Autism and the Role of the Flow State and NeuroSomatic Flow™ in Helping to Regulate Emotions and Nurturing a Sense of Self-Worth
By Ruth Elliot-Booth
Sacred Scholarship Video Presentation & Paper
NaiAsa Institute NeuroSomatic Flow™ Teacher Training
Introduction
In this paper I explore the role that the Flow State, specifically NeuroSomatic Flow™, may have in helping to regulate emotions and nurture a sense of self-worth in autistic people. At 34 I found out that I was autistic, which was both a huge shock and a huge relief. Lots of autistic women particularly receive late diagnosis for a variety of reasons, but this means that a lot of us go through a large portion of our lives not knowing ourselves properly, or understanding why things are so difficult. In my personal experience, I see how this huge missing piece has resulted in a variety of physical and mental health problems that I am now left trying to manage. I am particularly interested in the fact that Monotropism, otherwise known as hyper-focused behaviours, experienced by a lot of neurodivergent people, are extremely similar to the Flow State that neurotypical people spend a lot of time and effort trying to reach, yet this and other ND behaviours, such as stimming, are frowned upon or repressed by the world we live in. I am interested to explore whether NeuroSomatic Flow™, particularly NeuroSomatic Flow Techniques™, and their intentional goal to retrain our brains and thought-patterns, may help a large amount of autistic people in feeling more comfortable in their own bodies and minds, and help them to be more resilient in the way they overcome traumatic and stressful events. I also suspect that it will help with their experience of pain and discomfort, allowing them to feel more empowered and in control of something that often feels overwhelming and out of control. It is my hope that this will ultimately allow more autistic people to reach their full potentials and live happier lives.
N.B. I will be using 'autism' and 'neurodivergence' (ND) interchangeably throughout this paper, although ND can be used to describe a much larger, more diverse group of people with brains that develop and work differently to others, I use it here in the context of comparing it to neurotypical (NT) people and a neurotypical society - i.e. a society that was created and caters for neurotypical people, rather than neurodiverse people.
Anxiety, Trauma & Mental Illness in the Autistic Population
A recent survey by the National Autistic Society found that 59% of autistic people were highly impacted by anxiety, which affected their ability to live a more functional day to day life. Anxiety in this population can lead to exhaustion, meltdowns, autistic fatigue and burnout. With higher levels of anxiety, comes less capacity and resilience to deal with other things that may be overwhelming or overstimulating. Many autistic people experience problems with social situations and sensory environments, which increase stress and anxiety. It is thought that about a quarter of the general population have problems with their mental health at some point during their life, but in the autistic population this number is much higher, with almost 80% suffering with mental health issues (autistica.org.uk).
Research also suggests that autistic people are more likely to experience traumatic life events, and as a result are more likely to report symptoms of PTSD - 32-45% in ND, rather than 4-4.5% in NT (autism.org.uk). This could be for a variety of reasons, but emotional regulation, sensory sensitivities and distress around change are some of the most common. It means that for some autistic people quite normal events will set off a trauma response within themselves, due to the fact that they experience it in a more intense and distressing way than the NT population. As you can imagine, this has the potential to make the world a really scary and stressful place to exist in for autistic people. The majority of the autistic population feel unsupported by society on many different levels, and responsibility is placed on the individual to find ways to manage their more difficult autistic traits and learn to live in a society made for neurotypicals. This can be seen in the lack of ongoing support offered by GP's and by employers to offer adequate adjustments in the workplace to allow autistic people to function to the best of their abilities.
The Impact of Stress on the Body & Brain
Due to the fact that autistic people deal with stress on a much more profound scale than the majority of the population, we can also make the assumption that this has an effect on their physical and mental health, as seen above in the mental health statistics.
Our stress regulation system develops when we are infants. When the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis (HPA axis) doesn't work efficiently, instead of the body automatically lowering the production of cortisol, it takes longer to turn off, meaning that stress is heightened for longer periods of time. There is suggestion that a lack of love and nurture in early life causes this system to develop in this way. I wonder if the brain makes the assumption that safety is not to be relied on and thus heightens the response to stress, so that the person in question is more likely to survive. Of course, in our modern society, there are less physical threats to our survival, but the brain doesn't make that nuanced realisation, and so perceived threats will also fall into this category and cause an extreme and prolonged stress response. For a lot of autistic people, eye contact can be particularly difficult and even painful to force, and this can be seen early on in infancy. This form of early connection is really important in nurturing a sense of safety and love between the child and caregiver. Because of this, it is my belief that if the child is autistic and struggling to keep eye contact, this could have an effect on the way the HPA axis develops, thus causing heightened levels of stress for longer periods of time.
Stress effects our nervous systems and activates the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), commonly referred to as the "Fight, Flight or Freeze" System. When this happens our blood pressure and heart rate rises to prepare us for overcoming the perceived threat. Notably, the immune response also decreases, and this can have a huge impact on our bodies and health when we experience prolonged periods of stress.
Self-Worth in the Autistic Population
Stress, anxiety and trauma can have a direct impact on self-worth and self-esteem. Often external events are internalised as negative self-talk, and this is particularly important to address when talking about autistic and neurodiverse individuals, who often feel like they don't fit in with society. Being judged, and left out, by the society we live in, even in an unconscious way, can result in that judgement being internalised. Many autistic individuals feel broken, bad and unworthy of love and happiness, due to the fact that they feel so different from the rest of society. This low self-worth can negatively impact both self-care and asking for help from others, because we feel like we don't deserve to be cared for, even by ourselves. This can become a really vicious circle that continues on and on, and comes some way to understanding why autistic people struggle so much with their mental health.
Using NeuroSomatic Flow Techniques™ to Improve Self-Worth
Rewriting old stories and thought patterns about ourselves and how we fit into the world are powerful ways to improve self-worth. It can help just to become aware of the things that we are telling ourselves inside our own heads, as these are often unconscious, but there are other things we can do to help the process of rewiring our thoughts.
NeuroSomatic Flow Techniques™ (NSFT) encourage the individual to break old patterns of thought, giving them an opportunity to form new patterns that contain more healthy stories and ways of being. It also helps to restore balance within the nervous system, bringing it back into a Parasympathetic state, which is so important when we are experiencing high levels of prolonged stress. NSFT's help to promote safety within the body and mind which is particularly important for autistic people who so rarely feel safe or secure in themselves, due to low self-worth.
NeuroSomatic Flow Techniques™ require a 5 step process to re-wire and and re-pattern our thoughts:
Identify a fear or limiting belief - e.g. "I am damaged goods and unworthy of being loved by anyone"
Rewrite this limiting belief to become a positive affirmation statement - e.g. "I am not damaged and I am worthy of being loved"
Make this statement into a mantra that is easy to remember and speak out loud. Sometimes this is just a case of tweaking our positive affirmation statement - e.g. rather than saying "I am not damaged", which still focuses on the damaged aspect of our limiting belief, we would say "I am WHOLE and am worthy of love". In this way we simplify our statement, turning it into a declaration that can be easily remembered and spoken out loud.
Bring in a flow pattern, such as a simple circle and pendulum, that can be practised alongside speaking the mantra out loud. This is where the rewiring really takes full effect, and the struggle in learning a new pattern allows us the opportunity to instil a new thought-pattern alongside it. We take time to ground ourselves into the earth and draw some deep breaths in through the nose and releasing out through the mouth. It can be good to centre ourselves and speak our mantra out loud, before we begin to repeat it alongside the pattern. There is an importance here of 'being' in the body and beginning to open up, and allow, the possibility of our mantra being true.
Embodying the NSFT by practising it for 3-7 days, or until the pattern feels comfortable and there is a confidence while speaking our mantra alongside it. It's important to keep a note of any thoughts or feelings that come up during this practice. It may highlight more limiting beliefs that are at work behind the scenes.
My own experience of working with NSFT's has been really powerful. The process of actually writing down the limiting beliefs and then creating a mantra to counter them, feels much more involved and personal than just using a mantra that someone else has created - though there can still be transformation and rewiring to be found there. What I find truly amazing is the moment when you begin to lock in the pattern alongside the mantra. At the beginning, it felt like the most complicated thing that I'd ever tried to do and really felt like I'd never 'get' it. I had created my mantra, but the limiting beliefs were still really strong, so speaking it out loud was really uncomfortable. With practice and commitment, it began to lock in, and as the pattern became easier, I found that I spoke my mantra more clearly and loudly. I began to feel it, embody it and believe it to be true. That is the power of NSFT and the way it can support healing within people.
For many autistic people, self-worth is very low and limiting beliefs are rife. They are often reinforced by the society that we live in; a society that was created for NT people. Because of that, autistic people often feel like they do not fit in, are broken, and will never be able to feel at ease within themselves and society. NSFT's give many autistic people the opportunity to understand the beliefs that are holding them back. They have the potential to create new, more empowering ways of being, and give space for new possibilities to open up in a world that can feel very prison-like for many.
The Role of the Flow State and Monotropism
I also believe that the Flow State, in general, can have positive effects on autistic people. Below, I share the results of my exploration between this and Monotropism and how autistic people seem to be naturally drawn to experiencing Flow States.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines Flow as: 'the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it" (p.4 The Psychology of Optimal Experience).
Monotropism is a "processing style, or way of thinking. Monotropic people tend to focus strongly on a small number of things at a time, and miss things outside of their attention tunnel — or quickly forget things they are no longer focusing on. Autistic people and ADHDers are more likely to be monotropic than others. They might experience some things intensely, and often find it hard to shift their attention from one thing to another. This can result in passionate interests that some people might find unusual." (autismunderstood.co.uk)
As you can see, Flow and Monotropism are comparable in their definitions and this can be taken even further. W. J. Davies (2019) observed that autistic people are sometimes 'puzzled' by the fact that the flow states that Csikszentmihalyi talks about are regarded as difficult to experience, because the autistic experience of complete engagement in an interest fits the definition of flow well. It seems that autistic peoples unique sensory experience of the world means that a greater range of activities have the potential to induce flow, which for NT people may not be of interest (Heasman et al., 2024). It has even been suggested that autistic people seek out flow states as a strategy to ward off 'undesirable experiences of alienation and anomie to improve well-being' (Milton, 2017; G.L. Williams, 2020). This, in itself, is worth exploring more, and shows the potential healing that could be found in encouraging flow states more regularly.
Monotropism seems to make it easier to enter into flow states and opens up more opportunities to do so. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about 4 phases of flow: Struggle, Release, Flow, Recovery. The suggestion is that Struggle and Release are needed to go through, in order to reach the optimal experience of Flow. However, I would argue that for a lot of autistic people, entering the flow state does not need the same level of struggle, instead they come to the activity without the desire for a certain outcome. For some, the act of doing is enough to get into a flow state. An autistic flow state allows the opportunity to shut out large amounts of sensory input, and focus on one thing. This, in turn, supports space to breathe, and also brings order to the chaos. Mihaly talks about the normal state of the mind being chaos: "Entropy is the normal state of consciousness - a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable" (p.119 Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Add in the fact that ND people experience heightened sensory sensitivity, and the foundational level of chaos in the mind is greatly increased. This may go some way to explain why the flow state, or hyper-focus is a way of being that seems to be much more easy to access for ND. It may be that the autistic mind needs this chance to filter out some of the chaos, in order to keep some sense of balance within the mind. It is important to note that I think ND people struggle less with entering the flow state, because a lot of us choose special interests that invite a deeper focus and play into Monotropic behaviours. However, when thinking about encouraging autistic people to take part in a specific exercise like NSFT, this would likely invite the inclusion of all stages of Flow to play out.
In the modality of NeuroSomatic Flow™, props are often used to assist in the rewiring practices. One of the most commonly used props are poi, and one of the great things about them is that you tend to you two at a time; one in each hand. Poi originate from New Zealand and the Maori, and translate to mean 'ball on a cord'. They have been used throughout history to tell stories about creation and the universe, as well as in warrior training for strength and dexterity.
We know that Flow States encourage the nervous system to re-balance, coming back into a Parasympathetic state, and inviting the body and mind to come back to centre. This is particularly true when thinking about flowing with poi, and is one of the reasons why I suspect that it could really help to nurture a sense of peace within autistic people. When we play with poi we use both sides of our brain in more harmony than is usual; add in contralateral movement and the brain works even harder to link the two hemispheres. This opens up more possibility for old patterns to be broken and new ones to be made, as well as taking the focus away from the minds thoughts and bringing it back into the body. The breath is also important and deep, regular breaths encourage our nervous system to sink back into a Parasympathetic state, meaning that our heart rate lowers, we feel calmer, and our immune system begins to work more efficiently. By playing with poi we also encourage movement and exercise, which is known to improve not just physical health, but also mental health. From my own experience, and my experience of other autistic people that I know, many of our autistic flow states and hyper-focus tend to revolve around quite stationary activities. It would therefore be really helpful in promoting some sort of movement-based flow state at least some of the time.
It seems that autistic flow states can be particularly unstructured, in the sense that they are 'autotelic' in nature: "the activity inducing the flow state is undertaken as an end unto itself, as something intrinsically rewarding" (Heasman et al., 2024). It therefore has the potential to become all consuming, and with no clear end goal it has the potential to negatively effect the autistic individual. It has been suggested that although "flow states have a positive role in autistic well-being, [yet] autistic people may also, at times, struggle in managing and exiting them successfully" (Heasman et al., 2024). There is something here in the fact that autistic people can struggle with transitioning between activities, but also that once we are 'in' a flow state it becomes all consuming. I know from my own experience that I can often forget to eat or drink when I'm in a flow state involving writing or creating, and often realise that I am desperate for the toilet - at these times I have to really force myself to exit the activity and do what I need to do, but for some they can find this impossible. Autistic children, for example, often find themselves wetting themselves, because they do not realise they need the toilet when they are hyper-focused on the activity at hand. Because of the intensity of autistic flow states, it is important to address the need for increased periods of rest between flow states, and a carefulness in not slipping back into flow before there has been a period of proper recovery.
Conclusion
It is evident that Flow States are much more easily accessed by autistic people, but also that they are an intrinsically important part of their lives, in order to allow space from the chaos of their minds. I am certain that this can be exploited in a way that is even more beneficial to autistic well-being and promote better physical and mental health within the autistic population.
When we work with peoples natural ways of being, rather than against them, we encourage greater internal safety and trust which, in turn, promotes self-esteem and self-worth. We allow them the possibility that they are exactly who they are supposed to be and that they do not need to change in order to be a part of the society that they live in.
Learning about Flow and being able to practice it in more structured ways with NeuroSomatic Flow and NeuroSomatic Flow Techniques™, has allowed me to target areas of my thought patterns and the stories that I tell myself that are deeply ingrained into my way of being. Being a late diagnosed autistic woman, I have found that there are many layers of masking that have occurred in order for me to attempt to fit into the NT world that I live in. A lot of these masks do not do me any good, and continually reinforce the idea that I am broken and need to change myself to be like other people. NSF and NSFT's have encouraged me to embrace new ways of being and new possibilities and feel more empowered to live a life that's authentic to me. I wish this for all autistic people. By introducing the structure of NSF/NSFT's to the autistic population as a therapeutic tool, I feel that this will have positive and far-reaching effects.
References
Autism.org.uk
Autistica.org.uk
Autismunderstood.co.uk
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Row.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Flow and the foundations of positive psychology. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8
Davies, W. J. (2019). Aural Diversity Conference 2019. Autistic Listening. Retrieved from http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/56380/
Heasman et al., (2024). Towards autistic flow theory: A non-pathologising conceptual approach
McDonnell, A., & Milton, D. (2014). Going with the flow: Reconsidering repetitive behaviour through the concept of flow states (pp. 38–47). Good Autism Practice: Autism, Happiness and Wellbeing. Retrieved from http://kar.kent.ac.uk/62647/
Milton, D. (2017). Zen and the art of aut-ethnography: A tribute to Robert M. Pirsig. Disability & Society, 32(10), 1671–1676. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1368889
Rapaport et al., (2024). "In a State of Flow": A Qualitative Examination of Autistic Adults' Phenomenological Experiences of Task Immersion
Williams, G. L. (2020). From anonymous subject to engaged stakeholder: Enriching participant experience in autistic-language-use research. Research: Ideas for Today's Investors, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.14324/rfa.04.2.13