Brainspotting
I am a certified Brainspotting practitioner.
I offer my clients Brainspotting sessions within the scope of ongoing Psychotherapy.
I also work with clients who wish to exclusively use Brainspotting as a stand-alone and time-limited treatment for addressing trauma and other specific needs.
I offer my clients Brainspotting sessions within the scope of ongoing Psychotherapy.
I also work with clients who wish to exclusively use Brainspotting as a stand-alone and time-limited treatment for addressing trauma and other specific needs.
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a powerful body-based treatment for emotional distress and trauma. It addresses therapeutic needs that can be difficult to reach through traditional talk therapy, by accessing different regions of the brain.
While talk therapy primarily engages the prefrontal cortex—the conscious, thinking brain, Brainspotting accesses deeper subcortical brain regions where emotions, unprocessed trauma, and unconscious material are stored.
To reach these deeper regions of the brain, the client and therapist work together to identify a unique eye position that corresponds to the client’s emotional experience. While maintaining this eye position, the client engages in mindful self-observation, simply noticing and sharing whatever arises within them —without judgment or effort to control the process.
This “focused mindfulness” activates the brain’s innate self-healing capacity. Over time, clients often find relief from overwhelming emotions and physiological sensations connected to their unresolved trauma or other emotional experiences.
What does Brainspotting feel like?
Naturally, Brainspotting feels different from person to person—and even from one session to the next. It is a gentle approach, yet strong emotions and sensations may arise due to its focused nature and the removal of external distractions. Clients often experience waves of different emotions that come and go. Similarly, physical sensations may intensify, lessen, or move to different areas of the body.
For clients who are more visually oriented, Brainspotting may elicit internal imagery such as colors, textures, shapes, or visual memories. Insight may spontaneously arise, or a fresh perspective. At times, clients notice a shift toward greater acceptance of something that was previously difficult to face.
While processing, clients may feel more or less talkative at different points, and they are encouraged to do what feel best for them.
Because Brainspotting is grounded in neurobiology, physical reflexes typically occur during a session. Examples include small twitches, changes in breathing and facial expressions, sighs, blinks, and eye movements. The therapist observes these nonverbal responses, and uses them both to find relevant eye positions, and to attune more closely to the client’s experience. Reflexes offer valuable information about the brain’s processing in real time. The client may or may not be consciously aware of them.
Brainspotting is a powerful body-based treatment for emotional distress and trauma. It addresses therapeutic needs that can be difficult to reach through traditional talk therapy, by accessing different regions of the brain.
While talk therapy primarily engages the prefrontal cortex—the conscious, thinking brain, Brainspotting accesses deeper subcortical brain regions where emotions, unprocessed trauma, and unconscious material are stored.
To reach these deeper regions of the brain, the client and therapist work together to identify a unique eye position that corresponds to the client’s emotional experience. While maintaining this eye position, the client engages in mindful self-observation, simply noticing and sharing whatever arises within them —without judgment or effort to control the process.
This “focused mindfulness” activates the brain’s innate self-healing capacity. Over time, clients often find relief from overwhelming emotions and physiological sensations connected to their unresolved trauma or other emotional experiences.
What does Brainspotting feel like?
Naturally, Brainspotting feels different from person to person—and even from one session to the next. It is a gentle approach, yet strong emotions and sensations may arise due to its focused nature and the removal of external distractions. Clients often experience waves of different emotions that come and go. Similarly, physical sensations may intensify, lessen, or move to different areas of the body.
For clients who are more visually oriented, Brainspotting may elicit internal imagery such as colors, textures, shapes, or visual memories. Insight may spontaneously arise, or a fresh perspective. At times, clients notice a shift toward greater acceptance of something that was previously difficult to face.
While processing, clients may feel more or less talkative at different points, and they are encouraged to do what feel best for them.
Because Brainspotting is grounded in neurobiology, physical reflexes typically occur during a session. Examples include small twitches, changes in breathing and facial expressions, sighs, blinks, and eye movements. The therapist observes these nonverbal responses, and uses them both to find relevant eye positions, and to attune more closely to the client’s experience. Reflexes offer valuable information about the brain’s processing in real time. The client may or may not be consciously aware of them.
What does Brainspotting used for?
Brainspotting can be especially helpful for:
-Trauma & PTSD
-Phobias and fears
-Grief
-The emotional aspects of pain/physical injury/illness
-Any life experiences causing strong emotions, feelings of confusion, "stuckness", etc.
Some Brainspotting applications, such as Expansion Brainspotting, are geared towards amplifying positive emotions, enhancing performance, and increasing states of "flow."
Brainspotting can be especially helpful for:
-Trauma & PTSD
-Phobias and fears
-Grief
-The emotional aspects of pain/physical injury/illness
-Any life experiences causing strong emotions, feelings of confusion, "stuckness", etc.
Some Brainspotting applications, such as Expansion Brainspotting, are geared towards amplifying positive emotions, enhancing performance, and increasing states of "flow."
How long has Brainspotting been around?
Brainspotting was discovered/developed in 2003 by David Grand, Ph.D.
Brainspotting was discovered/developed in 2003 by David Grand, Ph.D.