Brainspotting works by allowing clients to engage in identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional and body pain, trauma, dissociation and various other symptoms. According to Dr. Grand “Where you look affects how you feel.” A “Brainspot” is the eye position, where you look, which is related to the energetic/emotional activation of a traumatic/emotionally charged issue within the brain, most likely in the amygdala, the hippocampus, or the orbitofrontal cortex of the limbic system.
As a BSP Dr. O will assist you in finding your Brainspot(s). She will wave a pointer in a specific pattern within your visual field. Sometimes, you will work together with her by indicating when you are experiencing a heightened sense of emotional or physical intensity. Other times she will be alerted of the existence of a brainspot by a reflexive signal that occur outside of your consciousness. Different clients will exhibit different types of reflexive signals, such as facial tics, eye twitching, pupil dilation o constriction, swallowing, yawning, brow furrowing, coughing, and body movement, typically in the hands or feet.
When you indicate that you are experiencing a heightened sense of emotions or physical sensations, or when exhibiting a reflexive signal, it will alert Dr. O that the brainspot is triggering your somatosensory experiences. In order to continue accessing these physical and emotional experiences, Dr. O will assist you in holding you eye position with the use of a pointer. Then, the Brainspotting experience can truly begin, as you can focus on the experience of your symptoms that are uniquely being accessed by the brainspot.