I notice that advice for insomniacs abounds. Quite often the advice does include suggestions to distract oneself with another noise (white noise seems popular). Of course, The Procrastination Pen exists to describe distracting noises. Until recently it has consisted primarily of videos on YouTube. However, I have often bemoaned how intrusive the inter-video adverts are. I therefore keep trying to find alternatives.
So, I thought this week we would start into free resources that might preclude the need for YouTube at all. I am looking for things that could be restful and which are not going to wake you with loud adverts.
I had made a note of a URL during lockdown and never returned to it. Now it turns out that it has gone and can only be located on The Internet Archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221005123843/http://me-cl.com/resources/
There are three files that appear in this order:
Talk: Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays (note: begins rather abruptly with a short chant)
Meditation: Mini-Meditation before Eating by Char Wilkins
Meditation: 10-minute Breath Awareness by Char Wilkins
The Jan Chozen Bays talk is close to forty-two minutes in length. It has a long, quiet introduction (silent, in fact). Then it gets really loud very quickly. It seems to consist of rhythmic chanting which I, for one, did not find relaxing. After about a minute the chanting stops, but it is enough, from my perspective, to discount it as a source of relaxation.
After that time a talk starts and that is nicely quiet (another situation where, if I owned the MP3, I would truncate that initial part altogether and the file might be quite usable). The voice is ok, not much in the way of ASMR-y, but given we are looking for sleeping aids, I would say certainly relaxing enough for me.
Not unexpectedly the talk has a religious theme and also (perhaps unexpectedly) a US-centric theme. I apologise if you find either to be not for you. In which case perhaps this review will save you listening to it at all.
The further through the track we go the better it is paced and the calmer the voice becomes. Perhaps it’s one to start playing before you’re ready to sleep and start listening a few minutes in…
The Mini Meditation by Char Wilkins is just less than six and a half minutes long. It starts with a bell, which might be a bit jarring. The voice is, again, not as quiet as I expected, you’d probably want to adjust the volume down a bit. The pace is quite good though. Not an ASMR-y tone but restful enough for sleep, I think. There is another bell about midway through; I’m sure this is a mechanism for punctuating the meditation but it may also be something that causes the slumbering mind to surface again. The final three minutes or so is completely silent.
The ten-minute breath awareness also starts with a bell. It is actually eleven minutes long. Here the voice is a better volume and a better pace than the previous one. There is also a further bell towards the end of the track.
The files seem to be free to download, such that you could download them and manipulate them as you see fit with an editor such as Audacity.
(Perhaps you could even chop out some of the louder bits, for example).
Of course, this mechanism of locating restful material does not build into a playlist. I think you’re stuck with downloading, manipulating to focus on restful moments, and then building a playlist yourself using a media player of choice. Given the files are not mine I dare not do that for you in case a formal person in a serious suit were to find out about it.
The other alternative to YouTube I have explored for a while now is limited only to those who already have a Calm subscription. I am not sure what percentage of a readership this actually is (conceivably it could be a waste of time). However, I have felt that describing alternative methods of getting some peaceful background noise might be more effective than taking a chance with those adverts. Today’s is this one:
https://www.calm.com/app/player/kM_FSkJ6oJ
Daily Jay
You Belong
NARRATOR
Jay Shetty
This concerns the universal desire to belong. It features an enlightening story about belonging and attitude to belonging. Even if you are not using it to relax for sleep it makes for interesting listening.
I like the statement “any form of suffering is a part of life”. Those of us who struggle with sleep probably will take some succour from that.
Frequently having covered the Calm option, I have now been featuring a professional ASMR artist (often on a medical theme). I started reviewing these to see if the offerings were as good, or preferably better, than the inadvertent ASMR which has been the subject of this blog so far.
This week I am looking at the channel Celaine’s ASMR this has 2.01m subscribers, nine hundred and seventy six videos, thirty one playlists some of which have greater than two hundred videos in them. This is an extremely popular channel.
I notice that there are some playlists on a medical theme (which has been our focus for a while now).
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
As you can tell this is a very prolific ASMR expert.
From all of this huge bounty, I have selected this one:
ASMR Eye Exam Lens 1 or 2 (With or Without) 👓 Light Tests, Realistic Medical Roleplay for Sleep
It is twenty-four minutes in length and in my case started with the loudest advert I’ve encountered yet. Celaine is excellent, she has a great voice. There is no startup music. No attempt to cover every random trigger – for example, no mouth clicking, scratching, or nail tapping on a hard surface. If only there were more videos like this.
There are notes of course:
“388,965 views 23 Dec 2024 ASMR Cranial Nerve Exam Roleplay Podcast
ASMR Eye Exam Lens 1 or 2 (With or Without) 👓 Light Tests, Realistic Medical Roleplay for Sleep. Vision Test & Cranial Nerve Orbital Exam. And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
In this ASMR medical exam video expect an eye exam roleplay that’s focused on the lens 1 or 2 test, Glasses Fitting, Orbital Light Exam and ASMR Light triggers for sleep FAST.
The perfect ASMR eye examination video to test your orbital vision! This video includes Dr. Eye who will give you a detailed eye exam and eye test for your ASMR relaxation~ ASMR: Lens 1 or 2? With or Without? (role play) inspired by the amazing YouTube creator SRP ASMR !
✿ What is ASMR? ✿
Autonomous sensory meridian response, is a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. Used to help with sleep and relaxation
#asmreyeexam #asmrroleplay #asmrvideo”
As usual for a professional ASMR artist the notes are on the long side. I have truncated them a tad or it would be boringly long. The video is divided at intervals and loud adverts, as you would expect, populate those intervals. The video has comments of course. Some of which are a tad on the odd side, the majority, as we would expect, being profuse with praise.
I can hear why that is. I think it is close to ideal for sleep purposes, those intrusive adverts permitting.
At this stage we usually do an inadvertent ASMR video, but this post is already quite lengthy. I think I will cover one video but not attempt to find any linked videos, or this is likely to go on forever.
The channel is
Joel Sattgast with 4.14k subscribers, one hundred and sixty eight videos, twelve playlists. Some of those playlists look worthy of further review (given more time and blog space).
The chosen video is this one:
Foot and Ankle | Palpation Guide
It is a little over seventeen and a half minutes long.
It has notes: “21,676 views 4 Jul 2020
This video takes students through palpation and identification of the major landmarks, bones, and joints of the foot and ankle.
MU DPT Sp2020
Fair Use Act Disclaimer: This material is for rehabilitation educational purposes only (e.g. DPT education)
Fair Use
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education & research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Copyrighted material used for educational purposes is indicated with citations.”
I think I qualify under the “criticism” heading, at least that is the gamble I am making. If I suddenly stop posting I might be enjoying some leisure time at the behest of His Majesty. There are comments, but precious few of those (let’s hope that is not a bad sign).
Joel’s voice is excellent. It starts calm and nicely paced. There is no startup music and no loud equipment noises. He does get a bit louder as if trying to communicate through projection alone. That said the video is not ideal ASMR material. To be restful I think you’re going to have to reduce the volume a bit. (I’ve commented before that inter-video volume changes are a problem on mixed playlists like that compiled by The Procrastination Pen).
On that basis, just one, video on this occasion.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
Until next time.
Photo by DeepAI
The Procrastination Pen 