, I now embrace the beauty and understand and appreciate the anticipatory work that is preparation for the letting go. Surrender has been a concept that keeps showing up lately. Irish poet John O'Donohue's words resonate deep in the heart..."We live between the act of awakening and the act of surrender".

Address

186 Main Street
Chatham, NJ
07928

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19734572650

Website

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