Are conscious stims better than unconscious ones? An autistic adult wonders
Originally published on Medium
My goal is to write clearly about chosen topics but this topic might be less clear because I’m connecting a theme across multiple subjects. So bear with me, okay?
Thank you.
In 2021, I learned about stimming from autistic content creators and authors. I let myself stim more at home and around people that already knew me and noticed my well-being improved and my anxiety decreased.
Around the same time, I started doing qigong videos and learned a bit about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Qigong helps move energy through pathways (meridians) in the body. It’s similar to acupuncture but, instead of using needles to move stagnant energy, you use movement. One movement I love is shaking my hands. It’s similar to what I naturally do to ease transition to a new task or to reduce overwhelm.
Also around this same time, I read about how movement helps children focus on learning. Doing some exercises before a lesson improves their performance.
Even more recently, I listened to a presentation about “S’cool moves” — movements taught in school to improve focus. Here are the movements that stuck out to me:
Rubbing specific spots on your hands
squeezing your arms
Interestingly, I do these things when bored and needing stimulation or just for fun. These are movements I noticed other autistic people do, too.
So the questions that get louder and louder the more I learn about how movement benefits us mentally, physically, and emotionally is:
What’s the difference between doing these movements unconsciously as stims and consciously as productivity tools? Why is one set of behaviors something to eliminate and the other set encouraged?
Why aren’t people who stim congratulated for being intuitively in tune with their body’s need to regulate? Why not encouraged to further their education in self-regulation?
(Note: These are rhetorical questions. I can think of some answers to these questions but want to share the connections I’ve made.)