Can you lose ASMR? Help me trigger it.

[GavinWB]

So, this thread is kind of bittersweet for me. For starters, it was just this morning that I found out this thing that has been happening to me for my entire life has a name, ASMR. It has also been probably about 6 months to a year since I have felt it.

My story is probably a familiar one. As a kid certain noises would produce a soothing, warm, tingling feeling that would start in my head and travel down my back. But, it wasn't just noises. It was so easy to produce that feeling as a kid. All I had to do was imagine a bubble popping. It was usually a pink bubble, almost bubble gum like in appearance, except there was noone blowing it. Seeing that in my mind and imagining the sound was all it took. However, that method hasn't worked for me in probably about 20 years.

Pretty much forever after that, what worked for me is scratching noises, soft speaking tones, whispers, and acts of service. I remember in my early teens there was this one pediatrician that I saw that her soft speaking voice and the general atmosphere gave me such a head high. Another common place would be the eye doctor. Usually a soft speaking eye doctor could trigger it. "Number 1, or number 2. Number 1, or number 2."

I also used to have another different relationship with sound, at the same time as I had these positive ASMR reactions. The sound and vision of tearing paper or tearing cotton would make my skin crawl.

I'm just trying to shed some insight, because I literally just found out today that there is a name for these things that have always happened to me in my 29 years of life, and they just barely happen any more. I miss it. I watched some ASMR videos, and it didn't have nearly as dramatic of an effect on me as these things used to. I did feel very relaxed, and I'm not sure if it's out of sheer will or a genuine response, but I did feel a extremely slight head high.

So, can you lose your ASMR, and does anybody have any tips or pointers for me on how I might be able to trigger it again?

[Tingles]

HI Gavin, welcome to the forums.

Don't worry, no you can't lose ASMR. ASMR is a reaction produced by the mind. It's not a depletable resource just as emotions are not depletable.

In my opinion, genuine ASMR arises unexpectedly. When we expect ASMR, like when we watch ASMR videos for instance, we either consciously or subconsciously create certain expectations that prevent ASMR from fully arising. At first these expectations have a weak influence on the mind and don't significantly affect ASMR response but overtime they strengthen and gradually start to weaken the ASMR response until it stops arising altogether.

So what's the solution? The easiest way is to completely forget about ASMR for a while. By completely I mean don't even try to forget about it, just let it go by itself. There's literally nothing to do other than wait. I'd say a few weeks should do the trick, but it might take longer for some people than for others.

But the best solution is to start being mindful at all times. Not only can mindfulness allow you to drop expectations much more easily, but it can also enhance the ASMR experience by reducing the influence of negative emotions that are always being pushed by the unconscious mind. It doesn't matter whether or not you feel the negative emotions, their impact remains.

By the way, when I say mindfulness I'm referring to awareness. Awareness is aware by itself. There's nothing to do to make yourself aware so don't fall into that trap. Just simply ask yourself "Am I aware?" and feel how it is to be aware. If done correctly you should also notice self-awareness or awareness of awareness.

As awareness improves you should start to be able to notice the expectations arise either consciously as thoughts or subconsciously as feelings in the body. And when this happens you'll be able to much more easily drop them.

Hope this helps.

[GavinWB]

That does help. I was actually able to have some degree of success yesterday. I found a few videos that triggered me, and I felt great. One thing I did notice is that it almost seemed like I had to be primed. Usually, it would take me at least 10 minutes to start feeling anything. I'll post the links to the videos that worked for me at the bottom. I spent a good portion of the day, at least a few hours, triggering my ASMR.

However, is it possible to over trigger your ASMR, to the point that it won't work for a while? I've been trying to trigger it today and haven't had much success, to the point where once I found myself thinking "come on, work. This worked yesterday."

This video is the one that absolutely had the greatest effect on me.

This one felt really nice too. I admit, the roleplay portion made me feel a little awkward (though it seems like acts of service is what worked the best on me as a kid and teenager)

And I also watched this one to try to find some triggers that might work. I didn't have much success until later in the video. The Starburst wrapper worked slightly. But, her scraping the plate as the second to last trigger in the video definitely gave me some tingles. What worked even better was the last trigger. When she was scraping the zylophone that felt really nice at times.

I am so glad to finally have a name for this thing that has happened to me for my whole life, and I am so glad to be a part of this community. Until yesterday, I thought I was the only one, and I went my first 29 years of life thinking I was.

[Tingles]

@'GavinWB':

That does help. I was actually able to have some degree of success yesterday. I found a few videos that triggered me, and I felt great. One thing I did notice is that it almost seemed like I had to be primed. Usually, it would take me at least 10 minutes to start feeling anything. I'll post the links to the videos that worked for me at the bottom. I spent a good portion of the day, at least a few hours, triggering my ASMR.

However, is it possible to over trigger your ASMR, to the point that it won't work for a while? I've been trying to trigger it today and haven't had much success, to the point where once I found myself thinking "come on, work. This worked yesterday."

This video is the one that absolutely had the greatest effect on me.

This one felt really nice too. I admit, the roleplay portion made me feel a little awkward (though it seems like acts of service is what worked the best on me as a kid and teenager)

And I also watched this one to try to find some triggers that might work. I didn't have much success until later in the video. The Starburst wrapper worked slightly. But, her scraping the plate as the second to last trigger in the video definitely gave me some tingles. What worked even better was the last trigger. When she was scraping the zylophone that felt really nice at times.

I am so glad to finally have a name for this thing that has happened to me for my whole life, and I am so glad to be a part of this community. Until yesterday, I thought I was the only one, and I went my first 29 years of life thinking I was.

Interesting, okay there is one thing you can do which would probably transcend your ASMR into possibly divine bliss. You just need to reinforce the mind whenever you are able to trigger ASMR successfully. Enjoying or even loving it through loving-kindness meditation would prove most helpful.

I say this because ASMR triggers a hypnotic state which is similar to a flow-like meditative state. It's quite easy to gain unification of mind during the ASMR experience. Reinforcing it further increases unification of mind which gives rise to effortless attention.

And during all this the unification of mind produces its own unique joy, pleasure, and tranquility. It's called piti in buddhist terms, but I'm not a buddhist. Hope this helps.  :)

Also, don't worry about not being able to trigger it. In fact, just accept the situation, Don't try to fix it. Rather, strengthen your intention to feel ASMR but in a gentle and joyful way rather than a forced one where you feel like you have to work at it.