Pirate Therapy: How Unilateral Visual Occlusion Can Help You Feel Calmer

Ok, so Pirate Therapy isn't a real thing, but the action behind covering one eye does have roots in neuroscience, and if you've ever dreamed of being a real life pirate, I am here to support you. Have you ever noticed that your thoughts can feel busy at times, like a radio you can’t turn off? There’s a simple technique that can help called unilateral visual occlusion. What this means is that covering one eye for a duration can have a beneficial impact on your level of focus and your anxiety. Let's take a closer look.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• What this method is

• Where it comes from

• What evidence can tell us

• How you can try it safely

  
  

What Is Unilateral Visual Occlusion?

Unilateral visual occlusion is a simple and gentle technique that can help you slow down racing thoughts and feel more centered and focused. This approach has roots in decades of research from stroke rehabilitation and somatic therapy. Although healthy brains use both sides for almost everything (Jarrett; Harvard Health Publishing), studies show that certain types of thinking—especially language, analysis, and inner talk—are linked to higher electrical activity in areas of the left hemisphere (Davidson 126; Harmon-Jones and Gable; Gazzaniga 1304). When your mind feels busy or overwhelmed, this extra activation can make it harder to relax. To engage this techniques, simply cover your right eye for 30 seconds to a minute and switch to the other and repeat. This reduces the amount of visual information your brain has to process and acts as a calibration for your brain. Some clinicians and researchers believe this shift may help rebalance neural activity and create a greater sense of calm. While this may not work under every circumstance, many people find that by blocking half of what they see, their thoughts slow down, and their body feels calmer. Let's take a closer look at the historical development of this technique and what evidence science can share with us so far.

A Bit of History

This method originated within clinical and therapeutic contexts, particularly among individuals recovering from cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) and other forms of acquired brain injury.

• During the 1980s, Butter and Kirsch (Butter et al.) demonstrated that unilateral visual occlusion significantly improved spatial attention in stroke patients who exhibited hemispatial neglect. Hemispatial neglect is an attentional disorder (rather than blindness), resulting from the damage on one side of the brain, in which individuals fail to notice or respond to stimuli on the other side of the brain (example: right side is damaged due to stroke, person fails to acknowledge people on their left no due to not seeing them, but because focus is maladapted).

• Rossetti and colleagues (1998) used prism adaptation glasses that gently shifted the visual field, leading to significant improvements in patients’ ability to notice the side they were previously neglecting.

• Peter Levine, a trauma therapist and other practitioners observed that restricting visual input can promote a sense of safety and facilitate greater somatic awareness (Levine).

Although unilateral visual occlusion initially emerged as a clinical intervention, it has since been adopted in broader contexts as a means of enhancing calmness, attentional regulation, and self-awareness.

What Does Modern Science Say?

For many years, it was widely believed that individuals possessed a dominant “left-brained” or “right-brained” cognitive style, implying that one hemisphere largely determined how they processed information. However, in 2017, a comprehensive report published by Harvard Health reviewed studies—including brain imaging data from over 1,000 participants—and concluded that no evidence supports the idea that people consistently rely more on one hemisphere than the other (Jarrett; Harvard Health Publishing). Current scientific understanding recognizes that while certain functions tend to be left or right sided—such as language processing primarily occurring in the left hemisphere and attentional focus often engaging the right—healthy brains integrate both hemispheres simultaneously for nearly all tasks.

When individuals experience excessive mental chatter, researchers have observed increased electrical activity in regions of the left hemisphere associated with language and analytical thinking (Davidson 126; Harmon-Jones and Gable; Gazzaniga 1304). Covering the right eye reduces visual input to the left hemisphere, and some clinicians and researchers propose that this approach may help rebalance neural activity and promote a sense of calm.

How to Try Unilateral Visual Occlusion

Here’s a gentle way to practice:

1. Sit in a calm place.

2. Cover your right eye with your hand (or a pirate patch).

3. Breathe slowly and notice how your mind and body feel.

4. Stay for 30 seconds up to a maximum of 3 minutes, then switch to cover your left eye if you’d like.

5. Take a few more deep breaths, then open both eyes.

Notice any shifts in your thoughts and how your body feels.

Which Side Should You Cover?

You might be wondering: Does it really matter which eye I cover?

It can, while your whole brain in engaged (there's a lot of activity going on up ther) some tasks take place more dominantly on one side, while assisted by the other.

Here's a simple breakdown of these tasks and the benefits of covering each eye:

• Right Eye Covered (Unilateral Visual Occlusion on the Right Side)

  • This reduces input to the left hemisphere of your brain.

  • The left hemisphere is often linked to:

    • Language and words

    • Logic and problem-solving

    • Inner talk or “mental chatter”

  • When you cover your right eye, many people find:

    • Their thoughts slow down

    • They feel less busy in their mind

    • They become more aware of feelings and body sensations

  • This can be especially helpful if your brain feels “too loud” or you feel overwhelmed.

    
    

• Left Eye Covered (Unilateral Visual Occlusion on the Left Side)

  • This reduces input to the right hemisphere of your brain.

  • The right hemisphere is often linked to:

    • Emotions and big-picture thinking

    • Creativity and imagination

    • Awareness of space and body feelings

  • When you cover your left eye, you might notice:

    • Your thinking feels more focused on words and logic

    • You feel more organized

    • You may feel less emotionally intense

  • This can be helpful if you feel “too emotional” or scattered and want a little more mental order.

Some people find it easiest to start by covering their right eye first, because it often quiets the verbal part of the mind. But there’s no wrong way—just gentle exploration. Remember, everyone’s brain is unique. What feels calming for one person may feel different for someone else. That’s why it helps to try each side and see what works best for you. If you start to feel uncomfortable or dizzy, simply stop and open both eyes. Always listen to your body. Be curious and kind to yourself as you explore. If you’d like more support, a therapist trained in somatic or neurorehabilitation techniques can guide you in finding additional ways to feel grounded and clear.

Works Cited

Beis, J.-M., et al. “Right hemispatial neglect after left hemisphere stroke: qualitative study and effect of eye patching.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, vol. 66, no. 1, 1999, pp. 32–35.

Butter, C. M., Kirsch, N. L., and Kinsbourne, M. “The effect of lateralized visual input on hemispatial neglect following right hemisphere damage.” Brain, vol. 106, no. 4, 1983, pp. 685–696.

Davidson, Richard J. “Anterior cerebral asymmetry and the nature of emotion.” Brain and Cognition, vol. 20, no. 1, 1992, pp. 125–151.

Gazzaniga, Michael S. “Cerebral specialization and interhemispheric communication: Does the corpus callosum enable the human condition?” Brain, vol. 123, no. 7, 2000, pp. 1293–1326.

Grand, David. Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change. Sounds True, 2013.

Harvard Health Publishing. “Right-brain/left-brain, right?” Harvard Health Blog, 25 Aug. 2017, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/right-brainleft-brain-right-2017082512222.

Harmon-Jones, Eddie, and Philip A. Gable. “On the role of asymmetric frontal cortical activity in approach and withdrawal motivation.” Psychophysiology, vol. 55, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1–17.

Jarrett, Christian. “Right Brain vs. Left Brain: Debunking the Myth.” Psychology Today, 1 Dec. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-myths/201712/right-brain-vs-left-brain-debunking-the-myth.

Levine, Peter A. Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books, 1997.

Rossetti, Y., et al. “Prism adaptation to a rightward optical deviation rehabilitates left hemispatial neglect.” Nature, vol. 395, 1998, pp. 166–169.

Rowe, Fiona J. “Visual impairment following stroke: a practical guide to assessment and management.” Clinical Rehabilitation, vol. 27, no. 3, 2013, pp. 253–267.