Somatic Mindfulness For Folks Who Are Neurodivergent

A lot of somatic mindfulness work.

Coming into our body,

Working with our breath,

Working with our mind,

Assumes that we are all neurotypical.

And we know that's not the case.

There might be this ideal in people's minds that if I'm meditating correctly,

That my body is still,

I could sit still for an hour without any thoughts in my mind.

That's not something that happens in what we would call a neurotypical brain.

And it can be even more of a challenge for people who have ADHD or high sensitivity or an alarmed nervous system.

The somatic mindfulness is just we're aware of what's happening in our body.

We're aware of the energy in our body,

The thoughts in our mind.

We don't have to sit still in order to observe what's happening in our body.

Many neurodivergent people have a higher baseline of sensitivity to sound,

Sensory input,

And nervous system activation.

Regulation practices are especially helpful.

They can look like a lot of different things.

Shorter practices are effective and they work well for people with a shorter attention span.

Movement is helpful.

We might feel agitated and jumping out of our skin,

And it's awful to force ourselves to sit still.

We don't have to.

If we feel like that,

We could get up,

We could shake that energy out.

We could move around.

I teach an online guided practice every single day.

I'm in my 11th year now.

And often I'll say to people,

If your body wants to move,

Move.

If you want to do a few minutes of yoga at the beginning of a practice,

Do that.

Bring your arms up above your head.

Open up your rib cage.

Move your body around.

We want to work with how we actually feel,

What's actually going on in our body,

Not some idea of a monk sitting still on a mountaintop.

That's not real life for any of us.

And it's especially not helpful for someone who's neurodiverse.

Rhythmic activities like walking,

Rocking,

Humming,

Tapping can be ways to move the energy in our body and release.

And if you're already doing it,

That's your nervous system taking care of itself.

The goal is not just to calm our nervous system.

It's to build a kinder,

More compassionate relationship with ourselves.

The way we show up in the world as someone who is neurodivergent can expose us to a lot of judging from other people.

By understanding our nervous system better and offering ourselves kindness and compassion.

We can show up for ourselves,

Offer ourselves patience.

And be kind with ourselves.

If other people are judging us for our neurodivergence,

We don't have to take that on.

We could honor ourselves just as we are and do practices that work for us.