Vibration

Vibration exists in all living things. If there is no vibration, the organism is dead. Vibration varies of course in amplitude, rate and traveling characteristics. There is an inverse relationship between character armor and vibration. Vibration varies with changes in the organism, including emotional. In general, the greater the vibration, the greater the vitality. For humans this is captured in the phrase "giving off a vibe." Generally, the more a person vibrates, the happier others are to have him or her around. Being in proximity with someone who is more vibratory is pleasant, but it can give rise to anxiety if it stimulates more vibration in the nearby person than that person is used to handling--this is a form of pleasure anxiety.

Vibration ceases at death. In a very real way, the less a person vibrates, the closer they are to death. The more a person vibrates, the more liveliness. Domesticated animals are very aware of this and are attracted to vibrating people. Dogs tend to bark when with very sick or dead animals because the lack of vibration is disturbing to them. However, in humans, both abstract intellectual activity and ability to accumulate power and wealth proceed largely independently to vibration. Even sheer life longevity is not strictly proportional to vibration. Therefore, mainstream culture is uninterested.

Individual oscillations cannot be seen by others, but the overall effect is discernable by people with good sensitivity. This is reflected in the expressions "looking vibrant" and "vibrancy." A great deal of social friction is dependent on low vibratory states. At greater vibratory levels, people generally feel better and deal with social conflicts more productively, independently of any psychology involved.

Because vibrations are not relevant to immediate, concrete, goal directed manipulations of the environment and others, mainstream culture finds no use for them. They are excluded from social discussions. Our brains tend to suppress awareness of what we deem irrelevant. Of course, not hardly vibrating oneself will ensure a large 'blind spot' for the vibratory phenomena around one.

Tics and fidgeting are not vibratory phenomenon but rather volitionally-tinged attempts to relieve muscle tension in a the absence of much vibration. Neither tense shortened muscles or flaccid over-lengthened muscles are conducive to vibration.

Sound is an important source of vibration. Humans have the ability to generate sound deliberately and creatively. Singing has long been a communal activity that connects people and raises the life force. Mothers instinctively sing to babies. The late Alfred Tomatis demonstrated the relationship between sound, hearing, and well-being.

Hallucinogens are known for increasing the perception of vibration, but this effects decays with habituation and also is accompanied by an emotional dissociation that blunts the impact. This unfortunately, has lessened the credibility of vibrations slightly, because someone talking about vibrations is often thought to be on drugs or hallucinating. Aldous Huxley is famous for associating hallucinogens with increased perception. This is possibly because, as discussed below, vibration and perception are related. Of course a much preferable and durable way of increasing vibration and therefore perception is bodywork!

Sensory function (and therefore perception) is dependent on movement. For instance if one holds one arm perfectly still, it will go numb. Vibration and pulsation (motility) can have the function of refreshing perception when greater movement (mobility) is not convenient. The eyes are a great example. If they are held perfectly still, the image fades--this is momentary blindness with the eyes open!. Keeping vision refreshed can be accomplished by keeping the eyes moving from point to point of an object of interest (shifting), but there is also the interesting phenomena of saccades, which is rapid small movements of the eyes, an analogue to vibration. The Bates Method of improving vision is largely based on getting the eyes moving again. Lack of subtle movement of the eye is likely a large element of ocular block, as described in the Reich and Lowen tradition.

Attunement

Attunement is an idea from the world of sound, or audible vibration. Attunement between two people implies that they are both vibrating, and that each's vibration influences or changes to match the vibration of the other. It is very hard for someone with a low energy level or low motility to attune with any one. Sound and voice play an important role in attunement. Agreement is based on information or ideas and has no vibrational component. Non-face-to-face, non-voice, 'asynchronous' interaction, such as email, or texting can lead to agreement but not to attunement. People often find that attunement obviates the need for agreement.

Pulsation

Functionally vibration and pulsation are similar. Generally the word vibration suggests movement back and forth around a fixed point, while pulsation suggests a wave movement outward from a point. In part this is an artifact of the observer because many waves, such as the pulse of blood generated by the heart, return to the source. Propagation is how a wave moves through a medium, (in this sense, the body). When people doing bodywork say they feel 'energy moving' possibly they are sensing the propagation of waves in the body. Breathing is the start of a pulsation that 'plays out differently' according to the capacities and situation of the body. Wilhelm Reich's much misunderstood, much maligned 'orgasm reflex' is simply a rhythmic wave initiated by the breath, that occurs when the person is relaxed from even chronic tension and therefore emotionally open.