Brainspotting was developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003 and has become a highly effective trauma treatment modality, as it allows the individual to heal unresolved traumas within the deep layers of our brains where emotionally charged memories get “stuck.” This deep layer is the subcortical region and we’re able to access it by locating ‘Brainspots’ – fixed eye positions, facial movements, brow furrowing and immersing in the stillness of deep healing that our bodies are innately capable of.

This level of processing is referred to as neuroexperiential processing. It’s a term that emphasizes the intricate connection between our neurological (brain & nervous system) processes and our lived experiences. It highlights the understanding that our deepest wounds and our greatest potential for healing often lie beyond the reach of conscious thought or purely verbal expression, residing instead in the body and the unconscious levels of the brain.

The maintenance of the eye position (Brainspot) within the attentional focus on the body’s felt sense of the presenting issue or trauma stimulates a deep integrating and healing process within the brain. This bottom-up neuroexperiential approach starts somatically within the nervous system and rises towards conscious awareness. This processing, which appears to take place at a reflexive or cellular level within the nervous system, brings about a de-conditioning of previously conditioned, maladaptive emotional and physiological responses.

Identified Brainspots can be with the guidance of a trained clinician during a session, or it can happen spontaneously outside of a client’s awareness. There is no physical contact or probes of any sort on your body – it is you and your Therapist, operating from dual attunement, together. To access this depth of the subcortical layer, BSP sessions typically involve less communication when a ‘spot’ is identified and activated, as talk therapy keeps us actively engaged & limited within our neocortex –the part of our brain responsible for logic and rationale.

If you’ve suffered from trauma and are struggling to heal, you know the pains of these illogical perplexing thoughts, and still being unable to process and move forward. This is the beauty of Brainspotting for individuals seeking trauma relief – bypassing the rationale battle & sinking into the subcortical emotional release. Many times, there is also an improvement in physiological and/or physical symptoms that co-existed because of unresolved traumas – the ones that no longer have its claws engrained in you.

While there is less verbal communication in BSP sessions, please note I am there to support you in what is tolerable the whole time — checking in with you throughout the session. You are in control, “no right or wrong” way of doing it. There’s no expectation on you other than to fully invite yourself to engage in a somatic experience to process & release charged traumatic emotions. Allow whatever may surface, to surface.

Brainspotting highly values the attunement & trust in the therapeutic relationship, and it is essential to the efficacy of this treatment. I will need an idea of your overall desired goal to help understand you more fully, which may need a few initial sessions to deepen this integration of trauma healing. If any of this resonates & you want treatment that gets to the root, please contact me for a consultation.

BSP & EMDR

Similarities & Differences to

Eye-Movement Desensitization Reprocessing

Brainspotting makes use of fixed eye gaze on relevant eye positions. EMDR uses eye movements (smooth pursuit, not saccades). Eye fixation & eye movements are opposites.

When you are moving your eyes bilaterally, even if it’s integrating both hemispheres of the brain, (which we know can have this effect of desensitizing & reducing activation), it’s still a sympathetic movement – your body is active.

An eye position that is fixed is more containing. In the stillness, the body can go deeper into the brain’s layers of releasing stored trauma from the body.

*Benefits of BSP vs EMDR: fixed gaze goes much deeper into the strata of the subcortex, which provokes deeper layers of healing within the body. A fixed gaze requires some sort of parasympathetic response, so a Brainspot is still calming even when it’s activating. The constant talk protocol EMDR requires keeps our neocortex constantly active—prohibiting access to the strata.