*meditation*-- has anyone with autism found meditation to be of benefit

I had an intense period of life when I practised meditation and it was helpful.

I would practice it on the bus on my way to work.

The process of letting thoughts flow without aiming to engage with them was useful as it helped to:

1. identify which thoughts/feelings were at the front of my mind - these would come through during the first minute or so of meditation
2. and helped bring 'important' things to think about/remember from the back of my mind - these would come through after about a minute or so of meditation

Part 2 was very helpful because I can be quite scatterbrained and important tasks I need to do can get lost in the 'back of my mind' because I'm often overthinking much of the time. Quite often, I had 'oh wow' moments as something pretty vital to do came into consciousness.

Part 1 was helpful in a different way as it gave me practice in letting thoughts go without engagement. Over a bit of time, it helped me more easily have confidence that times and long-term situations also pass and that patience and waiting can help to ease stress and tension during times in which I have little control over them.

Also, in the first minute of meditation, often the first few thoughts/images I would have would be people close to me. I'd think of my grandma or my mum or my partner and the images/feeling surrounding them were often calm. That would be nice and reassuring. It helped with a sense of gratitude.

Sometimes meditation would bring thoughts of anxiety and this is perhaps why it wasn't an every day thing for me. Then again, I think facing up to anxiety is good if one is in a confident feeling to do so. So, anxiety coming up isn't necessarily a bad thing.

This said, I think most of the feelings that came up for me were generally positive ones.

My meditation these days is to sit or lie somewhere comfortable and listen to a song/songs without any visual distraction. This can create the same environment in which my mind can wander without overly-engaging with the thoughts that come and go.

I'm not an every day meditation person, however, maybe it could be helpful if I were. I look forward to seeing other people's replies here.

i'm happy your meditation is helping you -- I'm self taught from video online then from books I have bought. Did someone teach you, or are you self taught? I do a sitting meditation every day but if i am busy, like today, i do it lying down when i go to bed --- i just go to sleep somewhere in it :). I also do a walking meditation which also gives me a bit of exercise every other day / get stuff from supermarket. 

yea sometimes my meditation does go wrong but from what i read this is to be expected and shows progress.

i do following breath, and counting breath, sinilar to you I watch any thoughts that appear but I dont engage or run with them I let them fade, if i have difficulties i repeat a made up mantra. The walking one never fails.

listening to music i do every so often as well. I have always liked Alan Watts idea that meditation should be enjoyable so listening to music is a spot on..

I have a really odd one myself I love sharping tools on a stone, back and forth I count the strokes. I just sharpen, nothing else matters for those 30 minutes.

keep doing, what your doing, the way your doing it. .

thanks for the reply it was really interesting.

I think I may know what you mean regarding the sharpening tools.

When I started to 'get' meditation, I realised that whenever I washed up, the same effect of meditation was happening. I guess each new item to wash helped break the thought engagement and the process of meditation followed.

Walking meditation is a good one too.

It took me a while to really try meditation because many people seemed (to me) to be overhyping it. The being taught comes from a variety of videos and webpages top get the concept and general idea and also my last partner, who meditated consistently each working day.

I sometimes end up engaging in thoughts in some bouts of meditation but I don't mind that. Unless I'm doing an easy task (eg washing up) or I'm listening to music, my meditation period is probably about 3 mins. I haven't much further in terms of silent meditation so far.

I think I may know what you mean regarding the sharpening tools.

When I started to 'get' meditation, I realised that whenever I washed up, the same effect of meditation was happening. I guess each new item to wash helped break the thought engagement and the process of meditation followed.

Walking meditation is a good one too.

It took me a while to really try meditation because many people seemed (to me) to be overhyping it. The being taught comes from a variety of videos and webpages top get the concept and general idea and also my last partner, who meditated consistently each working day.

I sometimes end up engaging in thoughts in some bouts of meditation but I don't mind that. Unless I'm doing an easy task (eg washing up) or I'm listening to music, my meditation period is probably about 3 mins. I haven't much further in terms of silent meditation so far.

keep doing it but dont worry if u fail. The tip I have picked up is that there is "no aim" or "gain" expected from your meditation,, so if u get 3 mins to work thats actually very good.