🧠Free Brainspotting Course

Free Course by Everything IFS Academy | Therapeutic Modalities Series

Welcome to the Free Brainspotting Course for Everyday People

There is a strange and simple idea at the heart of Brainspotting: where you look affects how you feel.

It sounds almost too odd to be true, yet it points to something real about how the eyes and the deepest parts of the brain are wired together. Brainspotting was discovered in 2003 by Dr. David Grand, a New York psychotherapist who noticed something remarkable in a single session and had the wisdom to follow it. In the two decades since, his method has spread to every continent, with tens of thousands of trained practitioners and a growing research base. The direction of your gaze, it turns out, can open a door to the places where the hardest experiences get stored, the places where talking alone often can't reach.

This course teaches pure Brainspotting, with no other modalities blended in. Every major technique, tool, and concept Brainspotting is known for gets covered here, from finding a brainspot, to the calming resource side of the work, to the surprising ways it's used for performance and creativity. Big words get unpacked the moment they appear, so the science stays clear instead of going over anyone's head, and each module offers clear teaching, real-life examples, and a simple closing Brainspotting practice, a chance to gently meet the ideas rather than only read about them.

One honest note sets the tone for everything here. This course is purely educational: it explains what Brainspotting is and what it teaches, openly and accurately, while the deep work itself belongs with a trained, attuned professional. It isn't clinical training for therapists and doesn't offer continuing education credits. The aim is understanding: to take a genuinely fascinating method and make it genuinely make sense.

Who Writes Our Courses?

They're a human-AI collaboration, and here's our 6 step process:

1. Humans design the courses and set the teaching standards and outlines

2. Humans and AI work together to shape the arc of each lesson

3. AI drafts the lessons

4. Humans review, direct, and edit alongside AI

5. A human approves every lesson before it's published

6. Each finished course then goes to ElevenLabs, where it's recorded by one of their AI voices

Every course is self-paced, with no tests, exams, or homework. Feel free to go through it in order, or jump around to whatever interests you most. Simply click any module below to begin.

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Course outline

Click any lesson below to begin. Take them in order or jump straight to what interests you.

The Basics

What Is Brainspotting?

Who Is David Grand?

The Brainspot and the Subcortical Brain

How a Session Is Built

The Dual Attunement Frame

The Setup Frame and the SUDS Scale

Finding the Brainspot

Inside Window Brainspotting

Outside Window Brainspotting

Gazespotting

Working with What Comes Up

Focused Mindfulness and Squeeze the Lemon

The Resource Model, Pendulation, and the Body Resource

Expanding the Practice

Bodyspotting and BioLateral Sound

The Advanced Spotting Toolkit: One-Eye, the Z-Axis, Convergence, and Rolling

Expansion Brainspotting: Performance and Creativity

Living It

Using Brainspotting in Everyday Life

Going Deeper

Brainspotting and EMDR: How They Differ

Self-Brainspotting

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Disclaimer: Everything IFS Academy is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IFS Institute. While we strive for accuracy, errors can occur, and users are encouraged to cross-reference critical information. These courses, lessons, skills, and practices are offered for educational and self-reflection purposes only. They do not constitute therapy, mental health treatment, clinical training, or crisis support, and they should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health care.

Crisis Support:🚨 If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feel unsafe, feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or feel too overwhelmed to safely use self-directed practices, please pause this material and reach out for immediate support. Contact a licensed mental health professional, call or text 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or use your local emergency or crisis resources.