What Is Brainspotting? A Therapist Explains How It Actually Works
If you’ve been Googling “what is Brainspotting” at midnight with seventeen tabs open, welcome. You’re in good company. Most of my clients found me the same way.
Brainspotting is one of those things that sounds either too simple or too out-there depending on who’s explaining it. So let me explain it the way I wish someone had explained it to me before I trained in it and watched it change the way I practice.
The Short Version
Brainspotting is a therapeutic treatment method that uses specific eye positions to access and process trauma, anxiety, emotional pain, and other experiences that live in the deeper parts of your brain and body. It was developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003, and it works with areas of the subcortical brain that traditional talk therapy doesn’t typically reach.
That’s the clinical version. Here’s the real version: Brainspotting helps your nervous system process the stuff your brain already understands but your body is still carrying. The anxiety that won’t quit even though you’ve talked about it for years. The emotional stress that shows up as a tight chest or a clenched jaw. The traumatic experiences you thought you’d moved past until something small triggers that racing heart all over again.
It gets to the root. And it does it gently.
How a Brainspotting Session Actually Works
The best way to understand Brainspotting is to know what it actually feels like in session, because the clinical descriptions make it sound more complicated than it is.
In a brainspotting session, we start by identifying an issue you want to work on. It could be anxiety, a traumatic memory, emotional pain, chronic pain, physical stress that keeps showing up in your body. Then I’ll guide your gaze across your field of vision slowly. We’re looking for a specific spot where your eyes naturally hold, a place where your body has a physical response. Maybe your breath shifts. Maybe you feel something in your chest or your stomach. Maybe your eyes just don’t want to move past a certain point.
That spot is your brain spot. It’s a position in your visual field that connects to where that particular experience or emotion is stored in your brain.
Once we find it, you hold your gaze there while I use bilateral sound (calming music that alternates between ears through headphones) and what’s called dual attunement. That means I’m tracking both what’s happening in your nervous system and staying present with you relationally. You’re not alone in it.
From there, your brain does its thing. You might notice physical sensations shifting. Emotions moving through. Memories surfacing and releasing. Some people feel a lot. Some people feel quiet and still. There’s no wrong way to do it. You don’t have to narrate what’s happening. Your brain and body are doing the processing below the level of language, in the parts of the brain where traumatic memories and emotional experiences are actually stored.
Why It’s Different From Traditional Talk Therapy
I love talk therapy. I’m not here to trash it. But here’s what I’ve seen over and over in my private practice: people come in having done years of traditional therapy. They understand their patterns. They can explain their triggers. They’ve done the cognitive work.
And they’re still anxious. Still carrying emotional stress. Still having the same physical symptoms show up every time life gets intense.
That’s because traditional talk therapy primarily works with the conscious, thinking mind. And that’s valuable. But anxiety, trauma, and unprocessed emotional pain aren’t just thoughts. They’re held in your nervous system. In your muscles. In the limbic system and deeper parts of the brain that don’t respond to insight alone.
Brainspotting accesses those deeper layers directly. It’s what makes it such a powerful approach for people who’ve done the self-work and are ready for something that shifts things at a deeper level.
What Brainspotting Helps With
Brainspotting was originally developed for processing trauma, and it’s incredible for that. But clinical experience has shown it’s an effective treatment for a wide range of concerns:
Anxiety disorders and panic
Traumatic experiences, PTSD symptoms, and complex trauma
Chronic pain and body pain connected to emotional stress
Emotional regulation and difficulty managing strong emotions
Depression and emotional pain that hasn’t responded to traditional therapy
Performance blocks (Brainspotting is also used by athletes, performers, and creatives)
The beautiful thing is that because Brainspotting works with your brain’s natural ability to heal, it meets each person where they are. There’s no one-size-fits-all protocol. Every session adapts to what your system needs that day.
Brainspotting vs. EMDR: What’s the Difference?
I get asked this all the time. Both Brainspotting and EMDR therapy use eye movements and visual processing to help the brain work through traumatic memories and difficult emotions. They’re related, actually. Dr. Grand originally developed Brainspotting while working as an EMDR therapist when he noticed something happening with his client’s eyes that didn’t fit the existing framework.
The biggest difference is structure. EMDR follows a more standardized protocol with specific phases. Brainspotting is more fluid and intuitive, more led by what’s happening in your body in the present moment. Both are effective. I love how Brainspotting creates space for your nervous system to guide the process. And neither one requires you to talk through every detail of what happened to you.
What to Expect in Your First Session
If you’ve never done anything like this before, your first session might feel a little different from what you’re used to. And that’s okay.
We’ll spend time at the beginning talking. Getting to know each other. Understanding what brought you here. I want you to feel safe before we go anywhere near Brainspotting, because the therapeutic relationship is the foundation of this work.
When we do start Brainspotting, I’ll walk you through every step. You’ll know what’s happening and why. Some people feel significant shifts by the end of the session. Some people notice things settling over the next few days. There’s no timeline you need to hit.
I’ll probably swear at some point. My therapy pup Gertie will probably make an appearance on camera. And I will absolutely not make you journal about it afterward if that’s not your thing.
Curious If Brainspotting Is Right for You?
If you’ve been doing the work on yourself and you’re ready for something that goes deeper than conversation, Brainspotting might be worth exploring. I offer online brainspotting sessions for clients in South Carolina, New York, and Florida.
Book a free 15-minute call and let’s talk about what you’ve tried, where you are, and whether this approach feels right for you. No pressure. Just a conversation.