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Meditation

Kate Kestrel

Hi,

For a long time now I’ve been trying meditation to try to lower my anxiety and deal with the effects of ptsd, and also to improve my well being overall. However I have got to the point where I’m beginning to wonder if it can actually help me. I struggle so much to focus and to get my mind to calm and settle. I’m wondering if meditation is particularly difficult for autistic people.

Has anyone on here had much success with meditation? And if so - what kind of meditation practice did you use? I’d really appreciate some advice on this. Part of me feels that I might as well give up with it because all that’s happening now is that I feel like a failure for not benefiting from something that so many other people say is so wonderful. 
Thanks :) 

Parents

  • As some of the others have said, I find focusing on a single activity much more useful.

    Personally I really dislike guided meditations, they tend to leave me feeling overwhelmed and with the urge to throw something at the voice, or if it's on my phone, throw the voice source. 

    I have had more success with number and breath based things (I use 4-2-6 breathing patterns and that is good for me, both the counting and the deep breathing). Anything involving counting works pretty well for me.

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  • As some of the others have said, I find focusing on a single activity much more useful.

    Personally I really dislike guided meditations, they tend to leave me feeling overwhelmed and with the urge to throw something at the voice, or if it's on my phone, throw the voice source. 

    I have had more success with number and breath based things (I use 4-2-6 breathing patterns and that is good for me, both the counting and the deep breathing). Anything involving counting works pretty well for me.

Children
  • in reply to Fibonacci Squid

    Hi - thank you - I’ve tried a lot of guided meditations - some of them are terrible and sometimes just amusing - so I can understand your reaction! People say ‘try meditation’ but there are so many options that it’s actually quite confusing and a very mixed bag (in my experience anyway!). 
    M unfortunately focussing on breathing is a problem for me due to a health condition/trauma related to breathing - so that rules out a lot of the options. Counting though - I hadn’t thought of that. Interesting. I’m really glad it’s been helpful for you - all help is good that’s for sure! As I get older I find the anxiety I’ve always struggled with is getting worse if anything - and if I’m to survive I need to reduce it because it makes life almost unbearable at times. Both myself and my son are 100% tired of the idea that autism is a ‘superpower’ - we are too worn out and exhausted to think of it as that anymore! We have no support (other than from my husband who is so great) and everyday feels like a struggle a lot of the time - but I’ve found Buddhism to be a very hopeful thing in my life. I’ve been watching loads of Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village videos on YouTube and they are so gentle and helpful. I feel I can really connect with them and they make sense to me in a way our own mainstream U.K. culture and society doesn’t. I feel so alienated by what’s around me in the U.K. - the capitalism, the aggression, the pressure put on everyone. 
    Thank you for your help :)