Sometimes our current life is negatively impacted by past events where we felt helpless, overwhelmed, or trapped. The memories from these events may be recorded deep in our brain as frozen fragments- bits and pieces of unresolved experience. At times our nervous system and brain may react as if we are still in past overwhelming, demeaning, threatening experiences.
Brainspotting is a targeted technique to help you move beyond the many ways these old experiences limit your choices and hold you back.
According to the technique's founder, David Grand, PhD:
Brainspotting (BSP) is a technique that may help harness "the mind and body’s natural self-scanning, self-healing ability to dismantle the trauma, distress, and beliefs at the subconscious core to free the mind and body".
"It is theorized that Brainspotting... (may) release focused areas...which are in a maladaptive homeostasis (frozen primitive survival modes)."
Dr. Grand developed Brainspotting as a natural evolution of his practice as a Master Trainer and practitioner of EMDR (A familiar and proven technique to help alleviate symptoms from traumatic experiences). Brainspotting may be experienced as a more gentle approach than EMDR for highly traumatized or sensitive clients. Your connection with a highly attuned therapist is an essential part of your healing process with this technique.
Brainspotting is easily tailored to your unique needs and can be naturally integrated into your therapeutic process. I will help you find an eye position associated with traumatic activation in your brain. I will support you while you notice your inner experience to help you move through blocks of dissociation to help integrate memory fragments and experience relief from troublesome trauma symptoms. If entering the process feels daunting, we may access and move between your "Body Resource" (a positive internal resource state) and eye positions associated with your distress.
Brainspotting may be helpful for a range of situations and the source(s) of your traumatic symptom(s) may vary:
- emotional or physical abuse
- attachment problems in early childhood
- experiencing or witnessing an accident
- impacts from natural disasters
- difficult medical procedures or illnesses
- combat or other highly stressful experiences
Brainspotting may also help you go deeper than words can take you to help:
- access your inner resources and unleash your creativity;
- address a generalized sense of anxiety
- strengthen your resilience and move beyond feeling STUCK!
- uncover possibilities and the deep longings of your soul
Let me know If you want to explore how this technique may be helpful for you.
