What is kundalini?
KUNDALINI RISING
An awakening of kundalini can feel like anything between a warm glow and a volcanic eruption.
Kundalini is generally described as a kind of dormant power which, when activated, affects both body and mind, and can cause a transformation of consciousness.
Some liken it to a snake rising up the spine, but this is just an analogy. In reality it is more like an extraordinary surge or current of 'super-energy' which may last seconds, hours, or days, or if it can be stabilised it can go on for months or even years. (My own most recent surge lasted two months.)
To me, kundalini is a special form of the universal life force. Its function isn't to just maintain life like ordinary energy, however, but to optimise it.
Most of the time, our life force is channelled directly into our ordinary mind, personality, and outer concerns. But occasionally, either through deliberate practice (yoga, meditation) or by accident, the latent 'super-energy' of kundalini can be activated.
When kundalini is in full force, the mind is perfectly calm and clear, the personality is bright and exuberant, and physical tasks are simple and effortless.
Between our baseline state and the full flow of kundalini, there is a transformative period in which one simply experiences more energy, often in strange ways that can be destabilising.
Stages of kundalini activation
At first, an activation of kundalini energy may be experienced as something quite harsh, freaky and loud, almost like being struck by lightning. My first taste of it was during a routine meditation (in 1993 I believe). It was like suddenly hearing a vacuum cleaner switch on inside my head as a stream of electric sparks moved from my coccyx and into my heart. This lasted about 30 seconds and was quite scary.
Another experience a few years later felt much smoother; it was like gorgeous champagne fizzing up my entire body and out the top of my head. By that time I had a better idea of what was occurring, so wasn't scared, but I was still unsure of how to handle it.
Subsequent experiences for me have generally felt increasingly pleasant, though I have also had some more of the harsher variety as well. The difference seems to be due to my life state at the time. The more I am in good alignment — spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically — the more pleasant is the kundalini experience. The more I am out of alignment, such as not looking after myself physically or not listening to myself emotionally, the more unpleasant is the experience if one occurs.
Full awakening
A full-on kundalini awakening when one's alignment is optimum is like an inner stream or current of what feels like golden liquid fire or liquid light.
This inner energy-stream has a distinctly different quality of presence; it can be experienced as powerful, gorgeous, intelligent, loving, ecstatic, healing, and awe-inspiring.
And as far as I can tell, all who experience this (myself included) automatically refer to Kundalini with the word "she". It's like being possessed by a wonderful goddess.
Having experienced my first surge of liquid light one morning, a while later I noticed a little glowing presence had settled in my belly, and felt like a purring kitten. But then, whenever I paid her any attention, she would suddenly rise up like a flare, filling my entire being with the most wonderful and blissful energy. It felt like every cell of my body went into a state of orgasm.
The die-off
A popular conception of kundalini, and spiritual awakening in general, is that once it happens, hey presto!, you're enlightened and you'll live happily ever after. Reality is not so straightforward. Kundalini comes and goes, rises and falls.
Everyone I know of going through spiritual awakening with or without kundalini will describe it in terms of peaks and troughs with occasional plateaus. Each peak can stimulate you into higher levels of maturity, self-awareness, and spiritual evolution. But inevitably, something mundane eventually grabs your attention and you're once again down in the weeds.
The challenge, however, isn't to just stay on the highest peak forever and avoid the weeds, but to willingly tend to the weeds when called to do so.
Trusting kundalini
Whenever kundalini rises and flows, it triggers physical and psychological changes in specific parts of the body and personality, which can be bewildering to those who do not understand what is happening. These sensations and symptoms are unique to the individual. They can be resisted or, ideally, allowed. The trick is to allow them, trusting that kundalini knows exactly what it is doing and is working entirely for your best interests.
The more these phenomena are allowed, the more one is likely to experience physical healing, psychological growth and spiritual awakening. The more they are resisted, the more one is likely to experience difficulties such as pain, insomnia, fatigue, disorientation, and so on.
I have learned the importance of always allowing the energy to do everything it wants to do, and to trust that it is wise and good. I have noticed that whenever I relax completely (mentally and emotionally, as well as physically), the energy flows more. Then I might feel bliss or joy, and my awareness clarifies and expands.
But whenever I mentally concentrate or emotionally tense up or physically push myself, the flow is constricted. Then I begin to feel more separate, and my awareness contracts into normal linear thinking.
How to awaken kundalini?
Meditate, relax, surrender, trust, allow.
Fasting also helps.
I often just tune into the sensations within my body and then 'invite' them, or rather the energy causing them, to do as it will.
Every sensation represents how energy is either flowing freely or struggling to flow (being resisted) or not flowing at all. Wherever you feel comfortable or pleasant, the energy is able to flow. Increasingly pleasant sensations, all the way up to ecstasy, represent increasing amounts of free-flowing energy. Wherever you feel uncomfortable or worse, this indicates something in you that is resisting the flow and needs to be relaxed.
"Go with the flow" is basically the kundalini motto.
That's all she asks of us.