The Vibe as Bodily Emanation
From musicians and New Age gurus to sports announcers and bohemian literati, everyone references “the vibe.” But rarely does anyone define or explain its nature, function, or effect. What exactly are we referring to when we say, “the vibe?” Is it an all-encompassing metaphor? Or does it refer to a unique phenomenon that begs for its own classification and terminology? Are we referring to the light and sound vibrations that travel through air and hit our retinas and ear drums, or are we referring to some transcendent, metaphysical, and/or spiritual experience?
My interest in the vibe dates back to the early 1990s when I was participating in New York City’s nascent rave scene and Phish’s roving fan festivals. I wrote my first paper on the vibe for an undergraduate nonverbal communication class my senior year of college. I then used my master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation to reconceptualize the vibe as a tangible, felt energy that emanates from our bodies. This “bodily emanation” is a human energy system that can be detected on interpersonal, small and large group, and even global levels, and it can be used as a form of communication, as a way of knowing, and as an existential guide for moving through the world.
I've met plenty of skeptics over the years. But there are numerous philosophies, paradigms, and traditions from across the world that speak to similar phenomena: Prana, Qi, Lung, Mana, Orenda, Ruach, Pneuma, eternal and primal energy, life force, élan vital, prima materia, and the corresponding ideas and practices of auras, halos, chakras, subtle energies, meditation, yoga, Qigong, tai chi, and “alternative” healing and medicine. Some of these traditions are more abstract and esoteric while others are more concrete and convincing. (Such judgments are of course relative to my own Western, Americanized experience). Nevertheless, human energy systems are of global, cross-cultural, and historical interest. Bodily emanation contributes to that interest.
My nearly twenty-year dedication to social justice has not given me much time to work on my philosophy of the bodily emanation ... I’ve attended to it only sporadically. But my commitment to the topic has circled back around and I am hoping that my more recent ideas can help create new paradigms for thinking and living. Astute observers will agree that the world is currently on fire—both literally and metaphorically. Perhaps a philosophy of bodily emanation can help raise the vibrations of humanity and turn that fire into a passion for positive rather than destructive social change.
I’m in the process of developing online classes on bodily emanation. In the meantime, I am available for in-person and virtual talks and workshops. Topics of conversation might include:
Click here for a brief but very dense overview.
Click here for an essay about the vibe and the band Phish.
Click here for an interview about the above essay.
Click here for a PowerPoint I presented at a Phish Studies Conference (May, 2019).
Click here for a PowerPoint I presented at the Dancecult Conference (Sept, 2021).
My interest in the vibe dates back to the early 1990s when I was participating in New York City’s nascent rave scene and Phish’s roving fan festivals. I wrote my first paper on the vibe for an undergraduate nonverbal communication class my senior year of college. I then used my master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation to reconceptualize the vibe as a tangible, felt energy that emanates from our bodies. This “bodily emanation” is a human energy system that can be detected on interpersonal, small and large group, and even global levels, and it can be used as a form of communication, as a way of knowing, and as an existential guide for moving through the world.
I've met plenty of skeptics over the years. But there are numerous philosophies, paradigms, and traditions from across the world that speak to similar phenomena: Prana, Qi, Lung, Mana, Orenda, Ruach, Pneuma, eternal and primal energy, life force, élan vital, prima materia, and the corresponding ideas and practices of auras, halos, chakras, subtle energies, meditation, yoga, Qigong, tai chi, and “alternative” healing and medicine. Some of these traditions are more abstract and esoteric while others are more concrete and convincing. (Such judgments are of course relative to my own Western, Americanized experience). Nevertheless, human energy systems are of global, cross-cultural, and historical interest. Bodily emanation contributes to that interest.
My nearly twenty-year dedication to social justice has not given me much time to work on my philosophy of the bodily emanation ... I’ve attended to it only sporadically. But my commitment to the topic has circled back around and I am hoping that my more recent ideas can help create new paradigms for thinking and living. Astute observers will agree that the world is currently on fire—both literally and metaphorically. Perhaps a philosophy of bodily emanation can help raise the vibrations of humanity and turn that fire into a passion for positive rather than destructive social change.
I’m in the process of developing online classes on bodily emanation. In the meantime, I am available for in-person and virtual talks and workshops. Topics of conversation might include:
- The Vibe as Bodily Emanation: An Overview
- Caring Vibes: Workshop for Therapists, Doctors, and Clinicians
- Interpersonal Vibes: Looking at Relationships through Bodily Emanation
- Feeling the Magic: Bodily Emanation for Theater Professionals
- Developing Your Charisma: The Vibe and Personal Authenticity
- Fest Vibes!: Music, Dance, and Collective Consciousness
Click here for a brief but very dense overview.
Click here for an essay about the vibe and the band Phish.
Click here for an interview about the above essay.
Click here for a PowerPoint I presented at a Phish Studies Conference (May, 2019).
Click here for a PowerPoint I presented at the Dancecult Conference (Sept, 2021).
