January/February 2007

journey in our search for meaning

The Power of Kundalini:
Miracles and Mischief

By Roz Brown

Before you begin reading this article, the best advice I can give is to forget everything you've heard or think you know about kundalini.

In our culture, nearly anyone can turn a fast buck by attaching an exotic-sounding word to whatever they're promoting, and the word “kundalini” is sometimes used to do just that. In fact, you could go online right now and buy “kundalini bath salts” or a “kundalini tank top” from a leading sporting goods company--in two different colors no less! It's no wonder so many of us are confused.

“Information about kundalini used to be a secret,” says Ravi Dykema, advanced yoga practitioner, instructor and therapist. “But as the human race undergoes this consciousness shift, in which people are searching for a spiritual awakening, such information is more widespread-it's just not always accurate.”

Until the 1970s, knowledge about or experiences with kundalini were rare in the West, despite Carl Jung's writings on the subject in the early part of the last century. Originating from Sanskrit in India, the word “kundalini” describes the process of raising spiritual energy through the spine and has been recorded in nearly every culture and religion in the world.

Kundalini literally means either “coiled up” or “coiling like a snake,” and comes from India's ancient yogic philosophy. Hindu yogis call the cosmic awareness that results from kundalini "shakti" (the risen kundalini), but it is also known as Holy Wind, Serpent Fire, Vital Winds, Seiki (mystical Japanese), mana loa (Hawaiian Kahunan), Lung (the Tibetan world for wind), the greater kan and li (esoteric Chinese), huo (Taoist ) and tumo or Dumo Fire (Buddhist). Symbolized by the caduceus, two snakes entwined around a wand, it is also the symbol of commerce and is associated with the Greek god Hermes. (Kundalini is sometimes capitalized because certain yogis regard it as a deity.)

Kundalini is mentioned extensively in the literature of yoga and tantra, both Buddhist and Hindu, and is sometimes called “pranic awakening”--as prana is interpreted as the vital, life-sustaining force in the body. It was first introduced in the West in 1919, by Sir John Woodroofe, writing under the pen name, Arthur Avalon, in his classic book, The Serpent Power (Dover, 1974). The book explores the philosophical and mythological nature of kundalini as well as the role of the chakra system.
The chakras are understood as energy centers, both biophysical and psycho-spiritual centers along the spine. Yogi Hindu tradition says the experience of kundalini activates each of the distinct chakras, resulting in a state of advanced spiritual enlightenment. Beginning at the root (muladhara) chakra, kundalini rises up through the swadhisthana, manipura, anahata, vishuddha and ajna chakras, exiting through the crown (sahasrara) chakra. During this journey, as the uncoiling of the kundalini travels upwards, each chakra is said to awaken a particular occult faculty, until the yogi is progressively enlightened.
If not initiated through the chakras, kundalini might take place through a practice called shaktipat, a laying on of hands through physical contact to the body by a guru or initiator. According to Dykema, premature activation--that is, activation without adequate preparation through meditation or other spiritual practices--can also result from simple meditation techniques, chanting mantras, basic breathing practices, sexual orgasm, ecstatic religious experiences, trance dancing and psychotropic drugs.

A very dramatic instance of premature kundalini awakening was detailed by Krishna Gopi in his various writings and books, including Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man (Shambhala Books, 1997). Gopi said the experience of kundalini came to him at age 34 like the roar of a waterfall, following several years of meditation.

“I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body, normally the immediate object of its perception, appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it. I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe.”

Following the initial event, Gopi experienced many years of torment and moments of madness before he came to characterize the kundalini experience with reverance, and with caution.

“It's very specific energy understood by a very small number of people,” says Dykema, who works with clients experiencing problems following kundalini awakening. “It can trigger a happy experience, or be a scary and disruptive event, especially if a person doesn't know what's happening. The event can also be incapacitating for years if misdiagnosed through traditional channels of medicine.” Dykema says physical sensations can range from subtle and pleasant to some so intense as to be described as psychotic.

“The energy called kundalini is earth energy,” said Irina Tweedie, the British Sufi teacher. “It's considered to be feminine and is the same energy that is at the center of every atom. If kundalini awakens by chance or by mistake or with the help of a teacher who is not competent enough, it can be very dangerous.”

One Boulder woman who called herself a normal housewife until experiencing spontaneous kundalini after only a few yoga sessions said she had no frame of reference for the sudden episode. “I think the worst part of the experience was that no one that I was close to was able to understand.” She soon began making efforts to shut off additional experiences in order to return to her previously stable life.

Others, like the well-known Siddha yoga teacher, Sally Kempton, found her initial experience “alarmingly intense,” and then immediately began the search for a spiritual guide, which led her to a lifetime of learning and teaching meditation. The author of Heart of Meditation: Pathways to Deeper Experience (Siddha Yoga Publications, 2002), Kempton says kundalini is the “energy that empowers meditation, and makes it possible to go deep into your inner realm.”

Psychiatrist Lee Sannella, M.D., author of The Kundalini Experience: Psychosis or Transcendence (Integral Publishing, 1987), says in his experience a full-fledged kundalini experience is still quite rare. Nonetheless, those who claim to have experienced kundalini activation describe it as positive, mysterious, and enticing. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the world of blogging has led to many descriptive and sometimes humorous exchanges on the topic.

On October 20, a man named Mike Murphy reported his experience as a “rush of electricity up the spine, or radiating out from the abdomen, accompanied by spiritual illuminations of great strength.” Within minutes came this response: “I know Mike Murphy, (and) he is a phony and it's a fact he smokes dope and two-packs of cigarettes a day and drinks a lot of beer,” signed Bubba.

Questionable claims of kundalini experiences have long concerned those who say many of us in the West have an immature understanding of the concept and can do more harm than good.

“You live an immoral life in the sense of a life of vanity, sex, etc. and then you say that your kundalini is awakened,” said the Indian teacher and philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. “But your daily life, which is a self-centered life, continues. I feel that unless the person's heart is cleansed of hate, and his thirst to do harm is completely transmuted, unless that has happened, then this energy can do nothing but more mischief.”

Avoiding mischief--something to keep in mind when seeking any spiritual transformation. And in this case, it will save you from that online purchase of a $60 kundalini necklace and its $40 matching bracelet.

For more information on kundalini, see the following resources:

www.kundaliniresearch.org/index.php
www.kundaliniyoga.com
www.kundalininet.org/
kundalini.se/eng/edalitt.html
www.kunadaliniproblems.com

Kundalini: Evolution and Enlightenment, by John White (Paragon House, 1990)
The Kundalini Experience: Psychosis or Transcendence, by Lee Sannella (Integral Publishing, 1987)
The Serpent Power, by Arthur Avalon (Dover, 1974)
The Evolving Human: A True Story of Awakened Kundalini, by Penny L. Kelly (Lily Hill Publishing, 1998)
A Path with Heart, by Jack Kornfield (Bantam Books, 1993)