What is a Kundalini Awakening and Have I

Had One?

By Kara-Leah Grant, author Forty Days of Yoga

The following information is not gospel its just my reflections and my understandings based
on my own experience of Kundalini Awakening.

As always, dont believe a thing I say unless it resonates in your heart and works for you. Except
maybe the bit about checking in with a medical professional if you have any physical symptoms
do that regardless!

So what is Kundalini?

Kundalini is the feminine, creative, evolutionary force of infinite wisdom that lives inside every
single one of us. Usually represented as a snake coiled three and a half times around, Kundalini
lies dormant at the base of the spine.

But no regular doctor is ever going to find evidence of Ms Kundalini. She aint something in our
physical body, like a bone or a muscle.

Nope, Kundalini lives in the subtle body, along with the chakras and the nadis. The subtle body
also contains our energetic imprints, our mind, and patterns of energies plus any emotional
blocks. Its where samskaras exist the mental and emotional patterns that drive our lives.

In my experience, this is not a metaphorical description. Through practice of yoga and

meditation, Ive developed the ability to feel my subtle body, in the same way as I can feel my
skin. I can sense where my subtle body is blocked and where the energy flows freely.

I can feel Kundalini dancing up the spine and along the nadis, dissolving blockages and freeing
energy. Sometimes as a block is freed in the subtle body, an insight into a long-held belief arises
in my mind as that belief also dissolves.

Kundalini is as real and present in my life as my son is she is the divine force within,
something that I surrender to, something that leads me on a divine dance of awakening.

Sometimes Kundalini is called Shakti, so because the words Shakti and Kundalini can be used
inter-changeably heres an explanation:

There is one energy (Shakti) that keeps taking on new shapes and forms.
Each time the energy takes on a new form, we give it a new name.

Shakti becomes Kundalini Shakti, or simply Kundalini.

Kundalini becomes the energy of Prana, which flows in patterns or channels called Nadis, and
concentrates itself by forming intersections known as Chakras.

The subtle energies condense and become known as earth, water, fire, air, and space, forming our
experience of the gross world.

With Kundalini awakening, the primal energy of Shakti awakens in its true form.~ by Swami
Jnaneshvara Bharati

Ok, I get what Kundalini is a form of Shakti, or divine feminine energy, that lives
dormant at the base of the spine. So whats a Kundalini Awakening?

Kundalini begins to move.

She literally Wakes Up, as Shakti starts her journey back to Shiva. Its the reuniting of the small,
separate sense of Self with the Divine. The drop of water is rejoining the ocean.

My first experience of this awakening was a heart-opening of bliss and peace. And after that, I
could feel Kundalini moving in my lower spine although I had no idea at the time thats what it
was. Now the movement of Shakti is up around the top of my spine where it meets the base of
the skull.

How does Kundalini Awaken?

Yoga is one of the primary ways that Kundalini can awaken, and the point of yoga practice is to
awaken Kundalini. However all traditions generally agree that it is dangerous to awaken
Kundalini without the guidance of a Master. More on why, later.

Kundalini can also awaken as a result of trauma, illness, a near-death experience, in a dream,
through Shaktipat (being awakening by a Guru), through mis-use of drugs, because of past-life
awakenings or by having sex with someone who has an awakened Kundalini.

Whats the point of Kundalini Awakening? Whats she doing?

The point of the awakening is the true beginning of the journey back to God. It is the surrender
of the ego-self to the Divine.

The point. my friend, is self-realization.

Also the point of yoga.

Hence the intertwining of Kundalini and yoga.

Often Kundalini Awakening is perceived as the realization, as its often accompanied with all
kinds of mystical experiences like bliss, oneness, lights and pretty colours.

In reality however, Kundalini Awakening is only the beginning of the journey. Now that the
sleeping Goddess is arising, the real work begins!

And that real work can be bloody awful.

Once Kundalini Awakens, she purifies the body, mind and spirit as she rises to the
crown. Traditionally, spiritual practice would clear the subtle body or the psyche if you like
so that when Kundalini finally did awaken, it would be a smooth and easy transition from the
root chakra to the crown chakra.

If, like me, Kundalini awakens before youve dealt with all your shit well that unconscious
shit is made conscious is all kinds of weird and wonderful ways.

Trust me on this one, you dont want to force a Kundalini Awakening.

You probably dont even want to try and gently seduce one either! Not unless youre a serious
spiritual practitioner under the guidance of a damn fine teacher.

The process of purification required by Kundalini as it ascends the spine can be extraordinarily
intense and difficult. It can lead to hospitalization, institutionalisation and it can be complete
disorientating in the context of a consumer, materialistic society.

Once Kundalini awakens, Real life will never be the same again.

So if youre trying to make it happen, be sure that you truly understand the depths of your desire,
and the difficulty of the path, because theres every likelihood that if you did succeed in
awakening Kundalini, you will wish you hadnt.

Dr. Lawrence Edwards, founder of the Kundalini Support organisation:

The purification process of this energy transformation can be bringing up latent diseases, muscle
spasms, joint problems, digestive problems. People can go through all kinds of things. Hot
flashes and sweats and things, numbing sensations, all kinds of things that can happen that arent
the most pleasant ones that you might hear about in terms of spiritual transformation.

Got that? Its not all psychic powers, bliss and oneness. Its the hard work of the spiritual path,
only once Kundalini awakens, youre not in charge anymore, she is. Theres no getting off the
ride. You gotta do what you gotta do.

How do I know if Ive had a Kundalini Awakening?

Firstly, if youre having weird physical symptoms, rule out any medical issues by getting a
thorough and complete check-up. No matter how intense and strange your physical reactions are,
and regardless of whether its Kundalini or not, your response needs to be grounded in reality.
Look after your physical body and seek professional help.

Kundalini can manifest in many different ways often its experienced initially as an intense
heat or energy rising up the spine and exploding out the crown chakra. Sometimes it can be as
mild as a yearning to know God.

Theres often a period of total bliss or oneness, where reality shifts and your experience of
consciousness expands out until you are everything and everything is you.

My first experiences (after the heart-open bliss which only lasted an hour or so) were
spontaneous jerkings of the body that totally freaked me out.

Whether you practice yoga or not, you may find your body spontaneously moving into yoga
kriyas that youve never seen before. This also happened to me, and still does.

This spontaneous arising of yoga postures is Kundalinis way of cleansing your system of all
impurities, and eventually, as you release all the knots of the psyche, these movements turn into
yoga postures.

A Kundalini Awakening also brings up all the unconscious stuff, and all the shadow stuff. Life
can get really, really tough. There can be all kinds of intense emotions. Anything youve denied,
stuffed away, rejected, forgotten about its all got to be dealt with.

This is the process. This is why its not advised to attempt to force an awakening by yourself. It
is not a path to step on to lightly.

Plus yes, theres more once Kundalini is awakened, its likely that your life will conspire to
create situations where you get to work through your karma at an accelerated rate. This is an
article (or book!) all on its lonesome.

How do I make sense of a Kundalini Awakening?

Its important to know that while Shakti is ascending the spine, so too is Shiva descending the
spine. The point of awakening is not to transcend our material life, but to bring the Divine into
it.

A Kundalini Awakening is a process of purification of our bodies and psyches so that were
strong enough to embody the Divine in this life.

As the Dalai Lama says:

The meaning of life is to embody the Transcendent

Not to transcendent but to embody the transcendent. Shakti is calling Shiva down even as she
arises to meet him.

So a Kundalini Awakening will literally rewire your nervous system so you can handle greater
and greater currents of Prana.

You become more alive, more passionate, more joyful, more loving if you stay with the
process, if you surrender to the Divine, if you accept the flow of grace and love into your life, if
you can accept and love yourself completely yup.

Theres a few ifs.

This is not a path for the faint-hearted.

But once youre on it.

Theres no stepping off.

Kundalini does not go back to sleep.

But if you truly have had a Kundalini Awakening, fear not, you can work with the process. And
thats what this article on Suggestions on what to do if youve had a Kundalini Awakening is
about.

And heres some more resources to help you along your way:

Biology of Kundalini

Kundalini Support Organisation

Kundalini Guide

Kundalini Splendour

The Souls Journey

Kundalini Awakening Support Group

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