Autism and mindfulness

Every day, you react, feel, and do things without thinking about them.

The practice of mindfulness helps you to stop and focus on your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and the things around you, from the sensation of sitting on a chair to the smells in the air.

When practicing mindfulness, you accept how and what you are feeling and thinking in that moment without judging yourself, your behaviour, your thoughts, or emotions.

A simple five-minute mindfulness session added to your daily or weekly routine can have a number of positive effects on your mental and physical wellbeing.

Some of these can include:

Mental health

The practice of mindfulness helps you to become more aware of your feelings and thoughts. So, instead of being overwhelmed, you can learn to manage your thoughts and feelings better.

Managing emotions and reactions

Being more self-aware, can help you to identify what causes you to feel a certain way. Understanding this can help you to be better prepared to manage your reactions and, if needed, create strategies to help you to cope better.

Calmness

Mindfulness can help to calm your mind and reduce feelings of panic and anxiety. This can be particularly helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

The ‘happy hormone’

Being aware of how you are feeling and accepting these feelings helps to promote a sense of calmness. This signals the brain to release dopamine, a chemical that makes you feel happy.

Improve sleep

Feeling calm and relaxed allows the body and mind to go into a deeper sleep faster, giving you a more peaceful and restorative sleep.

Take some time to focus on yourself and try a quick mindfulness session. This could be a mindfulness colouring exercise or, if you prefer, here is a link to a session from Headspace.

If you’re having thoughts about harming yourself or suicide, it’s important to speak to someone; here are a few places that can help;

• SHOUT, the UK’s first 24/7 crisis text service, provides free, confidential, 24/7 text message support in the UK for anyone who is struggling to cope. Text SHOUT to 85258. This service is free on all major mobile networks, for anyone in crisis, anytime.
• Childline– for children and young people under 19. Call 0800 1111 – the number will not show up on your phone bill

How to get help

If you have any more questions on this area or would like to speak to somebody about this topic, have a look at the links or search for your local services in the blue box below. Alternatively, you can always contact your school nurse.

• w: Mind- Mindfulness
  
• w: NHS- Mindfulness
  
• w: Autism Space - Autism and mindfulness