What is stimming and is it exclusive to autistic people? | (sharing my stims) Autism talk 5

[@mainlittlerock5422]

Not finding the linked Instagram post you mentioned at the beginning of your video. Can you share it with me? Thank you.

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

Oops, forgot to share it. Here is the link: instagram.com/p/C8K9IStNhIA/?igsh=b3NuczA0YWQwNzll

[@SuperTakkino]

💖Thank you for this! To answer your Q: depends on whether I'm masking or not and I've been working on not suppressing stimming when possible. When I'm masking: I crunch (curl up) my toes inside my shoes, open and close my fingers into a fist, crack my neck, stretch my arms high above my head while rotating my wrists. I am trying to stop picking at the cuticles of my fingers, or sticking my finger in my ear canal. When I'm not masking: flapping my legs (knees hitting each other), swaying back and forth and sideways (especially when there's great music). I still feel conscious flapping my hands, but I do feel very good doing it.

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

Thank you for sharing! It's so interesting reading about everyone's experiences 😊

[@niseepaj]

I'm glad I found your channel. When I'm stressed, my mania (habit/stim) is tapping my hands on my lap or a tabletop.

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

I'm glad you found my channel too 😊 Thank you for sharing

[@TheGalacticGrizzly]

I stim quite heavily, but I don't have autism (though am neurodivergent). It's generally to regulate my anxiety. I do a lot of hand flapping/flexing/opening and closing. Also quick head shakes, squeaks/peeps and biting my lips. There are more, but these are the most important ones. I also rock side to side or back and forth, but that one's just because it feels nice. I do stim a lot more when I'm alone or with my partner than when I'm among co-workers or the like. I wonder if there are other anxious gifted people who stim a lot?

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

I don't know for sure but I would assume a lot of people dealing with anxiety stim or would benefit from it since it helps to release tension from the body.

[@eclipse_eternal8178]

When I get really excited or enthusiastic about something I tend to jump up and down because I just need to get it out.

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

I personally don't do this but I definitely see how that can help 😊

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

Do you have any stims? Would love to hear about them 😊

[@HaakonOdinsson]

Thanks for the great upload. Interesting stims you have, do a few of them myself. I do stims as it helps calm me down, cope with certain situations…the more stressful, the more I stim, etc. Rocking forwards, backwards and from side to side (nothing too dramatic though), running my tongue over my teeth and using the tongue to move over the teeth tops. I spread out my fingers on my hands and touch and bounce off the tips of the fingers like an open clap (if you know what I mean?). I fiddle with my Thor’s hammer necklace, lol. I have a couple of hairs growing on my nose, and I like to touch them with my finger, lol. I like clicking my tongue to make a noise….god, there’s a few more! It can get pretty exhausting for me and I have to hide a lot of them from people (friends, family and strangers) as I don’t like drawing attention to myself (social anxiety etc). BUT, I still have to stim, so I do it discreetly…apart from the foot-tapping and talking a lot about my specialist subjects if they are broached upon or anything I have an interest of…although I have managed to keep the talking “normal ish” by years of practice, lol, but I can get caught out and witter on about history, photography for eg’s. When I’m on my own, well, then the stimming comes right out! Hahaha. Sorry for going on a bit. All the best

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

Thank you so much for sharing! I love it when people are opening up like this and are willing to share their experience 😊

[@HaakonOdinsson]

@@BridgeOfLifeStudio oh I’m so sorry, I missed your reply to me. I enjoyed the upload and thought I’d say about a few of my stims. I’m glad you liked me sharing it. Take care, all the best

[@jeffrey_369]

Very interesting - it also seems like it all brings you back to the present moment and supports you to be in alignment with your body and energy which actually would benefit everyone from doing it!

[@BridgeOfLifeStudio]

I didn't think of it that way before but that does make sense.

[@jeffrey_369]

@@BridgeOfLifeStudio For example, I purposely use finger tapping since every finger represents a different energy circuit - also known as mudras

[@HaakonOdinsson]

⁠@@jeffrey_369me too! I do finger tapping as well….but I was unaware of the connection to Mudras. Cheers Edit: I don’t do it intentionally though. It was something I did naturally as a kid and still do. One of many stims I employ, ones that I’ve had to mask, which is bloody hard and exhausting, lol

[@jeffrey_369]

@@HaakonOdinsson yes there might be some connection to it! Even well known people like Elon Musk and Christiano Ronaldo do similar gestures during interviews if you pay attention