Healing Heart Therapy Co.
Jacquie Pershing, LCSW
Brainspotting Therapy
A brain-based approach for when words aren’t enough
Not a big reader?
You can scroll to the bottom of this page to watch a short video, “What Is Brainspotting?”, and hear directly from David Grand, the developer of Brainspotting.
What is Brainspotting?
Where we look affects how we feel
Brainspotting is a trauma-informed, body-based therapy based on a simple but powerful principle: where you look affects how you feel.
Our vision doesn’t just help us navigate the world around us. It also connects directly to how we experience emotions and sensations inside our bodies. Because the eyes and brain are closely linked, shifts in eye position can access experiences that live beneath conscious awareness.
Our brains are constantly organizing and processing experiences so we know how to move forward. When something overwhelming or traumatic happens, that process can be disrupted. Instead of being fully processed and stored as something that is “over,” parts of the experience can remain active in the present. This is why certain memories, sensations, or triggers can feel as if they are happening now, even when the event is long past.
Brainspotting helps support the brain and nervous system in completing this processing, allowing the body to release what has been held and regain a sense of steadiness.
Why the body matters...
Trauma and grief don’t live only in thoughts or memories. They live in the body.
You may have heard the phrase “the body keeps the score.” What this means is that emotional experiences are stored physically as well as mentally. Talk therapy can be incredibly helpful, especially for understanding meaning and context. For many people, though, talking alone doesn’t fully reach the body’s experience of what happened.
Brainspotting creates space for the body to process, even when you don’t have words for what you’re feeling. You don’t need to explain everything. You don’t need to relive or rehash experiences. The work happens on a deeper, nonverbal level.
What a Brainspotting session looks like...
There are different ways to practice Brainspotting depending on training and client needs. What I’m sharing here is a general overview so you know what to expect.
A Brainspotting session includes:
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You and me, working together
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A pointer to guide eye position
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Headphones with bilateral music (optional)
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Time and space to focus inward​
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You and I will first identify something you’d like to work with. This might be a memory, an emotion, or a body-based experience. You do not have to share details unless you want to. I don’t need to know the story to support the process.
​​​Once you identify what you want to process I will have you connect with this event. I may prompt you to recall details, how you remembered feeling, and what you remember sensing i.e. what you saw/heard/felt/tasted/smelled. I will ask about your bodily experience - “Where do you feel this in your body?” or “What are you noticing in your body?”
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I will then bring out my pointer. I will ask you to focus on just the tip of the pointer, and as you are focusing, I will slowly move the pointer across your line of vision.
As we scan our external environment, our body naturally scans our internal environment. When we land on a "brainspot", a spot in our environment that corresponds with emotional and/or bodily activation, our body naturally signals this through bodily reflexes - This includes blinking, shifts in facial expressions, even bigger movements like a twitch in our legs and arms. When Brainspotting you may notice your body doing some weird sh!t! Don’t worry - It’s not dangerous or scary, it just means your body is processing and releasing.
I will be attuned to you during this process - meaning I will be deeply aware of your physical movements and emotional experiences. I will check in with you, hold space for you, and guide you through the full experience. Your job is to notice and observe your thoughts, feelings, and physical experiences without passing judgement, but instead just being curious about them and following them to the next thought, feeling, and physical experience.
Brainspotting is a form of intense focused mindfulness that trains our mind and body to allow ourselves the natural experience of feeling intense emotions, and then regulating ourselves to a calmer state. This is where the healing happens.
Brainspotting isn’t a “one and done” treatment and there isn’t a structured set of sessions that will bring you total healing. Brainspotting is an ongoing process, and it looks different for every person. One person may experience relief from 1 session and another person may experience relief in 10 sessions. It’s important not to limit yourself - Brainspotting is incredibly powerful and if you have the opportunity to experience it without limitations, I encourage you to take full advantage.
What if I don’t remember what happened?
Memory is not required for healing.
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Some people remember specific events. Others don’t. Both are okay. Brainspotting can work with sensations, emotions, or patterns without needing explicit memories or details.
We follow what’s present.
Is Brainspotting a quick fix?
No.
Brainspotting is not a “one and done” treatment, and there is no set number of sessions that guarantees healing. For some people, relief comes quickly. For others, the work unfolds more gradually.
What matters most is not pushing or limiting the process. Brainspotting meets you where you are and supports healing at a pace your nervous system can handle.
What is Brainspotting?
In this short video, Dr. David Grand, the developer of Brainspotting, explains the foundations of this body-based approach and how it supports the brain and nervous system in processing experiences that can be difficult to put into words.