The Neuroexperiential Model of Brainspotting!
Brainspotting was a discovery made by an EMDR Therapist, Dr. David Grand. While using EMDR bilateral eye movements with clients, he got curious about when clients’ eyes would wobble or get stuck on a fixed spot. He guided them to hold the gaze and discovered a profound process of neurological processing that unfolded.
When I was first trained in Brainspotting several years ago, it was taught that Brainspotting was a “brain-body based relational” therapy. Today, the Brainspotting model has evolved into what Dr. Grand is refers to as “the neuroexperiential model.” Brainspotting was discovered by following curiosity and then holding deep witness. In the Brainspotting Community, evolution and innovation are encouraged.
“There is no turf when it comes to healing.”
Here is an excerpt from Dr. David Grand’s speech “Brainspotting as a Neuroexperiential Process for Healing and Expansion:”
“Although I discovered Brainspotting 18 years ago and have been progressively developing, with the input of many others from around the globe, the theories, practices and language of Brainspotting, it is only in the last year that I have arrived at the designation of the Neuroexperiential Model, for Brainspotting…
The word “neuroexperiential” came to me before I had a chance to think of it; it was a true subcortical gift…Neuro is of the nervous system, the neurobiology, the brain and the body which are primarily unconscious, out of our conscious reach. Experiential pertains to that which arises to and resides within our conscious awareness. To my observation, the foundation of the experiential is the sensory: sight, sound, feel, smell and taste…From the sensory, the felt sense, flows the emotional and the intuitive, which are intertwined closely together. The emotional refers to the flow of our transient feelings, about ourselves and others, our past, our present and our imagined future. Emotions, in my opinion, are rooted in the primal, fear and anger deriving from flight and fight, love deriving from core attachments, and joy reflecting the expansive possibility of our one to four quadrillion synaptic connections. The intuitive is what we know, simply because we know it. It derives from our instinctual animal heritage, a guide for how to survive and thrive in our dynamic, unpredictable environments. The intuitive appears to be a limbic process with autonomic underpinnings, ultimately flowing towards the neocortical, but not there yet. Perhaps the distribution of neurons throughout the body provides insight into intuitive input; the spine, the peripheral nervous system, the enteric (digestive) nervous system, the cardiac nervous system and perhaps other yet to be discovered body systems. All these yield the intuitive, gut, heart, energic, generational and apparently psychic manifestations and awareness. As the sensory, emotional and intuitive rise towards expanded conscious awareness, they begin to attract the attention of the neocortex. What is this? Where does this come from? What does this mean? What does this tell me about my world and myself?...
Let us return to the neuro piece of the Neuroexperiential Model. It might seem that my choice of the term “neuro” might appear to delimit the concept solely to the mechanisms of the nervous system. This is not my intention. It is my choice to stretch the term neuro from a solely Western conception of physiology to an expansive, permeable frame that encompasses all historical and present day healing wisdom. I have been quoted as saying that “Brainspotting is where East meets West and West meets East”, implying that my background as a Westerner should not in any way preclude Eastern wisdom, healing and philosophy from informing and infusing itself into Brainspotting…
It is the felt sense of dysregulation that is the genesis of the client’s journey towards pursuing healing. Something is, or feels, not right and the client is unable to understand, determine or figure out how to right or resolve it. The dysregulation has to be painful, disruptive and inhibiting enough, for long enough, for the client to take the courageous steps towards and into the healing process… A space that enables them to innately and intuitively verge from dysregulation to regulation, not in a linear fashion, but in a series of unpredictable spirals that mirror the neural processes of exploring and expressing. This is a quintessential neuroexperiential process.”
I love that the Brainspotting model is a process, fluid, creative, intuitive, dynamic, and unlimited just like we are innately as human beings. If life is feeling painful, if you feel limited, or are unsure of your next steps forward, reach out for a FREE BRAINSPOTTING CONSULT. Coriander Living Collective is here to support you.
