Ambita Sen

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a trauma therapy that helps the brain process experiences that were overwhelming or shocking. It focuses on the body’s very first automatic reaction to a stressful event, before emotions like fear or shame appear. With gentle guidance, clients notice subtle bodily sensations, allowing the nervous system to complete a response that may have been interrupted during the trauma.

As this process unfolds, trauma memories may feel less emotionally charged, people may experience less hypervigilance, improved nervous system regulation, and deeper processing of early childhood trauma.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting) are both trauma therapies, but they work at very different levels. EMDR is memory-focused and uses bilateral stimulation – such as eye movements or taps – while the client recalls a traumatic event, helping the brain reprocess the memory and reduce its emotional intensity. It follows a structured 8-phase protocol and is most effective for processing specific traumatic memories. In contrast, DBR targets the earliest physiological responses to trauma, often stored in the brainstem and limbic system, including pre-verbal or developmental trauma. Rather than focusing on conscious memory, DBR guides clients to attend to subtle bodily sensations and internal orientations, allowing the nervous system to complete unresolved trauma responses. While EMDR is highly structured and cognitive-emotional, DBR is more somatic, body-based, and focused on deep, often unconscious processing, making it particularly useful for complex or early-life trauma.

Somatic therapy recognizes that trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind. Somatic Experiencing helps you tune into your body’s sensations, release stored trauma, and regulate your nervous system. This approach is especially helpful when talk therapy alone hasn’t been enough.

Somatic therapy helps people heal trauma by paying attention to body sensations and how the nervous system responds to stress. Trauma can leave the body stuck in survival states like fight, flight, or freeze. In therapy, we slowly notice physical sensations, breathing, tension, and movement so the body can safely release stored stress and complete responses that were interrupted during the traumatic event.

As the nervous system settles, people often notice that trauma memories feel less overwhelming, their body feels calmer, and they have a greater sense of safety and regulation.

In traditional talk therapy, the focus is mainly on talking about experiences, thoughts, and emotions. Understanding what happened and how it affects you can help create insight and new ways of thinking.

Somatic therapy also values conversation, but it places more attention on what is happening in the body and nervous system. Trauma and stress can leave the body stuck in survival responses such as tension, hypervigilance, or shutdown. In somatic therapy, we slow down and notice body sensations, breathing, and physical responses so the nervous system can gradually release stored stress.

Rather than only understanding the trauma, somatic therapy helps the body feel safer and more regulated, which can make trauma memories feel less overwhelming over time.

Absolutely. I specialize in complex PTSD and dissociative disorders including depersonalization, derealization, and dissociative amnesia. I use specialized approaches like EMDR, DBR, somatic therapy, and parts work to help you safely process trauma and reduce dissociative symptoms.

Yes. I offer therapy sessions in English, Bengali and Hindi for clients in Mississauga and across Ontario. Working in your first language can make it easier to express complex emotions, process traumatic experiences, and feel fully understood.