I'm curious--who all danced around by yourself when you were a kid? Me, I used to play the same records over and over and dance or spin till I got dizzy and collapsed. I'm finding myself wanting to do this again, so I made myself some dance tapes from the Celtic CD collection I have, and I've been combining dance and stretching just for myself at night. I can feel my body, and it's good! I almost even sometimes feel graceful.
I wonder if the "aspie walk", the bouncy, bouyant version, is because we want to take off and fly!
My daughter used to do this - it was a compulsory part of her day. She would turn on the music and run round and round, flat out in the lounge - she would pull the curtains, no one was allowed to look.
I like to dance by my self - I thought everyone did this. I have learnt Irish, Ballroom, Latin, rock and roll and line dancing so I know lots of steps I can use.
Oh yes, I've danced around to the same records over and over since I was a child. I have to be alone though. I have fads on various different types of music and styles of dance, I have always had a fascination for ballet, ballet clothes, ballet shoes, it's all so elegant and so......ethereal!!!
I also like arabic music, and like you Energeia, I like some Celtic music. I like Enya's music and also The Mediaeval Babes.
Yes, it does feel good!!! Gotta go fly now!
http://www.mediaevalbaebes.com/audio.html
I'm not very good at dancing, but I LOVE to do it.
One of my favorite activities with the girls is to turn on something with a good rhythym (I always love old 30s and 40s music) and dance around with them. It always makes me smile. I love the Christmas music since they know so many of the songs now.
My daughter used to do this - it was a compulsory part of her day. She would turn on the music and run round and round, flat out in the lounge - she would pull the curtains, no one was allowed to look.
I like to dance by my self - I thought everyone did this. I have learnt Irish, Ballroom, Latin, rock and roll and line dancing so I know lots of steps I can use.
My eldest son, too - when he started school the stress was phenomenal. Oh, and he had to have the curtains closed, too!
I have never tried dancing and I would feel uncomfortable if I did.
Absolutely have to be alone with the curtains closed!! Despite some bellydancing lessons, my dancing is abysmal - sort of flailing and bearing little relation to the tempo of the music - and anyone who saw it would probably die laughing, or think I was demonically possessed. But I do it occasionally, and enjoy it.
Energeia's comment about "I can feel my body" struck a chord with me. My job and most of my interests are computer/table/workbench based, so I don't move around as much as I should, and sometimes I sort of forget I've got a body, as strange as that sounds. Like my body is just this thing I get around in, not really a part of myself. And dancing seems to remind me that's not so, even if I do probably look like a bit of paper caught in the wind.
I get you there Natalie, I have never been interested in dancing at all, probably have three left feet here.
Then again, I love mosh pits/circle pits/deathwalls at metal gigs, makes me wonder, if the general pace of it, might not be close to stimming, in a way.
Not too graceful, but I guess one could call it dancing
I still dance around the house.
It's such fun. I also love bouncing to the music and sometimes twirling.
Energeia's comment about "I can feel my body" struck a chord with me. My job and most of my interests are computer/table/workbench based, so I don't move around as much as I should, and sometimes I sort of forget I've got a body, as strange as that sounds. Like my body is just this thing I get around in, not really a part of myself. And dancing seems to remind me that's not so, even if I do probably look like a bit of paper caught in the wind.
I don't think that problem is related to sedentary/solitary work, really. I've done some reading on AS and I've found this "dissociated from body" thing to be commonly reported by people who have AS. There's a feeling of being "trapped inside yourself" that's behind this.
Furthermore, I've just realized in my own quest for self-knowledge (about AS and myself) that I lack a clear identity/personality. So it goes without saying that I might sometimes feel foreign to even my own body--which I do.
I just danced for half an hour--I'm hoping to get into a routine of doing this a few nights a week, and I think it will help me develop or preserve flexibility and balance. And, for a short period of time at least, remind me that I am embodied, not just a brain in a vat.
I'm curious--who all danced around by yourself when you were a kid? Me, I used to play the same records over and over and dance or spin till I got dizzy and collapsed. I'm finding myself wanting to do this again, so I made myself some dance tapes from the Celtic CD collection I have, and I've been combining dance and stretching just for myself at night. I can feel my body, and it's good! I almost even sometimes feel graceful.
I did the same thing when I was little - running around and spinning to the music of a record, in this case, Hooked On Classics. I ran and spun during the fast-paced first song. Then I was so out of breath, that I rested during the slower-paced second song. I just loved getting dizzy, and I still do. After all these years of use and abuse, the record still plays well despite a few skips in it.