Finding Peace In Autism

The autistic experience can feel burdened by external pressures and constant sensory commotion. Meeting your nervous system with gentle presence, this meditation will guide you through the chaos, back to the simple truth that you are already enough. Neuro-affirming prompts and instructions will help you determine the best way to move through this practice for your nervous system.

Transcript

This meditation is called Finding Peace in Autism. For this practice, It's important that your body feels supported and the goal is to feel somewhat comfortable and at ease. In order to do that, You might consider lying down, Supporting your body with pillows, Or walking around while you listen to this practice. Once you have found whatever position works best for you. Take a moment to sway your body or roll your body gently back and forth. So that you're shifting your weight around to the different hemispheres of your body. Start to clench some of your muscles a little bit more tightly now. And release them. You could do this with your hands or feet. You could do this with your whole body if you'd like to. Compressing your muscles, Squeezing them together and releasing. Similarly, I want you to take a couple big breaths and take in some oxygen into your body. So big breath in. And let it out. You can let it out through your nose or your mouth. Let's do it again. Big breath in. And out. And as much as feels helpful to you, You can find your way into some stillness. Sometimes it's nice to sense where there is automatic movement in the body and then finding a little bit of a balance point in that movement where it naturally comes into some stillness. Sometimes our automatic movements need to be invited to still or slow down. Other times our movement patterns need to be allowed to do what they're doing so that the brain and the body feel regulated through the movement. So decide for yourself which type, Stillness or movement, What amount is working for you at this moment. That could change over the course of this meditation too. Be still at first and then decide that a little bit of swaying or tapping or something might help you. And alternatively, You could feel like you need to move at first and then you gently come into some stillness later on. Sitting here with your body. I often find it's helpful for me in my own practice to put my hand on my heart. So that's just an optional suggestion if you would like to try that out. Sometimes one hand on the heart, One hand on the belly, Or even two hands on the heart. Already right here, We've already done this practice of meditation. You set yourself up in this position. You've created some support for yourself. And you are here. You are already, To some extent, Present with you and your experience. From this point on in the meditation, There is not much more to accomplish. So we can let go of striving and effort. That actually, The helpful amount of effort in meditation is usually far less than we think it is. So if we could think of a ball resting in a curved bowl and kind of coming to a resting point at the center of the bowl. It's like this amount of effort for meditation. It's actually the least amount of effort possible to allow yourself to meet your body and your mind exactly where they are right now. Being with yourself is the point of this meditation. And if you notice any tension that you can easily release, This is a great opportunity to release, Let go. Let unwind any patterns of tension, Any racing thoughts, Any intensity that you don't want to be holding in your body. You may ask yourself, Is it safe enough in this moment to relax? Is it safe enough for me in this moment to rest here, To not expect anything of myself? Letting your nervous system register what that safety feels like. It could feel like the stillness of the air, The temperature. It could feel like the position of your body. Pressing onto the floor. It could sound like the quiet room you're in. It could look like the couch, The rug, The light gently coming in through a window or a plant friend nearby. If there's anything here that truly does not feel safe enough to you. And there's not necessarily a way to change that circumstance in your environment at this moment. This is a great practice to sit with yourself and putting your hand on your heart, Bringing yourself this intention, May I be safe. This wish to feel safe, This intention of your own heart to make as much safety and peace for yourself as you possibly can here in this moment. In this moment, You don't have to be anybody else. You don't have to perform. See how that lands for you and notice if there's deep layers of holding inside of your body that can relax a little bit hearing that. There's nobody to be. There's no one to prove yourself to, Or to guard yourself against. Right here in this moment. As strange and as uncomfortable as it can be, You are being a human being. You are here with your body. And you are experiencing a moment where there may be some amount of peace. We'll spend a few more moments here just letting this peacefulness settle. It doesn't have to be something that the mind needs to think about. It can just be something that you know is true or that you feel is true. And slowly, As we get ready to end this practice, I want you to experiment with opening the eyes in the case that they were closed, Looking around the room, And using a slow, Somewhat gentle movement of the eyes in order to do this. Is it possible to bring some peacefulness with you from this practice? Is it possible to move into the external world? While maintaining this inner knowing of yourself, This inner knowing that you are not somebody who has to prove yourself to the world. Or fight against the way things are. But at some level inside, You already know that you are here and you are present. And this is enough.