ASMR and the gold bubble trick: the mindfulness tricks Daisy Lowe swears by

Daisy Lowe tells Katie Strick why she’s sharing her tools for relaxation in a hit new podcast
FROM PAPER 12/7/19

Daisy Lowe doesn’t mind summer rain - especially not in her garden. “I find gardening meditative,” says the model and TV personality. “Not so much the heavy lifting, but the pruning and the mowing and watering things and just getting your hands in the earth.

“There’s something primal that’s so grounding about it. You have to be really present - which is actually quite similar to ASMR.”

ASMR (or auto sensory meridian response) is a physical reaction to soft sounds and gentle touch, normally resulting in a tingling sensation that begins on the scalp before moving down the neck and upper spine.

It’s an increasingly popular mindfulness technique - 45 per cent of 25-34 year-olds have tried it, according to research by Fuze Tea – and it’s Lowe’s latest obsession, thanks to the tea brand’s new podcast, Mind Tingles. The series launched last month and sees the UK’s top ‘ASMRtist’ Emma Smith introduce the technique to celebrity guests, including Professor Green to Clara Amfo. Lowe, a long-time meditator, is first up.

In episode one she and Smith listen to the sounds of everyday items to trigger physical tingles - buttons, coffee beans, an empty packet of incense - and Lowe, aged 30, insists the feeling is “extraordinary”. “It’s like having someone stroke the back of your head or having a glass of wine – you get that same sort of sensation,” she says, calling Smith an “amazing fairy woman” with an “incredible” voice.

Lowe hadn’t tried ASMR before the podcast and admits she was sceptical. “Emma was saying that she sometimes does ASMR by going through her makeup bag. I was like: ‘How is that soothing to anyone?’ – but in practice it feels like a form of therapy or meditation. It’s like being given a little present.”

Now, she listens to Smith’s videos whenever she’s had a stressful day or a bad journey on the Tube - another tool in her “toolbox” for keeping herself relaxed.

Grounded: Daisy Lowe is a vocal advocate of mindfulness 

Over the last six years, Lowe has become a vocal advocate of all things mindful. In 2013 her godmother Zoe Grace introduced her to transcendental meditation (TM) – a form of eyes-closed silent mantra meditation – and over the years she’s taught her team so they can practice together in the car on the way to events (“I get nervous before events – I always have”).

On the podcast, she tells Smith about her “gold bubble” technique – an image that came to her in her first ever TM session. “I saw gold all around me,” she explains. “Ever since then, if I need some headspace, I’ll put myself into a little ball of golden light.” It helps her feel “protected”.

It’s like having someone stroke your head or drinking a glass of wine. You get the same sort of sensation

Daisy Lowe

Now at home in Primrose Hill, meditation is an essential part of Lowe’s morning routine – normally for 20 minutes when she first wakes up “so I don’t get distracted”. Then it’s breakfast and a home workout in front of Killing Eve or Love Island, before walking the dog, a white Maltese Terrier called Monty. “My absolute favourite thing to do is just putting in headphones and getting out on Hampstead Heath – you can get lost,” says Lowe. She recently set her phone’s social media screen time to 30 minutes a day “because I know it has the ability to make you spiral”.

She also loves the secret garden in Regent’s Park and Richmond Park “if I fancy a long drive”, while she and her boyfriend, the model Cameron McMeikan, are hoping to fit in some longer road trips around the UK over the summer – the Lake District, maybe Scotland.

The rest of the summer will mostly be spent at festivals – Glastonbury last month, and Wilderness in August where her brother is DJ-ing. “If my mum lets me go,” laughs Lowe (it clashes with a family holiday).

This month’s festival, meanwhile, is something a little more wholesome: the last ever creative arts festival in Port Eliot in Cornwall, where Lowe has been asked to read a bedtime story. “I’m excited for that,” she says, explaining how she likes to unwind to night-time stories on the meditation app Calm. “Actually, Emma should do some bedtime stories – I’d love her to just chat me to sleep. I’ll have to send her an Instagram message.”

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