When one is dealing with deep emotional pain, trauma, or an unresolved issue, traditional talking within the perspective of therapy simply may not work. That’s where brainspotting therapy comes in. This innovative approach leverages your brain’s natural self-healing capabilities with therapeutic access to the unconscious, where many of those buried emotional wounds have been hiding.
It is fast becoming the most popular approach for people who want to try out something different from regular talk therapy, using an approach that is more about your body and brain working together to heal. It even uses eye positions, or “brainspots,” to unlock and process hidden memories and feelings.
Here at Rippling Waters Men’s Retreat & Recovery, we’re eager to offer this cutting-edge approach to help you deal with trauma, anxiety, and more.
Alright, so what is brainspotting? It was created by Dr. David Grand in 2003. He found that with regard to certain eye positions, traumas or other emotional pains can be accessed and stored not just in the mind but also in the body. Traumatic experiences don’t just stay in your head. They affect your body, too, often causing physical tension or pain. Brainspotting helps in locating those “brainspots” in the eyes, which are particular positions where the trauma or pain is held within the body and mind.
These are the places in your head where, through our therapist, deeper areas of your consciousness may be accessed. It’s like opening up the portal to almost-filled containers, where healing and releasing one’s emotional burden can finally occur. This is as if the body knew just where that emotional pain was stored, and brainspotting helps to guide one to that spot so that the person can finally address it.
Unlike most therapies that rely on talking and insight, brainspotting really tunes into the connection between your eye positions and your emotions. During a session, our therapist will make use of a pointer, which can be something as small as a stick or even just a finger, to help guide your eyes toward certain spots within your field of vision. These spots, or “brainspots,” are where the magic happens. Focusing on them helps you connect with deep emotions and memories stored in parts of your brain, especially the parts responsible for emotions, the midbrain and limbic system.
Brainspotting can help a wide range of issues, including:
At Rippling Waters Men’s Retreat & Recovery, we tailor the therapy to fit your specific needs. There are a few different brainspotting techniques we use, depending on what will work best for you:
So, what can you expect in terms of the benefits of brainspotting therapy? There’s plenty, going beyond even feeling better emotionally. Here are a few of the key benefits:
For the most part, brainspotting is considered very safe. That being said, it’s also not an uncommon occurrence to sometimes feel some temporary discomfort during or after the session. The reasons are that you will be dealing with hard emotions, and it can sometimes be quite extra difficult to handle at one time. This may sometimes put a person in states of tiredness or a little drained after the processing of deep emotions, which usually acts as an endorsement that this therapy is working.
We’re always here to support you through these moments, making sure you feel safe as your brain works through those tough emotions.
Brainspotting is especially helpful if:
Rippling Waters is a private-pay residential program serving men primarily from the Northeast, with national admissions available. Our admissions process is confidential, structured, and direct.
