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Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

#1
Does anyone have this? I only found out it has a name recently.

Research website
http://www.asmr-research.org/

Article about it
http://hubpages.com/hub/ASMR
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#2
I've had it lots, but judging by the list of triggers, they are referring to two different kind of sensations.

Perhaps they have the same origin. I see two different things:
* A rough, coarse, goosebump-like sensation that is associated with emotional moments (as in the trigger "Experiencing a high empathetic or sympathetic reaction to an event", and "Haircuts, or other touch from another on head or back"). Listening to music is a classic trigger.
* A much finer sensation, that oftens begins at the back of the head, moves up to the scalp, and one time I felt it go as far as the eyebrows. Can be felt also in the arms, legs. Aroused sexual energy can sometimes be felt in other parts of the body such as legs and arm and feel similar. When this type of tingling moves over a body area, it seems to interact with the nervous system and release the muscle tension. It is very pleasant, whereas the coarser version, feels kinda pleasant like goose bumps, but in a sense it is rough and not so pleasant.

I don't know... maybe the distinction is just me looking at two intensities of the same thing. But if I listen to Snatam Kaur and have lots of goose bumps for example, it is pleasant yes, takes over the body yes,.. but after a while it feels heavy and dizzy. The finer version nevers makes me feel dizzy or heavy. Also the coarser goose bump version doesn't make me feel like a muscle release, it's more of like a feeling that adds on top of things. The finer tingling seems to go deeper into the body..

The finer tingling sensation is a very common sensation found when doing the body scanning Vipassana technique as taught on the "Goenka" 10 day courses. It is not always pleasant though, but you can find it anywhere on the body when looking long enough, and with enough concentration. When an unpleasant sensation such as pain in the knee is looked at with equanimity (takes practice), and dissected as in "does it feel stronger here", "ok, does it feel different here" "is it more intense or less intense here" etc. Tip toeing on a pain area with equanimity for long enough... and then BOOM all of a sudden the pain disappears and you will feel this tingly sensation, it seems underneath what was before. Or perhaps, your mind has become sharper and you are "tuning" into a finer aspect of reality. Put your attention on it and if you're lucky it will take over the whole body, which is called a "rapture", or "bliss". If you're REALLY lucky, you experience what is called "arising and passing away", the 4th stage on the Path of Insight meditation, where you in fact experience the arising and passing away of very subtle sensate phenoma all over the body. Which is to experience the truth of impermanence, one of the three characteristics, the other two being that none of these sensations are "self", and all of the sesnsations are utlimately suffering (if it's pleasant you are not satisfied because you want more of it, and you can't really control it at will; if it's unpleasant, wel tough luck, you can't control it either; things just arise and pass away and "you" have no say in it).

When you feel pain or just feel crappy during the day try to be equanimous with it, try to come to a genuine state of, "ok, this could last forever and it would be OK because neither the sensation nor I are permanent anyway". If you can genuinely feel a minimum of non reactive awareness to the sensation, you may feel a quick wave of tingling sensation as well. It's as if... the more you struggle, the more you resist, the coarser and grosser the sensation is (the pain), and if you release completely, if you can simply take the pain as it is (which is hard to do), then it dissolves and you feel this tingling. Try it...
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#3
hmmm... is this really a thing? Because i can't imagine anyone doesn't have that, unless i'm misunderstanding it... isn't it just things you like the feel of in a non-sexual way?

like, i like the feeling of someone kicking or pushing the back of my chair on a plane or coach, drawing patterns lightly on my face (when i was a kid), or having my hair played with. Edit: Now i'm thinking about it, there's lots more. The sound of some people's voices, especially soft spoken people with certain accents. Also when watching the way certain people move. Also, when i was a kid and went to church every week, when the vicar put his hand over my head to give the blessing (not on it, or touching it, just close). But all of those are slightly different.

and of course, like spine shivers and goosebumps about beautiful or meaningful things, music, and empathy.

but really, doesn't everyone?

i also have the opposite... i can't stand the feeling of velvet, it makes me retch almost, and my muscles all clench up, and the sound of it being touched does the same. It's torture for me. The same goes for some other similar fabrics. i guess it's similar to how lots of people feel about running nails down a blackboard.
... of course, my family had to have velvet curtains that my sister would wrap me in at every opportunity just to see me squirm, and my grandparents have a kitchen floor that has never been changed my whole life, and i still have to walk on tiptoes through it... T_T

p.s. i hate the name. "meridian" :/
Edited: 2011-07-07, 10:04 pm
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#4
i'm kinda interested now... is there anyone here who doesn't have / has never got that feeling??
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#5
Huh. Didn't figure this to be something "unique". I remember getting it pretty intensely from the Halo 2 trailer, back when that was new. Just watched it again, same thing. Intense, warm tingling that starts at the back of my neck near the base of the skull, then radiates out in waves to my upper back and arms. I think it's the rising score that does it, though the effect gets weaker with repeated viewings.

Still not convinced that the writer of the blog doesn't just suck at describing sensations to other people, though.
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#6
Its probably hard to define explain this kind of feeling, so I can't say I have gotten that exact feeling or know what's exactly like. When I'm being nostalgic and think about the past, for each section of the past(split into a couple of months), there's a sense of feeling associated to each part of my past, a bit like a smell. Whenever I hear, see, touch or smell something was a major part of a certain section of my past, I would recall that feeling.

As far for what Macjon has said, isn't that similar to an adrenaline rush?
Edited: 2011-07-07, 11:00 pm
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#7
i wonder if it's related to this? : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_sensitive_person (if there's people who really don't feel that)
Edited: 2011-07-07, 11:53 pm
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#8
Hmmm, I think I've gotten that tingly feeling occasionally. But not as often as the people on that blog. I do enjoy having people play with my hair, but I don't always get goosebumps or feel tingly. Maybe I have a minor form of it Smile.
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#9
For me I never get goosebumps or shivers unless I'm cold. Actually I always thought when people said things like "Oh that music gave me goosebumps/the shivers" etc it was just a figure of speech.

My triggers are certain kinds of music and voices. I don't get a tingly feeling but it's like suddenly being incredibly calm and focussed, my head starts to feel very 'heavy' and I'm very aware of my heartbeat and my breathing.
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#10
Yeah, I definitely get this, or at least some form of it. Music is a common trigger, but I find it can be induced by a plethora of things. Sometimes correlates with actual goosebumps, but not necessarily so. It's not really like adrenaline, it's more of a relaxed feeling. Never thought so much about why, so this is pretty interesting stuff.
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#11
I see two different things, but the trigger list on ASMR articles seem to lump them together. It's hard to describe a sensation to others and people may be looking at different things.

There is a pleasant feeling, like a wave sweeping through the body, a sort of emotional high. It's very much emotional based. I think pretty much everyone experiences this. Like if you're a vegan nut and you listen to one of your vegan heroes giving a great talk, *whoosh* you feel this emotional high. Comes very often when watching geniuses drumming on the keyboard, painters, music that you love, movies etc.

Then there is another kind of sensation, it is finer. It's more like you just very gently touch the surface of the skin with extremely tiny needles, so that instead of hurting, it feels like tickling or gentle itching. Now the proof I have that this is different is because I had it once, one of the stronger times, I was experiencing strong anxiety at work. And then all of a sudden it appeared at the back of the head, and moved all over the scalp as far as the eyebrows. It also came down on my face because I felt that the muscle tension in the face relaxed. It was not an emotional high at all, I felt really crappy, and after the "wave", I felt better, but still the anxiety was not completely gone.

Oh also perhaps a better way to describe it is: this tiny little needles tickling sensation, it is VERY distinct. Every one of the little tickles is felt as a very distinct, pointed, sensation. When it becomes strong it can feel almost electric (in which case it might be slightly unpleasant). In contrast the emotional high "goose bump" type sensation, is kind of wide and non distinct. It's more like a rush and you wouldn't be able to feel very distinct little points on the skin all lighting up one after the other in very fast succession.

This subtler sensation I described, tends to happen when you are calm and concentrated, when you are really absorbed into something. And again, it is not like goose bumps. It doesn't do anything to the skin. And you may not feel excited and emotionally high at all when it comes.
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#12
This sounds similar to the sensation that I get when listening to particular music. I can consciously prevent or cause the 'euphoria' with good success.

It feels great to listen to a good song and be able to create several tens of these sensations per song with various magnitudes. It is more difficult to do when distracted.
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