Yes, I feel the same way about gesture with "feeling/energy" - a little like the notion of qi/chi I've encountered in Asian-origin(ish?) martial arts! But I struggle to explain it to people who want something less, er, "woo." XD

I kind of lean "woo" in art, which is why I think I love gesture, while I've seen some artists who are more structurally oriented (and very, very good!) feel that gesture drawing is a waste of time; this came up during the Anatomy of Style workshop I took with Patrick J. Jones. :D (In fairness, Patrick's philosophy is "This is what I think but YOU DO YOU, every artist is different." :D)