Skepticism

Try this at home (or at work)

My good friend Meredith has informed me that she’s stumbled upon a groundbreaking revelation. She wrote:

Last night, while showering, having put my face soap on my hands before I remembered to wash the conditioner out of my hair, I stood in the classic ‘hearing God’ position (to get the conditioner out without getting my hands wet). You know, hands up in front of you head leaning back, body on an opposing incline.

You know what? It was a noticeably pleasant/light head rush position. I want to know if that’s true for other people too. Because you know, that would mean that people weren’t actually finding god, they were wanting to find god and then misunderstanding a head rush. Go on. You know you want to try it at your desk.

So, I tried it. Not at my desk — I have a much stronger sense of appropriate workplace decorum than most people give me credit for (note: not actually true). But I did try it in the shower, and my initial feeling was also rather pleasant. However, I do wonder if that was because I was chuckling at the idea that there is a “classic ‘hearing God’ position.” Then I was distracted by the thought that Meredith felt it somehow critical to wash the conditioner out of her hair before soaping up her face, while I tend to be the sort to soap up my hair and let it soak while washing my face, and then returning to rinse out my hair. Then I started singing Daydream Believer and washed my hair twice more before realizing my mistake and finally hopping out to towel off.

So, gentle readers, the point of this rambling story is that I’d like you all to try out the classic “hearing God” position (CHGP, or chuh-GUP) and let me know if you feel the holy spirit snuggling into the cockles of your heart.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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13 Comments

  1. Hahaha … after reading the quoted text, I was immediately distracted by the notion that she felt the need to rinse out the conditioner before washing her face. Very confusing.

  2. So, let's see: pleasant sensation, surprising revelation, singalong, and vague sense of guilt (mild embarrassment? slight chagrin?) at the end. I'd say it worked (:

  3. I have had a similar 'revelation' when pressing my tongue to the back of my top teeth. It helped me focus in years past and on airplanes it absolutely 'elevated' me. I learned later that it is a traditional meditation thing.

  4. I am having a wierd intermittent twirly problem for no reason at all, so I'm hesitant to try here at work.

    Do you have to be on your knees for it to work?

  5. The main thing I felt was my spine compressing a bit and various clicks as my neck popped in various ways.

    Im getting old dammit.

  6. I tried it, and it did seem to lead to a nice head rush feeling, but that could be because I was expecting it. Or because I'm in a good mood anyway, since this is the first day in a few weeks I haven't spent working on term papers.

  7. All I got was a slight pain in the back of the neck. So I must be in the same age bracket as Otara. On the other hand I'm still enjoying my lovely endorphin rush from the gym this morning so maybe that swamped it.

  8. I'm a little surprised that none of you ever noticed this before. How old are you folks?

    (Just a little aside here, and possibly TMI for some of you, so if you're at all sexually uptight, stop reading here, but one of the really cool things about sex in the standing position is that the guy can allow his partner's head to drop back, inducing anything from a mild head rush to a near loss of consciousness. Most women find this rather exciting. BTW, don't try this in the shower.) ;-)

  9. I tried it and felt a bit of a rush, but not something I would have noticed without expecting it. I do know that if I've been slumped over a lot of the day, I'll do something similar to stretch, and it often gives me an overwhelming sense of energy and relief. Perhaps that's what she felt in the shower.

    And, she probably wanted to wash the conditioner out of her hair first because conditioner that rinses onto your face can clog pores and cause zits. So, if you condition your hair first and then wash your face, it helps. Same with backne. Condition and rinse your hair first and then wash your back, shoulders and face.

    If you wanna give the conditioner time to sit on your hair before rinsing, leave it on while you shave, then rinse and soap up.

    That's what I do, anyway.

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