This study aimed to explore what a preliminary art therapist experienced and its meanings by imagery-based personal analysis. The researcher, a study participant as a woman and the preliminary art therapist was highly curious about self. the therapist got 10 sessions imagery-based personal analysis from March to May 2022. Transcripts and artworks from experiences were analyzed by using a narrative inquiry method. The researcher found 5 stories of experiences, ‘Become a burdened camel’ ‘Try to be a lion’ ‘Stuck in a cage’ ‘leased from the cage called lion’ ‘Return to a child’and the meaning of experiences are follows; First, oppressed thoughts began when the therapist was young. Second, the negative vicious circle of thought-emotion-behavior persists. Third, the therapist met self in art works. Fourth, the therapist expressed reliving then-there. Thus, imagery-based personal analysis was the process of self-exploration and self-understanding, the experience process of living here-and-now, the process of understanding and acceptance of others, and the process that the preliminary art therapist experienced the value of imagery. Based on the results, the implications and limitations of the study were discussed.