Beth Owl’s Daughter has a wonderful article on the experience of the Kundalini awakening:
[T]he unplanned, or explosive kundalini awakening can be life-shattering and may result in years of difficulty, as we try to integrate and stabilize our changed sense of identity. This is why most yoga practices that work with this soul fire attempt to teach the seeker to gently raise the energy through meditation and awareness of the subtle energetic body.
Still, these awakenings may result in profoundly erratic behavior, speech, and emotional states in the individual experiencing them. Observers have noted that the subject may exhibit involuntary and spasmodic body movements and postures; pain; abnormal breathing patterns; paralysis; tickling itching; vibrating sensations; hot and cold sensations; inner sounds, such as roaring, music, whistling, and chirping; insomnia; hypersensitivity to environment; unusual or extremes of emotions; intensified sex drive; distortion of thought processes; detachment; disassociation; sensations of physical expansion; and out-of-body experiences (OBEs).
This article is part of a series Beth is doing on the three Graces, but an understanding of the way Kundalini energy operates within us is very linked to the Chironic process. I have come to see that Chiron rules the Kundalini energy that flows within our body, and many of us that were born between the mid 1950s and the mid 1980s have an opposition of Chiron to Uranus that accelerates the rising of Kundalini, sometimes in a way that is difficult to manage. Chiron’s goal in its rulership of this magical energy is to free us from the blocks that we place in our energy field to keep us safe, but which also keep us stuck. Sometimes the freeing of those blocks unleashes a flood of energy that we are not always ready for.
Psychoanalyst Stan Grof has a wonderful book called Spiritual Emergency which recognizes that many of these “midlife madness” episodes are actually an unfolding of our spiritual beings. Grof says,
The basic idea is that there exist spontaneous non-ordinary states that would in the west be seen and treated as psychosis, treated mostly by suppressive medication. But if we use the observations from the study of non-ordinary states, and also from other spiritual traditions, they should really be treated as crises of transformation, or crises of spiritual opening. Something that should really be supported rather than suppressed. If properly understood and properly supported, they are actually conducive to healing and transformation.
I have also seen where the Uranus opposition that occurs for most people in the 39-42 age group can bring about an acceleration of the Kundalini and create some mental instability as well as a fantastic spiritual opening to a different way of living a more authentic life.
I have always loved the idea that what we call “mental illness” is actually a spiritual problem that requires a spiritual solution. Certainly medication is useful to help stabilize the individual so that the underlying issues can be dealt with, but medication should be viewed as a temporary aid rather than a permanent cure.
posted January 25, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Interesting you would mention Stan Grof. I am getting ready to do my 4th Holotropic Breathwork(which he originated) session next weekend. One friend of mine discribes a session as the equivilant to doing 10 years worth of therapy. I would agree. I believe it has helped me leap spiritually over the past year. I started experiencing Kundalili openings at about 38 (suprise, suprise) and feel the breathwork has helped me move the energy easier.
Bet
posted January 25, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Stan Grof is one of the giants of our times. I recently took a class with him and Richard Tarnas
posted January 25, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Beth, I would be interested in learning more about your experience with this. And anon, that must have been quite a class! What two brilliant minds in one place
posted January 25, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I have been on anti-depressants since I was 43. There were anxiety attacks, huge emotional swings. Several times I have tried to get off the medication (very slowly) but I fall right back into depression. You have given me another avenue to research. It makes so much sense based on the other spiritual and energetic things I have been discovering
posted January 25, 2008 at 7:43 pm
It’s also possible, Brenda, that your depression has something to tell you. Sometimes we need to work through the depression to see what’s on the other side, usually with professional help
posted January 25, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Lynn,
You already know your coincidental suggestion of the kundalini meditation and my follow through profoundly changed me, my life, and my perception of reality (and mental illness). Thank you for that. I am glad to see it on the blog.
Juli
posted January 26, 2008 at 8:01 am
Thank you Julie – it does seem as though kundalini is making its way into the mainstream and becoming more and more important to help people on their path
posted January 26, 2008 at 5:01 pm
i had a spontaneous kundalini opening when i was in senegal at the age of 40 during the new milenium doing african dance and i thought i was dying. a warm flood of energy burst through my 3rd eye for several minutes after an orgasm and a jag of crying. i realized several years later what it was. i went through several years of emotional instability and severe candida. i’ve done lots of yoga and other kinds of therapy and feel finally stabalized. just recently i had an experince of the energy pulsating my belly, then 3 days later a heart opening which was the most subtle of all. to me, this made the transfomation complte. Part of this journey has been hell but it’s been worth it. i think deep breathing is key and look forward to researching stan grof’s work.thanks, eri
posted January 27, 2008 at 8:51 am
Thank you for sharing your story Erin.
My Uranus opposition occurred during the time that Uranus was exactly conjunct Neptune at 18 degrees. I started having panic attacks and wasn’t able to leave the house. Although I knew about the Kundalini opening process, I didn’t connect it to what I personally was experiencing because to me it felt like panic and not bliss. I started to see how clearly how I was not my physical form, and it completely freaked me out. It wasn’t until I read Stan Grof’s book that I connected the two.
I still have trouble at times grounding into my body and integrating the energy of expansion. Everyone talks about how cool “ascension” is, but very few talk about how difficult it truly is
posted January 27, 2008 at 10:47 am
Hm, I also experienced very severe panic attacks for almost 2 years, I had to get into therapy and Mindful Based Stress Reduction class to learn how to voice my pain and anxieties. This was happening when Pluto really bearing down on my Sun / Asc… but I am curious if this could´ve been kundalini engery. After that my confidence and exploration of myself and what I want has been boosted 1 million times over. I´m such a different person than I was 2 years ago. And I´m still happily and actively searching for God / Goddess in everything I see… it´s wonderful to feel so connected to the universe
posted January 29, 2008 at 12:20 am
I experienced Kundalini opening 2003 and it scared the hell out of me because I did not know what was happening. Have had a number of what I believed to be spiritual events over the past 40 years. Now diagnosed as bipolar I am even more full of self doubt. On antidepressants for now as I go through yet another episode of manic/depressive growth!
Considering orthomolecular therapy (megavitamins) rather than medication. Thanks for info on Stan Grof. I will look into this as I search for guidance and spiritual transformation.
Peac
posted February 24, 2010 at 9:04 am
More on kundalini shakti… its miraculous powers… how dominating kundalini shakti human beings finally gained success in life… reached stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana) in the end!
The practice of kundalini shakti… awakening kundalini energy is necessitated for realizing full potential of human beings! The awakening of kundalini becomes possible by practicing absolute celibacy!