Brainspotting
Trauma is pervasive in our world. Whether it be ongoing childhood trauma or traumatic events of our daily world, everyone has experienced something that was difficult to process at the moment and finds themselves having symptoms and feelings of anxiety, depression, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, etc. While talk therapy can feel supportive and helpful, it does not get down to where trauma is held in our brain. Talk therapy keeps you in your prefrontal cortex where logic and reasoning are. Trauma gets stored in the subcortical brain, such as the limbic system. The limbic system is the part of the brain that is involved in our behavioral and emotional responses. Even deeper is the brain stem, which is connected to our nervous system, the flight, fight, freeze response. Have you ever had a sudden reaction where your palms are sweaty, heart rate increases, and you aren’t sure why it happened, as nothing threatening is happening in your environment? Maybe it was just something that someone said. This reaction comes from the limbic system and the brain stem. Your frontal lobe, where logic and reasoning are, understand that you are not currently in a threatening situation, but your body is responding as if it is. This is because past trauma is not held in the frontal lobe. Are you guilty of arguing with yourself, where physically, your body is expressing emotions and reactions of danger, but your frontal lobe is trying to convince you it’s all fine, stop feeling this way? It’s never worked has it? We can’t talk ourselves out of our feelings.
Brainspotting locates points in the visual field that help to access unprocessed trauma in the subcortical brain. Brainspotting (BSP) was discovered in 2003 by David Grand, Ph.D. Over 13,001 therapists have been trained in BSP (52 internationally), in the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa. Dr. Grand discovered that “Where you look affects how you feel.” It is the brain activity, especially in the subcortical brain that organizes itself around that eye position.
Brainspotting session
In a session, you will let me know what issue it is that you want to work on. I’ll have you listen to bilateral music as it will help to activate and integrate the left and right sides of your brain as well as signal to the brain that you are safe. I will help you to find a spot connected to your issue. From here we let your mind heal. The beauty of the human body is it innately knows how to heal. The mind is no different. When you fall and skin your knee, you don’t have to consciously know, understand, or tell your body to heal. When given the environment to heal, that is just what it does. With brainspotting, you will watch, with mindful focus, your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, giving space for the brain to process and integrate your past traumas. What I love most about this technique, is you are the expert, not me. You can share with me as little or as much of what you are experiencing. Your brain and body know just what to do to heal.