What Is Brainspotting ?
Brainspotting was developed by David Grand Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Brainspotting helps to identify, process, and release trauma and pain from distressing experiences.
Primarily, the brain and nervous system have the natural capacity to work through experiences to achieve healing and resolution. However, when the experience overwhelms the system it can leave behind pieces of the trauma and leave those experiences in an unprocessed state, causing you to feel stuck.
Brainspotting uses the visual field to unlock and release not only traumas held in the deep part of the brain (sub-cortex and brain stem) but also relieves a wide range of psychological and physical symptoms. The visual field is a reflection of the ongoing processes held in the deeper parts of the brain (sub-cortex) and simultaneously felt in the body. Therefore, Brainspotting is a modality that brings the brain and body into the therapeutic process.
"Where you look affects how you feel."
In simplistic terms, when something bothers you, you become activated and depending on where you look, you have greater access to that activation or greater access to feeling neutral, grounded, or even calmer. Through the process of Brainspotting, we locate the position in your visual field that correlates with the felt sense of activation in your body.
How does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting uses the visual field to bypass the neocortex - the rational, logical, and thinking part of the brain, and tap into the subcortical part of the brain. This process unlocks the trauma capsules that keep you stuck in those experiences, to bring release and relief psychologically and physically because what is in the Brain is also held in the Body and vice versa. Brainspotting helps your system move from dysregulation to regulation; from chaos to homeostasis, something that your system already knows how to do when it is not overwhelmed and stunted from a traumatic experience.
Brainspotting is a bottom-up modality. In other words, we look for the activation that shows up in the body surrounding the issue that you want to work on, and find the corresponding eye spot your visual field, called a brain spot, and process from that spot until the symptoms significantly reduce or totally resolve. Brainspotting also uses music. Bio-lateral music moves slowly and gently, alternating from ear to ear. This auditory response can help deepen and support the Brainspotting process.
Primarily, the brain and nervous system have the natural capacity to work through experiences to achieve healing and resolution. However, when the experience overwhelms the system it can leave behind pieces of the trauma and leave those experiences in an unprocessed state, causing you to feel stuck.
Brainspotting uses the visual field to unlock and release not only traumas held in the deep part of the brain (sub-cortex and brain stem) but also relieves a wide range of psychological and physical symptoms. The visual field is a reflection of the ongoing processes held in the deeper parts of the brain (sub-cortex) and simultaneously felt in the body. Therefore, Brainspotting is a modality that brings the brain and body into the therapeutic process.
"Where you look affects how you feel."
In simplistic terms, when something bothers you, you become activated and depending on where you look, you have greater access to that activation or greater access to feeling neutral, grounded, or even calmer. Through the process of Brainspotting, we locate the position in your visual field that correlates with the felt sense of activation in your body.
How does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting uses the visual field to bypass the neocortex - the rational, logical, and thinking part of the brain, and tap into the subcortical part of the brain. This process unlocks the trauma capsules that keep you stuck in those experiences, to bring release and relief psychologically and physically because what is in the Brain is also held in the Body and vice versa. Brainspotting helps your system move from dysregulation to regulation; from chaos to homeostasis, something that your system already knows how to do when it is not overwhelmed and stunted from a traumatic experience.
Brainspotting is a bottom-up modality. In other words, we look for the activation that shows up in the body surrounding the issue that you want to work on, and find the corresponding eye spot your visual field, called a brain spot, and process from that spot until the symptoms significantly reduce or totally resolve. Brainspotting also uses music. Bio-lateral music moves slowly and gently, alternating from ear to ear. This auditory response can help deepen and support the Brainspotting process.
What is bio-lateral music?
To understand bio-lateral music, we must understand bi-lateral music. Bi-lateral music is used as a part of Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. The sound alternates between the left and right sides of the head in a steady, rhythmic pattern. The rhythmic shift is predictable.
But bio-lateral music is a special subset of Bi-lateral Music that does not move from left to right with a predictable pattern. It was created by Dr. David Grand for use in brainspotting. The music is hand panned to increase in volume in the left ear then decrease in volume before slowing increasing in volume in the right ear then decreasing, back and forth…rocking gently between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. It is intended to be played through headphones at a very low, almost imperceptible volume. Bio-lateral music is found to keep the neocortex busier to aid in helping you drop into your mid-brain for deeper processing work.
Benefits of Bio-lateral Music:
But bio-lateral music is a special subset of Bi-lateral Music that does not move from left to right with a predictable pattern. It was created by Dr. David Grand for use in brainspotting. The music is hand panned to increase in volume in the left ear then decrease in volume before slowing increasing in volume in the right ear then decreasing, back and forth…rocking gently between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. It is intended to be played through headphones at a very low, almost imperceptible volume. Bio-lateral music is found to keep the neocortex busier to aid in helping you drop into your mid-brain for deeper processing work.
Benefits of Bio-lateral Music:
- Stress reduction
- Enhanced focus and concentration
- Emotional regulation, particularly for anxiety and PTSD.
- Sleep aid