FreeSpotting is one of the easiest to learn emotional desensitization change procedures. This is a 7-minute video overview:
For those that want to take a deep dive to know why this simple process works: A 20 – minute audio:
The basic idea is:
Feel the feeling.
Look at a spot.
Stay with both for five minutes.
See what happens.
FreeSpotting was developed by therapist Fiona De Vos as a simplified offshoot of Brainspotting.
You don’t need special equipment, eye movements, visualization, or even an understanding of where the emotion came from.
German psychological study in 2016, comparisons with a well-known trauma procedure (EMDR) that uses multiple eye movements with a fairly new procedure (brainspotting) showed that movements have no advantage compared to visually fixating on a nonmoving hand. https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/447671
You need an unwanted feeling, a spot on the wall or ceiling, and about five minutes.
Step 1 — Choose the Feeling
Think about something that creates an unwanted emotional response—anxiety, fear, shame, grief, helplessness, embarrassment, self-judgment, or a disturbing memory.
Notice the feeling and rate its intensity from 1–10.
Step 2 — Find Your Spot
Choose a small stationary spot on the wall or ceiling, preferably one that requires your eyes to look somewhat upward.
Set a timer for five minutes.
Step 3 — Feel and Focus
Keep looking at the spot while allowing yourself to experience the unwanted feeling.
Don’t suppress it.
Don’t analyze it.
Don’t distract yourself.
Don’t judge it.
Let thoughts, memories, emotions, and body sensations come and go.
Your only job is to keep looking at the spot and allow yourself to feel.
Step 4 — See What Happens
Continue for about five minutes.
The emotional intensity may decrease, change into another emotion, or simply begin to feel less important.
When you’re finished, think about the original issue and rate the feeling again from 1–10.
Why Might This Work?
FreeSpotting combines focused attention with emotional activation.
Instead of avoiding the unwanted emotion, you safely allow your nervous system to experience it while remaining in the present.
This may create conditions compatible with memory reconsolidation, the process through which previously learned emotional responses can sometimes be updated.
But the important question isn’t the theory.
What happens when you do it?
One Important Warning
Don’t use FreeSpotting by yourself for severe PTSD, complex trauma, significant dissociation, active suicidal thinking, or emotional experiences in which you fear losing control.
If the feeling is extremely intense—around 8–10—work with a trained mental-health professional.
The Experiment
Pick something mildly unpleasant.
Rate it.
Find a spot on the wall or ceiling.
Look at it.
Feel what you feel.
Stay there for five minutes.
Then rate the feeling again.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
See what your brain does with five minutes of your undivided attention.
As Rumi wrote:
“The cure for pain is in the pain.”
After 8 years of experience using FreeSpotting:
Fiona De Vos wrote: “My own experience is that trauma from experiences from teenage years and later, as well as from one-time events, are quick to change and stay healed (no triggers, no emotional pain) for at least five years (and counting). However, trauma from early childhood, repeated trauma (C-PTSD), and trauma from unknown sources (perhaps from parents/ancestors or collective experiences) may need more work.
I wouldn’t describe the change (whenever the pain comes back) as something that “quickly goes away” though. I feel it simply means there are more in the reservoir of negative emotions to process. And if we keep going the negative emotions will eventually run out”.
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