[NeuroDiverse] Autism/ADHD and meditation practice

[Ryker]

Now this can go for any mental condition that makes concentration or "just doing" difficult/different, but how do u manage?


For me, I can't turn off my brain, that doesn't mean I can't relax it's just that I'm constantly thinking about something, and keeping my eyes closed is hard but I think that's the ADHD.

A note about Autism: it's a spectrum so will impact everyone differently regarding symptoms.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Nengei]

Hi Ryker,

I am going to suggest working your way through these excellent tours of shikantaza, our way of just sitting: https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/foru...-FOR-NEW-FOLKS

There are lots of good suggestions and advice in there from our teacher, Jundo.

Sometimes a sitting period is almost an hour. Sometimes it is 20 minutes. Sometimes it is 2 minutes, or less! It helped me to work up to longer sitting periods, in a no-rush manner. Every bit of shikantaza is perfect and complete, the fulfillment of all of our practice. I might think "That wasn't a good sit." But I am wrong there. It was exactly what it was, fully shikantaza.

Maybe try setting a standard sit time. If you are new to shikantaza, maybe 5 minutes is a good sit time, or even 2. Do that for a few weeks. Then bump it up by 2 minutes, or 5 minutes, and do that for a while.

20 or 25 minutes is a good place to settle in for daily practice, but by the time you are doing that, you'll have a good idea of how you want things to go.

I'm old AF, and just beginning to explore my own ADHD and autism with my doctor, but I fully recognize how challenging it made zazen in my early years of practice. I started with quite a bit of breath-focused work. After years of practice, I still struggle with my mind exploding off in every direction, and have to remember to drop thinking, stop thinking, let my body and mind fall away. People sitting in practice only look like they are not working at it, but really, we all are. You are doing just fine.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

If you would, always try to sit a little, so when you post you can write "sat today."

[Ryker]

Hi Ryker,

I am going to suggest working your way through these excellent tours of shikantaza, our way of just sitting: https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/foru...-FOR-NEW-FOLKS

There are lots of good suggestions and advice in there from our teacher, Jundo.

Sometimes a sitting period is almost an hour. Sometimes it is 20 minutes. Sometimes it is 2 minutes, or less! It helped me to work up to longer sitting periods, in a no-rush manner. Every bit of shikantaza is perfect and complete, the fulfillment of all of our practice. I might think "That wasn't a good sit." But I am wrong there. It was exactly what it was, fully shikantaza.

Maybe try setting a standard sit time. If you are new to shikantaza, maybe 5 minutes is a good sit time, or even 2. Do that for a few weeks. Then bump it up by 2 minutes, or 5 minutes, and do that for a while.

20 or 25 minutes is a good place to settle in for daily practice, but by the time you are doing that, you'll have a good idea of how you want things to go.

I'm old AF, and just beginning to explore my own ADHD and autism with my doctor, but I fully recognize how challenging it made zazen in my early years of practice. I started with quite a bit of breath-focused work. After years of practice, I still struggle with my mind exploding off in every direction, and have to remember to drop thinking, stop thinking, let my body and mind fall away. People sitting in practice only look like they are not working at it, but really, we all are. You are doing just fine.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

If you would, always try to sit a little, so when you post you can write "sat today."

Thank you I will work thru that post actually now
And oh wow reading that it can be even 2-5 mins (and still be a valid sit) as a start makes it much more manageable, I figured a start of 10-15 minutes would be a bit too hard right away so that makes it way more doable for right now, and then I can move on up to longer sits.

I am glad u are exploring with a doctor, it absolutely opened my eyes to what I was experiencing.That is good to know, everyone else seemed to have it "all together" so I felt so nervous to even start even what should be a simple task.

From now on I'll make sure to sit and lay before posting, even if that means not posting till hours after I am up if I haven't done either.

Thank you so so much, Nengei
PS. Apologies for not doing all this before posting a bunch [emoji28] 🪷

Gasshō [emoji120]

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Onki]

Now this can go for any mental condition that makes concentration or "just doing" difficult/different, but how do u manage?


For me, I can't turn off my brain, that doesn't mean I can't relax it's just that I'm constantly thinking about something, and keeping my eyes closed is hard but I think that's the ADHD.

A note about Autism: it's a spectrum so will impact everyone differently regarding symptoms.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Hi Ryker,

Please take what I am about to say with a grain of salt as I am a Priest in Training.

When I first started sitting many years ago, I was able to sit for 5 minutes at a time. And boy, did that 5 minutes feel like a lifetime!

In my experience, I have slowly increased the amount of time sitting. As mentioned above, 5 minutes was what I could do at the time and that was okay. I would sit 5 minutes for an amount of time and gradually increase the amount of time I would sit. This can be done slowly, such as adding one or two minutes at a time. Do not rush this process. I would rush, end up feeling overwhelmed, and sometimes stop sitting for a time. I’m still learning that there is not a specific amount of time that one must sit Zazen. If you can sit for 30 minutes, awesome. If you can sit 5 minutes in the beginning, that’s cool too.

Go slowly and gently.

Gasshō,

On

Sat today/LAH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ryker]

Hi Ryker,

Please take what I am about to say with a grain of salt as I am a Priest in Training.

When I first started sitting many years ago, I was able to sit for 5 minutes at a time. And boy, did that 5 minutes feel like a lifetime!

In my experience, I have slowly increased the amount of time sitting. As mentioned above, 5 minutes was what I could do at the time and that was okay. I would sit 5 minutes for an amount of time and gradually increase the amount of time I would sit. This can be done slowly, such as adding one or two minutes at a time. Do not rush this process. I would rush, end up feeling overwhelmed, and sometimes stop sitting for a time. I’m still learning that there is not a specific amount of time that one must sit Zazen. If you can sit for 30 minutes, awesome. If you can sit 5 minutes in the beginning, that’s cool too.

Go slowly and gently.

Gasshō,

On

Sat today/LAH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey thank you so much!
I have another question and figured I'd ask it now despite not having sat today yet just since I don't want to come off as if I'm ignoring everyone...

(Haven't been able to due to work and well being extremely overwhelmed last few days..Been hell)

But, say if I can only do say 5 mins at a time, should I not join zazen zoom sessions for example till I can do it longer?

Sorry for the long post, hope ur day is good

Gasshō, Ryker

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Geika]

But, say if I can only do say 5 mins at a time, should I not join zazen zoom sessions for example till I can do it longer?

If you like, you could join without a camera and mute your microphone, and sit off and on to your degree of comfort without anybody being disturbed by your coming and going.


stlah

[Ryker]

If you like, you could join without a camera and mute your microphone, and sit off and on to your degree of comfort without anybody being disturbed by your coming and going.


stlah

That is such a good idea! Thank you so much, least I would want to do is disturb anyone else

Thank you Geika.

Gasshō, Ryker [emoji120] 🪷

Lah

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk