What is ASMR?

Self love

Nov 22

What does it stand for?

And why is it so popular on YouTube?

ASMR

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory median response. According to dictionary.com, the term ASMR was coined by Jennifer Allen in 2010.

What does ASMR mean?

According to dictionary.com, autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a calming, pleasurable feeling often accompanied by a tingling sensation. This tingle is said to originate in a person’s head and spread to the spine (and sometimes the limbs) in response to stimulation. The stimuli that trigger ASMR vary from person to person. Some of the most common ones include whispers, white noise, lip smacking, having a person’s complete attention (as in having one’s hair cut by a hairdresser), as well as brushing, chewing, tapping, scratching, and crinkling.

How did I discover ASMR?

Throughout this year, on my self-love journey, I’ve been exploring ways to care for myself physically and mentally. I hadn’t really gotten much into meditation or affirmations before this year, but found them to be extremely helpful. While cruising around YouTube for guided meditations and stress relief techniques, I ran across some ASMR videos. It took a bunching of weeding through videos to discover the exact ASMR that was relaxing for me. I didn’t even really know what I was looking for until I found it, mostly out of curiosity at a certain point. Discovering that I was HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) opened up some new thoughts and ideas for me, or should I say gave me the permission to feel and express things in a way that served me best. I had been suppressing much of these for fear of judgment from others or even from myself, to be honest.

I don’t get it. It’s actually kind of annoying.

I am new to the ASMR world and this is a fairly common statement I hear or see on social media. Why? Not everyone is sensitive to these “triggers.” In fact, even those who do have sensitivities to certain sounds may not have a positive response to others. For example, whispering is a pleasant sound for me, but lip smacking or what is referred to as “mouth sounds” do the opposite for me…create a cringe sensation.

ASMR might not be for everyone. The key is to love yourself enough to take the time to find relief from stress in a way that works for you. If you have an open mind and are looking for something that’s a little “outside the box,” you can check out my latest video, reading a Christmas story.

In this video, I also mention a few books I currently have on Amazon. The links are below, also. (These are affiliate links)