How Your Posture Can Influence Your Emotions - Tips for Autistics

 

How Your Posture Can Influence Your Emotions -  Tips for Autistics

Did you know that the way you sit or stand can impact how you feel? Research by Peper and Lin (2012) has shown that adopting certain body positions can significantly influence your emotional state. For example, sitting upright can boost your mood and energy levels, while slouching can make you feel more down or even depressed.

Why This Matters for Autistics

For many autistics, understanding and managing emotions can be a unique challenge. However, becoming aware of how body posture affects feelings can be a simple yet effective tool for emotional regulation.

Here’s how posture can help:

• Boost Mood: Standing or sitting up straight can naturally elevate your mood and increase your energy levels.
• Manage Emotions: When feeling anxious or low, adjusting your posture to a more upright position can help improve your emotional state.
• Easy to Implement: This strategy doesn’t require any special equipment or training. Just being mindful of your posture can make a difference!

Quick Tips to Try:

• Check Your Posture: Throughout the day, notice if you’re slouching. Straighten up to see if it changes how you feel.
• Practice Mindfulness: Engage in activities like stretching or gentle yoga to improve body awareness and posture.
• Encourage Awareness: Have people around you check in on you and perhaps gently remind you about posture as a tool for emotional management. 

By paying attention to your body position, you can take control of your emotional well-being in a simple and effective way. Give it a try and see how a small change in posture can make a big difference!

Peper, E., & Lin, I. (2012). Increase or decrease depression: How body postures influence your energy level. Biofeedback, 40(3), 125-130.- They found that an upright posture can promote a more positive mood and energy levels, while a slumped posture can lead to increased feelings of depression.

Ubuntu

I came across this word today in our Public Voice Fellowship Training. 

Ubuntu as a framework has so many things that apply to autism advocacy, research, inclusivity, belonging, and the need for increasing knowledge and solutions in the autism space. More specifically I want to highlight. 

• Community-based approach to support autistics and their families.
• Emphasis on empathy and understanding, belonging and inclusivity
• Collaboration and cooperation which means working together to increase knowledge and solutions across the autism space instead of this conflict and undermining that is going on. We can find solutions for everyone, its not a one-size fits all. 

Ubuntu is the "I" in the "We"

Ubuntu is a philosophy that originated in Southern Africa, particularly among the Bantu peoples of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. It is a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and the importance of community, compassion, and respect for others.

At its core, the philosophy of Ubuntu is based on the idea that a person is a person through other people. Its the "I" in the "We." 

This means that individuals are not defined by their own accomplishments or achievements, but by their relationships with others and their contributions to the community. In other words, one's sense of self is deeply tied to their interactions with others and their ability to make a positive impact on the world around them.

Ubuntu also emphasizes the importance of compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. It encourages individuals to see the humanity in others, to treat everyone with respect and kindness, and to forgive others for their mistakes. This is based on the belief that everyone is connected, and that we are all responsible for creating a more just and equitable world.

Autism after 21 Day

Does Autism Magic away in adulthood?

Where are there pediatric Autism Clinics in all hospitals but no Adult Autism Clinics?

Why is there a Services Cliff at Age 21, when any services (even if they are inadequate) received during childhood comes to an abrupt end with no replacement or continuation of supports and services. 

IDEA protection end, with no equivalent replacements and supports

There is URGENT NEED for translatable solutions and supports for the ever increasing numbers of autistic adults. 

End of IDEA protection afforded during the Ed years. The yellow school bus stops coming. 

• Approx 1/3 of autistics who got access to mainstream ed  are put on a diploma track in high school and have the opportunity to make their way to 2/ 4 college, at age 18. They join the swelling ranks of other late-dx autistics and face challenges and barriers that come with adulthood. 
• Almost 2/3 of autistics who are dx in childhood remain in the special education all through their ed years. 
• At age 18, they get another 4 years of what is called Post Secondary Program; located either in segregated facilities/schools, in the school district itself or more recently as programs run on university campuses so they happen in the same space as college-aged peers; though the programming may be different. At the end of the programming, they receive a Certification of Completion.  
• IDEA protections end at this point. This is also the services cliff where all previous services.
• Their options are a series of adult day programs, upto age 50 and then 50+ years. These day programs again have a range of quality - from real job coaching to mere babysitting but there is far less state oversight of quality. There is a shortage of good programs. And as usual, much like special education itself, programs only want the "easy autistics". So where do the rest go? 
• This is a HUGE problem, as families are suddenly handed back their adult child and told to go figure out what to do, from caretaking to daytime programming to housing and staffing, funding to figuring out pretty much everything. Many YA autistics have signifiant medical and other communication needs which can get aggravated with age with no real supports. The onus pretty much falls to the family to figure out what to do. 

• The challenges faced compound for autistics who have higher support needs yet had somehow managed to access mainstream education and even make it to college. Its like straddling two world, as they face barriers in both world - neither of which knows how to support you or wants to include you. Its almost assumed you must be in one of the other other. I have to question this assumption. Instead why can we find solutions?
• Some of these barriers and challenges are unique to each space while others are common across the spectrum. The point being that adulthood in autism is not easy and we need to be thinking of solutions that helps each group and across the board. 

Noise Cancelling Headphones and Autism

Noise Cancelling Headphones are often seen as the solution to sensory overstimulation in autistics. 

Pop on a pair of headphones. And Voila, the autistic problem is solved like magic (sarcasm intended).

Are they really the solution they are touted to be? The answer may surprise you. 

A Highly Sensitive Person

A Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) 

"Sensitivity is a heightened 'ability to .... to one’s environment'"

"I often complain about sounds, smells, or tastes that don’t seem to bother those around me..

Does that sound like Deja vu for the sensory overstimulated autistic?  

Read more in this Greater Good Science Center article.

Feb 17 is Random Act of Kindness Day

 Saw this on Canva. Did not know that there was a day. But a good thought nonetheless. 

Hill Visit Training Webinar

 

These Hill Visits are super impactful. 

Making a virtual visit to your legislator is the most impactful way to make your concerns known. You can virtually meet with your federal legislators to ask them to ban the use of electric shock devices for behavior modification in this year’s end of year omnibus bill! 

 

Learn how to meet with your federal legislators online with our Virtual Hill Visit training! Join us tonight at 7pm EST for a Hill Visit training webinar (Link 1). We’ll go over scripts and tips to take the fight to the Hill and meet with your legislators face-to-face. We’ll also roleplay an example scenario so you can see in real time what it is like to speak with your members of Congress.

 

Register here or tune in on YouTube. (Link 2)

 

Then join us on Wednesday, December 7th (Link 3) for our virtual Hill Day! In order to meet with your legislators on the 7th, you should reach out NOW to schedule something. Check out our guide to learn how to set up a meeting! (Link 4)

1. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r1UlilUwRFSefT2y2o1NVw?emci=8f18adc8-806a-ed11-ade6-14cb65342cd2&emdi=84350b61-2d6f-ed11-819c-00224825858d&ceid=7856333

2. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r1UlilUwRFSefT2y2o1NVw?emci=8f18adc8-806a-ed11-ade6-14cb65342cd2&emdi=84350b61-2d6f-ed11-819c-00224825858d&ceid=7856333

3. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_TYP1RDq76UnlVtSUxCmtA

4. https://autisticadvocacy.org/virtualhillguide/?emci=8f18adc8-806a-ed11-ade6-14cb65342cd2&emdi=84350b61-2d6f-ed11-819c-00224825858d&ceid=7856333

@harisri108 #Redefine_the_Table #autism #belonging

Hanging with friends

 

Hanging out with friends at Siddhu's birthday

Supports, Skills & Society - Integral Adult Autism Conference

Keynote at this conference. 

https://integralautism.org/presenters

 

The Happiness Advantage

I'm reading "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor and wanted to pen my thoughts on it as I read along. And I'm taking the Happiness Advantage DeCal.

Watch this space for updates as I read more

Introduction: 

I would title this Waiting to be Happy, which kind of reminded me in a strange way of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Essentially Acher says we are living milestone to milestone, in the false sense of belief that next milestone will bring us happiness. We think happiness follows success but the reality is the opposite. 

Discovering the Happiness Advantage

In this chapter the author writes of how he saw Harvard as a privilege that can open doors, yet many students lose sight of that, complaining incessantly about the workload. In contrast are the children of Soweto township, a majority of whom loved schoolwork, as many were the first in their family to even get schooling. 

I can personally relate. Berkeley is a privilege that I truly cherish and appreciate. The privilege comes with workload, but isn't that to be expected if you go to a top university.  I was starved of education till age 12. I was in a special education classroom that still taught me kindergarten level skills even at age 12. It was never expected I would get exposure to mainstream academics, get a high school diploma, let alone a college education.  College, and that too Berkeley is a privilege, which adds to my self-esteem, my self-confidence, my dignity. It will open different doors, that are closed in special education. So workload is just a one part of the glorious education. Education itself is a privilege. For this starving mind, the search for knowledge can never end.

Berkeley is my magical place, my Hogwarts and a bonus is that it is the birthplace of the Disability Rights Movement. I look beyond the workload to appreciate the high quality of teaching and the way it expands my perspectives in my world view, how it helps me grow personally, and how it nudges me in my future life towards working on social justice issues and hopefully making into reality positive societal changes too. 

I liked how Acher termed Positive Psychology as "what makes people thrive and excel" rather than bringing the focus on the unhappy and bringing them back to normal.  

I also feel for instance that Autism/Disability is treated as a deficit model which is very devaluing to the autistic. Team meetings during my elementary years  of ABA therapy for instance was invariably dominated with a litany of all that I WOULD NOT or COULD NOT do. Wouldn't it be nice if the child, (who is usually present in these meetings to demonstrate said lack of skill) could also hear a litany of what they CAN DO as well. There are going to be areas that we may never catch up on or never learn. Yet in other areas we may just outstrip our NT peers. It is going to be hard to be average. 

A parallel to Acher's "Cult of the Average" in the autism space is meeting the milestone of "age-appropriate behavior," which in itself is a moving target as society shifts attitudes. 

As Acher's points out we are starved of happiness since we are so focused on the negatives whether it's from external news or internal ourselves. Our brains have been crammed with facts and theory but not how to "maximize the brain's potential to find meaning and happiness".

7 principles

1. Happiness Advantage
2. Fulcrum & Lever
3. Tetris Effect
4. Falling Up
5. Zorro Circle
6. 20 second rule
7. Social Investment

Clarifications, not Mistakes

Clarifications, Not Mistakes. 

“Let us start thinking of mistakes as clarifications.

Life is never a straight line even for NTs. When you are autistic & that too nonspeaking, making mistakes will be inevitable - there are very few role models or navigation maps to follow.

So not only are we on Robert Frost’s less travelled road, but we often have to create this road from scratch. What all this means is that, we are going to not just make mistakes, but a ton of mistakes too.

When you think of mistakes as clarifications, it's a chance hopefully, to backtrack a bit, adjust a bit, and get back in there” 

-Hari Srinivasan @ ASAN’s “Transitions to Adulthood” Panel, Nov 2020

Creative Workarounds and Silver Linings

 

https://www.neuronav.org/post/creative-workarounds-and-silver-linings

A reflection for the NeuroNav newsletter

Your health is as safe as that of the worst-insured

 Your health is as safe as that of the worst-insured.

The Anion needs to go on (Va)Cation

The Anion needs to go on (Va)Cation

Negative charge, the electrons latch on

Mood deteriorates, ionic bond

I am an anion that needs to go on (va)cation

Hang at the transition metal hotel

Sail continents and be a noble gas

A full valence shell, Non-reactive

That’s  (neuro)chemical Equanimity!

ok, this is a chemistry poem.  Taking Honors Chemistry this year, so this poem was bound to happen!
In case chemistry seems like a dim entity, here's a layman's explanation of some of the terms used. 
 Atoms have equal numbers of positive charge protons and negative charge electrons.Atoms can gain or lose electrons in order to form bonds with other elements. Usually they do this in order to complete their electron shells. When an atom loses electrons, it has a net positive charge -  called a Cation. On the flip side, when an atom gains electrons, it has a net negative charge  - called a Anion.
Noble gases have full outer (valence) electron shells so don't feel the need to react. So they are considered pretty stable.
Transition metals are a group of metals kind of positioned in the middle of the periodic table. 

  

A Hyphenated American in the nth Dimension

I am an “Indian-American;” a hyphenated-American in a land of millions of other hyphenated-Americans. Even the original inhabitants, the “Native-Americans,” have not escaped the hyphen.  Over the years the hyphen has become a proud celebration of the American in us and cultural heritage that we add to its salad mix. 

Choose Happiness

Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." In other words, our personal level of satisfaction is entirely within our control. Otherwise, why would the same experience disappoint one person but delight another? Happiness is not an accident but a choice. 

Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy?

===============

Is a glass half empty or half full? Both refer to the same glass of water with the same amount of water, Yet the word empty seems to infer some measure of dis-satisfaction in that something is "lacking".  Half-full on the other hand is far more positive, almost implying there is room for growth, that the glass could be full.

Our attitudes and perceptions does determine our state of happiness to a large extent. Life is filled with both suffering and joy. These are unavoidable axioms of life. It's how we choose to handle these situations, that matters. Happiness and sorrow are relative states. One can never truly appreciate happiness or a state of satisfaction without experiencing sorrow.

The Buddha spent years meditating under the Bodhi Tree pondering these very questions. He stated that there is suffering in human life and that you need to understand its causes. Ultimately it's your state of mind, that can help you overcome it. He expounded that we need to maintain a state of equanimity - one where suffering and joy has no effect on you whatsoever.

This state of perfect equanimity may be a challenge for most folk of today. But we can choose not to drown in the sorrows that life throws our way.

Look at my own life. My autism affects me in so many aspects of my life. Not being able to talk or having full control of my body is frustrating on a daily basis and many a time I do sink. But I also have so many other talents and the potential to make a difference in my life and that of others. This attitude has to be a conscious choice in order to make our life meaningful and productive.

We can choose to see the fullness of our life instead of its emptiness. We can choose to be happy!