Does anyone else get ASMR tingles? (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response)

Lily Rose roused my sensual side by referencing Synaesthesia and in so doing reminded me of a secret pleasure which I'd like to share. For as long as I can remember I have found certain things intensely pleasurable, common activities such as watching a long-haired woman brush her locks, or the soothing sweeping of someone gathering leaves. It makes me tingle and shimmer from my head, and sometimes in a rush down my spine. I used to believe it was a personal oddity but one night while seeking a relaxing video on youtube, the search returned a recording of a beautiful young lady whispering to the camera while brushing her hair. The sensual pleasure was immense and that night I learned that I am not alone. Although rare, many other people experience it too. It has a name. It is called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).

An explanation for you:

"Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a physical sensation characterized by a pleasurable tingling that typically begins in the head and scalp, and often moves down the spine and through the limbs. Also known as : AIE (Attention induced euphoria), or simply "head tingles". This is sometimes referred to as head orgasms, but this is about as sexual as saying eating chocolate is orgasmic (in that it's not sexual). This physical phenomenon isn't experienced by everyone. If you've never had it before, you most likely won't feel it from the different triggers in this subreddit.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH MUSIC BASED TINGLES/SHIVERS Those are called frisson.

COMMON TRIGGERS

Slow speech patterns, accents, soft-speaking voices and whispers. Lip sounds/smacking/eating Clicking sounds, brushing sounds, white noise, etc. Painting/drawing Instructional videos Watching other people performing simple tasks, Getting close, personal attention from someone (eye-exam, make-over, etc.) Haircuts, people playing with your hair, Bob Ross."

Info comes from http://www.reddit.com/r/asmr/

I'm curious to know if anyone else experiences this?

 

What a great subject, Plum. Now that I think of it, I can think of a few that really reach me.

I love the sound of lake or river water going over rocks. It can be loud or soft. The rhythm and sound are very relaxing.

I'm sure most people would think of this right away.

My mother loved to have her hair brushed and combed. I think she always welcomed being sent to the hospital
because a nurse or someone always complimented her on her long, wavy hair and enjoyed brushing it.

My dog loves me hugging her or brushing her hair. She actually sighs.

 

I've experienced frisson many times. (So glad to learn the name of it.) But never ASMR. I feel deprived. How delightful it must be!

 

Walt, such grooming and care shelters love. Vanity is much maligned but those who focus on the display miss the need. Give Annie a cuddle from me.

Ellen, It's difficult to express how strange and lovely AMSR is. It comes unbidden, consumes the senses and then leaves. I had/have (situation pending) a lover who is a musician and craftsman. He favours the expression frisson. I always felt it was darkly Victorian, (our assignations are dangerously tilted thus), but now I sense another string to his bow. Men. And they find us incomprehensible.
I send you love and peace my dear one. x

 

Most men are afraid... terrified... to show their feminine side.
I think all men have one, but they bury it inside themselves as threatening to their macho image.
Talk about TMS !

 

If more men truly realised how lovingly, how trustfully their women would receive this bounty, how it would transform their relationships, would they be so afraid? There is no shame, no threat to masculinity in these tender emotions. Tears are the ink of poets. I bless the man who celebrates his Anima, for him I can draw close and cherish beyond all illusions of separateness.

 

About grooming dogs.
I can't understand dog owners who do not clean the "sleep" out of their dog's dyes.
I see does with sleep caked into the sides of their eyes from never having been cleaned out.
It's so easy to do. Just touch the sides of their eyes as if holding their face in your hand.

People clean the love out of their own eyes. Why not do the same for their best friend,
who can't do it for themselves?

 

Plum ... once again, you draw warmth to the surface of my eyes.

I love your spelling of Synaesthesia. I now adopt it. Americans don't make words as pretty looking as the English. Synaesthesia is a union of two or more senses. Some literally feel music over the sensitive texture their skin. Some taste colors. Some read colors. Variations of sensations. The word sensual is often confused with sexual. Synaesthesia is very sensual. And now I've learned something else ... Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. I love the word Meridian. In a Star Trek role playing game, I named my starship the U.S.S. Meridian. But I digress ....

There is also Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia. Where you see someone experience something, and very literally, you experience it, as well. Unfortunately, this can be painful, if what you are witnessing is unpleasant.

Those tingles that shiver over the scalp, down the spine, like golden lightening. The simple innocence of such sensations.

As for dogs ... Walt, I agree completely. I will digress again, briefly -- today I went to attend my first talk-therapy session. I turned out I had left home too early to receive the message that the therapist had taken ill. It is an hour drive, but we had other things to do, so I just decided it was a sign, perhaps. And hour later, we met a rescue dog. A golden retriever/lab mix, of deep golden red. A six year old female. Our funds are desperately low, and our fencing is not yet secure. Yet. Yet. If life puts your wishes in front of you, how can you turn away from the angels that made it happen? The rescue team paid all the vet bills and provided us with appropriate supplies, include a large bag of very expensive food.

I did not get a therapy session. Instead, my guardians delivered my heart-therapy.

Her name is Lucy.

ever with grace and gratitude,
^_^

 

I am so happy that you and Lucy found each other.
She is a very healthy mix of breeds and must look and be adorable.
She came to you Heaven-sent.

Only God can make a tree, as the Joyce Kilmer poem says,
and only God can bring people like you and Lucy together.

How wonderful that the rescue people paid for her shots and gave you
food to give her. But what she will really live on is your love.

As for the fencing, just be sure to watch her in the yard so she doesn't
chase a squirrel and get lost. But I doubt she'll run away on her own.
Dogs know when they're loved and have found a home.

I'm teary-eyed from learning about you and your husband taking in Lucy.
She'll take you both to her heart as you have taken her to yours.

God love dogs. You know what dog spells backward.

Give Lucy a kiss from Annie and me.

 

Plum,

I had a great friend who was moving from Chicago to Washington.
At our farewell I wanted to give him a hug but he recoiled and only would shake hands.
We were not sexual, just great friends.

I am grateful that I have other great male friends (all married and straight) who
hug me when we get together. They're not afraid of showing affection.
I feel sorry for the men who can't hug another man even when they want to.
They have TMS pain, I'm sure.

 

Lily Rose, dogs love to curl up and nap. Annie loves the dog cushion I bought for her.
They're not expensive at Target or Wal-Mart or even pet supply stores.

If there is a couch or stuffed chair she can sleep on, she'd do her overnight sleeping there.
I cover my couch with a blanket and sheet in case of mishaps.

My first Lab mix loved a bed I made for her... a big cardboard box that a big screen tv came in.
I cut it to three sides and left the roof off. Dogs like to feel safe in a cave and this does the job.

Until Lucy is completely house-trained, let her out about every two hours. She may not want
to tinkle and poop in the same spot every day. In the house, put newspapers on the kitchen floor near
an outside door, until she gets used to doing her things outside.

Try not to feed her people food or she'll want it all the time.

I feed Annie only twice a day, about 7 pm and 5 pm. One handful of dry dog food (generic, cheapest
is fine) and 1/3 can of dog food (cheapest). Keep the water dish full. Dogs drink a lot.

Any other questions, email me: waltmax69@gmail.com

 

Oh Walt, you should see how amazing this dog is! We live in our 34-foot Bounder motorhome as we reconstruct the abandoned house we purchased. I simply put a blanket on one end of the couch with a spare pillow, and she adopted it immediately. We are used to living with animals in our motorhome, as we once migrated the U.S. for 10 months with a yellow lab and two cats. Our motorhome actually has a bathtub, so it makes it easier. She feeds easy, plays ball with enthusiasm, stays quiet and in 'her' area when we have to work without distraction (spent an hour chainsawing and chopping wood). She doesn't know alot of commands, but she is grasping my requests. Her flea allergies making her poor hind end itch, but the bath was soothing, and I sprayed a light spritz of eucalyptus essential oil and water on the area. That also seemed to soothe. She does beg, but politely rather than aggressively. The intense stare kind of begging. But she gave up after I simply ignored it.

She it completely house trained. She went 8 hours without going outside.

Lucy is our 4th dog. We favor larger dogs, sort of like we favor trucks over cars. The challenge now is our financial situation. A family situation drained our life savings. It was a painful time, but there were aspects of it I would not change for anything.

I am realizing my pain escalated dramatically when we no longer had our dogs. I truly think that she will assist me greatly in my emotional health. Between this forum and the love of her beautiful soul .. indeed, how could healing not gain ground?

I am already beginning her training towards my ultimate goal -- to guide her into being a Therapy Dog.

Keep the advice coming, as I suspect you have much to share. Beloved friends of canines always gain wonderful wisdoms.

with grace and much gratitude,
^_^

 

Thanks for the update on Lucy. I somehow knew she was going to be a great
addition to your family. She found her "comfort zone" right away, which is wonderful.

Do you know her history? Did someone have to let her go or did they abandon her?
Knowing her name must mean the shelter had some record of her background.

I'm sure she senses she's loved.

And I'm sure she will help you with your TMS symptoms.

You've had dogs and cats so you probably know as much about raising dogs as I do.
They mainly want to be with you and loved.

It's a definite plus that she's house-trained.

 

I have experienced ASMR for the last five years, and I was curious if it was related to TMS. I experience a sort of relaxing sensation, a bit like touch, mainly on my head. It took me a few years to work out what it was - at first I thought it was a form of sound to touch synaesthesia.

I get ASMR normally in response to music or some kind of auditory stimuli, but I occasionally experience it at other times for no apparent reason. It seems like most people report experiencing ASMR when they hear people whispering, but I can't relate to that.

I remember one video I watched describing TMS as a kinaesthetic hallucination, and I couldn't help but wonder if ASMR is like this. I also wonder if it has become a conditioned response to certain sounds or music, whereas other people are conditioned to experience it in response to other stimuli.

You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response

 

I get tingling in my scalp sometimes. It's rare and I've never figured out the trigger. And like most people, I get "goose bumps" when I listen to music sometimes. It seems like another one of those varied and weird things our brain can do--so in that sense it is similar to TMS.

 

Sounds like a kundalini experience to me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini

 

Thanks for posting this, Laudisco. I had never heard of ASMR so I looked it up and got: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a neologism for a perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli.

I have a "kinaesthetic hallucination" of my own called "delusional parisitosis" which is pure TMS, imo. The above description is exactly what I experience except mine is not pleasurable because it feels like bugs crawling and biting. Yikes! I am living in a very buggy place (in the country near a swamp) and freaking out about bugs has become a bad habit for me. Wish I could trade it for pleasurable sensations in response to music! Maybe I can, if I put my mind to it. After all, pain and pleasure can be subjective responses to similar stimuli, no?

TT, I found a link to "kundalini syndrome" on the link you posted above. I prefer the notion of a spiritual experience to hallucinations or, worse still, psychosis. Another thought: the seemingly vast gulf between eastern spirituality and western medicine might come down to different ways to avoid feelings. The yogi learns to move his consciousness to a place beyond physical sensation and the doctor gives you a pill with the same intent. In seemingly direct opposition to them both, new therapies such as NARM (Neuro-Affective Relational Model) seek to bring the mind into consciousness connection with the body. In other words, feel it!

 

Hi Njoy, I wondering what was going on with you, sounds like you're coming to grips with the "buggy" phenomenon. Kundalini episodes, highly charged emotional phenomenon, are often viewed as psychotic experiences in Western culture. In Yogic philosophy they are accepted as a life passage, something to experience with the aid of a guru and to learn from. Affective TMS conditions, such as depression, can provide great transitions, opportunities for insight, over-viewing ones life. In Western culture mental maladies are viewed pejoratively, to be whispered about, evidenced by the almost total lack of acceptance of TMS theory. Deepak Chopra says, staying home with the flu is the Western form of meditation--allergies aren't quite the same--Claritin D does a pretty good job of covering up the symptoms.

 

I haven't had ASMR but remember I was once so moved at a concert by Fritz Reiner conducting the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that, while sitting high up in balcony and listening to the gorgeous playing of
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, I began levitating. I left my seat and was soaring over Orchestra Hall.

The next day I overheard Claudia Cassidy, music critic for the Chicago Tribune, say that it was the
"definitive reading" of the symphony. No wonder it moved me!

 

TT, I remember reading a book by a young American (I think, a Westerner, anyway) who got chatting with an Indian couple on a train and ended up telling his whole life story. He was labelled ADHD which led to being medicated and lots of other trouble as a child and young adult. The Indian couple was fascinated and, at the end of his story, they looked at each other wonderingly and said something like, "In the West, being an old soul is considered a disease". This makes sense to me. It's possible that people who have a tough time in life may be learning something the rest of us aren't ready to know. Or maybe they are learning it on our behalf.

Walt, what a cool experience. You were soaring with the music!