Exploring Holotropism : An Autistic and Synaesthetic ramble
I have gone further down the black hole of monotropism (apt I know) and been immersed in holotropism. If you don’t know about monotropism yet, do look here and get into the monotropic zone, it won’t disappoint - https://monotropism.org/
I have been pushing to fully embrace the synaesthetic part of my neurology over the last year. I am a musician and I reflect back that I was actually a very good musician in my youth. I was good, because it was like another world to me. I loved the technicality of music. I loved how each bar had to add up precisely. I found the patterns of musical notes intertwining absolutely beautiful, even crazy chords in Rachmaninoff pieces. I adored the music that when I played, it transported me to whole new worlds. I could feel, sense, see in varying colours and images, and sometimes taste the music. My senses, body and mind, created other dimensions. Playing music for me, was a bit of an addiction. I didn’t mind practicing for hours on end. I could escape from the harsh neuronormative realities and demands. Yet feeling this way, was so often seen as just plain weird - wrong even by my peers. I was quite ashamed of it and certainly scared to share it with people. It feels good to return to it.
Like monotropism, this syntropic hyperfocus can be so immersive, so exciting, but also pretty deadly. When I am pulled out of it unexpectedly, it is like my whole body is affected. It isn’t just my mind. I feel it in my muscles, my heart pounds, eyes widen. My emotions either go into an anxious rage (which I would likely suppress) or are left behind somehow still immersed into the world they had created. Parts of me were sometimes left in that other world. Like I was living in several dimensions at once.
The holotropic mind, when acting syntropically, tends to expect one thing to follow from another like fractals, each thing is experienced like a step, whether forwards or backwards from, or sideways to, the last thing. Close, and shifting. This expectation rests on a somatic understanding that consciousness is cellular. When we are fully at ease, we can feel the synapses of our thoughts. When we experience cognitive-sensory dissonance it can feel like the whole infinite pattern, that we are a part of, gets erased (Mira, 2023).
This idea that the mind and body are one is key to me personally and in my practice as a therapist. A lot of my work tends to look at the neurosomatic way of being. I took a great deal from the writing of Dr. Nick Walker (https://neuroqueer.com/) during my training, they talk a lot about the importance in understanding of the mindbody. This concept of holotropism really reflects this thinking at a cellular level. Everything connected, everything working with and because of other cells or particles. Everyone and everything in the universe connected.
I wonder if there can be a mutual monotropic and/or holotropic flow? If the neurodivergent community can allow their neurokin to share and immerse with them in their monotropic or holotropic experience? Perhaps some do already through online gaming, through playing music together, creating art together, or discussing holotropism together??
Our brains have evolved to support our lives, which can only be fulfilling in feeling (Mira, 2023).
Want to join on the holotropic journey? Start here - https://hmirra.medium.com/holotropism-1cdf99c00b74
Then hop on over here - https://neuroclastic.com/coherent-theories-of-human-ways-of-being/
