Part 1: What is Kundalini Awakening?
I want to welcome you to the first part of my series all about the Kundalini awakening process. Today, I’ll be sharing an introduction to this incredible evolutionary force.
Kundalini is one of my favourite topics of all time and I'm really excited to share some of my insights and perspectives on its many facets.
In this series, I'll be addressing the basics of what Kundalini is, what its goal is, how it awakens, the different types of awakenings, the challenges, and the various phenomena that come along with it.
I've been working consciously with Kundalini for many years and I have a lot of experience to draw from, but with that said, I want to make it clear that I'm not the final word on the matter. I don't have all the answers, and I don't think there is anyone that really does.
The process is so unique for everyone, and though there are general themes, each person has a unique specific experience. That's what makes this so exciting to discuss.
So throughout the series, I invite you to put your own personal experience first. Maybe you have a different viewpoint, perspective, or feeling about what you’re hearing.
That’s perfectly okay. In fact, I encourage you to think for yourself and to recognize that your Kundalini process is unique to you.
So now, let’s start exploring.
Intro to Kundalini
So today, we've got to start with the basics.
What is Kundalini?
If you ask all of the people that have had direct experience with Kundalini, I’m sure you’ll get some varying responses.
If you ask me, I’ll say that Kundalini is a Divine spiritual force that lies dormant, coiled up at the base of the spine in most human beings, awaiting to be awakened.
Once awakened, the Kundalini begins an evolutionary process of spiritual transformation upon the body-mind-spirit system of the human being.
The Kundalini begins to heal and purify the person, while it makes its way up the spinal column.
Upon the relative completion of this process, the Kundalini finally activates the Crown chakra, allowing the human being to realize their true divine nature as unconditional consciousness or awareness.
This is what it means to go beyond separation to Non-Duality. This is Self-Realization.
Put simply, the purpose of Kundalini is to support our evolution from mundane human beings into spiritual human beings.
I like to argue that as human beings, we are similar to caterpillars and tadpoles. The reason I say this is because we have the potential to transform and evolve within one lifetime.
So what I mean is, all species evolve over many millions of generations, through the process of genetic mutations and natural selection. But then there are a few species, like caterpillars and tadpoles, that go through a metamorphosis within a single lifetime.
A caterpillar becomes a butterfly and a tadpole becomes a frog. In a way, it’s sort of like these creatures are able to experience an evolution within one single lifetime.
Not all creatures have this potential. But I feel that human beings do.
Kundalini is the driving force that can begin and support this process of evolution for a human being, within their one lifetime.
Once the energy awakens, it is similar to when a caterpillar enters the cocoon; a metamorphosis begins. In a sense, a caterpillar dies in the cocoon to give birth to the butterfly.
In the same way, the human being goes through a spiritual death-rebirth process in the midst of a Kundalini awakening. The mundane dies so that the spiritual may be born. A human being awakens and taps into their full potential through the Kundalini awakening process.
This death-rebirth process of spiritual transformation leads to Self-Realization or enlightenment. This is what the death and resurrection of Jesus represents - a transformation of consciousness.
Kundalini Throughout the World
I completely understand how far-fetched all of this may sound. In fact, it's so far out that many people who have felt and experienced this energy directly on multiple occasions also doubt its validity.
Perhaps you're one of those people who have had some interesting spiritual experiences, felt energy moving up your spine, had profound meditative experiences, visions, and the like. And yet still, maybe you ask questions like:
Am I crazy?
Well, to bring some ease to your situation, I want to talk about depictions of Kundalini throughout the world, to show you that you’re not alone.
The literal word, “Kundalini”, is a Sanskrit term that comes from the Yogic traditions of India.
The systems of Yoga have probably the most sophisticated documentation and teachings about the Kundalini process.
But the Yogis are not the only ones that are aware of it.
In some schools of Buddhism, they understand the Kundalini force to be an inner heat, and this is what they call it.
This makes sense, because the Kundalini often does express itself as a felt experience of warmth and heat.
As well, the Kundalini serves to literally burn up pent up emotional and psychological trauma that we carry in the body, to allow us to be liberated from suffering and to know ourselves as peaceful, Divine beings.
In the Mayan tradition, they have a similar depiction of a Divine force, also represented by a snake, called Kukulcan.
In Kabbalah and Judaism, they have the Shekinah, which speaks about the Divine presence of God within.
In Christianity, there is the Holy Spirit, which is known to offer Divine inspiration from within as well.
These are just a few quick examples of Kundalini showing up around the world as a Divine presence that has the potential to transform a human being’s consciousness. It seems pretty universal.
So the fact of the matter is, though mainstream science has not necessarily acknowledged or fully validated the existence of Kundalini, it's a pretty common thing around the world.
With that said though, one really interesting thing to note is that Carl Jung, one of the most influential and founding figures in Western Psychology, did in fact acknowledge the Kundalini.
So, if you're doubtful of your experiences with your Kundalini, I just wanted to share some of these things with you to bring some ease to your situation so that we can explore from a more open and receptive place.
The Kundalini Awakening Process
So now let's talk a little about the Kundalini awakening process in general. In other parts of this series, we can go really deep, but for now, let's have a brief overview.
So the Kundalini force lies dormant at the base of the spine. How does it awaken?
It can be awakened through conscious effort and spiritual practices, such as meditation, breathwork, yoga, the use of plant medicine, prayer, and chanting.
It can also be awakened spontaneously, for no apparent reason at all, as a result of trauma to the tailbone, extreme physical or emotional trauma, or by coming into contact with a Kundalini awakened person.
Certain people can radiate Kundalini energy, called Shakti, which can serve to stimulate or awaken another person's Kundalini.
If this is done in a conscious way with intention, either by someone who has more or less completed the Kundalini process, this is called Shaktipat.
Shaktipat is the event of an experienced Kundalini master actively transmitting an awakening of the Kundalini to another. There are some spiritual masters that offer this service directly.
There are other spiritual masters that offer the radiance and transmission of Shakti indirectly. With these masters, you can sometimes experience the transmission and reception of Shakti by meditating with them, listening to them speak, reading their books, or watching their videos.
Once the Kundalini is awakened, in general, it will begin to move up from the base of the spine towards the top of the head.
Like a blazing fire, it will burn up any blockages that may lie along the way. This is how the Kundalini heals a person of trauma and other emotional baggage.
This process can take years before the Kundalini moves through all the chakras, which are energy centers situated along the spinal column.
When the Kundalini finally reaches the Crown chakra at the top of the head, a person is able to experience the transcendence of the spirit, know themselves as unconditional love and to realize their Divinity. This is the transformation of consciousness called Self-Realization.
This is the completion of the Kundalini process, generally speaking. There's always more, because there's no end to our ongoing evolution.
So that's it for today's intro to Kundalini. Stay tuned for more parts to this series where I'll be going deeper into some of the specifics of the Kundalini process.
Contact me with any questions about your Kundalini awakening process.
Find out more about meeting with me one-on-one here.