Brainspotting

Process and release.

Somatic therapy in Boston and online across Massachusetts and North Carolina

Image By: K seniya Lapteva

You’re looking to go further and deeper than you have before.

Brainspotting is for those who:

  • Want to address deeply felt experiences like abandonment, shame, grief, sadness, anxiety and panic

  • Have experienced what they would call “Trauma”, or a “painful or bad experience”

  • Have consistent difficulty in relationships with partners and family 

  • Have painful memories or nightmares 

  • Know “something’s wrong”, but don’t know what 

  • Have experiences that they don’t want to share certain details about

  • Welcome including their body as well as their mind In their therapy 

  • Are open to experiencing emotional shifts

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is an experiential and somatic therapy that uses your field of vision, your bodily intuition and the awareness of the therapist to access the subconscious part of your brain that stores your trauma and distressing feelings to provide relief and groundedness.

Brainspotting addresses the root of your concerns by bypassing conscious thinking (from the prefrontal cortex of the brain) and going directly to the lower, emotional part of the brain (subcortical brain) where trauma and distressing feelings are identified, processed and released. This means that you won’t have to solely rely on your memory, your thoughts, your words or your “will to change” in order to see deep lasting, emotional progress.

How it Works:

Where you look affects how you feel. 

In moments where you’ve really paid close attention, have you noticed that if you have a feeling, like sadness or joy, that looking in a certain direction will impact that feeling?

In Brainspotting, you and I will find the eye position, or brainspot, that feels connected to your intense feelings and painful past experiences. With my presence, you will intensely focus your eyes in the position that we find and follow the waves of emotion, thoughts or “nothingness” that shows up. As you are focusing, many different emotions, movements or physical sensations may show up, I will be there with you as they do.

Given time and connection of these visual points, internal processing occurs and makes room for the brain’s own natural healing capacity.

Image By: Jesse Orrico

“Whatever the client was experiencing changed. Images and memories came more quickly. Emotions and body experience went deeper and moved on more rapidly and easily. Clients also go to observe the process while they were in it. The process was fascinating and still is.”

David Grand, Founder of Brainspotting

Brainspotting Wisdom

  • Be Curious

    Remain curious and open. See yourself on a new route on a train, watching whatever the train passes out the window and not being concerned with exiting before reaching the stop. Even if things out of the window seem intense or weird, we know that we will be okay to keep going on our ride. We won’t have to make sense of everything that we see on the way, but we know the way to make it to the new destination is to keep going.

  • Surrender

    Your brain and body can handle your emotion and I’ll be with you to help you hold it. It’s less about trusting that the technique can work and more about trusting yourself to allow yourself to feel–even if it’s intense. Sensations, emotions or the desire to move, shake etc. may come up. You’re encouraged to give in to what your experience needs and is asking of you. The train knows where it’s going, we just have to be willing to go.

  • Be Seen

    Where will I be? I will be present and attentive to you while processing in session. You will feel me being patient and supportive, although I may not say much as to not interrupt your processing. I will check-in with you and you can check-in with me for support and facilitation. You will never be alone in session; I’ll be on the train with you.

  • Embrace Silence

    There can be long moments of silence. You and I can be extremely patient with you taking the time to get comfortable and managing your anxiety with the silence. Sometimes talking may be helpful for you and many other times it’s interfering with your process. Don’t worry you will have time to debrief before we leave the session. Cognitive interruptions may cause you to miss the many things the ride wants you to experience and release. That’s the whole reason you're here!

What you can expect:

  • File your trauma as a true past event + experience less painful memories 

  • Reduce excessive negative thoughts and beliefs

  • Shift attachment and relationship experiences

  • Express and release fear, anxiety, panic, grief and other emotional stress 

  • Feel present and peaceful in your body

  • Gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your history 

  • Relieve guilt, shame and bring self-forgiveness

  • Address conflict and find internal answers

Feel relief in the depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Brainspotting is a safe and effective, brain-and-body based therapy that uses your field of vision to connect with emotions to process and relieve distressing emotions and past experiences for long-lasting change.

  • A brainspot is the eye position connected to the trauma capsule in your brain. Once found, focused attention on the spot allows for processing and releasing of information from the capsule leading to integration of experiences and greater mental equilibrium.

  • Yes, you can. Since the part of the brain that is utilized for brainspotting does not require conscious thought or logic, you are able to address problems that you don’t remember or don’t want to talk about. We will do this safely, slowly and with your consent.

  • A therapy method that uses the connection between the mind and the body to facilitate change.

  • Generally brainspotting can treat a wide range of presenting issues from trauma and abandonment wounds to expanding creativity and addressing both emotional and physical pain.

  • Although, brainspotting will likely involve some distressing emotions and a willingness to be open and vulnerable, it is very unlikely to cause harmful or retraumatizing effects.

  • No, brainspotting does not make you forget painful experiences. The goal of brainspotting is to release the distressing emotions associated with painful experiences and trauma, so that you’ll have a narrative of your experience without the excessive emotional charge.

Sub - Specialties

  • Chronic and complex trauma where memory, words or understanding are limited

  • Long-term psychological and physical pain caused by painful emotions