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Notes on the Creation of the
Elements of Experience and Shifting Factors Visuals

Seeking to better understand several personal group experiences in which a kind of “magic” occurred, Renee Levi focused her doctoral research on examining felt aspects of this phenomenon, especially the energetic, intuitive, physical and spiritual ones. The study, called Group Magic: An Inquiry Into Experiences of Collective Resonance, described the phenomenon as collective resonance because of its relationship to certain laws of physics such as rhythm entrainment. For one year Renee interviewed individuals from 32 diverse group contexts ranging from military units, football teams, and police arrest situations to professional work groups, leisure gatherings, and educational environments to ascertain:

1) what collective resonance feels like to group participants (elements of experience);
2) what factors participants identify as important in shifting the group into collective resonance;
3) how significant the experience was to their lives and work; and
4) if the felt sense of resonance originally experienced recurred during the retelling of it.

Renee found striking similarities in the constructs of collective resonance experiences, especially significant because of the wide range of group situations described. The following two maps summarize in visual form her findings from the first two inquiries, the elements or constructs of the collective resonance experience and the shifting factors identified. The stars or arrows in pink were themes identified by over two-thirds of the participants, the ones in yellow were mentioned by one-third to two-thirds of them, and those in green by at least one-third.

With this deeper understanding of an unexplored phenomenon, Renee hopes to invite other stories of collective resonance to come forward and join a growing database of such experiences and to develop practices to more consciously cultivate collective resonance within working groups. This is important, she believes, to mankind’s collective future in forms that sustain individual, organizational, and global health, spirit, and life.

For more information on Renee's work, including access to the complete dissertation, more stories of resonance, and information about The Resonance Project, a not-for-profit organization established to further research in this arena, contact Renee Levi via email or 203-256-1028.