Brainspotting and EMDR Therapy
When talk alone isn’t enough, your body may hold the map to healing.
Sometimes, no matter how much you talk about it, something still feels stuck. You’ve done the journaling, tried the coping skills, had the insights, but there's a heaviness, a tightness, a feeling that just won’t move.
Brainspotting is a powerful, brain-based therapy that goes beyond words. It gently helps you access and process what's been stored deep in the body, pain, trauma, anxiety, or overwhelm that logic alone can't reach.
Whether you’re carrying the weight of something recent or something old, Brainspotting creates space for healing at the level where the hurt actually lives.
What Is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a therapeutic technique that uses your eye position to access parts of the brain that store unprocessed trauma, emotion, or memory. It’s grounded in neuroscience, but it feels intuitive, meditative, even quiet.
Together, we find a “brainspot”, a gaze point that helps us gently tap into where the body holds distress. From there, we let your system lead. You don’t have to retell your story or relive painful memories in detail. Your brain knows what to do, and Brainspotting helps it do just that.
If you’re familiar with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), you might wonder how Brainspotting compares. Both are powerful trauma-informed therapies that work with the brain’s natural capacity to heal.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (like side-to-side eye movement or tapping) in structured sets to help you reprocess specific memories. Brainspotting, on the other hand, slows everything down. Instead of moving through sets or scripts, we stay with a single eye position that connects you to the emotional material, and we let your body lead.
Clients who’ve felt overstimulated or overwhelmed by EMDR often find Brainspotting to be more intuitive, somatic, and calming. It's especially helpful when trauma is preverbal, complex, or difficult to describe in words.
Why Choose Brainspotting or EMDR?
Brainspotting and EMDR are powerful therapies designed to help you access and heal the deeper emotional pain stored in your body.If talk therapy hasn't fully helped or you're feeling stuck, Brainspotting and EMDR offers a new way forward, by working with your brain and body to process unresolved trauma and emotional blocks.
“I understand why it happened, but I still feel triggered.”
“I can’t seem to shake this no matter how much I process it.”
“I feel stuck even though I’ve been in therapy before.”
If you’ve ever said:
Unprocessed trauma (recent or past)
Anxiety, panic attacks, or chronic stress
Emotional numbness, dissociation, or shutdown
Somatic symptoms without cause
Creative blocks or performance anxiety
Stuck emotional patterns
Brainspotting helps people living with:
Through this process, my clients develop self-awareness and become more attuned to their bodies. While talk therapy provides helpful insight and cognitive exercises, BSP taps into the parts of the brain where strong, visceral sensations are stored.
This can’t be accomplished through verbal processing. As an alternative to talking through and intellectualizing challenging experiences, Brainspotting adjusts the nervous system response at the source.
Brainspotting and EMDR Sessions At Mindful Self Therapy
When I began my career as a therapist in 2016, I was working with families through a nonprofit, using mostly solution-focused behavioral interventions. These tools were helpful to a point, but I quickly saw their limits.
People weren’t just struggling with behaviors.
They were holding trauma in their bodies, in their nervous systems, in ways that insight alone couldn’t reach.
That’s what led me to explore trauma-informed approaches like:
Brainspotting
Polyvagal Theory
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
These modalities offered a deeper kind of healing, one that’s not only cognitive, but also embodied and emotional.
Healing Through Brainspotting & EMDR
Today, I use Brainspotting and EMDR with clients who feel stuck, whether in trauma recovery, emotional processing, or creative flow. Sessions begin with grounding and intention-setting. We might focus on a physical sensation, a specific emotion, a creative block, or even a vague sense of discomfort that’s hard to name.
Bilateral sound (gentle tones in headphones)
A pointer to help guide your eye position to a “brainspot”, a visual point that helps access where your body is storing stuck energy
From there, I’ll use:
Lighter
Clearer
More emotionally regulated
Clients often describe feeling:
With the support of Polyvagal Theory, we explore how your nervous system shifts between feeling safe, activated, or shut down, helping you better understand your responses and build self-awareness.
If you’re an artist, musician, writer, or any kind of creative, Brainspotting can be especially powerful. Many of my clients use it to move through negative self-talk, quiet perfectionism, and release long-standing creative blocks that have left them feeling disconnected, from their work, and sometimes from themselves.
Whether you’re brand new to therapy or have been doing deep inner work for years, Brainspotting offers a different kind of entry point. One that doesn’t rely on words, but gently invites your whole system into the healing process.
I often weave in Parts Work (IFS) to support the process, especially when different parts of you hold conflicting emotions, fear, anger, hope, shame.
Why Work With Me
I am a certified Brainspotting Practitioner and use the tool to support clients navigating trauma, anxiety, burnout, loss, and creative blocks. My approach is trauma-informed, relational, and always guided by what feels safe for you.
I also have been trained in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of EMDR bring a strong and I work with clients to determine which modality feels right for their healing path.
Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all. And sometimes, what you need isn’t more talking, it’s a space to feel, release, and reconnect with yourself.
Brainspotting & EMDR Therapy in Brooklyn, Queens + Online Across New York
I offer Brainspotting and EMDR in person from my office in Williamsburg Brooklyn and in Ridgewood Queens. I also offer BSP and EMDR virtually to clients anywhere in New York State.
Whether you’ve tried EMDR and it wasn’t quite the right fit, or you’re just starting to explore somatic healing, Brainspotting can offer something different.
A quiet space where your nervous system can finally exhale.
FAQs About Brainspotting & EMDR
Is Brainspotting the same as EMDR?
They’re similar in that both work with the brain’s natural healing ability, but they’re different in structure. EMDR is more directive and structured, while Brainspotting allows more room for stillness, emotional tracking, and body-led processing.
Do I need to talk during sessions?
Not necessarily. You’re welcome to share if something comes up, but silence is often a powerful part of the process. Your system knows what it needs, our job is to listen.
Can this help even if I don’t have a clear trauma memory?
Yes. Brainspotting and EMDR doesn’t require a detailed memory or story. We can begin with a body sensation, mood, or even just a vague feeling of “stuckness.”
Is this safe for trauma survivors?
Yes. Brainspotting and EMDR is designed to be trauma-informed and paced gently. We’ll always prioritize safety, grounding, and what feels manageable for you.
How to Start
We offer both in-person sessions in our Brooklyn and Queens office and secure online therapy for creatives throughout New York State. Whether you’re new to therapy or ready to dive deeper into your healing, Brainspotting and EMDR meet you where you are, helping you process at a pace that feels right for you.
In a city that never stops, choosing to pause, reflect, and heal isn’t just therapeutic, it’s a radical act of self-care.
We invite you to:
Book a free 15-minute phone consultation
Ask questions about how therapy works
Tell us a little about your creative world, or nothing at all, we'll meet you wherever you are