Autism
What is Autism?
Autism refers to a range of conditions such as challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech difficulties and nonverbal conditions, eye contact. They also have unique strengths. In fact, many autistic children are savants. Autism is just seeing the world in a different way.
Even Albert Einstein, Mozart and Newton also had type of ASD.
Signs of Autism?
Signs of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) begin during early childhood and typically last throughout a person’s life.
Children or adults with autism might have include:
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Difficulties to express their needs,
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Trouble to adapt changes.
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Avoid eye contact.
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Deficits in language comprehension.
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Delay in learning to speak.
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Special interest in only on one topic.
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Lack of social communication.
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Difficulty while learning.
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Repetitive behaviors.
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Aggressive behaviors.
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Sleeping disorder.
Beneficial effects of Indian Classical Music through Mindfulness for Autism
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Music is a powerful means of communication. Music can not only communicate words but also feelings.​
I observed some beneficial effects of different Indian Classical Ragas, Tempos & Rhythms on children in the age group of 11--20 over a period of few years. I studied the effect of different types of ragas and intra raga elements such as slow and different levels of rapid motion tempo of the ragas. I have also discovered that Ragas as performed in live concerts need to be modified to be beneficial for mindfulness. Some of the modifications include speed, beats, rhythm patterns and hence the mindfulness raga becomes entirely different from the ragas performed in live concerts.​
Indian ragas are assigned to specific times of the day (or night) and to specific seasons I was experimenting with different Ragas and started seeing interesting effects. As an example, I performed an evening raga (sunset) with a group of autistic children but instead of performing it in the evening I performed it close to noon for a about half an hour with a slow motion tempo. The intent was to induce calm and quietness which was the essence of that raga. At the beginning some of the children were wearing headphones and were a little restless and pretended not to be interested. As the performance went on, I observed that the children who were initial restless, now all become very relaxed. Some of them started to lie down and even fell asleep. After 2 months I observed that this group of children was completely relaxed, engaged, attentive and none of them came into the sessions wearing headphones.
After 6 months during evening raga performances I observed the children interacting with the music and beats.
