Brainspotting

“Where you look, affects how you feel”

Brainspotting (BSP) is a 21st Century, brain/body, relational and mindfulness based therapy. It is highly relationally and neurobiologically attuned modality.  Brainspotting accesses information stored in the amygdala, which is not accessed through verbal processing. This rapid, highly effective mind/body centered therapy technique appears to go beyond the cognitive awareness and connects one to their body’s innate wisdom to heal itself. Brainspotting is extremely effective for healing both physical and emotional trauma, anxiety, depression, releasing mental blocks, and maximizing creative and physical potential. 

When stressful and traumatic things happen, the brain stores these memories in a quick-access file. This is very much like minimizing a window on your computer rather than closing the program. Your brain and body keep the memory running in the background. That uses up lots of energy. For survival, it works remarkably well. For daily life, it’s exhausting.

Unresolved trauma depletes you as you stay prepared to fight, flight, or freeze, releasing the stress hormone, cortisol, which negatively impacts mood, memory, sleep, focus, digestion, and your immune system. Different than traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting Therapy bypasses the thinking brain (neocortex) and accesses the reactive brain (subcortex), allowing you to resolve trauma responses in a comfortable, controlled setting with an attuned, present therapist.

Brainspotting is also effective in working with pre verbal trauma, where a client may not have memories or words around the trauma.

What is a Brainspot?

In the 21st century, we have discovered that in a literal sense, our eyes are a gateway to material held deep within our brains, beyond language and logic. A "Brainspot" is the eye position correlating to the energetic / emotional activation within the brain of a traumatic event or emotionally charged issue. Because our eyes connect directly to the subcortical, mid-brain, source of intuition and subconscious thoughts and behaviors, Brainspotting allows us to pinpoint where trauma, anxiety, depression or behavioral problems are held in the brain, and to release these unpleasant, stored experiences by processing through the visual field. This supports the resolution of painful or traumatic experiences and fears so that we can embrace a new sense of freedom, vibrancy, and empowerment, and many clients experience deep and rapid healing.