Autism

The last thing I need is to be left alone with just my thoughts.

Meditation wasn't super helpful for me, guided meditation required too much sustained focus and was cognitively fatiguing to stay on track. I have dysphantasia so that doesn't help when you're told to picture things or imagine things as part of meditation, because imagining something requires me to talk to myself in my head, which doesn't feel meditative, it feels too similar to ruminative thought patterns. Doing the "quite wandering mind" style of meditation was risky because I already experience maladaptive daydreaming.

But I discovered "somatic regulation", which is something I kind of already did instinctively when I was getting really stressed or overwhelmed.

When stressed I'd tap my teeth together in a pattern, drum on my chest, hum, wiggle or do fidgety little things, often not even consciously.

Now that I understand what this does for my emotional regulation, I set time aside every day to consciously and mindfully do things that look and feel absolutely ridiculous. Like lying on my stomach and rhythmically slapping the tiled floor, focusing on the sensations rather than trying to clear my mind, or guide my mind.

I started mid last year, and it's been the only form of mental health self care that I've been able to remain consistent in, and I've noticed a drastic decrease in how often I feel overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. I'm also able to identity when I'm starting to get stressed much earlier than I used to, and more quickly identify a way to reduce it. I've always struggled to identify emotions in the moment, but I feel like now my mind-body connection is stronger. It's easier to tell when my headache is because I'm hungry/thirsty vs stressed or tense. Before I used to just guess, try everything and hope something worked, then look back with hindsight thinking "guess that was a hunger headache because relaxing didn't help but carrot sticks did". Now I'm more likely to know what I need.

Edit: just realised this post was in the Autism community, lol, I need to learn to read things more thoroughly, I was talking about stimming without saying the word "stimming" because I'm so used to getting flak for that in the NT subs I post in.

Have tried it several times, but like most things it works for a few days then just becomes an "upkeep cost" which doesn't benefit me anymore, and I drop it.

I actually meditate basically all the time. At one point I thought, why not have the clear crystal ball all the time, instead of "just" when I make time to sit down and meditate?

Honestly it's a necessity at times. Though I found certain activities elicit the same "thoughtlessness" that I get when I meditatw such as motorcycling. No time to think about anything else but the road and the bike, making it ironically one of the most relaxing activities I do.

I'm afraid of my own thoughts.

Every time I've tried meditation it has triggered a panic attack. Oh well

Likely NT here, but meditation is awesome. Sometimes when I am particularly stressed or overwhelmed it's kinda hard to get in the right state of mind, it's as if I forget how easy it is to meditate, but when it does click it makes everything that much more simple.

Highly recommended to anyone going through rough times or even people who are fine but would like to have their brain shut up for a little while.

Tried it once and it doesn't work for me.

Maybe it's because some of my hobbies can be meditative in its own way...

Oh god please don't leave me alone with my thoughts. Meditation leaves me with panic attacks, and breathing exercises leave me dizzy and anxious.

Would dissociating for a while work? 🥺👉👈

Not regularly; but when I'm overwhelmed, I sit in that position and practice breathing until my breathing and heart rate regulates and my mind is cleared, and then I self-validate until I am in control enough to see the problem clearly and either work through it or continue on with my day. Mindfulness, baby! Works for anger, shame, sensory meltdowns, etc. 💙

Yeah, sometimes. In Germany, if you're a college student, you can get access to the app 7Mind for free (see Campus College). I think for me it really depends on the day. Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it doesn't help a lot. It usually doesn't harm - I just sometimes am not really able to relax. Part of the practice though is to learn that that's okay. I am still in the process of learning that not being able to relax and be with your thoughts is absolutely okay! Thus, meditation for me is more about checking in with me how I'm feeling. If it helps me relax - great! If not - perfectly fine, then I now know that I'm not relaxed.

Yep, I do it just as I wake up to avoid what the comic describes.

I suppose I still do it in some sense. If I have a lot of muscle tension built up or am otherwise starting to get a headache/migraine. I just lie down in bed, and focus on breathing until my body enters that sleep state where it completely relaxes and doesn't respond to my commands. Like a nice nap, but without actually falling asleep (much faster, no grogginess). Or like sleep paralysis, but without the demons. ;D

I also tried meditation to focus on the subconscious stream of thoughts, which was extremely fascinating. But I had to stop after a week or so since I started to become aware of it even when not meditating, which felt like someone constantly whispering in my ears and it was quite maddening. I would still recommend giving it a try though. Becoming aware of some subconscious thought chains/loops, especially the negative ones, and learning to cut them short had a huge impact on my mental well-being.

Only started recently. Not for calming down, but for honing focus.

If you wanted to start with meditation, what would be a good starting point? Reading certains books or using an app? I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the options

No, I prefer to draw or knit and just let my thoughts run free. Which might or might not be the same.

Once in a while, it does help me to calm down, but I don't do it often enough to get the long-term benefits it's supposed to give you.