4 Steps To Find Your Happy Brain Spot!

I have been really busy expanding myself with lots of travel and active learning/teaching of Brainspotting - a new eye position model for brain-based healing.

A couple of months ago, my seemingly innocent cough turned into nasty pneumonia, and I was desperate to heal so that I could check-off one of the most important items on my to-do list: to become an internationally accredited Brainspotting trainer!

In order to accomplish that, I needed to travel to New York twice with only one week in between the two trips. However, even two weeks before my first New York trip, I was still hacking away to the point where I had to wear a chest brace to reduce the pain of over-taxed ribs from violent coughing spells.

I had never had pneumonia. The sensation of fluids in the lungs was scary, and that my body was not cooperating with my plans was frustrating. It was embarrassing that my voice was hoarse and choppy, and that the possibilities of having to cancel my flights and Brainspotting Trainer’s training was quite high! Therefore, finding a way to expedite healing was my top priority!

What did I do to maximize my healing?

I went to see my Naturopath for total body immune and nutritional support. I contacted my mentors and had coaching sessions to help with spiritual and emotional support. Last, but not least, I found a Brainspot which induced a feeling of happiness, expansion, and hopefulness. Whenever my eyes gazed at that spot, there was an immediate reflexive somatic response: instant deep breaths, chest expansion, pupil dilation, muscle relaxation, jaw releasing, and a faint smile would come to my face all by itself!

I knew that if I were to maintain that state of happiness and hopefulness, I needed to access my newly found happy Brainspot as often as possible; otherwise my brain would just revert back to its old habit of feeling anxious and depressed when my body did not do what I needed it to do. When I was on my happy Brainspot, I was literally creating new neuro-pathways for my brain to heal my body!

What are the 4 steps to find YOUR “Happy Brainspot”?

1. Have an issue that you are concerned with (mine was the pneumonia with accompanying hopelessness and fear).

2. Feel the calm and grounded sensations in your body related to that issue.

3. Move your eyes to your right and stay there for 5 to 10 seconds to allow enough time to feel the corresponding body sensations and emotions, and with the same fashion move your gaze to the middle and then to the left.

4. Locate the specific gaze spot which gives you the most calm and grounded sensations in your body, complete with the somatic responses I mentioned above! Once you have that felt sense, then you know that you have found THE “Happy Brainspot”!

In Brainspotting, we say "Where you look affects how you feel!" Through visual orientation by looking to the right, middle, or left, the deeper parts of the subconscious brain, which we call subcortical brain, can be accessed. The subcortical area of the brain has the capacity of safely storing past trauma, as well as accessing maximum human potentials.

When you locate that “happy Brainspot,” it is very likely that you are accessing neuronal networks in the subcortical brain where joy, relaxation, and good feelings reside. By connecting to that “happy Brainspot” often, you are actually assisting your brain to build stronger and stronger networks of happy and calm outlooks in life!

To complete my story for you…..

Not only did I completed the 5-day Brainspotting Intensive, 2 days of Brainspotting Trainer’s Training in New York, I also arranged to meet up with my husband after the trainings. We had a great time biking in Central Park, visiting famous museums, watching big Broadway shows and intimate cabaret musicals, and attending a concert in Carnegie Hall!

It felt like my happy Brainspot helped me get over my pneumonia. I was able to maintain a more positive mental outlook; my fear of flying to New York had been eased. I was also better able to manage the complicated subway system, on top of the sirens and crowds, in Manhattan. I ended up falling in love with New York!

Try the exercise: “Where you look affects how you feel,” and you may enjoy the benefits and healing you seek!