What is Stimming and why do we Stim?

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I have an idea what stimming is but more to the point Why do we do it? What I am looking at is What causes stimming, again is there something in the brain that makes us do this? Is there some medical reason, it is thought to think about?

My therapist
uses the phrase
self-calming behaviors.

For me
it's pacing, or
walking in circles
in my backyard,
if I can wait till
I get home.

Thru out the day
I'll thumb hug
in my fists
as I walk.

Both seem to me
to be a physical
version of mindfulness.
My tired brain give my senses
and other body parts
something to pay attention to
that is completely familiar.
Nothing new,
nothing to decide about,
nothing to process,
nothing to report back to
brain central about.
They're easy to distract
(fool?)
and my brain is grateful
for the rest.

Sometimes
I see my body
as a committee.
My senses
are the 'hair-on-fire'
kinda members.
They'll dominate the agenda
if they don't get
an assignment,
regardless of how
meaningless.

Stimming,
or self calming behaviors,
are that assignment.

That's my version.
For what it's worth.

A very cute video, that describes three reasons we stim:

https://youtu.be/FR5plVH7ESo

I would add three other reasons for me:

4. Focus on a task
6. Boredom
7. Because it‘s fun as hell

i dunno if jumping around is stimming but when i am in a happy mood i do that a lot. or if i need to get myself ready to go.

or when im walking around i like to shred leaves with my fingers or touch the rails / building walls, dunno why, just have a compulsion to do it

Stimming is short for self-stimulatory behavior. This means that it is primarily used to stimulate ourselves to achieve various positive effects. For example, does tapping your foot on the floor or fingers against a flat surface help you concentrate or release stress? If so, they are forms of stimming, though they are "less autistic-looking" forms as some autism stereotypes imply.

Some autism "treatments," especially ABA therapy, intend to completely eliminate stimming, even if the behavior is harmless, such as hand-flapping. It is completely unnecessary to eliminate stims unless they are harmful like head-banging or skin-picking. In the case of harmful stims, it is necessary to address the cause of the behaviors. Stims tend to occur more frequently before and possibly during meltdowns.