ABSTRACT
The material chosen for this chapter is located within the context of an approach that the author has developed and designated as Tribhuvan Threefold Psycho-spiritual Dramatherapy (https://www.brucebayley.co.uk/trib-bhb.htm) that takes a psycho-spiritual and transpersonal perspective informed by a variety of spiritual traditions including Vedanta, Ayurveda, Buddhist and Taoist texts and art and Goethean psychology and concepts from Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science. Raising questions relating to some of the perspectives on Space within dramatherapy, the chapter's intention is to focus on notions of Space from within these traditions and their usefulness in dramatherapy practice. Commencing with a brief consideration of Space in theatre and therapy, the author presents notions of inner, outer and liminal space and offers a chance to ponder on some of our existing perceptions of Space and Time. The author looks at aspects of Śunya (the void/space), Akhaśa or Vyoman (the open vastness) and Kha (the enclosed space), which is represented by the cave, as they are presented within Vedatta and Buddhism. The author refers to illustrative examples from their dramatherapy practice that considers the processes of focusing inwards, emptying out and opening up by creating, emptying and re-creating afresh within the therapeutic space. The intrinsic relation in Buddhism between Shunya (empty space) and Karuna (compassion) signifies the essential inter-relatedness of things in the phenomenal world and leads the author to further reflect on the value (fullness) of the empty space, seeking to articulate the relevance of these ideas and images for dramatherapy practice.
