Brainspotting and Reiki

Brainspotting and Reiki

brainspotting | reiki | energy healing | trauma | mind body soul

There's something I've noticed in the work.

Sometimes, after a Brainspotting session, there's a moment of deep settling — like something has moved, like the nervous system has exhaled. And sometimes, right in that space, the body wants more. More softening. More integration. More time in the quiet.

That's where Reiki enters.

Bringing Brainspotting and Reiki together in the one healing experience has become one of the things I love most about the work I do. Because when these two approaches are offered in an integrated way, something remarkable can happen — healing that reaches not just the mind, but the body, the energy field, and the deeper layers of self.

What are these two things?

If you're new to one or both of these, here's a brief introduction.

Brainspotting is a brain-based therapy that works by finding specific eye positions — called brainspots — that correspond to where trauma, emotion, or distress is stored in the subcortical brain. By holding a gentle, focused gaze on that spot while staying connected to what's arising in the body, the brain is given the conditions it needs to process and release experiences that may have been held there for a very long time. It's body-led. It's deep. And it works in places that talking often can't reach. You can read more about how I offer Brainspotting here.

Reiki is a gentle energy healing practice that works with the body's natural energy system — supporting balance, releasing blockages, and creating the conditions for deep rest and healing. It's offered through light touch or hands held above the body, and it works at a level that is both subtle and profoundly felt. If Reiki is new to you, this post is a good place to start.

On their own, each of these modalities is powerful. Together, they can be transformative.

Why combine them?

Brainspotting works beautifully with the brain and nervous system. It accesses the deep brain — the subcortical, the limbic — and gives the system a way to process what's been held there. But trauma doesn't only live in the brain. It lives in the body. Trauma configurations held there and in the energy field.

This is where Reiki comes in.

When Reiki is offered during or after a Brainspotting session, it can:

✨ Deepen the body's capacity to soften and release

✨ Support the nervous system to stay regulated as things move and shift

✨ Help integrate what has been processed — bringing it through all layers of the person

✨ Create a sense of being held energetically, which can be profoundly settling for the nervous system

✨ Access spiritual and energetic dimensions of healing that lie beneath the surface

There's a reason this combination has gained real traction in the Brainspotting world. Practitioners who work with both have found that Reiki can amplify and deepen the work — reaching into places that neither modality could access quite as fully on its own.

What does a session like this actually look like?

Every session is tailored to you — because you and your healing are completely individual. But here's a sense of how these two things might weave together.

We'd begin with connection. Grounding in together. Getting a sense of where you are today — what's present, what your body is carrying, what you're coming in with.

From there, we might move into a Brainspotting process — finding your brainspot, staying with what arises, and allowing the deep brain to do its extraordinary work. All the while, I'm attuned to you. Watching. Witnessing. Tracking the subtle signals your body is sending.

At a natural point in the process — often as things begin to settle or integrate — Reiki may be offered. This might be hands resting gently on your shoulders or back, or working in the field just above your body. You don't need to do anything. Just receive.

What often happens in this space is a deepening. A further letting go. As if the body, having done the hard work of processing, is now able to rest into something softer.

Clients have described feeling more peace — like something settled all the way through, not just at the surface.

Who might this be for?

This integrated approach may resonate with you if:

• You've been doing Brainspotting or other trauma therapy and feel your body wanting something more — a deeper layer of integration
• You're someone who has always been drawn to energy work alongside your healing journey
• You sense that what you're carrying isn't just psychological — it has a spiritual, ancestral or energetic quality to it
• You've tried many things and you're looking for something that works with your whole system, not just part of it
• You're going through a significant life transition and want support that meets you at every level — mind, body, and spirit

You don't need to understand exactly how it works to receive the benefit of it. Your body knows. That's the whole point.

How I weave this into my work

I came to this combination through my own healing journey — and through the wisdom of mentors who have done extraordinary work weaving Brainspotting and energy healing together in ways that have deeply shaped how I practise.

In my work, Brainspotting and Reiki don't sit in separate boxes. I draw on both fluidly — sometimes in a standard session, sometimes woven into deeper processing work alongside EMDR, and often as a central part of my Healing Intensives.

The Healing Intensives in particular are where I see this combination really come into its own. With a full day together, there's space for the nervous system to slow all the way down — to go deep with Brainspotting, and then to rest and integrate with Reiki in a way that a standard session simply doesn't allow for. If you've been doing weekly counselling or therapy and feel like you're ready for something more immersive, an Intensive might be exactly what you're looking for.

What I've witnessed in this work — both in myself and in the people I sit with — is that healing is not linear, and it is not only cognitive. We are layered beings. We carry things in ways that words can't always describe or release. And sometimes, what we need most is to be held at all of those layers — the neurological, the somatic, the energetic, the spiritual — at once.

This integrated approach is my way of offering that.

Ready to explore?

If something in you is saying yes — even quietly, even uncertainly — I'd love to hear from you.

Book a session or reach out here to chat about whether Brainspotting + Reiki might be what you've been looking for.

Curiosity is always enough to start.

x cherie.

* Photo credit: Kerry Meehan. Local surfer 'Rosie'.