Rigidity

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I don't have a good term for this. This is something I have fought for most of my life. I am referring to a postural thing, the way one holds oneself, or how freely one moves. When I attempt to dance, I am told that I am too stiff, that I need to relax, let go, but my body doesn't seem to know how to accomplish this. I have wondered about taking something like Ti Chi. Maybe that would teach my body to move less rigidly. It certainly seems to be something that doesn't come naturally for me. I was just thinking about the music from the Faure Requiem, and much of that music makes me want to be able to move like that, but my body seems to loose out in the translation.

I am curious. Is this problem common among Aspies?

Last edited by willmark on 21 Jul 2009, 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know I have this. The worst time was when I froze up on a dance floor completely while dancing with someone. I ended up tipping like a wooden post one way then the next while they kept catching me; in between, I stood on the spot while they moved my arms. I was clueless.

I'm a dancer and when I was in training, rigidity was one my hardest things that I had to fix. It's fine now but it took years of trying.

I had this problem and still do to some extent. when I was in my mid-20s I got coaching on how to walk, which helped a lot.

A very familiar experience. Years of karate, aikido, and yoga helped ease the postural rigidity I tended to use, but to this day (I'm in my 40s) I have to pay attention to keeping my posture relaxed in social situations. Dancing, however, is simply too dynamic a system of movements and interactions for my brain to process. I need to know how and where I'm going to position my body, and then can learn the movements and eventually perform them in a relaxed fashion.

I love to watch other people move to music, and when I see someone who is totally given over to the music, do you know what I mean, I can see it on their face. When I see that, it can make me cry, it is so beautiful, but I don't seem to possess that ability myself.

Hi everyone,

I think I might have something useful to contribute to this discussion. In my own case, my rigidity comes from my terror at exposing my autistic-like symptoms/characteristics. If I let go, and I mean *really* let go, I actually find that I'm less rigid than the NT's I interact with. When I was a kid, I spontaneously burst into physical surrender (dancing, shaking, whatever I wanted) all the time. I'm only re-discovering that same part of me now that I've found out about Aspergers.

I really recommend the works of Bradford Keaney (Kearney? sp.), whose books you can find on Amazon.com. That, along with this website, has allowed me to rediscover the joy I experience from physical surrender and dancing.

Dan

I am not sure whether thsi is an Aspie thing. I don't really have this problem either. I am poorly coordinated and therefore appear clumsy, but even that is not too bad. That does seem to ben Aspie related in many people though.

I remember experiencing terror to expose myself (not disrobed) in front of strangers when I was elementary age, but I didn't know at the time, even now, why I felt that way. I certainly didn't have any kind of diagnosis to blame it on. There evidently is a connection.

This is also giving some problems with learning ASL. I have no problems with the signs, those are visual and I pick them up very quickly. I am having problems doing the exaggerated facial expressions that interpreters are supposed to use.

Last edited by willmark on 21 Jul 2009, 3:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I'm very rigid and pretty much NEVER relaxed and at ease. My muscles are always tense, much to the chargin of my masseuse.

You don't possess the ability to make people feel that way, or you can't feet that way yourself? I am truly blessed, for I can make people feel that way. It's my absolute favorite way to make people happy. When the music is really good at a dance, I can feel that way myself. It makes me smile just thinking about it.


I used to sing to myself aloud all of the time and dance around as a kid. I never really got out of the habit, actually. I will tapdance in elevators or when walking down the hallway. It seems natural to me to do it, so I just do it. I'm sure that people think I'm weird, and I do have a tendency to tone it down in public. But when I get home I cut loose on our hardwoods, particularly if there is good music playing.

An ability to make another feel that way will not substitute for my desire to be able to express that feeling that I experience in myself.

When i signed up for my military training, the physician that did the checkup said that I was going to have trouble with my too rigid muscles. I think the same had something to do with the fact that I had a lot joint dislocations when I was a child. The muscles just did not work "correctly."

I dance and do sports, but I also have a sort of 'rigidity' when I am supposed to move in free-style.

For me, moving, talking, being social - it's all foreign to me because of the autism. Nothing natural about it.

I don't dance. Much of dancing requires good motor-planning. My dancing is like those people who try out for "So you think you can dance" but are terrible. I just don't have the motor planning involved.

Low Muscle tone or Hypotonia is widely recognised as part of Aspergers.

Among its effects are;

Hyperflexibility (the ability to bend yourself into shapes that others cannot easily achieve)
and
Rigidity (the rigid movement being described in this discussion).

It's normal... for aspies at least.