There is no doubt that regular mindfulness practice can be a huge benefit, for both neurodivergent and neurotypical people. A typical trait of ADHD is having a head full of racing, chaotic thoughts, and mindfulness helps coming back to the here and now. Getting in touch with your body, your surroundings and breaking vicious circles in your head feels good. It requires something that ADHD struggles with though: commitment. You have to show up for yourself and keep practising even if it’s just a tiny moment each day. It takes patience (yet another ADHD struggle) to see results.

If you’re beginning with any kind of meditation or mindfulness exercises, it’s advised you accept all emotions that come up. To become the observer of the emotion and not identify with it. If you no longer resist the old baggage that comes up, the body can let it go and get rid of it. The experience can be quite unpleasant when old wounds re-open and your system gets flooded with sorrow and pain. Please be kind and gentle with yourself when doing this work and stop instantly if it’s too much. The last thing you need is re-traumatisation. If in doubt, seek professional support.

If you keep doing this for long enough, the everyday sadness gives way to deeper layers of hidden trauma. It’s hard to work through it but also a huge relief when the emotions finally leave your system. Don’t expect a quick solution though: some issues resurface over and over, bringing up new facets every time. I’ve been told that this is normal, and meditation practice is like a spiral. You keep spinning in circles and with each repetition, something new appears in the old stuff until one day, you’ve truly freed yourself of it.

But here’s a catch for all of us who are on the autistic/ADHD side of life. If you experience a breakdown while meditation it could be a delayed meltdown: A crying fit is not always what it seems to be. It’s not always emotional baggage but the autonomous nervous system going haywire. Keeping your own neurodivergent status in mind is essential for meditation and mindfulness because our nervous system is wired differently. What works for most people might not work for us. If you’re beginning mediation, try out different methods and see what works best for you. There are plenty to choose from, e.g., guided meditations, meditative music, binaural beats, nature sounds, or simply no audio at all. Just sitting there with yourself and your thoughts.

Most of us struggle with interoception, a lot. Yet it’s a key skill for working with our nervous system and understanding our needs. This is something that we should try to cultivate. Getting a better understanding of how and what we’re feeling at any given time. Never underestimate this, it’s a huge gamechanger. But it’s harder for us compared with neurotypicals because our interoception level is set to “difficult”. ADHD affects the orbitofrontal cortex which plays a role with interoception and general sensory processing. That’s an explanation why we’re often not aware of basic needs (e.g. while in hyperfocus), hunger, thirst, the need to pee… If you are trying out something new along the way of mindfulness and it feels like it doesn’t work the way it should, never berate yourself for it. Remember, you have it more difficult.

Always keep in mind, you are wired differently.

Go tiny, little baby steps and try notice what feels good for you. Over time, you may improve your interoception. The aim is to become able to notice an oncoming meltdown, hunger, thirst, etc. before it becomes an issue.

I haven’t yet found a couch who combines mindfulness with the challenges of ND brains. But there are plenty of good coaches in general for this kind of work. I won’t get deeper into this because the topic alone would be worth a thousand blog posts. Just to recommend some who I personally like:

• for my English-speaking audience: Kyle Cease
• für alle deutschsprachigen Leser: Peter Beer
• for both German and English audiences: Eckhardt Tolle – you can find plenty of his speeches online in both English and German

You may also want to look into different meditation traditions, i.e. different objects of your meditative practice (body scan, emotions, acceptance of thoughts, connection with space, Metta, …) and see what works for you in which situation.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or qualified medical person. If you experience health issues, mental or physical, please get help from a professional. This website is not meant to give medical advice, just some basic information and examples about what it means to live with Autism or ADHD. Symptoms vary strongly between individuals.