Notice how when you think of a certain event or story your eyes look off into a specific direction?

This technique utilizes focal eye positions to activate different parts of the brain that are storing various traumatic memories or incomplete emotions. When we think or talk about a highly charged or traumatic event, we often feel some discomfort in our body and naturally look in a certain direction (a “brain spot”).

Brainspotting relies on these natural processes, body sensations, and eye positions.​ We combine this with bilateral music, focused awareness, somatic orienting, and, most importantly, compassionate presence.

Emotions, which are natural reactions to human experiences, are meant to flow, being expressed in a compassionately present manner so they can resolve and thus release from the body-mind. Otherwise, this blocks the life force or openness of the individual, manifesting as parts of us that feel stuck, stressed, or tense.

Both EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Brainspotting work with the eyes to process and resolve trauma. The primary differences are that Brainspotting focuses on using specific spots to look at (“brain spots”) rather than guided eye movements, and EMDR is a much more structured framework, offering less client-specific or present moment specific flexibility.

Somatics is the understanding that the body holds memory, emotion, and lived experience, not just the mind. Unresolved overwhelm or trauma can live in the body and shape how we feel, respond, and relate, often without us realizing it.

Emotions naturally flow through us, finding resolution when we allow ourselves to experience them in the right balance, using the body as their vessel, while supported by co-regulation, safety, and compassion. Notice how you get butterflies in your belly when you’re nervous, teary eyed when sad, flush when angry, etc.? These are the body’s physiological responses to emotions moving through us. 

Trauma overwhelms the nervous system and prevents our natural physiological response to the experience to complete. This makes the autonomic nervous system rigid, stuck in the experience of the past, and the life force of the individual unable to freely express. So somatic healing empowers our innate ability to resolve and thus release trauma and/or repressed emotions on its own, shedding those defensive blocks and returning to our true self or to a sense of more openness, alignment, connection, and presence.

Somatic healing work is a “bottom up” approach that taps into our innate self-healing, whereas talk therapy is considered a “top down” approach. My somatic sessions encourage self-attunement and emotional resolution through movement, breath, reflection, sensation tracking, co-regulation, and gentle exploration, supporting the body in processing and integrating stored experiences.

See also my:

• somatic trauma resolution breathwork offering or

• general somatic healing here.

Trauma is not a pathology but rather an adaptive, self-protective response designed for survival. Healing trauma is about restoring a sense of safety—so you can be present with yourself and your experiences. Presence is the gateway to returning to your true self, as trauma creates barriers to the heart, which is inherently self-healing.

Trauma can be acute, arising from specific events ("big T trauma"), but what we often call "trauma healing" is, at its core, the essence of all true healing. If it's not trauma healing, it very likely falls under personal development or coaching, even if you’re seeing a therapist for it.

Trauma fundamentally involves an inability to be fully present, with layers of protective identity forming in response—survival strategies that cover the heart. "Small t trauma" is often rooted in developmental experiences from early life, which can be subjective or objective. For many, childhood experiences contain both "big T" and "small t" trauma, but the impact remains the same: a disconnection from presence and one's authentic self.

Our natural impulses in response to trauma need to be expressed, just as the emotions we've suppressed deserve acknowledgment. When these impulses are given space, the autonomic nervous system can complete its cyclical process. Completing this cycle requires feeling what was originally suppressed—and we do that through compassionate presence.

By releasing stored impulses, discharging physical tension, and resolving repressed emotions, we shed layers of identity and reconnect with the heart—our true self, which is both self-healing and resilient.

That said, not every aspect of ourselves is merely a trauma response, and it's unhelpful to label everything that way. Instead, let this understanding be liberating. Recognize that your nervous system and attachment responses once worked to protect you. And now, if you're ready, you can choose something new.

Note: Whether or not you resonate with the term "trauma," you may connect with the effects of chronic stress, repressed emotions, unprocessed grief, or overwhelming experiences. No matter the framing, healing is about returning to the body, to presence, and to your capacity for resilience.

Start by booking a free 20-minute discovery call to learn more, see if it’s a good fit, or get started.

I offer a 7-session package or a personalized 12-session Integrative Container.

Sessions are either online from anywhere in the world via live Zoom, or in-person in NYC.

In-person sessions are in Chelsea, Manhattan and carry a small additional fee.