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Comment by prettyStandard | Hacker News Reader

Personal Experience: I am pretty sure this state of mind is similar to what is induced by ASMR. There is this idea of a braingasm, that I learned to self induce when I was around 10. Euphoria is the best way to describe it. I have noticed it to be similar to what people describe with ASMR, although I have not experimented with ASMR at all so I am not certain. I have also noticed it to be extremely similar to the transitory state into and out of sleep. I haven't tried using it for brainstorming, I guess I've got some more experimenting to do.

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Interesting but why do you think this would be close to ASMR? For me it sounds cognitively like very different processes. Isn’t ASMR closer to something like synesthesia. With dreaming and falling in and out of sleep we are talking about different states of consciousness.

As someone for whom "ASMR" fell into place as a term for something I'd experienced my whole life: you're being very kind to GP. It's not close to anything related to sleep, more like a pleasant sensation of hairs standing on end. I'm pretty sure (not sure if I got this from somewhere or came up with it TBH) that it's a grooming-related response to someone being very near to you, hence the focus on things that sound like they're right next to your ears. (For me it also triggers on things like being measured for clothes, or seeing someone else be measured for clothes. It's flipping weird.)

OTOH, as someone who has also stayed away from ASMR-related media but hears bits about it: I get the impression it has, uh, spread away from its initial purpose, and gotten more generic. Drawing conclusions from what labels itself ASMR today is likely fruitless in much the same way you should be skeptical of anything that calls itself "Agile".

I can do that too! It's like a euphoric wave that goes through my body.

You guys are bringing back memories. I used to do this all the time when younger, actively phasing between what felt like sleep and consciousness, and even being able to hold and stay in the state inbetween. Felt like balancing

Are you able to share any details on how you did it, or is it not something that can really be explained in instructional format?

Can’t explain it, it was akin to clenching or focusing my sight but with my brain, which I know is not helpful.

I haven’t done it in decades and honestly not sure if I can do it still

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