What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a therapeutic approach that accesses the natural healing abilities of the brain and body. When we have an experience that is overwhelming, the brain automatically separates it from our consciousness — like putting it into a time capsule. Brainspotting allows you to open these time capsules and more completely process and integrate what was locked away, offering healing and clarity.
Brainspotting can also help us connect to our strengths and resilience. It can reinforce neural pathways that enable us to be our best selves. The possibilities are limitless!
Developed by Dr. David Grand, BSP uses the natural connection between where you look and how you feel. Different eye positions access different parts of the brain. A “brainspot” is an eye position connected to parts of the brain holding particular memories, thoughts, emotions, or body sensations. By mindfully focusing on these brainspots, we enable the brain and body to heal more completely or enhance our strengths.
Brainspotting can help with:
Negative Core Beliefs
The inner critic that says “I’m not good enough,” “I’m not lovable,” “I’m powerless.” These beliefs often live in the body as much as the mind. BSP can access and shift them at the root, not just at the level of thought.
Performance & Creativity
Actors embodying a character’s inner world and lived experience. Flow state for athletes, musicians, and artists. Healing from sports traumas, mental blocks, and performance anxiety. BSP expands what is possible.
Fears & Phobias
Fear of flying, driving, heights, water, spiders — and other fears that feel irrational but are very real in the body. BSP works directly with where the fear is stored, often resolving it faster than talk-based approaches.
Birth & Reproductive Trauma
Birth trauma, in utero trauma, miscarriage, fear of birth complications. These deeply embodied experiences respond powerfully to brain-body processing.
Intergenerational & Ancestral Healing
Past lives. Intergenerational experiences of war, famine, mental health challenges, immigration, and discrimination. The body carries what previous generations could not fully process — and BSP can help release it.
Somatic Symptoms
Stomach pain and nausea, menstrual pain, tinnitus, and other physical symptoms with no clear medical cause. When the body is speaking, BSP helps you listen — and respond.
Healing Without Memory
You do not need to remember what happened to heal from it. BSP can process trauma even when memories are lost due to traumatic brain injury, dissociation, or experiences too early for conscious recall — such as car accidents, early childhood, or dissociated traumas.
Existential & Collective Trauma
Geopolitical crises, injustices, natural disasters, systemic oppression, and collective trauma. When the world itself feels unsafe, BSP can help your nervous system find ground again.
Dreams & Nightmares
Recurring dreams, nightmares, and disturbing imagery that disrupts sleep and daily life. BSP can process the material the dreaming brain is trying to work through.
The creator of Brainspotting gives an overview of trauma and brain-based therapy:
Where we look affects
how we feel.
When people talk passionately about something, they tend to look in a particular direction. Our eyes are directly connected to our brains. By finding the specific eye position — the “brainspot” — that connects to what you are working on, we can access material stored deep in the subcortical brain that talk therapy alone may not reach.
You do not need to talk about what happened in detail. You do not even need to remember it. Brainspotting works with the brain and body’s own processing system, guided by your therapist’s attuned presence. Many people experience shifts they did not think were possible.
What a Brainspotting session feels like and the importance of a supportive therapist:
A journey of healing from complex PTSD with Brainspotting:
Frequently asked questions
Does Brainspotting work online?
Yes. Brainspotting works effectively via telehealth. Many clients are surprised by how powerful online sessions can be. As long as you have a private, quiet space and a stable internet connection, the brain-body processing can happen just as deeply as it does in person.
Do I need to talk about what happened to me?
No. One of the most powerful aspects of Brainspotting is that you do not need to narrate your experience in detail. The processing happens in the brain and body, not through storytelling. You can share as much or as little as you want. Some clients process significant trauma without ever putting it into words.
Can Brainspotting work with dissociation?
Yes. Dissociation is one of the coping strategies the brain uses to take care of us. It can be too overwhelming to feel all our emotions all the time. The brain sometimes puts experiences or emotions behind dissociative barriers to keep it at bay — like a dam keeping the flood back. It might take a few Brainspotting sessions to access the material behind a dissociative barrier. It can feel like “nothing’s happening,” and eventually with patience, the brain offers an opening to allow more information to be processed.
It might take a few Brainspotting sessions to access the material behind a dissociative barrier. It can feel like “nothing’s happening” and eventually with patience, the brain offers an opening in the dissociative barriers to allow more information to be processed.
What does a Brainspotting session feel like?
Every session is different. You may notice emotions, body sensations, memories, images, or shifts in how you feel. Some sessions are deeply activating; others feel quiet and subtle. There is no wrong way to experience it. Your therapist is attuned to your process throughout, creating a safe and supportive space for whatever arises.
How is Brainspotting different than EMDR?
Both are brain-body therapies that process trauma, but they work differently. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation and a structured protocol. Brainspotting uses a fixed eye position to access specific neural networks and follows the brain’s own lead in how it processes. Many people find BSP feels more organic and less directive — your brain sets the pace, not a protocol.
How many sessions does it take?
It varies. Some specific fears or single-event traumas can shift significantly in just a few sessions. Complex or developmental trauma, intergenerational patterns, and deep-rooted core beliefs often benefit from ongoing work. We will check in together about how things are progressing and adjust as needed.
Can Brainspotting work if I don't know or remember the root cause?
Absolutely. The body and brain store experiences even when conscious memory does not. Brainspotting accesses the subcortical brain where trauma is held physiologically — it does not require narrative memory. This makes it especially effective for early childhood trauma, traumatic brain injury, dissociated experiences, and in utero or birth trauma.
Is Brainspotting only for trauma?
No. While BSP is exceptionally effective for trauma, it is also used for performance enhancement, creativity expansion, anxiety, grief, spiritual growth, chronic pain, phobias, and more. The same brain-body mechanism that processes pain can also be used to amplify strengths, flow states, and positive experiences.