Brainspotting Therapy in Nashville, Tennessee
Healing doesn’t always happen through talking. For many people, the most painful experiences live in the body as tension, shutdown, or a sense of being stuck that no amount of talk processing seems to shift.
Brainspotting is a gentle yet powerful holistic therapy that works with beneath conscious thought to help you release what you’ve been carrying. I offer Brainspotting in Nashville and via telehealth across Tennessee for women and music industry professionals ready to heal at a deeper level.
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a holistic, mind-body therapy developed by Dr. David Grand. It’s based on the discovery that where you look affects how you feel. This means specific eye positions, called “brainspots,” correspond to where trauma, stress, and unprocessed experiences are stored in the brain and nervous system. By identifying and holding focus on these specific eye positions while processing internal experience, Brainspotting accesses the deeper subcortical brain (the part that stores trauma, emotion, and survival responses) and allows it to process and release what it’s been holding.
Brainspotting is often described as going beneath the level of conscious thought. It doesn’t require you to talk through what happened. Your brain and body already know where the pain is stored and Brainspotting simply creates the conditions for them to release it.
What Can Brainspotting Help With?
Brainspotting is a highly effective approach for a wide range of concerns. I use Brainspotting to treat:
Trauma & PTSD
Brainspotting accesses trauma stored deep in the brain and nervous system, the kind that lives in your body as tension, hypervigilance, or shutdown even when your logical mind knows you’re safe. It’s particularly effective for complex trauma and experiences that feel impossible to put into words.
Anxiety & Depression
Anxiety is often stored as a somatic experience: a tightness in the chest, a knot in the stomach, a constant sense of dread. Depression often has roots in unprocessed grief, loss, or experiences of helplessness stored in the body. Brainspotting can locate and process the nervous system roots of anxiety and depression, offering relief that goes beyond symptom management.
Creative Blocks
Creative blocks are often rooted in fear, perfectionism, past criticism, or unprocessed experiences tied to your creative identity. Brainspotting can access and release the deeper emotional material keeping you stuck, helping you reconnect with your creativity and voice.
Music Industry Stress & Performance Anxiety
Brainspotting was actually developed in part through work with performers and athletes, making it a particularly natural fit for music industry professionals navigating performance anxiety, creative pressure, and the emotional demands of a career in music. I offer specialized Brainspotting for musicians, artists, and music industry professionals in Nashville and across Tennessee.
How is Brainspotting Different from EMDR?
Both Brainspotting and EMDR are powerful brain-body approaches to trauma processing, and I use both in my practice. The key differences are:
- EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (such as alternating left-right eye movements, tapping, or sounds) to reprocess specific target memories through a structured and defined eight-phase protocol
- Brainspotting works by finding and holding a specific eye position while allowing the brain and body to process organically, without a fixed structure like EMDR
Both are holistic mind-body approaches to recovery. I draw from both depending on what feels most aligned with your needs and what you’re processing.
Commonly Asked Questions About Brainspotting Therapy
What does a Brainspotting session look like?
A Brainspotting session begins with identifying what you’d like to work on. This can be a specific feeling, a memory, a physical sensation, or simply a sense of being stuck. I’ll ask you to notice where you feel it in your body and how it feels on a scale of zero to ten. From there we’ll use a pointer or your own gaze to find your brainspot, the specific eye position where your activation (the distress or sensations you feel) is highest or most relevant.
Once we’ve found the brainspot, you hold your gaze there while your brain and body do the processing. I’ll be present with you throughout, staying attuned, supportive, and available. We can play bineural beats or nature sounds softly in the background to support deeper processing. Sessions typically last 50 minutes and end with verbal debriefing and grounding. Some clients notice significant shifts in a single session, while others work over a longer period of time. As always the pace is entirely guided by you and your nervous system.
Do I have to talk during brainspotting?
Talking is optional. Unlike traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting doesn’t require you to narrate, analyze, or explain your experience. Much of the processing happens internally. You’re welcome to share what comes up if it feels helpful, but there’s no pressure to put words to something that may not have words yet. For many survivors of trauma this is profoundly freeing.
Do I have to come in person for Brainspotting? Can I do it virtually?
I offer Brainspotting both in person at Three Cords Therapy in Nashville and via telehealth across the state of Tennessee. Online Brainspotting is highly effective; the brainspot can be found and held just as precisely via video session, and bineural beats can be delivered through headphones for deeper processing. Whether you’re in Nashville or anywhere across Tennessee, Brainspotting is accessible to you.
Is Brainspotting right for me?
Brainspotting might be right for you if:
- You have tried talk therapy and still feel stuck
- Your distress lives in your body in addition to in your thoughts
- You struggle to find words for what you’re carrying
- You’re a creative stuck in performance anxiety and creative blocks
The best way to find out if Brainspotting is the right fit is to have a conversation. Reach out for a free 15-minute consultation and we can talk through whether Brainspotting might be the right tool for you.
Copyright Julia Langner, 2026 | Photos on this website are courtesy of Faith Benson Photography, Shawna Neel, Marissa Volgelsang, and Julia’s iPhone