I’m Fascinated by the Movements of Others

Gracie:

I’m fascinated by the movements of others. Subconscious as they may be, however, I’m sure it serves a purpose. In particular I’m fascinated by the movements of those with autism. The way they position their body, and move in a so called ‘spastic’ way. I’ve been paying extra attention this week to try to understand what is the reasoning. I feel as though two things are happening: self regulation and energy release. This is interesting to me because these two things are what I am constantly and consciously trying to achieve. By noticing it so obviously in my students, I am able to be more aware of how much it is needed for myself too, especially in this line of work.
We all need to self regulate, and we all need to release energy. It just looks different in every person.

For example, I often play the drums for no other reason than to release energy. For someone with Autism, jumping, flapping, and blowing out air in an exaggerated way seems to be serving the purpose of releasing energy within the body, therefore resulting in a way to self regulate. I think it’s amazing that someone can release energy all day long. Whereas for myself, I hold energy all day long, or all week long, or all season long, and have to release it either through unwanted means like a migraine, or wanted, like yoga or deep breathing exercises. My student does not have a tense muscle in his body, ironically because these movements are whole body and require a lot of muscle use. I believe it has something to do with the on going release of energy throughout the day with his ‘spastic’ body movements. So today, every time my student jumped up, bounced around or amazingly runs full speed for about 3 feet, I reminded myself to take that time to either stretch or deep breathe myself.

Sabine:

That is a super interesting topic and perception ! And I am amazed that this boy has no tense muscle in his being. Esp. since I am super tense and I started to understand that the tension was accumulated stress and energy only a short while ago. And I know I can be a sponge for other people’s energy, plus I just recently had really great aha moments with stretching my body. So wow, this share brings it altogether in one and adds some more. Thank you !!

I don’t know too much about autism, but I believe that people with all kinds of disabilities (esp. the ones that make them behave so very differently than “healthy” people) who are so easily labeled “second quality” by our society actually are way more advanced in their inner most being and are doing a great service to us “normal healthy” people that most of us wouldn’t be able to do.

Amber:

This is great!  I grew up with a mother who was a teacher/councilor at my school.  She worked with many kids with autism etc.  I always met her in her class after school to catch a ride home (we lived in the middle of nowhere) and so I was able to “take in” a lot about how these kids moved at that time.  I always found it fascinating and wanted to understand better where as other young kids were scared.  I totally see what you are saying about that release.  Scream, run, jump pull hair and then total calm.  These kids were some of the most calm and caring kids I had been around after letting go.  I have taught quite a few  autistc children on horses and I love how they seem to connect with the animals faster than anyone else.  It seems to settle them so much that I’ve thought long and hard about why this happens.  I’m thinking maybe it’s the same idea.  Maybe they are able to release through the horse and therefor easier for them to control the movements and stay up on the horse.  I have never felt uptight while up top a horse.  I am always looking for ways to release in a positive way.  I also get migraine’s.  I think I just need to ride more.  🙂

Adrienne:

Brilliant. I really believe autism is here to heal us all. People frown when I say that, but what you describe here makes so much sense to me in that regard. I too hold a ton of energy – my own, my environment, the people around me. It hangs around in me as just a general tension; parts of me never relax. You’re so right, autistic people are always moving. I can definitely take that example to heart too.