What Is Brainspotting — and How Can It Help You Heal?

When we experience stress or trauma, our bodies often hold onto those experiences long after our minds have tried to move on. You might notice this as anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere, emotional reactions that feel bigger than the situation, or a sense that “talking about it” hasn’t fully helped. This is where Brainspotting can be a powerful and gentle approach to healing.

What Is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a trauma-informed therapy that helps access and process experiences stored deep in the brain and nervous system. It works on the idea that where you look affects how you feel.

During a Brainspotting session, your therapist helps you find a specific eye position — called a brainspot — that connects to an emotional or physical experience you’re holding. This eye position acts like a doorway, allowing the brain to naturally process and release what’s been stuck.

Unlike traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting doesn’t require you to explain everything in detail. The healing happens through the brain and body’s natural ability to process, with your therapist offering support and guidance throughout.

How Brainspotting Helps

Brainspotting can be especially helpful if you:

• Feel “stuck” despite trying other therapies

• Have trauma that feels hard to put into words

• Experience anxiety, panic, or chronic stress

• Carry emotional pain in your body (tightness, pain, fatigue)

• Feel overwhelmed by strong emotional reactions

• Want a more body-based, nervous-system-focused approach

Because Brainspotting works below the level of conscious thought, many clients find it effective even when they don’t know exactly why they feel the way they do.

What Brainspotting Can Help With

Brainspotting has been shown to support healing for:

• Trauma and PTSD

• Anxiety and panic disorders

• Depression

• Attachment wounds and relationship patterns

• Grief and loss

• Chronic pain or somatic symptoms

• Performance anxiety and burnout

It’s a flexible approach that can be used with adults, teens, and children, and it often integrates well with other modalities such as EMDR, somatic therapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

What a Brainspotting Session Is Like

Brainspotting sessions are gentle, collaborative, and paced to your comfort level. You remain fully in control the entire time.

Your therapist may:

• Help you tune into a feeling, memory, or body sensation

• Guide your eye position using a pointer or visual cue

• Invite you to notice what comes up without forcing anything

• Check in regularly to ensure you feel safe and supported

There’s no “right” way to do Brainspotting — your brain leads the process, and your therapist follows.

Why Brainspotting Is Different

Many people say Brainspotting feels different because it:

• Works with the body, not just the mind

• Doesn’t require retelling traumatic details

• Honors your nervous system’s pace

• Allows deeper processing with less overwhelm

• Helps release emotions stored beyond words

Healing doesn’t always happen through logic — sometimes it happens through connection, safety, and allowing the brain to do what it already knows how to do.