ASMR videos reset my nervous system
Ivy B ASMR, welcome to your tape.
I don’t know when I started watching ASMR — Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response — videos, but it’s likely been about two years. A video of someone whispering as they poked into an ear appeared on my TikTok feed and I woke up an hour later, the video still playing on a loop.
It wasn’t just the life altering nap I had that day, it was the overwhelming sense of a cleansing of the negative energies I was unknowingly carrying, and a sense of calm that washed over me, and that calmness carried on when I awoke. I do not have any issues falling asleep, nor do I really need ASMR, but it’s kind of like a facial toner with water and aloe vera juice in it, it’s a nice extra step to have.
Right now as you read this you are likely fine; you could have had an amazing day, the best start to your morning, won the lottery, but your shoulders might be raised higher, teeth could be grinding, jaw clenched, and other habits we do we don’t realize that are just tense for the body. ASMR takes all of that away within seconds and I dare you to try. Do not think about it, but click on the video above, and notice what you feel when it starts to play. Maybe your hands are lighter, those shoulders may have dropped, maybe you feel like taking deeper breaths, or, like me, you might feel sleepy, or if you’re working, more focused. If you are a Black woman, you might notice something else with ASMR, especially if you watch Ivy B ASMR like I do religiously — there are no micro or macro aggressions.
In Netflix’s latest season of their reality show Selling Sunset, their only visibly Black agent, a Black and Nigerian woman named Chelsea Lazkani, faced one of the most egregious forms of racism and racial violence I have witnessed on the show thus far, from her cast mate Mary Bonnet. Since the conclusion of the latest season of Love Island USA, the show’s darker skinned contender Olandria Carthen has faced racial attacks online and most recently faced racial macro aggression from her cast mate Huda. While listening to my second favourite podcast, The Middlebrow Podcast, I had to listen to one of their guests discuss the extremely racist sorority she remained in and its treatment and disregard of Black students. My point is, it is really hard to avoid anti-Black racism and misogynoir. When I step outside of my apartment door, I am instantly overstimulated because of the stares I receive as a visibly Black woman, because I have to remind non-Black women to share the sidewalk space, and much more. I always say I am not someone who gets stressed, I’m a Capricorn, but I am someone who needs time to come down from the world I inhabit as a Black woman. I found that in Ivy B’s ASMR videos. The diversity in her clientele and the love, attention, and patience she gives to our gorgeous locks, is truly heartwarming.
I equally find ASMR a form of escapism and digital travel. ASMR Twix is extremely skilled at this, showcasing the stunning beauty regimens and artists in Japan while still incorporating sensory triggers and attributes. I find the escapism so successful, I play ASMR when I need to focus on tasks because the sensory sounds push all other noise or sensations to the background, helping me be more attentive to what I am doing.
A night has not gone by where I do not put on ASMR before bed. This thing I once knew nothing of, has become a staple in my nighttime routine and I think it should be in yours as well.
What of it? Do you have any ASMR faves? How has ASMR impacted your life? Let me know in the comments!