Based on your ASMR experiences…
Explain what ASMR feels like to you, include details like:
- What physical sensations do you feel?
- Where do you feel these sensations on your body?
- What emotional and psychological sensations do you feel?
- How strong are the sensations?
- How long does it last?
Scroll down and share your answers in the Comments section.
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ASMR University 
For me, I experience ASMR from pretty much every trigger. As for what it feels like, for me it’s very very relaxing, the sensations I get are normally in the back of my head, and around my shoulders and ears. If it’s a really good video, It will make my head feel like its pusling (in a good way lol). They aren’t too strong for me unless its a really good video. The sensations last for the entire video as soon as it starts, but the relaxing part of it lasts almost all day.. I really love ASMR.
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I feel like I’m the only one who feels like this about ASMR, but I’m gonna say it anyway, because I don’t know what is this.
What physical sensations do you feel?
A tingling sensation that is just the slightest bit unpleasant yet o,ddly addictive, due to it’s softness probably triggering my curiosity, my head feels heavy and sometimes I get a chill running down my spine.
Where do you feel these sensations on your body?
On the back of my neck, my head and spine.
What emotional and psychological sensations do you feel?
Uneasyness, it makes me a little anxious, and yet I want to keep feeling it and to make it strong enough to be able to define what it is, or what I think about it.
How strong are the sensations?
Really mild. Sometimes a hard tingling and chills, sometimes almost nothing at all.
How long does it last?
Not that long, really.
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At first I detect warmth of gently increasing magnitude in my neck and back of my head. I can’t help but to smile. The sensation becomes more intense and transforms into a tingling feeling, again of a gently increasing magnitude. The tingling becomes more dynamic, not at all unpleasant, not like your foot falling asleep; but more energized. Sometimes, the tingles are so overwhelming that they start to itch a little- again, not in an pleasant way, though sometimes I can’t help but scratch the back of my head in response(which magnifies the sensation). I usually sigh, which sets me in an extreme state of relaxation. Mentally, I feel calm and safe. Emotionally, I feel loved or cared for. I am 36 now, and it always makes me feel like a small boy again- in a humbling sort of way, as if I were in the presence of a God or Goddess (which is strange as I have atheistic inclinations). I always feel comforted with a profound sense of gratitude for whomever is triggering the response.
My biggest triggers include unexpected help- like someone is doing something nice for me for completely altruistic reasons: perhaps building something for me or preparing something; Instructional speaking- like the Bob Ross painting lessons; touching in a grooming type situation (haircuts, shampoos); or if someone is singing to me.
Sometimes it only lasts a few seconds, most of the time it might last a minute or two. As soon as I realize it is happening, and that I don’t want the feeling to end, it starts to subside. I think my own anxiety over losing it makes it go away faster- kind of like when you have an exhilarating dream about flying only realize you’re flying and get scared and fall to the earth, thus waking up.
If I just lose myself in the moment and stop thinking about it I will become almost catatonic, paralyzed by feelings of euphoria and good will. It is best to just bathe in the light of the moment and appreciate it.
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With music, it’s fullbody goosebumps and tingles, super satisfying, like the opposite of nails on a chalkboard. With ASMR videos, it’s a little different. Have you ever felt a bristling feeling as a bug flew past your ear? It’s like that, but way nicer. I experience ASMR during videos only via my right ear (and I have great hearing in both), and on my right side. It feels like a weird tingle in my back, right above my butt, kind of anticipatory, like the feeling you have when you know you’re about to be tickled. At its strongest, I literally get muscle contractions I can’t control in my lower back. Just one, in response to a trigger, which only repeats when the trigger repeats. It’s kind of like an orgasm, except it’s really hard to get spent, and there is no rest period after. It just kind of goes along with the trigger.
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I wrote this description a couple years before I even knew that ASMR was a “thing”, to try and put down in words the “tranquil fuzzy feeling” that I had experienced since I was 9:
‘First a sensation like my scalp is contracting or expanding (or maybe both at the same time). Then a fuzzy tingle — fuzzy in the sense of a limb waking from sleep, but without the discomfort and with all the euphoria. The scalp pulses, the tingle pulses, like a massage in my brain and down the back of my neck.’
I would add that I often also feel the sensation across my shoulders, down my arms, on my thighs, and at my lower back. But it definitely originates at the top of the scalp, and down the back and sides of the head. It is tingly and radiates a feeling of coolness, like a pleasant shiver or goosebumps. The whole thing is incredibly relaxing, almost tranquilizing at times. I feel comfortable, secure, and a little drowsy.
The intensity of the sensations depends on the stimulus. Sometimes I only feel a slight tingle for a few seconds, and other times I feel an extended series of tingles for a few minutes. The fuzzy feelings seem to come in waves especially if the ASMR is the result of an extended exposure to someone whose voice and presence are an especially strong trigger (either in real life or in a video).
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