In third grade, one of my best friends "Katrina" ended up in line in front of me when our teacher checked our spelling books. I have always treated my books like the pristine gods and goddesses they are. Katrina, on the other hand, had a spelling book that looked like it went through a war. The top of the pages were bent, but it allowed Katrina to page through her book efficiently. Our teacher followed the same protocol each time--she brought us up one row at a time, checked our work, and we sat back down. Katrina would page through that book, and I noticed my body would feel very relaxed when she did so. It was so relaxing, in fact, that I would start to look forward to spelling check time because of the way I felt. I felt like I was just going to fall over onto the floor. My back and head and everything else had this sense of warmth flow over me. Then, in around fourth grade we started getting our heads checked for lice. Somehow I ended up in the back of the line. I could see all of the kids getting their heads checked, and I was glad. I ended up with that same relaxing feeling again. Any time we had our heads checked, I deliberately waited until the end of the line so I could watch the other kids. And then when it came time for me to get my head checked, I didn't want it to end. I felt this wonderful sense of relaxation and a warm feeling. Fast forward to my teenage years when half my life revolved around my hair. I was at the salon every four to six weeks. When I was a child, I think once someone shampooed my hair at a regular salon sink. When I got tall enough and went to the adult salon, I was more than ready for a shampoo at the sink. I couldn't wait. I felt that same relaxation feeling as I did as a child, only amplified. I got a sensation of what could best be described as the feeling one would get when you had heat stimulation in physical therapy. I felt this nice sensation of a pricking feeling, but comfortable and pleasurable. It was not painful, it came with the waves of relaxation I felt in my neck down into my back. And then there was another time when we took lifesaving classes in 8th grade. I was the lucky person who got to be the test crash dummy or what have you for the board you would be tied to if you injured yourself in the water. Someone had to tie up my legs and my head. The girl who tied up my head was moving my hair back and forth in the water as well as the gauze or whatever it was needed to tie up my head. I felt like I had happy died and gone to heaven. That feeling of water with my hair being brushed out of my face and being treated with very light movement was tremendous.
Fast forward again to late 2010 when I got my first laptop. (Yes, I was always behind the times.) I remember one night relaxing on my sofa when I got the idea to watch some massage therapy videos. I had occasionally gotten a professional massage and had ones from non-professionals as well. It was always relaxing to me, and I got that feeling. Of course, you were supposed to get the feeling of relaxed muscles, that is the goal of a massage. But as I watched, I felt myself getting so relaxed that I almost fell asleep. My body relaxed, I felt like I was in a hypnosis kind of state. A few months later, I saw a video that said "ASMR." I had no idea what that meant, so I looked it up. There was a name for what I had been experiencing since I was a child. At that time, there were not too many creators or "artists." It was a newer phenomenon. I enjoyed the videos at the time. I watched a lot of massage videos, and I particularly enjoyed videos devoted to hair play. There were some people who made medical type videos as well--a nurse taking care of a patient, a spine or back examination. Way back when, there was a creator named CuteBunny992 who decided to make a video of a relaxing cranial nerve examination. That turned me onto watching medical videos, and I found myself extremely relaxed once again. While I did not get the physical sensations of ASMR, I felt extremely and deeply relaxed. My entire body could release its tension, and my thoughts were very slow, as if I was meditating. I would say that I could enter a hypnotic state. Being in a hypnotic state does not mean that you are staring at someone swinging a pendulum across your face and telling you to perform a certain behavior. It means that you have entered a very deep state of relaxation. You can be "suggestible" in that state, meaning you could possibly change your thoughts or have someone say something to you that might influence your behavior. I have never desired that, though I do appreciate the relaxation element of it. And we are also in a hypnotic state in certain stages of rest, both before and after waking.
I have been now watching ASMR videos, or at least those which cause me to have that deep relaxation state, for ten years now. Sometimes they help me fall asleep. Other times, they help me wind down after a busy day. The most surprising to me is how I respond to medical videos. Granted, I will not watch an open heart surgery, but it is beyond relaxing to me to watch for instance a physical exam. Seeing a doctor or nurse examine someone's eyes, take their blood pressure, look at their throat, etc. And I absolutely love hair play videos, they make me relax even more than a massage video. I watch a lot of what is now deemed "unintentional" ASMR as opposed to the roleplays, which seemed to have exploded. My next blog entry will be about those and how the movement has grown since its early days. One of the reasons I wanted to do this particular topic is that those roleplays have gotten to be the face of what people think ASMR is. It is really not. I would also like to note that what may be relaxing for me may not be relaxing for someone else. That is the beauty of ASMR. For example, I was at a hibachi restaurant with my relatives. One of them started to stare when the server started to clean off the grill after the food had been cooked. I could see that glazed look in her eyes that I get. One of her children also experience the ASMR sensation and is drawn to Bob Ross videos. I also want for people who do not experience this to know that while I love the ability to relax and the sensation is pleasurable, I do not go seeking it on a daily basis. It just depends. I really do not get the prickling sensation or the deep muscle relaxation unless someone is physically touching me. I cannot watch the videos and get that sensation. Some people claim that they can, and I have no reason to doubt that.
What I experienced since my childhood could be now termed as a cultural phenomenon maybe? Look for my next blog to talk about the movement in general and where it seems to be going. For now, I hope I helped you understand what it is really about. It is really not about people slurping soup or pretending to be a relaxing gynecologist (yes, I am sorry to say those ASMR videos do exist.) We might be strange (ha!) but the natural occurrences of life seem to relax us. Never a bad thing.
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