She Was Pursuing God and Not Feeling Met Until Brainspotting
Details have been changed to protect client privacy.
KEY POINTS
One client came to the session with a specific spiritual pain: she had been pursuing God and feeling nothing come back. That block had roots in how unmet expectations had shaped her earliest relationships.
The session didn't introduce a spiritual framework. It gave her enough space for the one she already had to surface.
What came up in her own processing, unbidden, was a line from John 1:1. Jennie didn't put it there.
The heaviness she had been carrying in her chest shifted within the session.
Brainspotting does not tell you what to believe. For this client, it cleared enough of the interference that she could hear what she already did.
She had been doing the things you do when you want to stay close to God. Praying. Pursuing. Showing up.
And for a long time, it felt one-directional.
Not a crisis of belief. She hadn't stopped believing. It was quieter than that and, in some ways, harder. She knew what the relationship was supposed to feel like. She wasn't feeling it. The gap between what she knew and what she could access had become its own kind of weight.
That weight had a location. She could feel it in her chest. Heavy, constricting, there long enough that she'd learned to work around it rather than address it directly.
She brought that into a Brainspotting session.
Where the Disconnection Was Actually Stored
The spiritual disconnection wasn't only spiritual. She recognized, when the session created space to look, that the pattern of pursuing and not being met had deeper roots.
It connected to her family of origin. Specifically, to the way unmet expectations in her earliest relationships had shaped what she learned to expect from closeness. When those early experiences had established that pursuing didn't guarantee being met, that file didn't stay in the past. It ran forward into every relationship that mattered, including the one with God.
This is not unusual. The way we learned to experience closeness, or the absence of it, gets filed early and runs without much conscious input. It doesn't mean the spiritual disconnection isn't real. It means it has more than one source, and the session can reach both.
The Brainspotting process started with the physical sensation in her chest. Heavy. She described it as constricting, like something wrapped around a straw. The session stayed with that rather than moving away from it.
What Surfaced When She Stayed With It
As the session progressed, her own processing produced imagery. A pit. A ladder that seemed too far to reach. She sent an arrow into the sky.
The arrow came back with a note.
The message that came to her was a line from the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word.
Jennie didn't introduce that. It wasn't suggested. It came from inside her own processing, through a session that created conditions for her to access what she already carried.
That moment was a turning point. The permanence in that line, something that was before the circumstances, before the unmet expectations, before the feeling of being in a pit, became something she could anchor to.
Her heart, she noticed, felt different from the sensation in her chest. Warmer. Lighter. A place that had been there the whole time, underneath the heaviness.
If you've been wondering whether Brainspotting is something you could do as a Christian, the BSP Starter Package is the place to start. It includes an intake session, a 90-minute Brainspotting session, and a 30-minute follow-up so we can assess fit before committing to anything further.
What She Took Away from the Session
She left the session calmer. The heaviness in her chest had shifted. The ladder that had seemed unreachable at the start of the session felt different by the end.
She left with something to return to: the sensation of warmth in her heart, and the image of the arrow and what it carried.
In her words: "The imagery and guidance brought me closer to understanding myself and my relationship with God."
That phrase is worth sitting with. Not closer to God through a technique. Closer to understanding herself, and through that, closer to the relationship.
Brainspotting didn't give her faith. It gave her enough room to access what was already there.
What This Case Shows About Brainspotting and Spiritual Work
The concern most Christians bring to Brainspotting is whether it introduces something incompatible with their faith. That's a fair question and worth asking of any practitioner you work with.
What this session illustrates is a different possibility: a process that creates enough stillness that what you already believe has room to surface.
The session didn't suppress her faith or redirect it. It created conditions where the interference, the heaviness, the old file about pursuing and not being met, could be processed. And in that space, what came up was Scripture.
That is not a guaranteed outcome. Every session follows what the client brings. But it is evidence that the process doesn't conflict with faith. For this client, it deepened it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Brainspotting help with spiritual disconnection specifically?
Yes. The process works with whatever the client brings into the session. If the presenting issue is a feeling of disconnection in your relationship with God, the session works with the physical and emotional sensations tied to that experience. What surfaces in the processing is shaped by what you carry, including your faith, your beliefs, and your relationship with Scripture.
What if my spiritual struggle is connected to something painful from my past?
That connection is common and the session can work with both. The spiritual disconnection in this case had roots in the client's family of origin. The session worked with the sensations tied to the experience and allowed both layers to move. You don't need to have those connections mapped out before you come in.
Will my faith be respected in the session?
Yes. The session follows your cues and your processing. Nothing is introduced that doesn't come from you. The session in this case produced a line from John 1:1 because that is what the client's own processing surfaced. Jennie works with what you bring, including your faith.
Is this the same as Christian counseling or spiritual direction?
No. Brainspotting is a distinct process that works through the body's physical responses to locate and process stored emotional experiences. It is not talk therapy, spiritual direction, or biblical counseling. It can work alongside those things. It is not a replacement for them.
How do I know if this is appropriate for what I'm experiencing?
If you've been carrying a persistent emotional or spiritual weight that reflection, prayer, and other support haven't moved, it’s worth exploring. You can review the ways I work and reach out from here:
jenniehays.com/services
If This Resonates
If you've been in the same pursuing-without-being-met place this client described, this is worth looking into.
You might also find this useful:
Brainspotting and Christianity: Is It Compatible with Your Faith?
Is Brainspotting Therapy Christian-Friendly? (And How It Honors God’s Design)
If you've been wondering whether Brainspotting is something you could do as a Christian, the BSP Starter Package is the place to start. It includes an intake session, a 90-minute Brainspotting session, and a 30-minute follow-up so we can assess fit before committing to anything further.
About Jennie Hays | Execution Block Specialist
Jennie Hays is an Execution Block Specialist who works with entrepreneurs stalled at their next level. Her clients don't lack strategy. They're blocked from executing it, and that gap has a measurable dollar cost.
Through Rapid Block Resolution, Jennie identifies the specific internal interference slowing execution, removes the friction attached to it, and restores consistent forward movement. She solves the right problem first and builds independence, not dependency.
Because once the block is resolved, execution becomes natural.Learn more at jenniehays.com
