My ADHD Coping Tools: Shakti Mat
*This article contains Amazon Associate advertisements.
・I learned about the Shakti Mat right after my ADHD diagnosis by watching a video by President Makonari.
Simply put, it's a spiky mat.
To describe just how spiky it is,
It's "very" spiky, "insanely" spiky, and "more" spiky than you'd expect.
(I'm embarrassed by my lack of vocabulary, but I hope the vibe comes across.)
・It's easy to use. Just take off your shirt and lie down on it.
・It's one of the oldest items in my ADHD toolkit, and it's still in active use today.
・When I first bought it, I was feeling mentally weak, so I took the plunge and purchased it, hoping it would help me feel even a little more positive.
・My impression after it arrived, I placed it on my futon, and tried it out was,
It hurts. Or rather, Ouch!
I knew it would be painful beforehand, but
it was at a level where I couldn't help but let out sounds like "Aaaah!" or "Ugh!"
It hurts.
At first, I felt like I had made a mistake... but
trusting the prep work I did on YouTube regarding the Shakti Mat, which said "You'll understand after a while!"
I spent about 10 minutes writhing in pain on the futon...
I was surprised to find that I had fallen asleep before I knew it.
Even now, when I lie down, I'm forced to focus my consciousness on the pain in my back, so I don't have the mental capacity to think about anything else.
However, the painful areas eventually go numb, and instead, I start to feel warm, so I end up falling asleep at that point.
<How I use it lately>
1. Use it for about 30 minutes when I have some mental breathing room (like on a weekend afternoon).
→It clears my head. It's very satisfying.
2. When I'm mentally overwhelmed and can't stop negative thoughts
-> Use pain to eliminate the mental capacity to think for a moment, forcibly stopping the negative thinking.
During the winter, it was cold, so I sometimes used it as a substitute for an intense foot reflexology mat, but
since it's getting warmer now, I'm thinking of using it a bit more on weekdays too.