Brainspotting

“Where you Look Affects How you Feel”

This neurophysiological model is based on the concept that our eyes and brains are intricately woven together and that vision is a primary way that we orient in our environment. Signals from the eyes are deeply processed in the brain and then the brain reflexively or intuitively is digesting and organizing through this pathway at all times. Issues of emotional pain and trauma can overwhelm the brain’s processing capacity leaving fragments of the trauma or developmental wound to be unprocessed.

Brainspotting uses the field of vision to locate the memory and by keeping the gaze focused, a processing re-processing and release occurs in the mind-body system. In my work with relational ruptures and developmental wounding, I have found that the eyes hold much-unresolved pain from our primary relationships and can therefore become potent places of retrieval of this information.

Brainspotting is a model that incorporates interpersonal neurobiology through the provider’s attunement with the client. This process of engagement with the somatic resonance of the provider is the key aspect of the healing as it sets the container for the deeper healing to occur. I have found it to be much slower and less disruptive than other eye movement processes such as EMDR.

This video can be helpful in understanding Brainspotting...

Shifts In The Nervous System

Brain spotting works hand in hand with Somatic Experiencing in that clients will locate the area in the body where the memory is stored and hold both the brain spot and the body spot simultaneously in the session. Similar to Somatic Experiencing, clients will experience shifts in the nervous system during the session and processes will occur in many of the SIBAM channels (sensation, image, behavior, affect, and thoughts). As a trained Somatic Experiencing provider, I serve as a guide to help clients stay connected to the body in a safe relational container to engage in deep transformative change.

More Information

For more information on Brainspotting go to:
https://brainspotting.com/about-bsp/