If you know me or know anyone who knows me – you’ll know how much I love Brainspotting and Brainspotting Therapy. I break it a part because – anyone can get trained in Brainspotting. In our community we have physical therapists, acupuncturists, doctors, really anyone. Brainspotting is a versitile tool – it helps the brain self-heal, re-organize and release old beliefs, traumas and conditioning. The context in where you access Brainspotting will depend on how it is used.
Brainspotting created a huge shift for me. I found it in graduate school and am so grateful for the mind body shift it created for me. I knew a lot, it’s no surprise I work with over-intellectualizers because I am one. Which meant I was good at therapy. Good at getting gold stars. Knowing the right things to say and having insight. But it didn’t help my anxiety, overwhelm, depression. I was still stuck, feeling often like I was spinning around with no where to go. I think subconsciously part of me went into graduate school so I could find missing pieces of myself.
How is Brainspotting Therapy Different?
Brainspotting Therapy is different than talk therapy. We can know a lot of things about ourselves but it doesn’t neccessarily re-write what is living in our nervous system. Brainspotting is about accessing the lower part of your brain. Traditional talk therapy and skill building lives in the cortical (upper) part of your brain (you know – right by reasoning, executive functioning, insight). While there is benefit to gaining new information, if your nervous system is still functioning off the old information, the new information doesn’t mean anything. 80% of your nervous system response comes from the bottom up. Which means the reason you are continuing to do the thing you said you would stop doing, is because the triggers are still living in your body.
How does Brainspotting work?
Brainspotting accesses the lower brain through an eye position in your field of view. What is really accessing that lower part of the brain is your muscles around your eyes connecting into your optic nerve. This nerve goes directly into that lower part of your brain. It gives you direct access to the survival system. And all the felt senses that have stored up there in order to protect you. You or your therapist find the spot and start the focused mindfulness process. You’ll notice the sensations in your body and allow the brain to go where it needs to from there.
The hardest part for most people is that Brainspotting relies on uncertainty. Your subconscious is a messy place – things aren’t logical down there, they are created for survival. The more open you can be walking into a session the more your brain can engage in it’s self-healing capabilities. Some people notice as they are feeling into these sensations that memories, understandings, narratives, or just more body stuff surface. The goal is to get you to ride the wave of emotion, allowing it to release (this can be done through crying, shaking, sweating, burping) and then resetting. You go through many waves within one session.
Your start in Brainspotting will look different than what it is like a few months from now. The processing doesn’t end in session. When you engage in a Brainspotting session, your brain can process for 3 – 5 days afterwards. Sometimes we don’t really know what will fully come out of a session until the next one. Some people notice gentle shifts in their lives, others rapid ones. Your brain knows what it can handle and if it needs to slow down the process, it will.
Brainspotting & Nervous System Regulation
How to regulate my nervous system? A top ranking question on Google. And to be honest – thank goodness. For far too long we have looked at symptoms as the problem instead of understanding the root causes. While the new wave of information getting out to people is wonderful it also has a lot of click bait, pop psychology spins to it. Nervous system regulation isn’t easy, it is simple. Your nervous system is shaped by all your past experiences, which means that if you want it to change – you have to start giving it new experiences. While that sounds easy, it isn’t. Our nervous system makes us act before we can even think it through, meaning we are continuing to bank the same experiences over and over without conscious awareness. A healed nervous system often means a more regulated, flexible and adaptable nervous system. If those are not words you would give yourself – Brainspotting might be for you.
Brainspotting supports in connecting into the lower brain stories, memories, felt senses that are held which shape our nervous system. Our bottom brain and nervous system work hand in hand. If there are old beliefs stored down there that revolve around keeping you safe – they aren’t going anywhere unless you find them. The process of Brainspotting is connecting into those old stories, to help your nervous system release them. Meaning your nervous system has a chance to bring in new information and perspective to old memories, understanding that the old memories are now over, differentiate them from what is going on and become more present in the here and now vs the back them. If you’ve tried nervous system work before but it hasn’t fully clicked – this might be the missing piece for you.
How do I find Brainspotting Therapy?
Just like any and all therapy – a therapist well trained, dediated to their education and competent in their niches is what makes a good Brainspotting Therapist. You’ve gotta know when something is in your wheel house or out of it and not be afraid to own that. You are always welcome to have a consult call with someone – ask them how they incoorporate Brainspotting into their practice. Know the relational feel you want in a therapuetic relationship. A reminder that more training doesn’t exactly make someone better – but having ongoing consultation often does. Check out the practitioners listed on the Brainspotting website itsself.
Brainspotting is our bread and butter here. The majority of the therapists here are trained, receive ongoing consultation and continuing education. They apply it in their own way with their own style, but it is almost always a part of the therapuetic process. Ready to work with someone one on one work and live in Wisconsin reach out!
Brainspotting 101 Webinar
Preparing for seeing a Brainspotting therapist can make it that much smoother. Check out Brainspotting 101 – a 90 minute webinar to help you get an in depth understanding. The more you know – the more questions you can ask, the more open you can be to the process working. Instead of spending a ton of time learning about Brainspotting you can get to the work itsself.
I made this webinar for people to feel informed before going into seeing a Brainspotting session, for them to have a better understanding of it after they leave session with me and to really feel competent without needing all the ins and outs. For many of us it helps to have extra information to soothe our inner skeptic. And it also may provide you a way to assess if a clinician is best for you because you will have a deeper understanding of Brainspotting itsself.
