Kundalini

The kundalini experience is a very specific form of spiritual experience. Spiritually it is one of the ones most revered amongst yogis and other travellers of the spiritual path.

The definition of the term, however, has been significantly corrupted by western writers, particularly in the United States, until any form of experience which is intense enough appears to be classified as a ‘kundalini type’ one.

A definition

The Kundalini experience is invoked using very specific ‘centres’ within the body - the Muladhara or lowest chakra - and has some quite specific effects.

Its principal effect - figuratively speaking and in eastern terminology - is a form of final purification of the meridians, nadis and functions of the body – the flushing through almost like one flushes through the streams, springs and branches of a river to remove impurities to clear a channel for the flood of waters that come with the opening of the lock gates of the ‘lower centre’ and the collapse of the walls of the dam that holds these energies enclosed. There is a rush of energy that rises through the central channels located near the spine up to the Sahastrara chakra, where the door to the higher spirit is figuratively opened.

The name thus describes a form of energy that travels from the base of the spine to the base of the skull and the crown of the head which provides, of itself, a spiritual experience.

The ‘energy’ goes nowhere else, nor should it affect any other part of your body. If it does you have got it wrong. Furthermore, if it makes you ill, gives you pain, affects your health and temperature and peace of mind – you have got it wrong.

Kundalini is nearly always invoked via stimulation via triggers. But it is most successfully invoked using sexual stimulation.

Some synonyms/prevalence of the effect

Although I have used terms familiar in yoga, this is a worldwide phenomenon and a world-wide practice with numerous techniques from the Americas [south and north], Australia, Asia, Africa and even Europe leading to the same effect. And the effect has different names in each culture, Num!, Kundalini, Serpent Energy, Umbilini and so on.

Although I have used Hindu/Buddhist terms, the same effects occur in all the systems that use meridians, nadis, acupuncture points and so on including a number of western systems of ‘energy management’. You will find it for example in Qigong [Chi Kung].

Serpent power

Symbolically, the energy unleashed by this experience is represented as a sort of sleeping serpent, coiled up at the base of the spine ready to rear up and strike the brain! Kundalini literally means coiled energy. In yoga, this form of dormant energy is envisioned as a goddess and resides in the sacrum “in three and a half coils - it has been described as a residual power of pure desire”.

It is very apt symbolism as this experience is not ‘safe’, in the sense that to anyone who has not been prepared for this experience it can make you very ill – really ill. It feels like you have been bitten by a snake! Probably a cobra! There have been people reduced to wheelchairs because they have inadvertently opened the flood gates without adequate preparation, training or understanding.

It has to be said that many western books on ‘meditation’ and ‘yoga’ can be blamed for this, as they teach some of the techniques involved in the kundalini experience without ever describing the preparation needed and the possible effects. ‘Trendy yoga’ has a lot to answer for.

On my website I have tried to emphasise over and over again the importance when using these techniques of getting the help of a properly qualified teacher and an understanding of how the technique works and the seriousness of the effects.

There is one thing that came across to me loud and clear during my investigations of the observations of spiritual experience. There is the strange belief that drugs are ‘bad’ and any form of non drug based approach is by definition ‘good’. In other words Qigong, Yoga, meditation of various sorts, and so on are ‘healthy’ and ‘natural’ and do you no harm – in fact do you lots of good. Whereas I suppose cannabis and opium are supposedly not good for you.

But overdosing on anything causes problems and many people overdose on these supposedly benign techniques, and then wonder why they become ill. Because they have been fed a lot of false information about energy flows and balancing the chi and the need to open the chakras, they assume that the effects are not physical – but they are.

I am a firm and total believer in the existence of the spiritual world, but I am also a firm believer in the existence of the physical world and the fact that form and function are inextricably linked.

Too much stimulation of the nervous system produces overdose

And in case you think I am being unsympathetic, I too could halt a slide projector from about 15 paces away, and all this was caused by emotion from grief.

But do not despair, help is at hand. In all cases in cases of overdose the person should always

stop the techniques they are using
revert back to more benign techniques or simply stop altogether
reduce the frequency they use them

They can also help by ‘grounding’ themselves more – eating red meat, working on mundane but mind consuming tasks, and going back to ‘reality’.

Dr L Sannella – The Kundalini Experience

…if it has become too rapid or violent, my experience suggests that its course can be moderated by introducing a heavier diet and vigorous exercise and by suspending meditation.

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Kundalini

Kundalini

A definition

Some synonyms/prevalence of the effect

Serpent power

Observations