Brainspotting: What If I Don’t Feel Anything?

The Expectation of a “Big Release”

Many people come to Brainspotting therapy expecting something dramatic to happen. You may have heard stories of tears flowing, shaking in the body, or powerful emotional releases during a session. And sometimes, Brainspotting does look like that. But what if your experience is different? What if you sit in session and… nothing big happens? No flood of emotion. No noticeable shift. Just quiet.

It’s easy to wonder if you’re doing it “wrong” or if Brainspotting is even working. The truth is: healing doesn’t always look or feel the way we expect.

Why Brainspotting Can Feel Subtle

Many people imagine healing as something dramatic — like a floodgate opening or a huge emotional release that leaves you feeling lighter right away. And while that can happen, Brainspotting often works in quieter, more understated ways.

That’s because Brainspotting doesn’t just engage your thinking brain — the part that likes to analyze, make sense, and look for answers. Instead, it connects with the subcortical brain, the deeper part of your nervous system where unprocessed experiences are stored. This part of the brain doesn’t speak in words or dramatic gestures. It communicates through body sensations, small shifts in awareness, or changes that you may not notice in the moment.

Sometimes the processing is so gentle that it feels like “nothing is happening.” In reality, your system is doing important work — reorganizing, rewiring, and releasing what it has been holding onto. Healing at this level doesn’t always come with fireworks. It often looks like your body softening a little, your breath becoming steadier, or your mind feeling just a touch clearer after the session.

It’s also important to remember that your nervous system has its own pace. If your body senses that a “big release” would be too overwhelming, it may choose a slower, safer route. That doesn’t mean the work isn’t effective — it means your system is protecting you while still allowing healing to unfold. Subtle doesn’t equal unsuccessful.

Think of it like planting seeds. You don’t see the growth right away, but beneath the surface, change is happening. And in time, the results begin to show — sometimes in ways you didn’t expect.

Healing Beyond The Session

One of the unique things about Brainspotting is that the healing doesn’t stop when the session ends. Because Brainspotting works with the deeper parts of the brain and nervous system, the processing often continues quietly in the hours, days, or even weeks afterward.

This is why you might leave a session wondering, “Did anything even happen?” only to notice small but meaningful shifts later. Maybe you find yourself sleeping more soundly, feeling calmer in situations that used to overwhelm you, or realizing that a memory no longer carries the same heaviness. These are all signs that your system is still integrating and releasing.

Your body has an incredible wisdom — it knows how to move toward healing if given the chance. Just like a cut on your skin begins to knit back together without you telling it what to do, your nervous system also carries this same capacity for repair. Brainspotting simply creates the conditions for your body and brain to do what they already know how to do: release what’s been stuck and find more balance.

The process isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s subtle, like a small softening in your chest or the ability to take a deeper breath. Other times, the shift shows up days later — a little more patience, a little more clarity, or an unexpected sense of relief. Healing can look quiet, but it’s no less powerful.

Think of it like a ripple in water: the session is the stone dropping in, but the waves keep moving outward long after. Or like a tightly knotted rope slowly loosening — you may not notice each strand releasing, but over time there’s more space, more ease, and more room to breathe.

You Can’t Do Brainspotting “Wrong”

One of the most common worries people have during Brainspotting is the thought: “What if I’m not doing this right?” Maybe you didn’t feel a big wave of emotion. Maybe your body stayed quiet. Maybe your mind wandered. It’s natural to wonder if you missed something or if the session “worked.”

The truth is: you can’t do Brainspotting wrong.

Still, it makes sense that the worry shows up. Many of us are used to performing, achieving, or proving ourselves — in school, in our families, in our careers. That drive to “get it right” often follows us into therapy, too. You might find yourself wondering: Am I supposed to feel more? Should I be crying? Am I doing this correctly?

But Brainspotting doesn’t work that way. It isn’t about effort or performance. In fact, trying to force something to happen can sometimes get in the way, pulling you back into your thinking brain rather than letting the deeper parts of your nervous system do the work.

The beauty of Brainspotting is that your body already knows how to move toward healing. Sometimes that looks big and dramatic — tears, shaking, a strong release. Other times it’s quiet — stillness, calm, or even feeling like “nothing happened.” Both are valid. Both are healing.

Your nervous system is wise. It won’t give you more than you’re ready to handle, and it doesn’t need you to do therapy right. All it needs is for you to show up, notice what arises, and allow the process to unfold.

Just as your heart knows how to beat and your lungs know how to breathe without you having to control them, your nervous system knows how to process what’s been held — in its own time, in its own way.

So if you catch yourself wondering whether you “did it right,” remember: you don’t have to perform here. You don’t have to prove anything. In Brainspotting, there is no wrong — only your experience, and the healing that quietly unfolds from it.

Closing Invitation

You don’t have to keep carrying this weight on your own. Healing doesn’t mean forgetting your past or pushing it aside — it means creating space to breathe, to soften what feels overwhelming, and to reconnect with the parts of yourself that feel lost.

Whether you are navigating grief, trauma, or the quiet ache of feeling “stuck,” Brainspotting and somatic therapy offer a way forward that goes deeper than talk. This is a space where your body and nervous system can finally release what they’ve been holding, and where you can begin to feel more steady, present, and whole.

You don’t need to have the perfect words. You don’t need to know exactly where to start. You just need a safe place to begin. If you’re ready to take that step, I would be honored to walk alongside you.