English Version | Don’t kill my vibe

Walking into a place and not liking the atmosphere. Having just met someone and feeling that you already know that person from another life, such is the connection established. Energy exists, is omnipresent, and accompanies us wherever we go. Within us or around us, not palpable, sometimes it needs to be felt, sometimes rejected. If necessary, also healed.

More or less skeptical, more or less rational, all of us, at some point in our lives, have felt good or bad energies (or, in a more common language, good or bad vibes), whether related to a certain place or emanating from a certain person. It's one of those things that can't be explained, you feel it. And, like almost everything you feel, the explanation falls short. If we decide, for example, to talk to a psychologist, tell them that person X or place Y does not transmit "positive energies", they will most likely try to develop a rational explanation, resorting to the confines of the mind to try to decipher a valid answer. It is a complex issue - yet on the other hand, there is nothing extraordinary about it. After all, "everything is energy and energy is all there is. (...) This is not philosophy. This is physics”. This quote - several times attributed to Einstein, but not confirmed that he is, in fact, the author - sums it up. The table where I put my computer down to write this text is energy. The chair I sit in, likewise. The computer itself is energy, however, since it is connected to the electric current, it is easier to understand it - the energy we pay for every month, despite being equally hidden and non-palpable, is, for some reason, the target of greater understanding. Perhaps because it is something we use in practice. "The [good and bad] 'energy' that is talked about so much is nothing more than the same energy that we study in school, in Physics: it is the flow of ions (electric charges) that exists in a permanent way not only in people, but also in buildings and objects. Within Radiesthesia, which is the science that studies this kind of action, we have the concept of ionization that studies exactly how these electric charges move among people, objects and environments", explains the Brazilian holistic therapist and consultant Paulo Figueira to Vogue. With 37 years of study (and due practice) dedicated to an area that, we can say, is to some extent "invisible", Paulo guarantees that it is quite common the feeling of capturing other people's energies, and that it is not necessary to be a professional in the therapeutic area to feel it: "How many, many times are we perfectly fine and suddenly, when a person comes near us, we begin to feel a sadness or anger for no apparent reason? The same applies to real estate (residential or corporate) - a certain house, store or company may even be beautiful from an aesthetic point of view, but when we enter, the agony and the desire to leave are enormous. This desire is usually associated not only with the energy of the people who live or have lived there, but also with issues related to Geobiology (the study of the energy of the environment, soil and subsoil), such as the presence of underground water bodies (groundwater), geological faults, magnetic grids, high-voltage power transmission lines, among many others." 

Neuroscientists, on the other hand, are (generally speaking) skeptical about these "supernatural" connections. However, feeling the "vibration" of a room or a situation is a common human experience, regardless of one's spiritual or philosophical outlook. A place may simply not "feel right" - or, conversely, the people in any given room may emanate a "fun vibe." And there have been numerous explanations (or attempts at) for this reality. One theory, for example, holds that it is facial expressions, more or less odd, or certain vocal tones that we pick up from others, unconsciously, that cause us to feel certain "things." However, Dutch studies have gone further and offered more convincing evidence. According to the researchers, humans can detect so-called chemosignals through the odor of bodily excretions, such as sweat or tears, left by people in a particular space. Many other mammals transmit chemical signals - cats and dogs leave urine to mark their territory. Humans are social creatures who naturally benefit from emotional signaling. When someone from Stone Age showed signs of fear - realizing that a predator was approaching, for example - if the other people in the group were sufficiently attuned to the emotional state of the first observer, they could take up arms to defend themselves in time. Returning to the study, what the Dutch experiment demonstrated is that the chemosignals can remain in an environment for some time; that the chemosignals produced by individuals who felt fear generated a fear reaction among the volunteers who were exposed to the same chemical signals; that exposure to chemosignals produced by individuals who felt disgust generated a facial expression of disgust and rejection of the signals. A later experiment also revealed that exposure to the body odor of people who reported a state of happiness induced happiness in the exposed participants. The exact route of how these chemical signals are processed in the human brain has yet to be determined. Although studies suggest that the response to the signals occurs quickly, it is unclear how long the effects of the chemosignals last. The conclusion would then be that human emotions may not just be contagious: they remain in a given environment, "impregnating" it - infecting or illuminating it, depending on the case, even after the "producer" of the emotion has physically moved on to another location. The next question is another: we understand that we feel the "energies" or sensations of other people or places. But why do some people carry heavier energies and others are notoriously lighter beings? 

There may be many variations involved, of course. And these can range from the personality itself - the complexity of each one of us varies tremendously - to the environment where we are born, but above all to the one where we move. "No doubt there are people who carry heavier energies as opposed to others who are more 'luminous' by nature. But the environment directly influences a person's energy. For example: living in a family where there is only arguing and yelling will cause the vibratory pattern of the person who lives there to gradually decline, and the person will end up having a certain affinity with denser energies. At the other end of this 'energetic cord', if someone lives in an environment where love, affection, attention, respect, laughter predominate... the energetic pattern tends to increase more and more," clarifies Paulo Figueira. No less true is the fact that some people absorb vibes more or less easily. The holistic therapist confirms that, in fact, it is quite common for the most sensitive people to absorb all kinds of energies: "People who have positive ionization can impregnate the environment and people who are in the same place. If that person is cheerful, everyone ends up being cheerful; if they are sad, the low mood will impregnate everyone. People with negative ionization are those who will absorb all kinds of energy from people and environments: without realizing it, they feel deeply depressed or angry. To exemplify the concept of positive ionization, let's imagine a full soda bottle exposed to the sun. When we take the cap off, all the liquid will come out quickly, and explode on everyone around. In the case of negative ionization, the best example is the vacuum cleaner that sucks up everything it finds in its path. For those who have this negative ionization characteristic, a foot scrub with water, sugar, and chamomile tea can help a lot. However, once you realize that the characteristic becomes repetitive the ideal is to seek help through a Radiestesist." It's quite common, when you go to some kind of alternative therapy, that the therapist will ask you to have a glass of salt water close to you (and this is just one example) because when you're "treating" your energies, you're releasing them somewhere in space - the salt water therefore serves to absorb the released energies, not allowing them to return to you.

The salt water therefore serves to absorb the released energies, not allowing us to "digest" them again: we don't see them, but they are there. In an activity such as that of a therapist, or even a massage therapist, where one is constantly working and dealing with the energies of others, care must be doubled: "All therapists should adopt certain measures so as not to absorb the energies of their patients - avoid the use of alcohol and drugs; keep the mind in a constant state of monitoring so as to avoid sad or angry thoughts; perform body hygiene; bring with you a small rolled stone of white quartz on the right side of the body and a [stone or crystal] hematite or a [stone or crystal] black tourmaline on the left side; say a prayer or mantra of protection before each service. .. These are the best ways not to be affected by these energies." As for those who wish to promote an energetic change in themselves, the techniques are different. The first step, of course, is to have the will to change your frequency. But this is not enough: "It is totally feasible (and relatively simple) to promote the energetic change of a person or a building through many techniques. Whether it's self-care: meditation; Yoga; Ho ́oponopono (ancient Hawaiian practice aimed at reconciliation and forgiveness); walking barefoot in sand, water or grass. Or with the help of a trained professional who may recommend energetic treatments, even at a distance, such as: use of flower essences (Bach Flowers, Australian Bush Flowers, Mines Flowers, etc.); Radiestesia (the use of specific shapes); Radionics (the use of electronic equipment that irradiate specific frequencies); Chromotherapy (the use of colors); Aromatherapy (the use of essential oils); Crystal Therapy (the use of crystals); MP3 of Isochronic Tones (sine waves that promote the alteration of behavioral patterns); Acupuncture; Shiatsu, etc." The holistic universe is the limit. None of this is reduced to New Age talk, small talk generated by a bunch of hippies or shantis with too much time to think and too little to do. The energies are real and they are out there. It's about being aware of it and acting accordingly: the universe thanks you, and so do those who constantly absorb them.

Translated from the original on The Sunny Vibes Issue, from Vogue Portugal, published July 2022.Full stories and credits on the print issue.