There is a lot of talk about “high vibes only” but is this really the best thing?

If you’ve looked at anything online about this you’ve probably seen some version of this rainbow colored cone that emphatically ranks emotions and their supposed frequency. This is all based on one man’s thoughts on the subject: Dr. David R. Hawkins. He used applied kinesiology to rank emotions and put emotions like apathy, grief, and fear at the low end with things like love, joy, and peace at the high end. While I’m not familiar with the intricacies of exactly how each emotion was labelled with a frequency, the premise that all low vibe things are “bad” is misguided at best and dangerous at worst.

There are some pretty great things that are “low vibe”. Imagine sitting on a couch with a kitty in your lap and while you’re gently petting their soft fur, the feline rewards you with purrs. Not only does this signal that the cat is pleased and comfortable in this situation, a cat’s purr has been scientifically proven to be quite healing! Cat purrs have been shown to decrease blood pressure, reduce stress, reduce inflammation, promotes bone health, and help heal injuries. A cats purr in a frequency between 25 and 150 Hz and the lower end of that scale is the most healing. That would put cat purrs between shame and anger on the supposed “emotional frequency scale”.

Spending time in nature has been scientifically proven to be healing and helpful to human health. There have been many studies done in Japan on the beneficial effects of Shinrin-Yoku, forest bathing. The frequency of trees is between .2 to .91 Hz.

Grounding is a helpful and relatively well known practice. It can reduce inflammation, improve sleep, reduce stress, improve healing, reduce blood pressure, reduce fatigue, and reduce pain. The most recommended form of grounding is to stand/sit/lie on the ground. The frequency of the earth is 7.83 Hz.

While we may all want to be happy, we are human and it’s important to feel all your feels. It is healthy to feel and process your emotions. Suppressing emotions can cause all sorts of negative effects including increased aggression, sleeping disorders, weight problems, anxiety, depression, premature death, and other health-related complications. But, they’ve ranked emotions such as guilt, grief, and fear rather low on the “emotional frequency scale” as something to be avoided.

There are various other things that we consider “good” but are in the low frequency range. 30-50 Hz gamma patterns have been shown to promote sexual arousal while awake. 40 Hz binaural beats help with sleep quality and reduce the severity of insomnia while also reduce stress and improve cognition. 40 Hz has also been used in Alzheimer’s therapy studies to help reduce the symptoms of dementia. Low frequency binaural beats can help with deep sleep (.5-4 Hz), meditation & creativity (4-7 Hz), relaxation (7-13 Hz), concentration (13-20 hz).

The human experience involves a wide range of frequencies that make it a full spectrum experience. We have our highs, we have our lows, and the flux between them all is part of what makes us human. High Vibes Only cuts out a significant chunk of that spectrum of frequencies and as such diminishes the human experience, reducing it to a shallow shadow of what we truly are.

High vibes can be good, but so too can low vibes. It's all about balance.

Cat Purr

https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/110/5_Supplement/2666/550913/The-felid-purr-A-healing-mechanism

https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/secret-power-cats-purr/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-cats-purr/

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180724-the-complicated-truth-about-a-cats-purr

https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/21/cats-and-their-magic-power/

Shinrin-Yoku

https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/48/5/1125/542681

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6589172/

https://environhealthprevmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12199-019-0822-8

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580555/