Do you know ASMR? Under the extended name of "automatic sensory meridian response" hides a very simple sensory meditation practice, which is becoming more and more popular on the internet. Tens of millions of videos on Youtube explore this phenomenon, a result of whispers, rubbing, scratching, and other little noises. The journalist Ariane Nicolas discovered this practice three years ago and, having become a follower herself, devotes an article entitled, "ASMR-Ouïr sans entraves", in Psychologie Magazine . She was Thursday the guest of Philippe Vandel in Culture-Media .
"A thrill along the spine"
"When I discovered ASMR, I found it strange, I laughed a little. And then I realized that it is in fact much more interesting than it seems," says Ariane Nicolas. In some people, listening to these rustles for a certain time (the videos sometimes last up to three hours), gives rise to physical sensations, an impression of well-being, or a feeling of relaxation. Questioned in the article by Ariane Nicolas, a follower evokes "a shiver which runs through the nape of the neck, which descends along the spine, sometimes goes to the kidneys".
>> Find all of Philippe Vandel's programs in replay and podcast here
"A substitute for therapy"
The effects of ASMR are often different from person to person. "I listened to it to focus, to relax. For many people, it is also a form of presence, a meditation that requires no effort," said the journalist. For some, she adds, it has even become "vital".
"A free substitute for therapy that fulfills certain expectations." Observers speak of a kind of "brain orgasm". An expression to take with tweezers, nuance Ariane Nicolas. "Relaxation, well-being is different from sexual pleasure."
Misunderstanding and mockery
And then there are the refractories. On the one hand, those who simply find these noises irritating. It should be said that certain videos compile for example sounds of chewing at full volume, or of computer keyboard on which one types without interruption. Still, these noises can be "very relaxing for people, even if in everyday life, it hits them on the system". There are also those who laugh. In the United States, the presenter Helen de Generes, made it a subject of sketch. In France, actress Anna Mouglalis mocks it in a video for Télérama . Inevitable critics, according to Ariane Nicolas. "On the internet, as soon as someone says they like something, an army of trolls comes to explain that they should never have had that thought ..."