Brainspotting Mindfulness

Welcome back to Cadre's mindfulness series where I guide you through meditation exercises I do with my therapy clients today. Our meditation comes from a trauma therapy called brainspotting. BSP is all about finding eye positions that connect with feelings in your body, whether they are triggering or calming. And today we're going to focus on calming. First, find a comfortable position to sit, whether in a chair or on the floor, maybe laying down as long as you don't get too sleepy. But find a place in front of you where there are no major distractions.

I recommend a blank wall or any neutral view. I want you to relax your eyes as you look forward and find a wide gaze onto whatever's in front of you. Don't stare at any point in particular, just let your eyes look forward and rest. Now we're going to bring our attention inward. Take a few breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try the cadence of 4 seconds in and about 6 seconds out. Breathe deep but be comfortable. Let's do one together. We're going to inhale for 1234 and then exhale for 654321 and go ahead and repeat the process again.

Breathe deep, but be comfortable. As you do, I want you to notice how you start to relax each time you exhale. So go ahead and take a few breaths on your own. Now we will perform what's called a body scan. Put your focus on the lower part of your body, starting with your toes, and notice how they feel. Is there any tension? Is it neutral? I want you to slowly scan up, then down your body, putting your awareness on each body part and notice how it makes you feel. From your toes to the tip of your head, through your arms to fingertips.

Notice which part of your body feels the most relaxed or which part of your body, when you put your focus on it, makes your whole body feel most calm. I'll give you some time to find it. And once you do, just keep your focus on the relaxed part of your body as you continue to breathe. Now that you've found your calm spot, I want you to look forward against the wall or whatever's in front of you and you're going to slowly move your eyes to the left as far as they could go without straining them. Keep it comfortable, then scan your eyes towards the right across the wall.

And as you slowly do this, I want you to notice how each spot makes you feel. You can move your head a little if that makes you more comfortable. You can go back and forth a few times until you find the spot that relaxes you. And brings you to the greatest sense of calm. Perhaps it's not a spot but a general direction, but you should find a spot that calms you further. I'll give you a moment to find it. Once you found that spot, it's time to move your eyes vertically. Starting at that spot, scan slowly up your field of vision and then slowly down just as you did before.

See if there's a vertical spot that is the most calming. Perhaps it remains right in front of you, but see if you could find where it makes you the most relaxed. Its different for everyone but I find that most people find that looking down is most relaxing and I think thats because youre no longer fighting gravity. But try for yourself and see what makes you feel the most calm. So once you find the point in your field of vision that is most relaxing, this will be your calming brain spot. Keep gently looking at your spot as you continue to breathe in and breathe out slowly notice the calm place in your body as it correlates with where you're looking.

Now we're going to take five deep breaths again in for 4 seconds and out for about five or six and I'll guide you through. Go ahead and inhale for 1234 and exhale for 12345. Inhale 1234 and exhale 54321. Inhale 1234 and exhale 54321. Inhale 1234 and exhale 54321. Inhale 1234 and exhale 54321. Now that you've taken your breaths, notice one more time the calm you feel in your body. Now you can come out, look away slowly, come back to your natural state and you're hopefully feeling a bit calmer. Now.

The purpose of this exercise was to identify a spot in your body as well as a spot you can look to bring you an almost immediate sense of calm when you want to go back to it. Whenever you're feeling stressed, find that spot and more quickly you'll be able to go into that calm state and each time you do it, it should be easier and easier. Maybe on a different day there's a different place in your body or a different spot in your visual field that helps you calm. The key is that you now know how to find it.

So use this skill whenever you feel stress or as a way to center yourself when you need it the most.