This is what I have learned finally, after many years, and after giving up the search. Because it was so important for me to know where to stand, I find myself passing this along to you. Wherever you have stood it has never been a mistake, but may you be blessed to discover along the way just who it is that is having the experience. That essence that is the real Self is here right now, in the middle of the kundalini process, and before it, and after it. Just become wordlessly and profoundly still resting as consciousness without any activity, and you will discover the mystery you are, and know that you are One.
Chapter 9:
Questions and Answers
Over the years of responding to people who have awakened kundalini, I have received every imaginable question about this experience. This chapter addresses fifteen of the most common questions and concerns.
What can I do to awaken kundalini?
There are several schools of yoga that offer gradual programs said to awaken kundalini energy over a period of time, and many people who follow meditation or energy practices sincerely on other spiritual paths such as Buddhist, Sufi, Subud, Quaker, or contemplative Christian paths have a potential for this energy to awaken.
Kriya yoga, tantric practices, kundalini yoga, ashtanga or raja yoga, yogic practices that work with sound or breathing, and many other schools provide systems of preparation for this awakening. QiGong and some martial arts systems can cause an awakening, and so can therapeutic breathwork such as Psychotropic Breathing, or Rebirthing, although these can be overwhelming for some people. New age teachers offer workshops where intense practices, fasting and altered states are experienced for the primary purpose of activating kundalini. Esoteric schools, shamanic exercises and psychic training programs may also trigger energy arisings, and also being in the presence of a teacher who is awake, or intimacy with someone who has strong Shakti emanating from their presence. (Do not assume strong Shakti means someone is self-realized. The energy can and does operate independently of the deeper wisdom of Self-knowledge.)
The challenge in all of these systems is finding a facilitator, mentor, guru or teacher who really understands the implications of activating kundalini energy, knows it is more than a “feel-good” process, and realizes that it has a powerful capacity to deconstruct the psyche. Even though the energy could be said to know what it is doing, you will not know, so it is a great help to have a teacher capable of guiding you through the process. Some systems, such as breathwork, may work quickly to implode the energy within, but have no teacher available who is awakened, and understands how to guide a person into the peace of completion. Some teachers have the misguided perception that no problems will ever occur with a kundalini activation, and so they frighten the student if this happens. Some teachers turn the awakening of energy into a new ego identity embracing power, or the manipulation of others. Some are just naively enthusiastic, passing along methods and opening up people with no idea of the psychological and physiological havoc that may follow.
The question is, are you ready for an awakening? Why do you want it? If your intention is simply to activate a dramatic energy change, you may find yourself in great difficulty after this sudden awakening occurs, for it is not a casual event. It is far better to engage in a sincere meditative practice, with a teacher you trust who leads a harmonious life, and to let the seeking of Truth be your guide. Then, when awakening occurs, it is a natural flow out of the sincere intention and development of your practice, occurring perhaps even after an experience of realization of Truth, and your life is already oriented to the perspective it will bring.
At this time (2014) there is a program in India known as the Oneness University that offers through transmission and practice what the founder considers a series of awakenings, and people who attend (I’ve heard there are over 1.8 million at this date) are “certified” awakened to some degree or percentage. (An oxymoron in more traditional circles, which say it would be like saying you are a little bit pregnant.) It does not deal specifically with kundalini to my knowledge although some who return home go into this process, without guidance. In my observation some come home with a deep realization and others are passing along transmissions with little awareness of the depths of process they may be triggering in others. I mention it because of the great numbers who are attracted to it. Such movements hold both the risks of delusion and ego-enhancement and the potential of realization.
What should I do about this awakening?
Learn about the process, learn to trust it, find ways to ground and make your life as ordinary as possible. Follow the guidelines in this book. And then do as little as possible! Do not let the mind take over with a lot of rules and expectations. You are not in charge here. Give in gracefully. Learn to be a witness to the unfolding, and rest in the pure consciousness -- the awakeness that is your core and exists before thought, judgment and deliberate action. Seek out an awakened teacher to inspire you. Take care of your body and do not indulge in fear.
Is this contagious?
Yes. All of us pass our energy around all the time, no matter what our energy level is. Think how your body feels when you are with someone who is depressed, or with a person who is laughing hysterically. When kundalini is awakened in you, you can feel it in someone else. You can receive a shakti transmission from another person, and you can inadvertently give it to someone else who is sensitive and receptive to you. This is not to say this is likely, only that it is possible. Your lover is particularly vulnerable to picking up this energy, but it may be felt more like a passing of energy through them, and disturbances in their energy field. It does not mean their own energy has awakened, only that their pranic systems are reacting to you. They may or may not like this. You may also find that if you get massages or other hands-on work, your body will start jerking, shaking, or running energy intensely, especially if you relax and allow it. So if you get body therapy it is wise to forewarn the practitioner and make sure they know it does not hurt you, and find out if they are up for it.
What do I tell my family and friends?
People who have never experienced kundalini are unlikely to understand what you have to say about it. Use simple language, such as telling them your yoga or meditation practice, or whatever else is the source, has caused a lot more energy or heat to run through your body, or a lot of memories to surface. Find simple ways of providing just enough basic information so that they are not surprised at your complaints, and not alarmed by your condition. If you do not make a drama out of it, neither will they. I had three teenagers at home at the height of my kundalini awakening, and a husband with a conservative professional career. I discussed it with knowledgeable people outside of the home.
Why doesn’t my doctor or therapist know about this?
Doctors and therapists cannot diagnose anything outside of their paradigm. In other words, if it wasn’t in the training and they never knew anyone with the experience how can they be expected to recognize this obscure eastern phenomenon in you? Some are more open than others because they have followed eastern spiritual practices, or done some reading about it. In very recent times, a non-pathological diagnostic category for religious or spiritual crisis was included in the diagnostic manual used by therapists. This was originally intended to represent this condition, and motivate the education of therapists regarding it, but the description was watered down extensively by the respective psychological schools that created the manual, so that it is unrecognizable. It is primarily used for crises of faith, or understanding ethnic and cultural variables in spiritual beliefs. Some day the originators of this diagnostic category have hope it will become more inclusive.
Am I crazy? Is this the same as psychosis or bipolar disorder?
There are many factors that distinguish spiritual awakening from mental illness, although it is possible for the two to occur simultaneously, because if there is a serious underlying disorder it may be amplified by the arising of energy. The major difference is that in a mental disorder there app
ears to be an underlying problem of structure in the psyche: that is, the thinking or emotional states have never been in balance in such a way that a satisfactory lifestyle, work, or relationship can be accomplished. Usually, such disorders show up in adolescence or early adulthood, and if you look at the life history you can see that certain patterns of functioning have just never worked smoothly for the person. There may have been much confusion over which thoughts are real and which are imaginary, a paranoia under circumstances that most people would not consider threatening, poor impulse control, mood swings that seriously disturb relationships, or unresolved addiction, behavioral and abuse issues that suggest an underlying personality disorder. These issues are less common in people with spiritual awakenings who, although many of them may have led unconventional lives, are usually people with some degree of stability in lifestyle, relationship, completion of educational goals, capacity for insight, cooperation and control of impulses. They come from every walk of life, such as students, homemakers, professors, doctors, judges, business owners, scientists, ministers, therapists, nuns, teachers, salespersons or secretaries. They are usually well educated. They are often alarmed about their sanity when they have initial openings because they recognize that their experiences are out-of-the-ordinary. If they have never read eastern spiritual literature or transpersonal material they may have no paradigm for the transpersonal experiences they are having, and mistakenly relate it to the world of psychological illness. They are not confused about the fact that their minds are acting in different ways, only concerned, and they remember well how their functioning worked before the awakening.
Does this mean I am enlightened?
“You” will never be enlightened, whatever you think this means (and everyone has a different idea). You can go through a process in which the separate sense of an “I” who wants or needs enlightenment collapses, and what remains is free of contraction and desire, enjoying life as a miracle of creation appearing out of nothing, and seeing through the delusions and foibles of the conventional mindset, including your own. Enlightenment is the condition of living in the moment from the pure awakened consciousness before it attaches itself to any desire or condition. It is relaxing into spontaneity and responding without division in a way that is open and free of conditioning, moving from the heart and a natural wisdom. It is that which sees through the veils of delusion about life, including our self-delusion. When kundalini awakens, you are in the initiating stage of this process, when deconstruction of the old way of seeing things has begun. You may have glimpses of vast new perspectives along the way. Keep going, until everything has settled and there is no one who cares if anything more is added, or has objections when ordinary life intervenes.
Does this mean I have special powers?
Not necessarily. Some people awaken an ability to heal, have precognitive abilities, or find themselves astral traveling (as if the energy body is going outside of the physical body to another space or time). Usually these phenomena pass as awakening deepens. Such things also happen for a few people without kundalini awakening. These experiences can be distracting by-products of awakening, and there is no great advantage to their pursuit. Most spiritual schools will tell you they can take you off the path to realization, because they bring the temptation of becoming a new identity that is more “spiritual” or “special” and you can get stuck in that for many more lifetimes. Some schools of training, however, are all about developing these capacities, and if that is your destiny, your heart’s calling, you will probably go in that direction, as least until the impulse has burned away and lost its ability to intrigue you. After all, the game of walking on water, manifesting objects, precognition, levitating, and transmigrating is only another dimension of experience and has very little practical utility in your life.
When will the intensity stop?
When it gets around to it. If you follow the 10 basic guidelines it should become subtler, and if you allow the energy time to flow and do what it needs to do, it is less likely to disturb you at other more inconvenient times. No two people navigate this journey in exactly the same way. You can get used to having more intense energy, especially if you do what you need to do to be sure your body stays as healthy as possible and you avoid over-stimulating your nervous system.
What should I do when my body shakes involuntarily?
Lie down and let it play out whatever it is trying to release. Or if you cannot because you are driving or working, stop, and focus outside of yourself, on a distant tree or landscape, and take some calming breaths. Sit with a teacher who has gone beyond the energy, and soak in the peacefulness. Talk to the energy and ask it to take it easy for a while. Dance and move with the energy, or paint it on a large piece of butcher paper, expressing all that is coming up for you in the moment. If this is a continual problem you cannot manage, get a physical and be sure your nervous system is in balance. Your hormones or adrenal glands may need some attention.
There are scary entities arising in my mind? What should I do?
If you have scary or demonic images coming to mind they are not real, but only manifestations of thoughts. You are not real, but only a compilation of your conditioning and tendencies living in a body-vehicle made of energy flows, so how can they be real? They are energetic forms that are symbolic, which doesn’t mean they have no power, only that you give it to them by believing in them.
There are three explanations with which I am familiar that could explain why these images come to a few people. The first is that they represent frightening and repressed experiences and impulses that could not be adequately dealt with as children, so they come into the mind in a symbolic way. Dismemberment, torture, and other stories express very dark and extremely painful feelings that are challenging to face and deal with. In such cases it can be useful to have some therapeutic intervention to deal with these old distressing events. Some may even be the residual of the events of a past life, arising now to be faced and made impotent. You can’t carry old fears or stories into awakening. Consciousness wants you to see through everything that is unreal.
Another reason for these demonic forces is that you may have invited them into consciousness in this or a previous life by playing with dark or black magic. There are satanic cults and a few shamanic systems that deliberately generate destructive energies, and if some part of you has called these into play then in a sense they belong to you, and you must face them and tell them you no longer have any use for them in your life, and insist that they depart. You may also call upon beings of light, love or wisdom to intercede on these dimensional planes and help you to be rid of the darkness. If you have a positive spiritual guide or image that has heartfelt meaning for you, bring them into your mind and imagine them supporting your work in eliminating the distraction of these energies.
A third condition that may cause negative images and fearful stories to arise is as a reaction to drugs. I have consulted with people who have used LSD who suffer a later reactivation of hallucinations and images that are frightening, especially if there is either trauma or conditioned fear of the devil in their background. This generally passes in time, as the impact of the drug experience wears off.
What is the meaning of my vision?
There is no need in a spiritual process to understand the meaning of a vision. If insight arises, you may find this interesting and it can be comforting, and sometimes a vision is a way of the subconscious imaging an important movement or transition in your life; but if not, it may be just as valuable, because it arose from the unconscious to unfold something new in the psyche. What you need to “know” will be given to you in right timing. Unlike psychotherapy, which helps you make your life work better by examining the deep unconscious memories of history, spiritual awakening has no interest in activities of the mind for self-understanding. The movement is to release dependence on thought and mind, disengaging consciousness from enmeshment with the personal life, so that you can directly experience your Self, which is the W
hole, unlimited, vastness, the One. Knowledge and understanding in a spiritual process is cellular, deeper than thought, something akin to an intuitive revelation that you have no control over and cannot call up on demand. It can be felt as a kinesthetic knowing, or a heart opening that spontaneously reveals what is true and arises separately from the efforts of mind.
What is the meaning of the synchronicities?
Again, there is no need to understand synchronicity. It simply happens for many people during certain stages of awakening, and can come and go as rapidly as sun and rain. When it occurs it feels like a confirmation. You have a thought of someone and the phone rings, and it is she or he calling you. You walk in a book store and just the book you need falls off of a shelf. You dream about a bird, and one flies into your house the next day. You turn on the television and there is exactly the information you need. It appears that at certain times the universe cooperates with what we need, and shows us there is a greater presence in our life that we can rely on. Many people think of synchronicity as an affirmation of their choice or direction taken at the moment. It is one of the little blessings or miracles of human experience.
What’s the energy/vibration/scraping/wiring going on in my head?
The Kundalini Guide: A Companion For the Inward Journey (Companions For the Inward Journey Book 1) Page 12