ASMR is the way to calm your nerves, to sleep well and to heal?

Just a few days ago somewhere I can across the name ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) and a video that stopped me on my track and totally puzzled me.
On this video a woman, you only see her hands, is stroking a black fabric and whispers for close to half an hour. What the....?

Then, that night I played the video before sleeping and I kept playing other ASMR videos all night while in and out of sleep. I felt extremely relaxed. Right away in the first minutes I had tingling all over my body, twitching and other nerve releases very intensively. I have been living with Multiple Sclerosis so I know about nerves and nerve damage, interrupted signals to muscles. I know about body parts not working and not doing what you want them to do and what they supposed to do. I have been on the healing path for a very long time so I know every little signs that my body sends when things are getting worse and when things are improving.
Right away I know that my body likes, not, even loves this video, the whispering and the fabric stroking noises. Started to find the reasons why I respond to this weird video like that. What does my body like about whispering, stroking and noises while falling asleep?

Like most of the time when no big money is involved for drug companies in researching simple, natural things that help people, of course not much or almost nothing was available on ASMR.

Then I looked on Facebook and found a few ASMR pages. I was truly surprised how supportive and positive the feedback were to these youtubers by women. Yes, you read it well. Women. Because, and I need to be totally honest here, at first, when I saw the first and second videos, I thought, it will be weird men who gets some kind of sexual arousal watching red, polished nails stroking something while whispering. No, I was wrong. This has not much to do with sex or arousal.

It has a lot to do with comfort, safety, security, childhood memories, relaxing, letting go and with your fight and flight response.

Watching ASMR videos people talk about experiencing a "weird feeling". This can be "weird head feelings", head tingling, some go as far as calling it head orgasm or attention induced observant euphoria. 

Now, I would like to quote from a site called ASMR, the Good feeling no one can explain: 

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response was a phrase coined by Jenn Allen, who founded the site asmr-research.org. "Autonomous" refers to the "individualistic nature of the triggers, and the capacity in many to facilitate or completely create the sensation at will," Jenn told me in an email. "Sensory" and "response" are fairly obvious, and "meridian," Jenn said, is a more polite term for "orgasm." In any case, it certainly sounds official—as Jenn said, "Try explaining why you want money to study 'goose looping' or 'brain orgasms.'"

Stop right there! Anyone who uses the word Meridian for orgasm has no clue what Meridians are, full stop. To mix it up and call it a polite way to say orgasm is an insult to the many thousand years of Chinese Medicine which is, in my opinion still way ahead in many ways of our Western Medicine. I just had to get this off my chest. 

The experience of ASMR is more widely common than you would think. It is present across all globes, nations, sexes and ages. When people encounter ASMR, they can search back for their childhood experience of feeling these sensations. So, with most people, this is triggered way back in childhood. For some, it is a late discovery. 

But what is ASMR really? Opinions divide. According to some, brain tingles are a sign of Enlightenment. Yoga, chanting and ASMR are tapping into the Vagus Nerve functions that contribute to the autonomic nervous system, which consists of the parasympathetic and the sympathetic parts. The Vagus Nerve is responsible for sensory activities and motor information for movement of the body. This explains how ASMR videos can initiate sensory responses that might result in improvement of movement in people with neurological problems. 

If the theory that our cells and muscles store electric charges of old emotions is true, a big nerve, like the Vagus Nerve probably holds similar informations. ASMR whispers and noises send a soothing message to the nervous system that starts to release old memories, fears and emotions from the cells and from the nervous system. One of the many functions of the Vagus Nerve is to balance the nervous system. It helps with stress management. This wondering nerve can lower anxiety and reduce inflammation. It has the power to combat the cortisol producing stress response of flight or flight. 

When you sooth your body with familiar soft noises and listen to whisper that brings back pleasant memories of childhood and intimate times with your loved ones, your cortisol level drops and your flight or fight response gets disarmed. You feel safe and secure. Your nervous system can relax and instead of protecting itself 24/7, it can switch into repair mode. It can start to heal itself. 

Quoting from ASMR, the Good feeling no one can explain:

Others have theorised that there's a link between ASMR and Synesthesia (another little-understood mental phenomenon), while Karissa Ann Burgess, who is in charge of experimental research and data for asmr-research.org, told me she thought that ASMR was caused by "secretions from the pineal gland" in the brain, which is regarded as a "third eye" or even the soul by some people who believe in things like third eyes and souls. I even heard from Shaun Robertson, who doesn't experience ASMR but was involved in the community for a time, that a few people believed that the condition was "the next stage of human consciousness."

I am not sure about ASMR being the next stage of human consciousness. However, I know, from personal experience, that ASMR videos can bring very positive changes in one's neurological conditions and physical well-being on many levels.

Let's just examine why is ASMR videos are so pleasant to watch and listen while falling asleep. 

My association was right away:

• My mum and dad tucking me in bed and reading softly to me while I fall asleep
• Being in bed at night or in the morning whispering with my mum or dad while someone was still sleeping in the house
• Me still sleeping on weekends while my parents already up getting on with their things and talking softly, feeling safe and secure, everything is well in the world
• Being in bed with my little brother whispering and having fun not wanting our parents to know that we are not sleeping
• Staying up late in camps, choir festivals and trips and spending the whole night chatting, whispering and laughing with my friends
• Whispering in general indicates intimacy and secrets with someone. Being in the trusted circle. 
• Intimate times with your lover when you share things about your day and yourself
• Intimacy with your loved one in bed before falling asleep frequently involves stroking and whispering
• For someone to stroke and spoil you with touch must love you and care about you a lot
• Certain fabrics and materials like velvet, silk, feather, beads, pearls, nice papers, chocolate wrappings, etc remind us of good, special times. Some materials are connected to something rare and special that sits in a special chamber of your heart

This means that ASMR reminds you of good times, happy times, special people in your life. We know that positive thoughts attract positive changes in our lives and positive thoughts bring healing to our bodies. 

In contrast, author Louise L. Hay, who just recently passed away, dedicated her whole life to educate people that four things cause major problems in our bodies and in our lives. Resentment, criticism, guilt and fear cause more problems than anything else, as she writes in her book called You Can Heal Your Life. 

"Following are some results of patterns that manifest on the physical level: 

Resentment that is long held can eat away the body and become the dis-ease we call cancer.

Criticism as a permanent habit can often lead to arthritis in the body. 

Guilt always looks for punishment, and punishment creates pain. (When a client comes to me with a lot of pain, I know they are holding a lot of guilt.)

Fear, and the tension it produces, can create things like baldness, ulcers, and even sore feet.

I have found that forgiving and releasing resentment will dissolve even cancer. While this may sound simplistic, I have seen and experienced it working."

In our fast-paced world that is full of electronic gadgets, constant stimulation, loud noises and noise pollution and, less and less intimate human interactions, a half an hour soft whispering and gentle sounds might stimulate the nervous system very differently from the the noises of the loud and busy city life, where your body constantly thinks that it is being threatened and is in the state of fight and flight all the time. Listening to a half an hour ASMR might give chance to your central nervous system to feel safe in the dark, to calm down and get a different type of calming, healing stimulation that is totally missing from our lives. Even if you are in a loving, caring relationship, not sure you get enough of it. 

So what can be bad about feeding your brain with good old happy times, nice memories and evoking pleasant feelings in your body that cause it to tingle, for energy to circulate, for access electric charges to leave your cells and for the body to enter a relaxed state of rest when healing can take place? If ASMR videos can assist you to reach this positive state, let be it. You have nothing to loose, just sleepless nights, aches and pains, heart-aches, painful memories and feeling bad about yourself. 

Welcome to a better life with more positive thoughts and feelings! Welcome to AMRS!

Managing performance anxiety with essential oils

The whole world is stressed. Stress is the new black. If you are not complaining about being stressed, you live a sedentary or boring life. Unfortunately, stress is becoming the biggest killer and the reason and the origin of most diseases. Managing stress is crucial. It is in our best interest. 

There is positive and negative stress. It might be a positive stress, the kind performers and athletes put themselves under the perform at their best or negative stress that comes from working in an open-plan office with a dozen telephones ringing all the time. 

The kind of stress and degrees of it are manifold, therefore the way we deal with it and the oils we use for it must reflect the diversity. 

POSITIVE STRESS

Let's distinguish between the type of stress we have like positive, normal and state of distress. 

Positive stress could be described as a "high", the excited state you get when performing in a job you like and passionate about. It is, indeed, this kind of high that makes people love and enjoy working and achieve well. This kind of high helps you perform well. Positive stress makes us aim a little higher, jump over hurdles and gives us the force to take on challenges. 

This is the type of energy that increases stimulation, helps our energy level, makes our creativity flow, contributes to us feeling good and gives us wings. This is the type of stress that does not need to be treated. People who live in this kind of positive stress choose to do it and learn to handle it most often. They are the real performer type, the ones who were born to be on stage or in the limelight. They get a kick out of it!

NORMAL STRESS

Normal stress is a state in which the body performs its functions for survival in response to circumstances. For example, when you have a car accident the body is flooded with adrenalin which causes all kinds of phenomenon. Everything goes into slow motion, people hardly notice their own injuries while saving and helping someone else or reduced pain sensation due to shock. This is all for a good reason, to increase people's efficiency and capacity to act and survive. Your heart maybe pounding, your body shaking, your wound bleeding but you manage to carry your child to the next house to call an ambulance. You can collapse later, when the emergency is over. These normal stress mechanisms are good and absolutely necessary in the best interest of our survival. We don't need to treat them either. 

DISTRESS

This is when the healthy stress becomes chronic. This is the type of stress when we have no energy, no drive to achieve well and to perform our best, no will, just frustration, sheer fear facing the increasing pressure of the upcoming event. Of course different types can exacerbate each other, so that the environmental stress you suffer at work can cause normal stress which when taken home, can lead to emotional stress. 

ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS

caused by, for example, by fluorescent light, electromagnetic radiation, constant noise pollution or simply, too cramped office space.

Essential Oils for environmental stress:

Cedarwood, Coriander, Geranium, Cypress, Roman Chamomile, Basil, Bergamot

CHEMICAL STRESS

We live in constant chemical stress exposed to chemicals in our cleaning products, cosmetic products, pesticides in our food, chem trails, cigarette smoke caused by smokers, reaching for drugs and antibiotics too easily, air pollution, inhaling substances at the factory or office, sleeping in latex, memory foam and inhaling their chemical smell, too many cups of coffee, too many lunch time or dinner drinks and too much junk food.

Essential Oils for chemical stress:

Lavender,  Clary-sage, Patchouli, Pettigrain, Geranium, Grapefruit, Lemon, Rosemary

PHYSICAL STRESS

Pushing your body to the limits all the time, working too many hours and not getting enough rest, being obsessed about working out in the gym or driving long distances continually. 

Essential oils for physical stress: 

Rosemary, Roman Chamomile, Marjoram, Lavender, Bergamot, Thyme, Geranium, Fennel

MENTAL STRESS

Mental stress is constant for most people trying to achieve, to perform, to prove, to please. It is caused by just getting on with our daily life like bringing up children worrying about them all the time; taking exams, especially when we are not prepared to the standard we would like to demonstrate and the mark to get; anguish over uncompleted jobs; unemployment and financial worries.

Essential oils for mental stress:

Geranium, Lavender, Sandalwood, Basil, Bergamot, Grapefruit, Cardamom, Patchouli

EMOTIONAL STRESS

Emotional stress is caused by relationship problems, parental guilt, the inability to give and receive love and grief. 

Essential oils for emotional stress:

Geranium, Sandalwood, Palma rosa, Bergamot, Vetiver, Rose, Cardamom

The different types of stress can be individual or present in combination. Take these levels of stress into consideration when selecting the oils from the formulas. Treat the first level before it moves to the second and so on. Mental health is as precious as physical health. Emotional problems if not identified, treated and dealt with will move into manifesting physically. There is no sharp distinction between physical and mental or emotional and mental stress. The human body works as a complex and integrated unit and taking care of one is taking care of all. 

Level 1: starts as a tiredness and develops into irritability, headaches and insomnia

There are a few beautiful blends by doTerra that will help you to destress, get calm and rest well but in a natural way, without drugs and feeling strange next day. Depending on what causing the emotional stress, grief, relationship or parental guilt or something else, select the suitable blend to help you find peace and rest. 

Essential oil blends to relax, for rest and better sleep:

Console, Lavender Peace, Past Tense, Peace, Forgive,  Peace, Serenity

Level 2: depression, anxiety, muscular pain, chronic aches, persistent infections, guilt, apathy and helplessness.  

Essential oils for depression and to lift your spirit:

 Lemon, Frankincense,  Motivate blend, Cheer uplifting blend, In Tune focus blend, Console comforting blend, Elevation joyful blend, Balance grounding blend, Peace reassuring blend, Citrus blend invigorating blend, Serenity calming blend, Ylang Ylang (for heartaches, abandoned, rejected, sadness and shame)

A few tips:

When you get to this stage, take a good look in the mirror. Examine your life and what coping mechanism you have to deal with stress. It's obviously not working. Look into seeking professional help, restructuring your life, changing job or reducing your workload, study load, sharing load with your partner, family and friends. You need more "me" time because if you keep doing what you are doing now, level 2 will lead to 3 then 4 and your life is over as you know it. 

Most people don't take seriously the warning signs. I know that essential oils are not a cure for all. However, essential oils can lift your spirit and is a quick fix to elevate your mood and make you feel good. That can turn things around very quickly! 

A little extra sleep, good food, less coffee, a relaxing bath or foot bath with essential oils, fortnightly massage, yoga or swimming, a few days away can make you feel better and return your equilibrium. Don't wait until you are so stressed that you can't recognise yourself and all your loved ones deserted you!

Level 3: persecution complex, phobias, despair, increasing guilt and depression, susceptibility to viral infections and bacterial invasion

Essential oils for despair: 

Eucalyptus, In Tune focus blend,  Motivate blend, Lemon, Lime and Lemongrass oils

Essential oils for guilt:

Zendocrine detoxification blend, Melaleuca, Peppermint, HD skin clearing blend and Purify blend

Essential oils for infections:

Cinnamon, Clary Sage, On Guard protective blend, Myrrh with Oregano, Douglas Fir (skin)

Please, always seek medical advice! This blog is not to diagnose, cure or give or replace medical advice in any way!

Level 4: now the body is really crying for HELP! Unexplained pain, heart problems, strokes, and high blood pressure may be experienced along with all the other diseases that are thought to have their roots in stress, like ulcers, and even, according to some opinions, arthritis. The immune system is further depressed, leading to all kinds of physical problems. 

A few recipes of oil blends:

Make up these recipes and use them after work in a bath or foot bath by adding a few drops to the water or apply topically as a massage oil by adding carrier oil. 

Stress level 1 and 3 General use:

Marjoram  15 drops

Roman Chamomile 5 drops

Lemon 10 drops

Tiredness blend: 

Lemon 10 drops

Clary Sage 5 drops

Lavender 15 drops

Anxiety blend:

Lavender 10 drops

Geranium 10 drops

Palma Rosa 10 drops

I find that carrying my favourite doTerra blends in my handbag helps me deal with the demands of the day. I apply my oils, depending on how I feel and what my body crave, on my wrists after breakfast and repeat it as many times as I need and feel like during the day. I diffuse oils at home, again, depending on how I feel and what I like that day. I apply oils on my spine before bed and inhale my favourite oils before going to sleep. 

What I use changes constantly according to my mood, my feelings, the demands of the day or specific needs to improve my health. I find the proprietary blends more and moire useful. Presently, my most favourite is Past Tense.

If you are interested to start using these life changing oils, please visit www.doterra.com and quote ID: 3424449

 I highly recommend to sign up and become a doTerra Wellness Advocate to get maximum discount, free products and many other perks this fabulous company has to offer. Never know what grows out of using the oils. doTerra has a generous Marketing Plan with great commission system that with time can grow into an extra source of income to cover bills, holidays, mortgages and maybe your retirement plans! Who knows?