Brainspotting Personal Intensives: Deep Work in a Concentrated Timeframe

A Brainspotting Personal Intensive is an extended experience that condenses what might take months of weekly sessions into one, two, or three consecutive days of focused, uninterrupted work. I think of it as akin to a personal retreat.

It isn't necessarily a greater overall investment - the hours are comparable to a weekly or bi-weekly sessions over a longer period of time. What's different is the depth, the continuity, and the benefits of not having to stop and re-focus on normal life between sessions.

Why concentrated time can be beneficial

In a standard single Brainspotting session, a portion of the time goes on checking-in, getting settled, opening up, and ending the session within 60 or 90 minutes. This rhythm works well for many people and many situations. One option is not necessarily better than the other. However, you may prefer the accelerated and focussed option that a Personal Intensive offers.

An intensive removes time constraints. With more time, there's room to move through difficult material, without losing momentum. You can also greatly benefit from having space after the sessions to integrate, without having to return to the demands of normal life. In a concentrated period of time, the nervous system can process what it might take many months to accomplish incrementally.

How a Personal Intensive works

Before we begin the Intensive session or sessions, we have a consultation to discuss what you want to work on, what you'd like to release or develop, and to make sure you feel fully informed of the process. Sometimes people arrive with a clear focus, and sometimes the work clarifies itself during this session.

During the intensive sessions themselves, we want to ensure that you can be in a private space, where we won’t be disturbed, whether in-person or online. As in all Brainspotting sessions, we use bilateral music through headphones to support processing.

You don’t have to enter into a lengthy narrative or history – any such discussions take place in the pre-intensive consult, and you only need to share as much detail as you wish. We follow what your body and nervous system bring forward, at your pace, with regular breaks.

Afterwards, the processing can continue for some days or even weeks as the brain integrates what has repatterned. Dreams may be more vivid, emotions closer to the surface, perspectives shifting. The follow up session around a week later helps to integrate the changes.

Who can benefit from a Personal Intensive?

Intensives suit a wide range of people and purposes. They work well if you:

• Want focused time for emotional healing - something closer to a personal retreat

• Have a full schedule and find weekly appointments difficult to sustain

• Have been carrying something for a long time and feel ready to give it proper attention

• Have tried weekly therapy and made progress, but sense there's a layer you haven't reached

• Are approaching a significant life transition - a new chapter, a major challenge

• Are brand new to this kind of work and want to build real momentum from the start
  

Performance, creativity and expansion

Intensives aren't only for processing difficult experiences. They're equally well suited to performance work: clearing blocks, limiting beliefs, and working with Brainspotting's Expansion approach to open new capacity to optimise performance.

For the freedivers I work with, for example, an intensive in the off-season offers dedicated time to address any performance limitations that were experienced during the prior season, develop greater nervous system flexibility and ability to tap into flow-state, and expand into performance territory they haven't yet accessed in preparation for the coming season. The same applies to anyone working on creativity, focus, confidence, or any area of life where they are curious about their untapped potential.

One day, two days, or three?

A single day works well for a specific focus – a one-off difficult experience, a significant shift in a particular area, or a powerful starting point towards greater future healing potential.

Two or three days allow for deeper or more layered work, and often a more profound and broader transformation.

There is no prescription, and it can depend as much on your availability and the time you have to dedicate to the Intensive. It can used a starting point to continued healing, or a lengthier deeper focus on reprogramming and change.

We'll discuss what makes sense for you before we begin.

If you're curious whether an intensive might be the right format for where you are, [I offer a free 15 minute consult].

Related reading: [What is Brainspotting?] | [What happens in a Brainspotting session?] | [Performance, Blocks and Expansion]

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