Thanks Forest!
There may be genuine spiritual experiences that have a strong resemblance to phenomena such as synaesthesia, ASMR and so forth. For instance, many people with synaesthesia report seeing colours around people or associate colours with people. Some might explain that as seeing an “aura”, while psychologists would have a neurological explanation.
Personally I don’t come from a Hindu worldview or believe in the chakras, but I respect people with different spiritual and religious backgrounds. Also, experiences or sensations like this are hard to describe in words, and vary significantly from person to person.
My own view about ASMR is that it’s a conditioned response, because most people seem to report having ASMR in response to whispering. I’ve noticed that I can often trigger ASMR just by thinking about it, much like I can often trigger my pain/fatigue just by thinking about it. I primarily have ASMR with music, but I also get it at other random times – usually when I’m relaxed. I even get an ASMR sensation when hearing a phone ring, though it’s not necessarily a specific song or melody.
I’ve done some research online, and many people notice that ASMR helps them to relax before going to sleep or when going through a difficult situation. So I wonder if it’s our body’s way of trying to help us to calm down and soothe ourselves? Also, it seems to be a common experience when people get into a meditative state, and is related to the “binaural beats” phenomenon.
It could also be that people who experience ASMR have different brain wiring, much like people with synaesthesia have differences in neural circuitry. Anyway, it’s an intriguing mystery and there could be a wide range of explanations! At least it’s not particularly painful or bothersome, unlike many TMS symptoms. I’m interested in these concepts/phenomena as I feel they could give us clues about the brain and dealing with mind-body health issues.