What is Deep Brain Reorienting?
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a transformative, trauma-focused therapy that works with the brain and body to heal the effects of shock, attachment wounds, and post-traumatic stress. Grounded in neuroscience, and developed by Dr Frank Corrigan, DBR helps access the body’s natural capacity to process trauma by working with its earliest, often unconscious, responses to distressing events.
Unlike other approaches that focus primarily on thoughts or emotions, DBR starts where trauma begins—in the brainstem, the part of the brain responsible for your most immediate and instinctive reactions to threat.
How Does Deep Brain Reorienting Work?
DBR is a step-by-step process that carefully guides you through the body’s natural healing pathway. Unlike EMDR, you don’t need to spend time in the traumatic experience, we focus on the earliest moment your brain registered something wrong and use this to gain the orienting tension. The rest of the session is a natural release of shock and emotion which if at anytime becomes overwhelming can be reduced with the practitioner’s support or by returning to the orienting tension (the anchor against overwhelm).
What are the stages of Deep Brain Reorienting?
Orienting Tension
Trauma leaves its first imprint in the body as a physical response—like tension in the neck, forehead, or base of the skull. DBR begins by helping you identify these early sensations, which serve as anchors to prevent overwhelm during processing.
Shock and Affect
After orienting tension comes the body’s shock response, stored deep in the midbrain. These can be experienced in a myriad of different ways. For example, it may be experienced as a jolt, shudder, hollowing out sensation, pressure behind the eyes, a feeling of blankness, a flash, a change in temperature or something else. This is the moment before fear, grief, or anger emerge—the preverbal reaction to a horrifying or painful experience. DBR allows this stored energy to surface and dissipate naturally, creating space for healing.
Reorienting
When processing has run to completion clients are then supported to notice a change in how they see the Self or their experience of Self. Any shift even very small is important. Time is taken to deepen into this so the deep brain is supported to reorganise.
The Neuroscience behind Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)
DBR is rooted in a deep understanding of how the brain processes trauma:
The Superior Colliculus (SC): This structure in the midbrain acts as the brain’s first responder, integrating sensory inputs and triggering rapid, instinctive responses. Trauma often creates heightened activation in the SC, which DBR helps to regulate.
The Periaqueductal Gray (PAG): The PAG manages emotional and defensive responses, like fight, flight, or freeze. It also plays a role in attachment, processing both the pain of disconnection and the safety of nurturing touch.
The Locus Coeruleus (LC): This structure drives the body’s alarm system by releasing noradrenaline. DBR helps to desensitise the LC’s overactive alarm signals, reducing hypervigilance and the physical toll of trauma.
By focusing on these brainstem systems, DBR allows you to access the roots of trauma and heal the body-mind connection.
What does it feel like?
I strongly believe that I would never guide a client through something I have not personally experienced. During my Level 1 and 2 Certification in Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), I frequently participated in sessions as the client as part of the training. I have also experienced this approach outside of formal training. From my perspective, DBR is a peaceful and grounding process. If anything arises that feels overwhelming, simply naming it aloud allows the facilitator to support its processing or pause the session if needed.
In a DBR session, I will gently guide you to connect with sensations in your body that carry echoes of past experiences. There is no need to relive distressing events in detail. This approach enables the brain and body to process deeply held trauma in a safe and compassionate way. Over time, many people describe a sense of release, greater emotional balance, and a renewed feeling of safety within themselves. Healing unfolds gently, at a pace that feels right for you. If you are curious or feel ready to take this step toward deeper healing, it would be a privilege to support you.