ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

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svmonk, modified 5 Years ago at 4/28/19 9:36 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/28/19 8:01 PM

ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 403 Join Date: 8/23/14 Recent Posts
The NYT recently had an article about a phenomenon called "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" or ASMR for short. The name was coined by a woman, Jennifer Allen, who felt a peculiar sensation whenever viewing videos of the earth from space, described as "a wave, like a warm effervescence, making its way down the length of her spine and leaving behind a sense of gratitude and wholeness". Up until 2009, she would occasionally Google for search terms like "brain orgasm" or "tingling head and spine", but the search terms turned up nothing. Then they did. In 2010 she coined ASMR to describe the feeling, and the genre took off. Most of the discussion now is around YouTube videos which attempt to trigger the feeling, mostly by women whispering (it turns out overwhelmingly that the gender of most people who experience the sensation - or at least are willing to admit it - is female). Today, there are around 500 videos posted per day, and the article has an interview with a YouTube star, called Gibi, who makes her living through ads on her ASMR YouTube videos. And the scientific world is beginning to catch up. Craig Richard, a professor of physiology at Shenandoah University in Virginia, heard the term on a podcast in 2013 and through it was bogus, but the podcast mentioned a painter, Bob Ross, who is a well-known ASMR trigger, that Richard fondly recalled from his youth. He started ASMR University which has some peer-reviewed papers on ASMR.

So anyway. Based on my own experience, after a massive kundalini A&P in the mid 90's, I get this feeling all the time. Before that, I never got it at all (or at least I don't remember having it). I can sort of call it up at will. It especially occurs during intense concentration meditation, when it can become very intense, but also in response to music, viewing a beautiful landscape, etc. If I am sick or low energy due to, for example, lack of sleep or cxhaustion after taking a long hike with a lot of climbing, it is difficult or impossible to call up.

My theory is that this is what Buddhaghosa calls piti in The Visuddhimagga (5th century Sri Lankan meditation manual). And that it is distinct from kundalini, which is a much more powerful and overwhelming "energy" experience that is rarely exclusively pleasurable like ASMR and can in fact result in extreme pain (I published a blog post a while back on this comparison, it's been my most popular blog post).

Does anyone else get this feeling? Did it start after a kundalini A&P? Any thoughts?
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 5 Years ago at 4/28/19 9:41 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/28/19 9:41 PM

RE: ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 3293 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Hey, while I am also a touch dyslexic, I realized that it is ASMR, not AMSR, so edited your post and the title of this thread to correct that: I hope that is ok.

I have no idea about whether or not the biological pathways are the same, but that tingling, chill-like, pleasant feeling is clearly extremely similar to some of the sensations that can happen in the A&P. I have gotten these sorts of sensations since I was a young kid, so no idea if it is related to crossing the A&P in others, but that would be a fascinating research project.
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Linda ”Polly Ester” Ö, modified 5 Years ago at 4/29/19 3:41 AM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/29/19 3:41 AM

RE: ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 7135 Join Date: 12/8/18 Recent Posts
My interpretation of piti is that it is the same thing as Kundalini, and that resistance and imagined barriers containing it are what cause it to be violent. I could be wrong, of course, but seeing it like that has been very helful for me. As for ASMR, I wouldn’t know, but it makes sense. I would guess that the sensory input that causes ASMR for an individual has the effect of creating a unified mind.
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Stickman2, modified 5 Years ago at 4/29/19 4:23 AM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/29/19 4:22 AM

RE: ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 375 Join Date: 7/24/17 Recent Posts
Are we talking TCM meridians here ? Can't see that terminology lasting if it's going to be scientific.

I used to get chill tingles when I had a pee, BTW. Is there an AMSR of people having a quiet tinkle ?
Keshin lu, modified 5 Years ago at 4/30/19 1:04 AM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/30/19 1:04 AM

RE: ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 34 Join Date: 7/31/18 Recent Posts
Hello,
IME, kundalini occurred many years before piti. It is more intense in term of heat and unpleasantness. While piti is cool and shivering. Once piti start I can call on it anytime. This is first jhana and once the mind have enough of this pleasure, it inclines towards a calming happiness, joy or sukkha. 
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David, modified 5 Years ago at 4/30/19 11:01 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 4/30/19 11:01 PM

RE: ASMR relation to kundalini and piti?

Posts: 8 Join Date: 8/5/18 Recent Posts
I experience "ASMR" phenomena, and given that context they arise in, I suspect that they are response to social grooming.  I can't say that they have nothing to do with meditation, but I've never encountered any meditative phenomena that feel ASMR-like.

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