Autism Support

This meditation will help you feel more connected to yourself as an autistic person, learning to work with your specific sensory needs and brain style differences. It offers plenty of prompts and cues for structure, as well as space to do things in your own way. Creating a sense of safety and ease in the nervous system is central to living a life of wellbeing as an autistic individual. Your nervous system is designed for meditation, and you can learn specific tools and strategies that work for you.

Transcript

If you are autistic, I welcome you to this practice. Thank you for being here. As somebody who's autistic, You might be drawn to some silence and stillness of meditation. That might not completely be true. You might also feel a need for a certain sensory stimulation. I welcome you to bring that sensory comfort into this practice. There's so many options with meditation. Meditation doesn't need to be a certain way. We don't need to be black and white about it. It doesn't have to be completely still. Also, It should have some elements of quiet or stillness in it. So find what feels like it makes sense to you during this practice. I'll give you some concrete guidance here and some instruction. But if it's not working for you, I want you to feel flexible enough to recognize that your own truth matters. If it's not working for you, It's not because you're doing it wrong. It's because maybe you could make some adjustments and do it in a way that is different or better for your own neurotype. So finding a setup here, Whether that's a gentle rocking back and forth in a seat, It could be lying down. If your body is really needing more ease and support at the moment, Maybe put pillows around you or a weighted blanket. You're welcome to pace or walk back and forth gently while we're doing this practice. Eyes open is absolutely welcome. You could gaze out a window, Just letting things pass by outside. You could gaze somewhere neutral, A wall, At the floor. And you can close your eyes if that helps you to shut out the environment around you. There's no right or wrong here. So play with that. See what it's like to close the eyes momentarily. And if that's not suiting you, Open them. Are there darker corners that feel more soothing than bright light? Is there a pattern that you're looking at that helps you to feel at ease? And then just see if you can take a deep breath, Releasing the stress that tends to accumulate from everyday life. In this moment, You don't need to be responsible for tasks or managing expectations. You get to be you right here and to begin to create a safe space for yourself. So autism gets to be part of meditation. You don't have to put it aside or try and create a feeling of being somebody else or you don't have to worry about doing things right or wrong or even being different in a negative way. Whatever makes you autistic can be part of your meditation practice. Sometimes it's helpful to do some gentle shifting in meditation. So if you're finding things are getting too complicated, Intense or focused, You might just shift such as if you had your eyes open, Shift to closing them even if it's just for a breath. Same thing with having your eyes closed. If you're getting to a feeling of too much intensity inside, You might actually open your eyes up for a moment or two. I want you to find something that helps you feel safe, Stable, Or pleasant in this moment. So that could be a feeling in the physical body. If that's difficult for you, I'll give you a couple prompts and cues here. So a feeling in the physical body could just be an overall sense of being here with weight, With gravity. Could be like a literal sense of I'm a human animal on this planet. Here is my body. It's gently swaying. And in this physical existence, I feel somewhat neutral, Maybe pleasant. Just being here. That may not be true for many people who have physical pain or tension in their bodies or a difficult relationship with the body. Some smaller cues could be rubbing your fingers together, Just as a gentle little circling motion. Feeling here's my physical body. I can have sensation in my hand. It doesn't have to be a big deal. It's not supposed to be an enlightening moment necessarily. It's a small physical cue that prompts the nervous system to just feel a sense of physical touch in this moment here. You might shift back and forth a little whether you're lying down and just gently rolling side to side or seated. If you're walking, You could just stand still for a moment and shift your weight from one foot to another. Letting yourself have this sense of physicality of I'm a collection of bones and muscles. And at a smaller level, I'm made of cells. I'm made of atoms and molecules. And they shift in this arrangement of what we call a body. And it's already here. It's already in part doing its job. It's breathing. Your heart is pumping. Oxygen is moving through your body. Carbon dioxide is being released. All kinds of cellular processes are happening. Digesting energy, Good digesting nourishment and giving you energy. So releasing again, Any expectations or pressure or tightness or hyper focus around what should or shouldn't be happening. I want to also invite you to listen to sound in this moment. You might be in a quiet space. And that's great. Even in a quiet space, There might be a gentle humming or buzzing. The sound of a radiator or air blowing could just be the sound of some silence. You might pick up a small detail like a car way off in the distance. But the sound waves travel all the way from that car through the air until they meet your ear. I invite you even if you want a little extra prompting here to use your hand to gently rub around your earlobe. Just pinch it really softly up and down. You can tug a little bit on your ears. This is really good for nervous system regulation. Do whatever feels good for you here. You can shift to the other ear. You can do both at the same time. And then go back to listening to sound again. Listening to sound is somewhat simple, Because you're not responsible for the sounds that arise and pass away. They are mostly external to you. It's mostly a physical function of the body. The ears listen. They register sound. The sounds are happening. There's not really much need for control or responsibility. Of course, If you're sensitive to sound, You can also notice your aversion or your attraction to certain qualities of sound here. So really enjoying the quiet. You might feel like you can't tune out a certain sound that you're hearing, Like a certain low buzz from the refrigerator. So if you're noticing anything unpleasant, This is a practice where you get to fully acknowledge that I don't like that sound. Or I don't like this physical sensation. It's uncomfortable. This is a good first step in meditation to practice acknowledging without necessarily reacting right away. Now, If anything's overwhelming to you, Of course, It's wise to respond to that and to make some small shifts like to turn off the air for a little while so you can have more silence. But even in discomfort, We can exist here as human beings, Just the way you are. Imperfect, But still present. Still meeting yourself with plenty of love, Kindness, Gentleness, Some self respect for showing up here to try this practice. I want you to take notice if your energy feels any different from when we started. You don't have to feel good or bad or the same, But just notice exactly how things are for you right now. See if you can carry some of this with you through your day. If you're interested in doing more autism friendly meditation practice, I welcome you to follow me on Insight Timer. Thank you so much.