Meditation has a tonne of documented benefits for all types of people, but unfortunately it's not always taught in a way that suits neurodivergent brains. But because there is such a huge range of wonderful and unique brains, every single person will have a different set of needs and strategies! In this post, we talk about some common strategies that you can use to springboard your own exploration into what works for you!
As an ADHDer, yoga teacher, and mental health professional, I've come across so many neurodivergent people who want to try meditation or yoga, but have struggled to find a way to make it accessible. I'm always learning and talking to people about their experiences, so if you would like to get in touch and share your meditation tips or struggles, please feel free to reach out via the website or our social media.
There are ENDLESS ways to make meditation work for you, but here are some tips to get you started!
1. Meet your sensory needs
What does your sensory profile tell you? Does your brain and body need more input, or less? Some people lean more towards sensory seeking or sensory avoiding, but it can also very much depend on how you feel in the moment.
One meditation technique that is quite common is called "5 Senses Grounding", and it's a personal favourite of mine (leaning toward sensory seekng myself). But once I was chatting to a student who said that they found it quite overwhelming to focus all their attention on their senses, because all that extra input led to a sensory overload! This is why it's always important to be curious about what you need, and to find ways to meet or communicate those needs.
Another comment I've heard quite a few times is that meditation can feel quite triggering if you are left alone with your thoughts. In this situation, it may be less of a sensory need, and more of an attention management strategy we're after. Perhaps our aim is to find an anchor that allows our mind to rest without spiralling into distressing thoughts, and then having some strategies to recognise those thoughts and to be able to redirect or break the meditation.
Here are some practical strategies that may help:
Try using headphones with brown noise in the background or that are completely noise canceling.
You may prefer a meditation that is guided all the way through, rather than leaving quiet spaces
Add some weight on top of your body for grounding (like a blanket or sandbags)
Wear the right kind of clothes, either something tight and compressing, or something loose and non-restrictive, depending on your needs
Bring along a comfort item like a toy or a blanket if it helps you feel safe and connected
2. MOVE
Sitting still can be hard for some bodies! Whether you stim, fidget, wriggle, or rock, meditation does not have to be still. Suppressing stims can actually end up revving up your nervous system instead of allowing it to settle, which is not what we want during a meditation!
Obviously when you're meditating alone, you can go nuts with whatever movement comes naturally to you. But in a group class where you don't want to disrupt others too much, you may need a more subtle strategy. Here are some ideas:
Try walking meditations, where you focus on the feeling of your feet pressing into the ground
Use fidget toys like playdough, spinners, cubes, or whatever else you enjoy using (for group classes, err on the side of the quiet ones that won't snap or rattle)
If you don't have any physical items to stim with, try opening and closing your hands in time with your breath to give your brain another thing to focus on
Find some rythm by rocking or moving your body in a repetitive motion
Practice informal mindfulness throughout your day by bringing present moment awareness into other tasks, like brushing your teeth or driving your car
3. Plan for your thoughts
If you have the kind of brain that is always buzzing with the next hot new idea, meditation might be a time when you seem to have EVERY GOOD IDEA YOU'VE EVER HAD running through your head. And you need to write it down right this second otherwise you'll forget. So you get up to find a pen and notebook, or even more dangerously, pick up your phone to take a note or google something and suddenly you're sprawled on the floor 10 Wikipedia pages deep (just me? Oops).
To plan for this, try keeping an old-fashioned notepad next to you to brain dump anything you don't want to forget, and then come back to focus. Or, you could hit voice record when you start meditating and say the ideas out loud as they pop into your head. Then, let the thought move on and invite your awareness back to your anchor (like your breath, body, visualisation, etc.), as many times as you need to.
The point is not to dwell on the thought or idea, and rather use this as a strategy to get it out of your head, assured that you won't forget it later. If this ends up spiralling your thoughts into even more ideas, maybe this isn't the strategy for you, and there's something else that might work better.
4. Patience and Self-Compassion
There is no such thing as being "bad" at meditation
You will probably not feel super confident meditating straight away, and it may even be a frustrating or overwhelming process. That is not the same as being "bad" at something. There is no yardstick for what makes a "good" meditator because it looks so different for everyone. So, let go of "good" and "bad", and let it work for you. You're not required to sit perfectly still for 20 minutes every day with a completely empty and serene mind to say that you meditate. Embrace the messiness and be kind to yourself anyway!
Meditation isn't about pushing through and hating it (and yourself) the whole time. Sometimes the most self-compassionate thing we can do when we're feeling overwhelmed or triggered is to stop the meditation session. Later, you can reflect on what wasn't working and think about strategies, but in the moment, your top priority is to care for yourself and spend time meeting your needs. It may take some trial and error to figure out what works, and that is a-okay.
Can I use these strategies in a Bumblebee Yoga class?
You ABSOLUTELY can! We try to make our spaces as welcoming and accessible as possible, but because everyone's needs are so unique, the teacher will probably not know right off the bat which strategy will work for you. Have a chat to the teacher, or shoot us a message, and we can do some collaborative problem solving to see which strategies we can try.
The culture we try to create in our classes is all about inclusion and non-judgement. We have lots of students who use different tools to make the classes more accessible to them in different ways, so you aren't likely to get any raised eyebrows if you're doing something a little different. Different is what we do here!
If you're keen to try out a class, we're based in Adelaide, South Australia. You can check out the classes currently on offer here or check out our online class library here!