certified brainspotting therapist
downtown st. george & online across utah
somatic therapy for healing on a nervous systems level
profound change is possible
don’t want to go to therapy for years before feeling deep, rapid shifts in life?
Your body and nervous systems speak before your mind can make sense of it. This can show up like:
you hear something and immediately your throat tightens and you can’t find the words
people notice how you feel like you always have to be productive. It’s hard to actually rest
you recognize headaches or panic attacks that your doctor says must be related to anxiety…but then what—now what?
you keep hitting up against the same thing in your relationships and it’s hard to even know how unpack things.
You’ve tried everything to feel better, but nothing’s really worked.
Maybe you keep going through the motions, but it feels like your nervous system is screaming. You’re often activated, overwhelmed, or you shut down. Maybe things show up as digestive issues, or migraines, and the medical specialists are stumped.
Traditional talk therapy is discouraging for you to imagine helping. You don’t want to have to talk about everything—or anything, and you still want to be able to heal from it.
It feels familiar that little things from the past keeps resurfacing even though you worked through it already. Maybe you’ve felt stuck for a while, and it all feels like too much.
work with the body’s natural self-healing response
brainspotting can help you uncover lost internal information that is key to effectyively heal.
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Brainspotting is a type of therapy developed by Dr. David Grand, Ph.D. over twenty years ago. It grew out of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and, although each are different from one other, it’s part of a family of brain-based therapies like EMDR and Somatic Experiencing. This means that we bypass the conscious “thinking” part of the brain and take a bottom-up approach for you to heal starting at a primal level in the body with the nervous system. We’ve all heard how trauma is stored in the body, and Brainspotting is a way to access that and find resolution.
Brainspotting is a powerful tool for identifying and treating a wide variety of issues. Our eyes are how we orient ourselves in the world and central to us as humans. The eyes and brain are intricately interwoven, and the brain is of course a massive processing machine. This is how different eye positions access different parts of the brain that may have memories frozen or fractured. Most of the time, we live far from that primitive part of the brain (where flight-flight-freeze instincts reside as well) and in a very logic-oriented part of our brains, which isn’t where healing takes place.
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The best way to explain Brainspotting is to experience it. Have you ever looked around as you try to recall something? Or gaze into a fire, deep in thought? We all naturally “brainspot” some, and a Brainspotting session would feel like a container to explore where that takes you.
A key part of Brainspotting is the dual attunement frame, which creates that container and means I’m “with” you as you’re fixated on a visual spot. I help you stay curious and notice where you feel things in your body. The power of an attuned, unbiased witness allows you do go where you need to but not feel alone or need to fit it all into words as you make sense of emotionally charged experiences in the ways you need to.
As humans, we process subconscious thoughts while dreaming during stage 4 sleep, when Rapid Eye Movement takes place. This is a form of bilateral stimulation and Brainspotting capitalizes on this science. It is common during a Brainspotting session for you to listen to soothing music or nature sounds quietly on headphones that moves from ear to ear and this bilateral stimulation enhances and deepens the reprocessing.
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We experience a lot before we have words for the experiences, should therapy consider healing can’t always fit into words.
Simply understanding that “where you look effects how you feel” will heighten your self-observations and awareness. The psycho-education that comes with Brainspotting empowers you to better understand your nervous system and your emotional wounds.
Calming the nervous system is particularly helpful to regulate emotional responses and reduce the intensity of overwhelming emotions. This also promotes mindfulness and focus.
Brainspotting helps different parts of your brain to communicate in order to make sense of tough memories or experiences. It is a process that lends itself to and is often braided with other types of therapy approaches. This allows you to go at your own pace, get what you need, and not overcomplicate things in the therapy room.
Don’t just talk about trusting yourself, experience it. The focused reprocessing that Brainspotting offers allows change to occur much faster than talk therapy alone. This can look like blocks opening in your life, seemingly effortlessly.
brainspotting
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where you look effects how you feel.
Dr. david grand, developer of brainspotting + fellow human
my soapbox about
Brainspotting:
we all brainspot (or find an eye position we like) organically on our own some without realizing it. You are getting a taste of it when you stare into a campfire or find yourself in a daze for a few moments. THAT is the subcortical brain, where fight/flight/freeze are, and it’s a very primitive part of the brain. Our brains are also reprocessing information when we dream and in deep sleep, thus bilateral stimulation and physical reflexes are signs processing and physical reflexes as release
Of course, eye positions are the portal. Think how important sight is for our safety, and how intricately and literally close the eyes are connected to the brain. The eyes literally move when we dream
You can decide at any time in therapy to do some brainspotting—mid-session or mid-treatment, entirely, or not at all. Sometimes you might have a topic that is obvious to you that you want to target, and other times I might suggest we go with what’s coming up for you as you share about your experiences
I may recommend brainspotting if it seems beneficial at a certain point in therapy and you are not seeking it specifically. You determine when or if we incorporate it. If I notice you doing some brainspotting naturally on your own as you talk, I might ask if you want to lean in and see where that takes you.
you will keep processing between sessions, and I will be careful not to assume you’ll ever be in the same frame of mind
what to expect when
Brainspotting:
during a Brainspotting session, we focus on an activating topic of your choice, and I’ll help you find an eye position that goes with it
brainspotting is fluid and creative and isn’t too much too fast. Our nervous systems will do what they need to heal once the cognitive part of our brains is out of the way
I show up with grace and humility as we work together to get you what you need. With a grounded presence, I will help you tune into inside your body. You will practice trusting yourself at times with this approach, as you are the sole source of information we have on you.
you can’t do anything “wrong” and there’s nothing specifically that’s “supposed to happen.” Everyone’s Brainspotting experience is unique. I will tell you about signs of reprocessing that I observe after the brainspotting in session
where we start is purely the access place, you’ll still get to whatever is needed to be processed in order to heal
you can talk, and you don’t have to. I’ll be with you regardless; I can know that it is without knowing what it is.
you could expect being with yourself, noticing what you feel in your body, being curious about what comes up, and seeing where it takes you.
you will continue to process between sessions, and we will go back to assess changes at times as well as what you notice between sessions.
even a short length of time Brainspotting can be effective to set change into motion. Brainspotting virtually is just as effective as in-person
together, we will:
find
where painful experiences, stress, and trauma are stuck in the nervous systems through eye positions
what it means to heal on a nervous systems level - a bottom up, inside out approach, so less story, more noticing inside your body
process
Access the mind using the body as a gateway and let the thoughts and emotions up. Watch whatever happens.
how we grow - you are the sole source of information on you. Bilateral music is available for bilateral stimulation, but is not imperative.
heal
The things you feel you’ve been missing—and keep the peace. Trauma is rarely singular.
Please know this:
therapy you actually like going to exists.
one of the kindest things we can do is stop asking the mind to solve what the body first needs to heal
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Before brainspotting… versus after brainspotting…stories are night and day, powerful, and common.
Evidence-based isn’t always clinically driven. Meaning what is meansured in studies isn’t always the answer that works for everyone. That’s not to say research isn’t important, it just takes a long time. The founder of brainspotting was certified in EMDR, and it was developed over 25 years ago. Talk therapy alone has shortcomings.
Yes, there needs to be more research on Brainspotting, but the research that has been done is overwhelming positive.
Visit brainspotting.com and rockymountainbrainspottinginstitute.com for studies, research and literature.
I’ve personally experienced its benefits, including during my perinatal phases, and I witness changes for my clients that surprise them, and they have felt stuck for a long time.
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Research shows it is just as effective to Brainspot virtually as in-person. It is powerful to experience.
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Trauma is rarely singular, meaning just one event.
Trauma is in the eye of the beholder; you decide if something was traumatic for you. Sometimes that is a process when there is context to make sense of your experiences.
Another take on this theory: “big T” or “little T” trauma—or, as I generalize it “bang, bang” versus “drip, drip” trauma. Research shows that “drip, drip” trauma is more pervasive than one could imagine, so that capitalization could be beside the point.
I think of trauma as an experience or memory that changed the way a person sees the world and people in general. Whether something is traumatic is decided solely by the individual. From some angles, we all experience some level trauma or stress.
Trauma therapy has evolved a lot over the past few decades, and we know more now about how trauma is stored in the nervous systems, how it effects the brain, and, further, the proper treatment for effective healing.
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Healing isn’t always about talking more. Sometimes talking about it isn’t enough.
You don’t have to have the words.
Brainspotting isn’t just about trauma, and it can be used to expand us too.
Every experience is different, and ever changing.
Change can feel subtle at first. Like small shifts in how you respond to stress, memories, or emotions.
Your body may notice a shift before your mind does.
Crying is a powerful release. It’s our first sign of being alive, earthside, after all.
If EMDR had a little sister, her name would be Brainspotting.
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While brainspotting can be great to for sympton relief, it is not only that. It reaches deep healing and working at a subconscious level.
It can help with trauma, stress, anxiety, emotional well being, regulating emotions, shame and guilt, low self esteem, relationship challenges, attachment wounds or childhood experiences that still show up, burn out, life transitions, sports and performance anxiety, creative blocks, chronic muscle tension, feeling disconnected from your body, persistent activation or shut down.
Brainspotting is encouraged for:
Anxiety or chronic stress
Trauma or PTSD symptoms
Grief and loss
Nervous system overwhelm
Emotional reactivity or feeling "stuck"
Relationship or attachment challenges
Performance anxiety or creative blocks
Stress-related physical tension
Difficult life transitions
A desire for deeper healing and self-understanding
While it can help with symptoms related to neurodiversity, nothing can change certain ways the brain is naturally wired.
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Brainspotting grew out of EMDR over 25 years ago. ART and SE are also great somatic modalities. Somatic approaches are brain-body based, so instead of a top-down (starts with your cognitions) it is a bottom-up approach (starts with what you feel inside your body).
Many of these utilize bilateral stimulation to foster reprocessing and releasing what is stored in the nervous systems. It’s similar to what we do naturally during stage 4 REM sleep, and when we look to the corner of a room to try to remember something.
Brainspotting is often described by people who have done multiple of these approaches as:
client led
gentle
fluid/creative
not too much too fast
less time limits and protocols
I can sink in and really see where it goes, and not get interrupted and pulled out of it
It isn’t uncommon for people to seek brainspotting when EMDR was too much, to fast previously, or others are intuitively drawn to it and not to simple what is most popular.