Can you "control" stimming? Does this count?

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So, can you control "stimming"? That is, if you tell your body to stop stimming, would it stop stimming?

Also, just curious, does anyone stim by opening their hand, and placing the hand around their leg (or other part of the body), and then repeatedly rotating the hand back and forth such that the thumb continuously hits the body as well as the index and/or ring finger? I'm thinking(hoping) it might just be a neurotypical tic, but I'm curious how common it is in the autistic community.

I have limited control over it, at times.

I can either suppress it or hid it in public most of the time. Now and then I will slip and forget and have to stop myself though lol. Once I get home I then tend to overcompensate and go on a stimming spree lol. One stim I could get away with and which I don't do much at the moment was chewing my pen lid. There was usually nothing left of them by the time I had finished with them lol. Also nail biting is an acceptable stim.

I can stop stimming for as long as I consciously think about it, once I stop thinking about it, I go back to it.

I do have periods where I don't stim at all, but I don't consciously choose either way.

I can control any stim as long as I concentrate on doing so, but as soon as my mind moves on (which is quickly due to ADHD), it will start up again.

All my stims are pretty much "fidgeting" these days. I don't do much that people would notice unless they were really looking for stims. I don't do the finger thing you describe though, swbluto.

Yes, I can.
Both when it's 'snuck up on me' and I become aware I've been doing it, and when I've not been doing it but decide to start.
Generally though I just let it happen. No-one loses an eye; life goes on; I feel better.

I don't do your hand thing though.

As others have said I can control it if I'm consciously aware of doing it but sometimes I just start stimming automatically. If someone points it out to me I can suppress it but once I stop thinking about not doing it I might start up again without realizing it.

Hi there! I just got here and his is the first topic that caught my attention. I'm sorry in advance for all the mistakes you might see in my posts (English is not my native language), I'll do my best to make myself understood.

To a degree, yes. Sometimes in deep thought I start rocking (back to front, while sitting) involuntarily, or doing more or less what the OP described with my hand. If someone points it out, I usually stop for a bit, then go back to it again after a while.

I also sometimes start doing it intentionally when I know it will help either with anxiety or problem solving (I rocked a lot while playing Silent Hill 2 with the puzzles set to "hard".

I apparently rock side-to-side all the time while standing in one place (according to my boyfriend), but nobody ever points it out, so I never have an opportunity to notice and stop.

i can control it; but i prefer not to, surpressing a stim is like keeping a sodabottle from exploding when you shake it.
luckily, only my most extreme stims (for extreme situations) are actually visible and noiticable.
'normally', i put my left hand on my right shoulderblade (from above, so my elbow is above my head), or i keep one hand between my back and the back of the chair i'm on.
i do get some comments about that usually, but it's not that visible that i feel the need to surpress them

Easy. When I get home I stim. It's controllable definitely.

Yes I can.

Sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it, but once I'm aware I'm doing it I can stop. If I'm home alone, I'll just let it go and not stop it, but I can keep myself from doing it in public once I become aware of it.

I can control it in theory, but the need to stim is like having an itch. You can only go so long...