The curious case of controlling goosebumps
Since youth I’ve had this strange ability to control goosebumps, making them appear willingly.
This created a feeling of awe, a sense of energy flowing and warmth, sometimes even levitation.
In time I found out that this strange ability is not very common and began personal research on the subject.
From what I have found in various sources it was believed that it is not possible to control the muscles which trigger the goosebumps since these are flat muscles which belong to the autonomous nervous system, a system which by its name operates autonomously, apparently this ability proves that some parts of the autonomous nervous system can be controlled willingly in some cases.
The goosebumps effect scientifically named piloerection is known to occur in many situations, besides the flight or fight instinct of fear it is also connected to very intense feelings of awe, listening to powerful music or some movie scenes. This feeling of awe is connected to deepest emotions, therefore I believe if studied further the ability to control goosebumps can lead to interesting discoveries both in psychological aspect of human emotions and also in the possibilities of controlling other parts of the autonomous nervous system.
From my personal experience the ability has helped many times in relaxation meditation, and may have even affected my creation process of music and visuals.
These are some links I’ve gathered online on various research on the subject:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/622399/people-can-control-their-goosebumps
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/747693