[sabe.]

I've been thinking. And...what if everybody could do this...and they just didn't give it much thought.

[sparko]

I can induce small goosebumps on my arms at will. I have to be sitting down quietly first. To do it I concentrate on the base of my spine then move the point of concentration up it slowly all the way to the top of my head. At that point I breath in very slowly and tense up a tiny bit. Then I feel a tingly nerve sensation moving around my spine and upper body generally and get the goosebumps. Sometimes they appear on my legs also. I can't move them to a specific limb yet. 

I can't do the heart rate thing but I can do the random eye movement thing.

I'm a 42 y.o. male and have been able to do goosebumps for several years. It happened after I tried chakra meditation.

[ZdAries]

Hey guys, like the other guy, I also registered just to post here...  [:I]

And I came upon this site on my search on how to control involuntary actions like inducing goosebumps, yawning, refocusing your eyes, coughing, sneezing, crying(I think it only applies to me, I don't know why but every time after I fight, or hurt anyone for that matter, even though I am barely hurt and even though I won, tears still come to my eyes. This is the main reason why I searched for ways on how to control involuntary actions) and a few others.

About the goosebumps thing, I used to be able to induce them willingly when I was a child. But since then, I have never willingly induced them, because of that, I have forgotten how to do them. But I am still able to induce them again, barely, but only after I just experienced them involuntarily. Like what happened two days ago, I saw this flash animation about a man's life changed by a dare, and thus he was able to help millions of homeless people and was able to give them a home, and because the animation and the song fit each other so much, it gave me goosebumps. And starting from that time until a few hours later, I was able to induce goosebumps by thinking about the video and remembering the "feeling" I had when watching it. But the day after that, I couldn't do it anymore, no matter how much I think about the video.

I think this is what the other guys meant by "replaying". I also learned how to move my eyebrows, and ears, widen my nostrils(not sure what the term is [:I]), focus my eyes and a few others.

In the past, my mother showed off to me how she could move her ears, and because I was so jealous, I tried it so much but still wasn't able to replicate it. So I tried moving my scalp backwards using my hands and then remembered the feeling of how it moved my forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, and ears. After that, I was able to "replay" it over and over again, and then I learned how to move my eyebrows, first dependently of each other, after some days of practicing, I was able to move them independently. And then after I mastered moving my brows(I think I did, I can even move it sideways a little bit, and even make them move in circles, one in a clockwise direction, the other in a CCW direction. I don't what else I can do with them so I think I've already mastered them) While I was practicing with my brows, I noticed how my ears moved with them, and I then remembered the feeling of my ears being moved and practiced until I was able to move them without moving any other part of my face(except my forehead, since it moves upward no matter what I do).

I think most people can do this but just in case I am wrong and most people can't, I can even widen my nostrils. It's hard to explain but try looking at a mirror and try breathing in and out, then you'll notice that your nostrils kind of widen up. My friends aren't able to do this so I think this is not a common "ability".

And also, I can willingly focus my eyes, it actually started a few years ago when my eyes got so bad that I had to either wear glasses or contact lenses. And I didn't want either because it made me look like a geek. So sometimes in class I tried taking off my glasses and focusing on the board but it was so boring and most of the time, I yawned and I noticed that right after I yawned my vision cleared and I could see farther and more clearer than I normally could, but that was only for a few seconds. So, I tried forcing myself to yawn as much as possible so I could see better but it was really hard to yawn. So I tried thinking about boring things and almost closing my eyes to the point that I can barely see and then I learned to yawn willingly. And in class I yawned so much that most of the time my teacher would yell at me to go out if I thought his/her class was boring. But I was never really bothered with them since I was so happy that I could see better. And after a few months I was able to re-focus my eyes to see from varying distances. I can even focus them so that I can see clearly with any-grade glasses.

And also on a side-note, you guys might want to try and learn to yawn willingly. I found it very useful and fun. It is believed that yawning is contagious and if you saw someone yawning, chances are sooner or later you will yawn too. And I was able to prove this with my friends. When I was bored I just yawned and yawned and after a few tries, maybe two or three times, they would yawn too. And every time after that when I yawned there was a near 100% chance of them yawning right after. For me, it was really fun seeing them yawn because of me.

[XSeven]

This is a very interesting topic.

I too have the ability to cause voluntary goosebumps. I used to think that it was a pretty strange thing until I heard that the others here could do it as well.

A common ability? Yes and no. Controlling one's pulse rate is a common ability--the pulse increases just by excitement or relaxation... emotions we control. However, scientists confirm that goosebumps are an involuntary response. Controlling those impulses would take a feat beyond that of just providing emotions or tensing muscles.

I've been experimenting with this ability and have taken it to a higher level. I have the ability to make my heart skip a beat and can "hold" it for a couple of seconds before releasing it. Nearly every time, goosebumps develop. I've also been able to cool myself off in the hot Texas summers by using the VIG trick. But what's most spectacular is that I can actually nullify pain with it. I've used it to quell headaches, leg cramps, bruises and scrapes. I can even hold onto a cup of hot coffee in a metal cup without feeling the pain. The trick numbs my hand to the degree where I feel an electric tingle instead of the pain.

Interestingly enough, we all have one thing in common besides producing goosebumps. We all seem to have an "additional" ability as well. Some have increases in strength, some can heal, and others seem to have touched the psychic level, yet all of the extra nuances are INTERNAL. I think producing the goosebumps is a precursor to learning neuro-feedback. I believe we can take this ability to astounding levels with devotion. IMHO.

(who knows? We could all be on Dr. Shuresh's list  [] )

[nagol]

I have been experimenting with my goosebump control.  With some success I can move it around my body including left to right.  My kids love it, but they have yet to show signs of my stupid people trick ability. I can easily make my face and head get the bumps, looks kinda funny with 5 o-clock shadow.  For me this is defenately linked to adrenaline production, strength and mental focus go up.  I do have mild narcolepsy and this can temporarily help when I get the sudden urge to sleep.  The eye focus thing is something I assumed everyone could do.  I will try the pulse and body temp deal.

[81s]

Wow...I've been able to give myself goosebumps since I was a child and have NEVER been able to find anyone else who could do it. I have a question though...are you guys able to give yourself goosebumps with your eyes open or closed? I can only do it closed and when I'm breathing in. I've also performed a test by sitting in a bath tub with the hottest water I could stand, and I was still able to give myself goosebumps while in it.

Do any of you think this may be something more than just giving yourself goosebumps? Like maybe we cam do things with our minds that most people can't? Call me crazy, but I feel like it's something much, much bigger than just performing goosebump tricks.

[Laura_Kelly]

It's quite interesting to see this. I can't control goosebumps aside from making them happen randomly, I can't make them go away, but I can increase and decrease my pulse rate without any secondary stimuli. It is quite helpful for when I'm a patient at first aid competitions as it helps my role to be far more realistic. And it's great for confusing people who aren't sure whether my pulse is meant to be that slow or fast!

[vertebrac]

We are a lot!, my name is Javier, i'm from Argentina, i have the same strage thing
if anyone would like to chat or talk about it, i'm in skype at: vertebrac (my english isn't very good, but let's give it a try!)

[tcdao]

This is a personal account to my experience of VIG, i can give myself goosebump with eyes close or open, in cold or hot weather, and in any situations. Really i had to teach myself to do it, before i had to think of having my finger nails scratch a block of ice and this would always give me goosebump, in times i train myself by thinking of the same thoughts but controling the goosebump by not activating it. Over the time i started to do it at my own will. I believe this is genetic b/c my mother can do it too, i was amazed. Could we be seeing a evolution in the making? I believe people that can do this can adapt well to cold weather b/c normally goosebump is use to warm up the body. We can adapt well to extreme dangerous situations because at the same time our eyes dilate so we can have a better vision of our surrounding, our body pump adrenaline to our muscle to work much more, our senses increases. This is not your normal human being who has no control over this and depend on these factor situations to set the fight or flight mode on. If we train to use this "skill" at the right time and acquire the knowledge to overcome it, our ability can help us out compete and out survive the normal human being. Im not saying i am right, im just saying think about it and share me your opinion

[Oscar]

Hi all,
I can also give myself goosebumps at will in an almost identical fashion as Jolyon describes. I do not believe in anything mystical, so I don't attach any supernatural qualities to this ability. I am an engineer and as a technical person understand that this may be of interest, especially if it is as rare as this conversation suggests. I live in Boston, so if anyone has a serious interest in exploring this ability, feel free to contact me via email.
Oscar

[Thouv]

Oscar, I can give myself goosebumps at will and live in Boston as well. I sent you a private message.

[Dimi]

Hey there! Thats interesting to hear please keep us all up to date with what you find out. I only registered because I wish to share my thoughts on this,

I can also do this, I realised I could do it after a car accident when I was 10. It was like a sudden trauma released it in me and now I can control it at will.
What I have found interesting is that it seems to be done in different ways.

The way I do it is, I can either tense up or remain completely calm ~ but I do an imaginary pull on either my spine, neck, or from my crown, then I feel it throughout my whole body. The intensity is varied but most of the time it is the same. I have compared it to listsening to awe-inspiring music or having an epiphany, sometimes I can make it reach to that level. I will try keep conscience notes of what lets me reach those levels.

I've also noted that while after jogging for 5 or 10 minutes ~ I find it very hard to do it and it actually takes alot of effort but I can manage (after what looks like I'm having an internal struggle with myself, haha)

Its led me to believe that perhaps we have an conscience ability to control smaller muscles inside of our body. Sort of like a finnese thing.

But also what I find strange is that after awhile I find myself fairly tired or mellowed out. The more I hold it, the more tired I will be. Though ~ while I am holding it I feel charged up and calm, I have even noticed a bit more clarity in my thought.

Though I have never recieved an adrenaline rush by doing this however, I have to pump myself up to get a rush. Otherwise its more like a calming experience for me.

And yes, I practiced meditation to.

I am thinking of convincing a friend that I have a useless supernatural ability. She already thinks I'm weird because I can 'gleek' (projection of saliva from the submandibular gland) and and I have a very high pain tolerance to ~ but I am also very ticklish.. I can control that to though [If i concetetrate, I won't even feel the tickle... or maybe I've developed a good discipline towards it? Maybe it has to do with discipline with your own body]

Anyway I'm afraid I'm going to start rambling!!!

Also, is it gender specific?

[fearfulparadox]

It is quite a subtle process so it is difficult to explain but I will attempt to. I have actually been trying to teach a friend to do it to understand it better [kinky??],  so far unsuccessfully.  What it feels like I am doing is tensing the muscles located about an inch below the base of my skull, but very very subtly as if I had a pea between my fingers and was pressing it carefully without squashing it. If the tensing is done in a particular way [which I am really at a loss to describe], it triggers waves of an electrical sensation which is generally a precursor to the goose bumps. These “waves” are quite specific in their movement and direction. They begin at the base of the skull just above the “muscle tensing “area then radiate outwards to my upper back and shoulders, then to my arms and finally my legs [most strongly at the front of my thighs]. It also moves around my head in a wave, like I was putting on a tracksuit hood [but no goose bumps manifest there as far as I can tell except on my neck]. I can increase the intensity of these waves, and therefore the goose bumps, by “pulsing” the neck area I described above but it requires concentration and the “electrical” feeling is not necessarily pleasant. A side effect of this process is an increased heart rate and an adrenaline feeling like I had just been frightened or shocked. I can also create this “adrenaline” feeling independently of the goose bumps but again trying to describe how is tricky and beyond my understanding. Like CANNABINOID I also don’t believe it is a “supernatural” process, it is definitely physiological. I don’t practice yoga or meditate and have a healthy scepticism for many [not all] spiritual practices, but I am pretty in tune with my body and surroundings.  I hope this makes some sort of sense, there are so many other things I want ask which may be cleared up by this, for example I suffer from sleep apnia but do not have the general profile of someone who would normally suffer from this condition and wonder somewhere if my sympathetic nervous system [which I presume should control my breathing whilst asleep], is in some way getting mixed messages from my  conscious nervous system. [maybe I’m just a control freak!]

 

Finally! Yes! Yes! Yes!, Someone else who finally has experienced and broken down in explaination exactly what I myself am VERY capable of doing. This is a very stimulating reading this, almost like deja vu......
My name is Dylan Cofer, and my whole life I have also practiced and experimented with these unusual abilities of self control (ever since I was a young one) and have never come to figure out, how? or why? I have been able to do this....I also am very capable of this "tensing at the base of my skull" thus producing
what seems to be shots of adrenaline which lead to increased heart rate, in a different but simuler way I am also able to produce "goosebumps" on the surface of my skin very much EXACTLY how you explained this method, all the way down to the electric feelings.....practicing this I have also been able to produce heat waves throughout my body which makes the surface of my skin (especially the palms of my hands) very clamy {sweaty like humid) increase and decrease heart rates, and as one person has commented, flex a muscle in my ear, useful for plane, car rides to release altitude pressure, etc. The most unusual thing is, is that you mentioned the sleep apnea thing, but unlike most cases is different, same here it comes and goes at different times very unsynchronized, this is very interesting to me to find someone with parallel symptoms and abilities to mine, please do not hesitate to e-mail me immediately for further discussion.... fearful_paradox@hotmail.com

[fearfulparadox]

Well i posted in a rush so i did not realize all the others who have same abilities, this seems very common amoungst people, all having the same abilities, [increased streangth, healing, etc.] which I am also capable of, resulting in my long years of practice..... meditation also increases this,
The stacking of energy as one person has said like "doubling the effect" is also something which I think most have in common amoungst all of us..... yes I do believe its true everybody has these abilities indeed, some just fail to recognize and practice it...

I think with enough time, practice and wisdom on the subject we might be able to figure this out a little better and give each other "tutorals" so to speak, on abilities and learn from one another...like a society of higher thinking... we should all stick with this practice and blog....who knows what mysteries of the body and mind we may unlock..........

[fearfulparadox]

This is definately a relief.......

[fearfulparadox]

O.k this may help, I have stumbled upon a very interesting subject in which relates to my ability, and what sounds like most of what everyone else has said in here, study this video...........it will help explain most of our thoughts,  qi gong

[Dimi]

The thing with me however is I have always have had sharper senses, I have good aim with throwing, sharp eye sight, great hearing, good sense of smell, and I am a very fast runner.

My friends always thought I was inhuman haha. But I was very athletic while I was growing up, I was always swimming or doing something.

But the video.. Qi Gong.. If only we could speak to someone who did practice that form of Martial Art I don't know what to think of this really... I just wish I could find someone to explore it with.

[Dimi]

Oh wait! Another thing. I remember this one time me and my friends were at the powerhouse musuem, and there was a test to see how much current that you could pass through your body [you put your hands on 2 pads and you complete the circuit] . My friends got around 10 ~ 15, and I was up at around 30~33.

Lol wait, a society? We aren't anything special. I think its a hunter ability passed on. We don't usually hunt much anymore.

[fearfulparadox]

Very true, a society...perhaps not, other than online I meant of course, I have also been very athletic my whole life to, strong, fast just naturally, these so called "genetic abilities" have helped me very much in martial arts and weight lifting wich I have been doing for quite a while, one thing I can do in comparison to the qi gong is channel these "adrenaline bursts" (if you may) into my throat and have someone punch it with little or no damage to me, also in my abdominals......what I simply meant is that we should very well try to channel this "chi" within ourselfs since these monks are very real and have been practicing this for many years....scientists, it says, have proven to see this chi with heat sensors that indicate some type of "flow" through the monks body while performing their amazing abilities.....

[tcdao]

Well hello everyone. Im back to keep you posted about some new information's about VIG(i came up with that  []) ok well back to the point. Well i guess we can celebrate the positive effect of VIG like it gives more strength, withstand cold weather and more stuff. Yes it is wonderful.......now brace yourself for the irony...when we activate VIG our body release epinephrine and norepinephrien which are basically the same thing, well these chemical break down the wall of our blood vessel, yes your read right...our chances of getting heart disease and cornary heart disease is very very good. The blood vessel become less elastic because the reticular fibers are gone, the heart then have to work much harder to pump blood throughout the body and also the chances are high for us to get hypertension aka high blood pressure..it suck right? yes i know what everyone is thinking now, this great "gift" "genetic mutation" "evolution" whatever you want to call it is great in a way but....it is also killing us slowly. Also if anyone smoke and can activate VIG...i recommend you stop because you will develop atherosclerosis(thickening of the blood vessel) normally near the heart. Also i just found some news...my grandfather died of heart disease, he was in the airforce, rank E7, yes he was healthy but he could also activate VIG thus we can say the chances are high this can be genetic. Some advise i like to give is exercise and try to limit the activation of VIG, sometimes it is hard because it feels good but try to control it. Also this is also a response to stress, normally when we feel stress and activate VIG, it does lower our stress level. "sigh" well i will keep everyone posted if any new information comes up. LIVE WELL PEOPLE!!!