The Brainspotting saying is, “Where you look affects how you feel.” Brainspotting is a form of somatic, or body-focused, therapy that assists clients in processing traumatic memories and difficult emotions. Different eye positions are said to be connected to different “brainspots,” or locations in the brain which hold a traumatic memory in the form of experiences, emotions, or sources of distress–even chronic physical pain. Once the spot is found, the attuned therapist will help to hold this spot for the client so that they may access, experience, and process whatever is stored there, within a supportive and contained environment, using grounding and mindfulness techniques.

Brainspotting gives us a tool to neurobiologically locate, focus, process, and release experiences and symptoms that are typically out of reach of the conscious mind and its cognitive and language capacity. It is believed that the body/brain has the innate capacity to process and heal from trauma, and this approach allows us to activate our inherent ability to heal.

A beautiful description by my incredible teacher, Mariya Javed-Payne, Awaken Consulting Services:

“Brainspotting is a somatic-based psychotherapy that uses a ‘bottom-up approach.’ Whereas talk therapies utilize a ‘top-down’ approach, Brainspotting accesses the somatic activation related to issues, which travel up from the peripheral nervous system (in the body) into the spine and then brainstem/midbrain.

The midbrain houses the limbic system where our survival responses, traumas, emotions, memories, and motor coordination (in order to respond to threats and safety) are held. The neocortex (frontal lobe), is the newest part of our brain and is the site of rational thought, linear processes, critical thinking, logic, sequencing, language, and judgment.

Talk therapies access the more neocortical areas of the brain and language. This is often times why talk therapy can take a long time to adjust behaviors and many clients find it challenging to change how they feel or experience the world when they are struggling.”