Brainspotting for Performance Blocks and Expansion. Part 1 of the Performance Series

When our nervous system is dysregulated or stuck in a state of activation or threat-scanning, we find that focus narrows, creativity disappears, problem solving and decision making slow. The body tightens. We can’t find the right words. The very thing we've prepared for becomes harder to execute, not because we've forgotten how, but because our system has shifted into survival mode.

This is performance anxiety in its truest sense - not nerves, but a nervous system that has decided, below the level of conscious thought, that this situation is dangerous.

Brainspotting was first developed with a performance context in mind. Dr David Grand discovered it while working with a figure skater who had carried a performance block for years, despite weekly EMDR sessions. After one 10-minute experience of what was to become Brainspotting, the figure skater’s performance block was gone, forever.

Since then, Brainspotting has been used extensively with professional athletes, musicians, actors, CEOs, writers and performers of all kinds - not only to remove blocks, but to actively expand performance capacity. I use it with freedivers - from complete beginners to world-class professional athletes - and it has led to the resolution of issues that other technical interventions or mindset approaches had failed to fix.

Performance is in everything we do

Performance isn't just for athletes, musicians or actors. It's how we show up in anything and everything that matters to us — at work, in relationships, as parents, in creative pursuits, in sport, in life. Anywhere we want to bring our best, and find that something getting in the way.

That ‘something’ is often the nervous system.

What's actually behind a block?

Performance blocks often have roots we don't expect. Experiences from childhood, limiting beliefs we formed early on, the nervous system's deep responses to shame, fear of failure, humiliation, or of exclusion. These weren't necessarily dramatic events. They're often ordinary moments that nonetheless shaped how we respond under pressure.

The brain works with patterns. Sometimes it makes incorrect assumptions — linking a present-day situation to an old experience and triggering a survival response that doesn't belong. The result can feel confusing or disappointing: you're prepared, you're capable, and yet something stops you. That something is usually the nervous system, not your ability.

Flow state and nervous system flexibility

Flow state is something we can all experience - not just elite athletes or musical virtuosos. It is a quality of complete presence in what we are doing, where time distorts, and we are undistracted, focussed, immersed. Challenged but confident in our ability.

When the nervous system is stuck in a state of activation - scanning for threat, stressed, under pressure, or in a state of expectation - clarity, creativity, intuition and flow are all shut down.

Flow is a specific neurological state, that requires a balanced and flexible nervous system. Focused enough to sustain attention (a degree of sympathetic activation), but calm enough for clarity, intuition, and creative problem-solving (parasympathetic tone). Flow lives in the fluidity of a responsive and adaptive nervous system.

Chronic stress, unprocessed experiences, and old survival patterns all reduce that flexibility. Brainspotting helps restore it.

After the removing blocks, expand into your full potential

Expansion is a specific way of working within Brainspotting. We process and release what's holding us back, but we then use Expansion to actively develop new positive neural pathways. More than just moving beyond what was in our way, it makes our potential infinitely expandable.

These are the key elements that distinguish Brainspotting from most performance work: it works from the bottom up, from the body, from the nervous system and the root cause, rather than attempting to manage the symptoms from the top down (the thinking mind). We aren’t working with reframing, positive affirmations and mindset in the way that traditional coaching does, because unless you resolve the underlying beliefs encoded into the nervous system, these methods are only superficial and temporary.

With Brainspotting, we first clear what is getting in our way in the subcortical or subconscious brain. Then we can open ourselves up to the possibilities of how fully we can tap into and expand our potential. We do this by imprinting new neural networks into our brain and nervous system, making anything possible!

Next in the series: Brainspotting and freediving performance →

Related reading: [What is Brainspotting?] | [Why your body reacts before your mind] | [Fight, flight, freeze and fawn]

Louisa Collyns is a certified Brainspotting practitioner working with clients in person and online.