Temple Grandin Has Her Squeeze Machine...I've Got Peyote Stitch!

Temple Grandin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48692800@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

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I recently saw the HBO movie Temple Grandin, which tells the powerful story of this woman's life in overcoming autism. Temple Grandin is known for being the first person to explain to the world what it is like to live with autism in her book Thinking in Pictures. Although she did not speak until age 3 1/2, she has a Ph.D. in Animal Sciences, is a college professor, and has a resume depicting a life of achievement. Dr. Grandin's way of "thinking in pictures" has helped her design humane and effective animal husbandry machinery. In her own words, "Life is cruel, but we don't have to be." Dr. Grandin has dedicated her life to the humane treatment of cows within the cattle industry. Of equal importance to her, is educating the world about autism. There is so much to say about Dr. Grandin, and she has so much to offer in her own words. This 30 min NPR interview is a peek into the mind of this fascinating woman.

Temple Grandin's Squeeze Machine

produced by the Therafin Corporation

When Temple was a young adult she saw cows being squeezed in a machine to calm them. She invented her own "squeeze machine" to apply deep pressure to her own body. As with the cows, it also had a calming effect on her, like a mother's hug for for a child. Temple's autism made human physical contact intolerable and scary. She suffered from severe anxiety. Her "different" sensory experience of life with people often agitated her. In the movie, she describes the effect of the squeeze machine as "something is repaired".

Something is Repaired

Tetrahedron Earring

I know what she means. I often feel a swirling energy that can leave me restless and agitated. I don't always know from where it comes. Peyote Stitch has a calming and restorative effect on me. In this type of stitchwork, beads are joined in such a way that after the initial "set up" there is a perfectly sized space for each new bead to be added to the work. It is added between a "sandwich"of 2 other beads. When a bead is added it "clicks" into place and stands at perfect attention next to its adjacent beads that were stitched into place in the previous row. In the earring shown above, the green beads are peyote stitch. I don't know how long Dr. Grandin needs to be squeezed. But give me 30 minutes of peyote stitch, and I am in a much better place. I think I've gone as long as 12 hours doing peyote stitch without getting out of my chair. No kidding. I did need a massage after that!

More on Autism and Peyote Stitch

Peyote Stitch Tutorial

Resources on Autism

Julia's Peyote Stitch Art