Brainspotting & Somatic Therapy
When Talking About It Isn’t the Whole Story
Some experiences respond beautifully to conversation, reflection, and insight. Others can be more difficult to access through language alone.
Brainspotting was developed to work with experiences that are held more deeply within the nervous system, particularly trauma, chronic stress, and emotional patterns that continue to feel activated despite a person’s understanding of them.
Developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003, Brainspotting is a brain-body therapy based on a simple observation: where you look affects how you feel. By using specific eye positions to access deeper areas of the brain, Brainspotting helps people process experiences that may be difficult to fully reach through language alone.
How Brainspotting Works
Traditional talk therapy primarily engages the cortex, the part of the brain involved in language, reasoning, and conscious thought. Brainspotting works with deeper subcortical regions that play important roles in emotional processing, trauma responses, attachment, and survival learning.
During a Brainspotting session, we identify a point in your visual field associated with a particular activation in the nervous system. This point is known as a brainspot. Maintaining focus on that location helps access material that may exist below the level of conscious awareness, allowing the brain and body to process information in a different way than conversation alone typically allows.
One of the reasons many people find Brainspotting helpful is that it does not require them to explain, analyze, or fully articulate everything they are experiencing. The process relies less on finding the right words and more on observing what naturally emerges when the nervous system is given the opportunity to focus and process.
Brainspotting and EMDR
Many people ask how Brainspotting compares to EMDR.
Both approaches use the connection between the visual field and the brain to support healing and both can be highly effective for trauma and other forms of emotional distress. The experience of each, however, tends to feel somewhat different.
EMDR follows a structured protocol that guides clients through a series of specific phases. Brainspotting is generally more flexible and follows the nervous system’s responses in real time. Rather than moving through a predetermined sequence, we pay close attention to what emerges naturally and allow the process to unfold at a pace that feels appropriate for you.
Neither approach is inherently better than the other. They are simply different tools that can help access the brain’s capacity for processing and healing.
What a Session Feels Like
Brainspotting sessions often feel different from traditional talk therapy.
While conversation remains important, there is generally less emphasis on explanation and analysis. Once a brainspot has been identified, much of the work involves noticing your internal experience as it unfolds. You may become aware of body sensations, emotions, memories, images, thoughts, or associations that arise during the process.
A central concept in Brainspotting is dual attunement. Healing occurs through two forms of connection happening simultaneously: the connection between your visual field and the deeper processing centers of the brain, and the connection between you and an attuned, empathic therapist. You are not left to navigate the experience alone.
There is no pressure to perform, explain, remember, or make anything happen. The therapist’s role is to create the conditions that support your nervous system’s natural capacity to process and integrate what it is ready to work through.
Many people also notice that processing continues after a session has ended. I often describe the following day or two as the “wet paint” period. Just as freshly applied paint needs time to dry, the brain benefits from having space to continue integrating the work that has begun during the session.
A Different Way of Accessing Change
Brainspotting can be used as a standalone therapy or integrated alongside other approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness-based work.
For some people, it becomes an important complement to insight-oriented therapy. For others, it offers a more direct path into experiences that feel difficult to access through words alone.
Like all effective therapy, Brainspotting is ultimately built on the healing potential of a strong therapeutic relationship. The process simply provides another way of accessing that work—one that honors the connection between the brain, the body, and the mind’s natural capacity for healing and growth.
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Licensed Professional Counselor
Cheryl Zandt
Telehealth Counseling in Washington DC and Virginia
Cheryl Zandt is a Licensed Professional Counselor providing online therapy for women in Virginia and Washington, DC. For more than 20 years, she has helped women face anxiety, burnout, panic, relationship challenges, and life transitions with greater understanding, self-trust, and choice.
Thoughtful, collaborative, and grounded in research, curiosity, and genuine human connection, her approach helps clients make sense of experiences that have felt confusing, frustrating, or overwhelming for far too long.
Your questions, answered
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a brain-body therapy that uses specific eye positions to access deeper areas of the brain involved in emotional processing, trauma, and stress responses.
Is Brainspotting only for trauma?
No. While Brainspotting is widely used for trauma, it can also be helpful for anxiety, grief, performance concerns, emotional blocks, chronic stress, and other experiences that feel difficult to resolve through conversation alone.
What does a Brainspotting session feel like?
Most people describe it as slower and more internally focused than traditional talk therapy. You may notice body sensations, emotions, memories, thoughts, or associations emerging during the process.
Do I have to talk about my trauma in detail?
No. One of the unique aspects of Brainspotting is that it does not require extensive verbal processing. Many people appreciate having a way to work with difficult experiences without needing to describe every detail.
Why do people sometimes feel different after a session?
Many people notice that processing continues after the session ends. This is a normal part of the work and one reason I encourage people to be especially gentle with themselves during the day or two following a session.