How do you stim / self soothe?

I agree. it is a varied as the grans of sand along the Ganges.

I am very happy to hear you are not punished for it! that is awesome! Let it all hang out!

I had been speaking of my childhood when I mentioned being "denied". I was a run away for a reason.

it is part of you so do not worry just don't hurt yourself

I also do some things from your list! And I do them not only in private. No matter how many times I’m told to stop. I stop it for a minute and then subconsciously start again. The people who try to stop me get fed up. My granny tells me that I behave like a psychically sick. I stopped caring about it. It’s better for me to stim and regulate than having meltdowns on daily basis, for the witnesses the first option is also better. My stimming does not hurt anyone except lip picking. Sometimes I do it to the point of bleeding but since I know why I do it I started controlling this stim to change it into something safer. 

Hi i am known to shake my hands and sometimes I chew my fingers i have learnt to do this in private

Not sure I do either. 

I have always twirled my hair. There other things that since realizing I am autistic I find myself doing like going to and fro on a swivel chair and various patterns with my hands from one to the other. I also hum.

My list is by no means exhaustive! (haha, exhaustive)

ditto on the hair twirling through teens. Catch myself at it when reading recently, though. 

As far as I know - not all autists stim. 

I don't think I do anything that could be called stimming, do all autists stim?

I was also denied these pleasures and did them in private like a criminal or just went numb

I Enjoy very much to

rock

smell everything

taste metals (not swallow)

throw things - not in a angry way, well maybe in meltdown.

stroke tree bark (my fav), also velour and other textures

fold paper

jump

clap

slam flat hand on table for the sound

swing my lower legs while in a tall enough seat or chair

sing and talk out loud to myself

recite

raise and lower my arms

dance, a lot

gaze at rhythmically moving lights and objects like spangled water or flags in the wind and dance with them.

I tend to pace a lot, I'm not sure if that counts as a stim.

I like to lie down flat on the floor, head down, resting on my hands. If one of the kids sits on me, even better. 

Since I was little (years before I knew I had autism) I would fidget with hair (putting it back behind my ears) and, later, push may glasses up which both quite obsessive and annoying. I find that rocking backwards on forwards, having soft clothes without any tags or uncomfortable gathering at the waist and covering myself with a banket is key whenever In feel stressed or overwhelmed when I'm at home. If I'm out I tend to rub my fingers together in a circular motion so that I'm concentrating on that and not my surroundings. Sometimes I'll also (sometimes without my really knowing) make a kind of noise (it's quite hard to explain but think of a dog whining when it gets scared, sounds weird but I've been doing it since I was little). I also have ADHD so rocking helps also for that reason. 

I think it's definitely more likely to be a problem for us as we tend to obsess and get fixation (monotropism I guess at the root of it) so can't always break away form things.

For example I like to go lure fishing as it's a great escape to somewhere quiet doing something I love, I'll sometimes spend hours longer than planned as I can't get myself out of something I really enjoy.

Never worked out if that sort of issue  was the obsessive nature of SPINs, or maybe a Stim or a bit of both!

I find I pick more at dry areas of skin on my fingers, I feel around for anything dry and  not smooth and pick at it.

It's annoying when I'm left with sore patches, especially on my thumb as then I can't write without it hurting.

I always pick my lips also used to do it to the point of bleeding but I stop myself from this one. I also pick my fingers and they don’t bleed but look really bad. My skin is sharp and dry. 

I was wondering about this the other day, I never used to spend as much time scrolling as I do now, so does it take the place of a 'fidget' device?

I've been thinking about this recently since working out I'm autistic as I was never aware of it before. I twirl my hair, bounce my foot, mess with my phone, clench my jaw (not good for the teeth). If standing (I do a lot of standing) I rock up on my toes, move side to side, twist at the waist, tap my fingers...all fairly inconspicuous which is why I'd never thought about it before I guess.