Why Brainspotting Is a Powerful Tool for Healing Trauma

Healing trauma isn’t just about changing your thoughts. It’s about helping your whole nervous system feel safe, regulated, and connected. At Woven Wholeness, we specialize in trauma therapy that goes beyond talk—and one of our most effective tools is Brainspotting therapy.

Brainspotting is a body-based, brain-centered method that supports deep healing, without requiring clients to relive their trauma. It’s gentle, intuitive, and incredibly effective—whether you're meeting with us in person or virtually.

What Is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a trauma-focused therapy that taps into the brain’s natural capacity to heal itself. Discovered by Dr. David Grand, Brainspotting is based on the principle that “where you look affects how you feel.” During a session, your therapist helps you find a brainspot—a specific eye position that connects to emotional or somatic pain held in the subcortical brain.

Once you find the spot, you’ll stay with it—tracking body sensations, emotions, or internal shifts. You don’t have to retell your story or explain everything logically. Your brain and body do the work, supported by a calm, attuned presence.

How Brainspotting Helps You Heal Trauma

Many trauma symptoms—like anxiety, dissociation, panic, hypervigilance, or emotional numbness—are stored in the nervous system, not the thinking mind. This is why simply talking about the pain doesn't always cut it - talking is all about the thinking brain, not the feeling brain. Brainspotting allows you to access and release this stored trauma at the level where it lives: the brainstem and limbic system.

By staying connected to a brainspot while being emotionally supported, your body begins to process and let go of stuck trauma patterns—often without words.

Clients often experience:

• Increased emotional regulation

• Decreased anxiety and reactivity

• Relief from chronic stress patterns

• Greater self-compassion and body awareness

• A sense of calm, integration, and internal clarity

This healing often continues for days or weeks after a session.

Brainspotting vs. Talk Therapy

Talk therapy, things like CBT, are widely used to help people identify and shift unhelpful thought patterns. This kind of therapy is effective for many mental health concerns and can provide valuable insight and tools for coping.

However, they primarily engage the prefrontal cortex—the logical, reasoning part of the brain. Trauma, on the other hand, is often stored in the subcortical brain, where logic doesn’t reach. You might know you’re safe or that something “wasn’t your fault,” but still feel stuck in fear, shame, or emotional overwhelm.

Brainspotting bypasses the thinking brain and goes straight to the source. It allows the body to release survival responses that talk therapy can’t fully reach. Instead of trying to change your thoughts to feel better, Brainspotting helps your nervous system resolve the trauma so you naturally begin to feel better—emotionally and physically.

That’s why Brainspotting and talk therapies often complement each other beautifully. Traditional talk therapy can provide structure and coping tools; Brainspotting supports deeper, somatic healing.

Brainspotting Works Just as Well Online

One of the most common questions we get is: “Can Brainspotting really work over Zoom?”

The answer is yes. Research and clinical experience show that Brainspotting is just as effective online as it is in person.

Whether you’re sitting in a therapy office or in the comfort of your own home, the most important elements of Brainspotting remain the same:

• Your therapist’s attunement and presence

• Your ability to find and stay with a brainspot

• Your nervous system’s innate capacity to process and heal

  
  

In virtual sessions, we use tools like pointer sticks, sometimes bilateral music (via headphones), and items you have in your home. We help you identify a visual spot on your screen or in your environment to anchor your attention. Many clients find it empowering to engage in this work from the safety of their own space.

In fact, online Brainspotting often increases accessibility for clients who are:

• Highly anxious or sensory-sensitive

• Living in rural areas or without local trauma specialists

• Parents, caregivers, or professionals with limited time

• Managing chronic illness or disability

• More comfortable in their home environments

  
  

Whether you're in Old Fort or the Asheville area or across the state, virtual Brainspotting therapy can support your healing journey with the same depth and effectiveness.

Who Benefits from Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a powerful therapy for a wide range of experiences, including:

• Childhood or developmental trauma

• PTSD and complex trauma (C-PTSD)

• Medical trauma or chronic pain

• Anxiety, panic, or chronic worry

• Emotional shutdown or dissociation

• Perfectionism, people-pleasing, and overfunctioning

• Grief and unresolved loss

• Feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or emotionally numb

  
  

You don’t need to have a clear memory of the trauma. You don’t need the “right words.” You just need a willingness to be present—and a therapist who knows how to guide you gently and safely.

What to Expect in a Brainspotting Session

Every Brainspotting session at Woven Wholeness is grounded in nervous system safety, consent, and attunement. Whether in person or online, we follow your lead and honor your pace.

Here's what you can expect:

1. We start with a conversation about what’s bringing you in and what you’d like to focus on.

2. You’ll identify a brainspot—an eye position that connects to your internal experience.

3. With the support of your therapist, you’ll stay with that spot, noticing what comes up in your body, emotions, or awareness.

4. You’re in control at all times. You don’t have to talk or explain unless you want to.

5. The process continues even after the session—many clients notice shifts in the hours and days that follow.

   
   

Brainspotting in Old Fort/Asheville—and Wherever You Are

At Woven Wholeness, we offer trauma therapy that blends Brainspotting, somatic work, mindfulness, and nervous system education to help you feel whole again.

Based in Western North Carolina, we work with clients virtually across North Carolina and in select other states. Our practice is LGBTQ+ affirming, neurodiversity-informed, and trauma-centered. We specialize in working with adults who feel overwhelmed by the world, stuck in survival mode, or disconnected from their true selves.

You don’t have to keep carrying the weight of what happened. Healing is possible—even online.

Ready to Try Brainspotting Therapy?

If you’re curious about Brainspotting and whether it’s right for you, let’s talk. Schedule a free consultation to learn more about how virtual trauma therapy can help you move from surviving to thriving.