Brainspotting Therapy in San Juan Capistrano & Orange County
Where you look can affect how you feel.
Brainspotting is a mind-body therapy that uses eye position, focused attention and awareness of what is happening inside the body to help people process difficult emotions and experiences.
Schedule a ConsultationWhat Is Brainspotting?
One of the basic ideas behind Brainspotting is surprisingly simple:
Where you look can affect how you feel.
Have you ever been trying to remember something and noticed yourself naturally looking up, down or off to one side? Or found yourself staring at a particular spot while thinking about something emotional?
Brainspotting works intentionally with this connection between where you look and what you experience internally.
During a session, we identify a particular point in your visual field — a “brainspot” — that seems connected with the emotion, memory, physical sensation or issue you’re working on. You then gently maintain your gaze around that area while noticing what begins to emerge.
Rather than having to explain or analyze everything, Brainspotting allows us to become curious about what your brain and body may already be processing.
How Does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting was developed by psychologist Dr. David Grand and grew out of his work with trauma and EMDR.
During Brainspotting, I may use a pointer and slowly move it across your visual field while you notice changes in your internal experience.
At certain locations you might notice:
- •A change in emotion
- •Tightness or another physical sensation
- •A memory or image
- •A shift in your breathing
- •An unexpected thought
- •An increase or decrease in the intensity of what you’re feeling
We may find a location that feels particularly connected to what you’re working on and allow your gaze to rest there.
From there, we don’t force the process.
Thoughts, memories, sensations, emotions or images may arise — or the experience may be much quieter.
I am there with you throughout the process, creating a safe, supportive space while allowing your own system to guide what emerges.
Why Use Brainspotting Instead of Just Talking About It?
I believe talk therapy can be incredibly valuable.
But sometimes you reach a point where you can say:
“I understand why I feel this way. I just can’t seem to change it.”
You may understand the experience intellectually while your body still reacts as though something hasn’t been resolved.
That’s one of the reasons I incorporate approaches like Brainspotting into my integrative work.
Instead of only talking about an experience, we can slow down and notice what is happening inside you while you’re experiencing it.
This fits naturally with my mind-body approach to therapy.
How Can Brainspotting Help?
Brainspotting is often used as part of therapy for concerns such as:
- Trauma and PTSD
- Anxiety and emotional overwhelm
- Grief and loss
- Difficult or painful memories
- Emotional numbness or feeling disconnected
- Stress and nervous system activation
- Chronic pain alongside appropriate medical care
- Performance anxiety
- Creative or emotional blocks
- Experiences that feel “stuck” even after you’ve talked about them
Brainspotting can also be helpful when you aren’t quite sure how to put what you’re experiencing into words.
You don’t need to have the perfect explanation.
We can start with what you notice.
What Does a Brainspotting Session Look Like?
A Brainspotting session is individualized and usually feels quieter and less structured than people expect.
We begin by identifying what you’d like to work on and noticing how that issue shows up emotionally or physically.
I may then use a pointer to slowly move across your visual field while you notice what happens inside. We are looking for an eye position — or “brainspot” — that seems connected with the emotion, memory, physical sensation or experience you’re working with.
During the process, you may also listen through headphones to gentle bilateral music or sound that moves back and forth from one ear to the other. This alternating sound provides additional bilateral stimulation while you keep your gaze focused on the brainspot and notice what begins to emerge.
You might experience thoughts, memories, emotions, images or physical sensations. Sometimes there is a noticeable emotional shift. Other times the experience is much quieter.
There is no “right” way to do Brainspotting.
I’m not trying to tell your brain what it should find or force you to relive an experience. My role is to stay present with you, help you remain grounded and support the process as it unfolds.
At the end, we take time to notice what shifted, reflect on anything important that emerged and help you feel grounded before leaving the session.
Brainspotting in Orange County
I incorporate Brainspotting into my integrative, trauma-informed and mind-body approach to therapy in San Juan Capistrano, serving clients throughout Orange County, California.
Brainspotting isn’t something every client needs and it isn’t the only approach I use.
Because healing doesn’t always happen by thinking harder about what happened.
Sometimes we need to slow down enough to notice what the mind and body are already trying to process.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Brainspotting is a focused mind-body approach that uses your field of vision to help access and process experiences held below the level of conscious thought. Where you look affects how you feel — a 'brainspot' is an eye position that connects to stored emotional or body-based activation.
Both work with the brain and body to process difficult experiences. EMDR follows a structured eight-phase protocol using bilateral stimulation, while Brainspotting holds a single, fixed eye position and allows deeper, slower processing to unfold at your own pace. Some clients respond more naturally to one approach than the other, and they can also complement each other.
Not in detail. Brainspotting does not require you to retell your story. Much of the processing happens quietly, internally and through the body, while you remain supported and connected with your therapist throughout.
Sessions are calm and unhurried. After identifying what you'd like to work on, we find the eye position connected to that activation and simply allow your brain and body to process, often with gentle bilateral sound in the background. Many people describe the experience as deeply focused and surprisingly powerful.
Elizabeth Cappelletti, MA, LMFT offers Brainspotting at Elevate with Elizabeth in San Juan Capistrano, serving clients throughout Orange County in person and via telehealth.
