Brainspotting vs Somatic Experiencing: Finding Your Path to Healing in 2025
When you're looking for trauma therapy that goes beyond traditional talk therapy, the options can feel overwhelming. Two approaches gaining attention for their gentle yet powerful results are Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing. Both help you process difficult experiences through body awareness and nervous system regulation, but they work in distinct ways. Understanding how these methods work—and what makes them different—can help you move forward with confidence.
Key Takeaways
Both Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing work with the body and nervous system to process trauma, not just talking about it
Brainspotting uses your visual field and eye position to access deeper brain processing, while Somatic Experiencing focuses on releasing stored tension through body awareness
Neither approach requires you to retell your trauma story in detail, making them gentler options for many people
The choice between them often depends on your comfort with different types of focus—visual positioning versus body sensations
Both can be integrated with other therapeutic approaches for personalized care
Results vary by individual, but many people experience relief within several sessions
Understanding Body-Based Trauma Therapy
Traditional talk therapy asks you to explain and analyze what happened to you. While this works for some, many people find that talking alone doesn't shift the deep reactions—the racing heart, the tension, the feeling of being stuck. That's because trauma lives in your body and nervous system, not just in your thoughts and memories.
Body-based approaches like Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing recognize this fundamental truth. They help you access and release what's stored physically and emotionally, often without requiring you to articulate every detail of what happened. In my practice, I've found that clients who felt stuck in traditional therapy often find new pathways to healing through these body-centered methods.
What Happens When Trauma Gets Stuck
When something overwhelming happens, your nervous system responds automatically—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Sometimes these protective responses don't fully complete, leaving your system in a state of ongoing activation. This can show up as:
Feeling constantly on edge or hypervigilant
Physical symptoms like tension, pain, or digestive issues
Difficulty sleeping or relaxing
Emotional numbness or sudden intense reactions
Feeling disconnected from yourself or others
Body-based therapies work directly with these patterns, helping your nervous system complete what it couldn't finish during the original experience.
What Is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a focused, brain-body therapy that uses your field of vision to access deeper parts of your brain where trauma and difficult experiences are stored. The approach is based on the discovery that where you look affects how you feel—your eye position can be a window into your internal experience.
How Brainspotting Works
During a Brainspotting session, I help you identify a "brainspot"—a specific eye position that connects to the issue you're working on. You might notice increased sensation, emotion, or awareness when your eyes land in certain positions. By maintaining that eye position while staying present with your internal experience, your brain begins processing the material in a deep, often nonverbal way.
The process typically involves:
Identifying what you want to work on and where you feel it in your body
Using a pointer to help you find relevant eye positions
Maintaining that gaze while I support you in noticing what emerges
Allowing your brain and body to process at their own pace
Integration and grounding as the session closes
What makes Brainspotting unique is its simplicity. You don't need to explain your story, search for insights, or do anything except stay present with your experience. Your brain knows how to heal itself when given the right conditions.
What to Expect in Sessions
Brainspotting sessions are usually 50-60 minutes, though some people benefit from longer sessions for deeper work. During the session, you might experience:
Physical sensations moving or shifting in your body
Emotions arising and passing
Memories or images surfacing (though this isn't required)
Periods of quiet internal processing
A sense of release or lightness
The work can feel intense at moments, but you're always in control of the pace. I'm there to provide a safe, attuned presence while your system does its own healing work.
What Is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a therapeutic approach developed specifically to resolve trauma by working with the body's natural survival responses. Rather than focusing on the story of what happened, SE helps you tune into your body's sensations and complete the protective responses that may have gotten interrupted.
How Somatic Experiencing Works
SE is based on understanding how animals in the wild recover from life-threatening situations. Unlike humans, animals naturally discharge the intense energy mobilized during danger. Somatic Experiencing helps you access and release this stored survival energy safely and gradually.
Key elements of SE include:
Tracking sensations: Learning to notice subtle body signals—temperature, pressure, movement, tingling
Titration: Working with small amounts of activation at a time to avoid overwhelm
Pendulation: Moving between sensations of discomfort and comfort, building resilience
Discharge: Allowing trembling, shaking, or other natural release responses
Resource building: Strengthening your sense of safety and capacity
The approach is gentle and goes at your pace. Instead of diving into the most difficult material, SE helps you build capacity gradually, working with what your nervous system is ready to handle.
What to Expect in Sessions
In an SE session with me, we spend time developing your awareness of body sensations and internal states. This might involve:
Noticing where you feel sensations related to certain topics or memories
Exploring small movements or positions that feel supportive
Tracking changes as sensations shift or release
Building awareness of what helps you feel more settled
Practicing moving between activation and calm
SE sessions are typically 50-60 minutes, with the understanding that healing happens in layers. You're not trying to "get through" everything at once, but rather building your nervous system's capacity over time.
Core Similarities Between Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing
While these approaches have different techniques, they share important foundations:
Both methods:
Work directly with the nervous system and body, not just thoughts
Respect your natural healing capacity and pace
Don't require you to narrate trauma in detail
Help release stuck patterns of activation or shutdown
Support present-moment awareness
Can be integrated with other therapeutic approaches
Emphasize safety and gradual processing
Both are effective for:
Trauma and PTSD symptoms
Anxiety and panic
Depression and emotional overwhelm
Chronic pain and tension
Nervous system dysregulation
Recovery from medical procedures or accidents
The key similarity is that both approaches trust your innate ability to heal when given the right support and conditions.
Key Differences: Brainspotting vs Somatic Experiencing
Understanding the distinctions can help you identify which approach might resonate more with you.
Focus and Technique
Brainspotting uses your field of vision and eye position as the primary tool. The work happens largely through maintaining a specific gaze while I provide attuned, grounding presence. The processing can be deep and relatively quick once the brainspot is identified.
Somatic Experiencing works more directly with tracking body sensations and supporting the completion of survival responses. The focus is on developing your own capacity to notice and regulate your nervous system, building skills you can use outside of sessions.
Pace and Structure
Brainspotting sessions can move into deep processing relatively quickly. The eye position provides direct access to subcortical brain structures where trauma is stored. Sessions might feel more internally focused, with periods of quiet processing.
Somatic Experiencing tends to be more gradual, emphasizing small steps and building tolerance for activation. There's often more verbal interaction as we track and name what you're experiencing together.
Level of Activation
Brainspotting can sometimes bring up stronger activation, though this is managed carefully and you maintain control. The approach works through accessing and processing the material directly.
Somatic Experiencing specifically uses titration to keep activation manageable, working with just the edge of discomfort rather than diving into the center of distress.
Who Benefits Most From Each Approach
While both methods help with similar issues, certain factors might make one feel like a better fit for you.
Brainspotting May Be Particularly Helpful If You:
Find it easier to focus on a visual point than track multiple body sensations
Want to access deeper processing without extensive talking
Feel drawn to a more internally focused approach
Have tried talk therapy without sufficient relief
Experience trauma symptoms that feel locked in place
Prefer sessions that can go deep relatively quickly
Respond well to quiet, attuned presence
Somatic Experiencing May Be Particularly Helpful If You:
Feel overwhelmed easily and need a very gradual approach
Want to develop your own skills for nervous system regulation
Appreciate more dialogue and explanation during sessions
Experience a lot of physical symptoms or chronic tension
Need help learning to identify and track sensations
Benefit from understanding the "why" behind techniques
Have a history of feeling unsafe during deeper therapeutic work
What to Consider When Choosing
Making a choice between these approaches—or deciding to work with both—comes down to several personal factors.
Your Comfort Level
Consider what feels more accessible to you right now:
Do you find it easier to focus your gaze, or to notice body sensations?
Do you prefer quiet internal processing, or talking through what you notice?
Does the idea of strong activation concern you, or do you feel ready to move through intensity?
Your Past Experiences
Your history with therapy and healing matters:
Have you tried body-based work before? What helped or didn't help?
Do you tend to feel overwhelmed easily, or do you have trouble accessing feelings?
Have you experienced benefit from practices like yoga, meditation, or body awareness?
Your Current Goals
What you're working toward influences the approach:
Are you addressing specific trauma memories, or overall nervous system regulation?
Do you want to process past experiences, build present-moment capacity, or both?
Are you looking for relatively quick symptom relief, or building long-term resilience?
Practical Considerations
Logistics also play a role:
Both approaches work well in online therapy sessions, which is how I provide all services
Session frequency and format can be adjusted to your needs and schedule
Your budget and timeline may influence which approach we explore first
Beyond Binary Choices: Your Personalized Path
The question isn't really "Brainspotting vs Somatic Experiencing" as if you must choose one and only one forever. The real question is: what does your nervous system need right now to move toward greater ease, connection, and aliveness?
Integrating Multiple Approaches in My Practice
In my work with clients, I don't believe in rigid adherence to a single method. Your healing process is unique, and what works shifts over time. I'm trained in both Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing, as well as other body-based approaches like Accelerated Resourcing and the Safe and Sound Protocol.
This means I can:
Start with one approach and shift if it's not feeling right
Combine elements from different methods in a single session
Use SE's titration principles within Brainspotting when needed
Integrate resource-building techniques from various modalities
Adjust the approach based on what your nervous system needs that day
The goal isn't to follow a perfect protocol, but to help you find what works for you. Some clients primarily use one approach; others benefit from a blend. During our initial consultation and first sessions, we explore together what feels most supportive and effective for your particular situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly will I see results?
This varies significantly by individual. Some people notice shifts within the first few sessions, while others need more time to build capacity and safety before deeper changes occur. Both approaches can be effective, but healing happens in its own timeline. We'll track your progress together and adjust our approach as needed.
Can these approaches help with physical symptoms?
Yes. Many people find that body-based approaches help with physical symptoms like chronic tension, pain, headaches, digestive issues, and other manifestations of nervous system dysregulation. By addressing the underlying nervous system patterns, physical symptoms often improve alongside emotional ones.
How do I know if I'm ready for this kind of therapy?
If you're willing to explore how your limitations and patterns show up, and you're open to experiencing therapy in a different way than just talking, you're likely ready. The approaches I use are designed to work at your pace, so you don't need to be in any particular state to begin. We build capacity together as we go.
Are these therapies available online?
Yes. I provide all therapy services online, which allows you to engage in this work from the comfort and safety of your own space. Both Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing translate effectively to online sessions.
What if I start feeling overwhelmed during a session?
Managing overwhelm is built into both approaches. In Brainspotting, we can adjust your eye position or take breaks as needed. In Somatic Experiencing, titration is specifically designed to prevent overwhelm by working with small amounts of activation at a time. You're always in control of the pace, and I'm there to help you regulate and find your way back to stability.
