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March/April 2010 Alternative Health
Kundalini Rising

by David Lukoff

In the Hindu tradition, kundalini is spiritual energy presumed to reside at the base of the spine. When it is awakened by practices such as yoga, it rises like a serpent up the spine and opens the chakras’ psychic centers, which are situated along the spine from the tailbone to the top of the head.

Dr. Brant Cortright describes the kundalini awakening process as follows: “As each chakra opens, new levels of consciousness are revealed. Since the consciousness of most people is fairly restricted, the opening of the chakras is accompanied by consciousness expansion and purification of the limitations or impurities that correspond to each chakra.”

As kundalini rises, it is associated with physical symptoms including:

• Sensations of heat
• Tremors
• Involuntary laughing or crying
• Talking in tongues
• Nausea, diarrhea or constipation
• Rigidity or limpness
• Animal-like movements and sounds

Kundalini awakening is probably the most common type of spiritual emergency. The Spiritual Emergence Network Newsletter reported in 1988 that 24 percent of its hotline calls concerned kundalini awakening experiences.

In kundalini awakening, there is typically a surge of energies along the spine and throughout the body that can overwhelm and incapacitate the ego, and leave the person adrift in a sea of profound consciousness changes at every level — physical, emotional and mental.

Kundalini awakening most commonly occurs as an unintentional side effect of yoga, meditation, Qigong or other intensive spiritual practices. Some also consider psychotherapy, giving birth, unrequited love, celibacy, deep sorrow, high fever and drug intoxication to be triggers. Others believe kundalini awakening can occur spontaneously without apparent cause.

However, Dr. Bonnie Greenwell, a transpersonal therapist whose work focuses on kundalini awakening problems, believes that the term kundalini is most applicable to problems specifically associated with spiritual practices. When Dr. Greenwell was asked online about a case that included symptoms such as shaking at night, which can occur in kundalini awakening, she responded: “If the person had presented me with a description of an awakening experience, if he did exercises such as meditation, yoga or a martial art regularly, or if he experienced strong meditative states where he went beyond concentration into stillness or a sense of unity, then I would be more likely to consider it kundalini.”

Greenwell did her dissertation study on individuals who had experienced a kundalini awakening, and she summarizes the clinical issues she observed in her book, Energies of Transformation: A Guide to the Kundalini Process. In it she describes a number of key features of kundalini awakening:

Pranic movements or kriyas: Prana is the Hindu word for vital energy. As intense energy moves through the body and clears out physiological blocks, some people experience intense, involuntary, jerking movements of the body, including shaking, vibration, spasm and contraction.

Yogic phenomena: Some people find themselves performing yogic postures or hand mudra gestures they have never learned or could not do in a normal state of consciousness. Unusual breathing patterns may appear, with either very rapid or slow, shallow breathing.  

Physiological symptoms: Kundalini awakening often generates unusual physiological activity, which can present as heart, spinal, gastrointestinal or neurological problems. Internal sensations of burning, hypersensitivity to sensory input, hyperactivity or lethargy, and great variations in sexual desire have been reported.

Psychological upheaval: Emotions can swing from feelings of anxiety, guilt and depression (with bouts of uncontrollable weeping) to compassion, love and joy.

Extrasensory experiences: Some people experience visions of lights, symbols or spiritual entities. Auditory sensations may include hearing voices, music, inner sounds or mantras. There may also be a loss of the sense of self as a body or an out-of-body experience.

Psychic phenomena: A person may experience precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis, awareness of auras and healing abilities.

Mystical states of consciousness: Some people may shift into altered states of consciousness in which they directly perceive the unity underlying the world of separation and experience a deep peace and serenity. The sudden onset of these experiences led many in Greenwell’s study to become confused and disoriented. Unlike those suffering from psychosis, individuals experiencing kundalini are typically much more objective about their condition, communicate and cooperate well, show interest in sharing their experiences with open-minded people, and seldom act out.  

Kundalini awakening can resemble many disorders, medical as well as psychiatric. The symptoms can mimic conversion disorder, epilepsy, lower back problems, multiple sclerosis, heart attack or pelvic inflammatory syndrome. The emotional reaction to the awakening of kundalini can be confused with disorders involving anxiety, depression, aggression and organic syndromes.

While in some cases the psychological upheaval is so acute that it resembles a psychotic episode, medication can further complicate the process. Greenwell suggests that it would be therapeutic for the individual to study some of the Eastern theories and descriptions of kundalini.

Her other recommendations include looking for ways to discharge this energy by running, exercising, gardening or working with something solid, like wood or clay. The best support is a balanced lifestyle and a commitment to live one’s life in alignment with the vision it brings — that is, if you have a heart-opening or a visionary experience, instead of being attached to holding on to it, ask yourself what you can bring into the world as service to it.

Think of it as if the amps have been raised in your electrical system. This is why balance, taking care of yourself, being in nature and regular physical exercise all help. Greenwell also indicates that learning some basic yogic breathing practices, under the supervision of a knowledgeable yoga teacher, can help guide this energy as well.

David Lukoff, Ph.D., a contributor to the anthology Kundalini Rising, is a professor of psychology at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. Visit www.spiritualcompetency.com. Excerpted from Kundalini Rising with permission by Sounds True at www.soundstrue.com.