If you do physical energy practices like Qi Gong or Reiki or associated techniques, one thing you will be taught to do is to ‘clear energy’ from your hands at the end of an exercise or healing.
This is done to get rid of any energy picked up or generated from the practice.
In energy refining practices, it is understood that moving Qi (you can basically undertand this as the net energy of circulatory action, i.e. the chemical interactions and electrical charges generated as blood and tissue are moved) through the body = good & healthy, and that stagnation = bad & unhealthy.
This isn’t esoteric- exercise is good. Not moving for a long time is bad.
Anyway, this ‘clearing’ is done by shaking out the hands/wrists with loose fingers, as if you are flinging droplets away.
Sound familiar?
When I was a kid I’d flap my hands all the time (alone after school esp) and until recently I didn’t think twice about it bc it wasn’t that I did it for ‘no reason’, it wasn’t just some involuntary ‘glitch’ the way its described by autism-apathetic articles. I did it because I could feel the circulation move in my hands and that felt good and it was fun. And it was something satisfying to do when I was feeling excited or needed to clear some distracting ‘buzz’ away so I could focus on something.
I would also enjoy spinning, and swinging my arms. Again because I could feel the way my mass, my blood, my energy moved into my limbs and felt warm and good afterwards when I did stuff like this.
Years and years later when I started doing getting into energy work and Qi Gong I found so many exercises that were identical to childhood sitmming behaviors.
Hand flapping, arm swinging, chest beating, head tapping…
I also took to Qi Gong bc I love the slow, refined, fluid movements. When I was a child I enjoyed making my movements as efficient as possible, as smooth as possible, while doing chores and things for example.My spatial awareness and proprioception are very good, and I could coordinate myself in the most fluid way using as many limbs as necessary (close that drawer with my foot, put the cup away with my right hand, simultaneously open the cabinet with my left…) In gym I took to enjoying resists rather than repetitions bc it felt better to slowly, firmly Be my energy rather than just seeing how many times I could do something. But over time, I was berated for doing stuff like this, and quit doing it. It was unusual. It attracted attention. It was robotic.
But again…when I get into Qi Gong and Yoga, minding one’s body movement in this way is energy refining and inner strengthening practice!
Autistic people are doing instinctive self-regulatory energy work. This is not hyperbolic. People’s neurochemical and hormonal states fluctuate throughout the day depending on events and moods. Just like smiling or laughing can improve one’s state in a way we can measure scientifically, so to do tapping one’s thymus, or potentiating the circulation in one’s hands, or letting muscle releases scrunch up your neck.
this has been a ramble.
