Trust your body’s wisdom.

Let your brain guide you.

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a brain-body, mindfulness-based, relational therapy that evolved out of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR). Brainspotting works in the deep brain and helps process material that’s stored deep in our unconscious.

A brainspot is a spot in your visual field that’s like a physiological time capsule that holds emotional, distressing, and traumatic experiences in memory form. When you access that time capsule by focusing your eyes on the spot, the experience stored there begins to release, allowing your brain to process and heal it.

Research shows that trauma and emotional and physical memories are stored in the body. The nervous system gets frozen in time, stuck in a fight/flight or freeze response. Brainspotting unsticks your nervous system so the experience can be integrated. That experience becomes something that happened to you but no longer defines you.

What happens in a Brainspotting session?

First, your therapist will help you find the eye position or spot in your visual field that’s most associated with either activation around an issue or resourcing (grounding, neutral, or calm feelings). Once you find the spot together, the therapist will hold a pointer at that spot so you can focus on it. Music that moves left and right through headphones (called biolateral music) is optional, but can be soothing for some people.

By gently focusing on the spot with openness and curiosity, anything associated with that spot (including thoughts, images, emotions, body sensations, memories) is brought into consciousness for your brain to process and heal.

Your therapist is right there supporting you the whole time.

Who can benefit from Brainspotting?

Brainspotting can be an effective treatment for:

  • Physical and emotional trauma

  • PTSD

  • Stress and trauma resulting from medical illness, interventions, or treatment

  • Recovery from injury and accident trauma

  • Anger and rage problems

  • Anxiety and panic

  • Phobias

  • Addictions and cravings

  • ADHD

  • Performance issues (e.g., athletes, performers of all kinds, public speakers)

  • Fibromyalgia and chronic pain

  • Perceptual problems

  • Stuttering

  • Preparation and recovery from surgery

Curious to learn more or ready to dive in? Book a free consultation with me!