I frequently hear from folks who tell me that they’re going through or have gone through what’s called a “kundalini awakening”.
And they’re either really concerned about it or it’s a matter of fact as they share with me their experience and how it’s affecting their lives.
The lore surrounding it is both mystical and yet aligned with Western science. If you’re not familiar with it, kundalini refers to both an intense energy that courses through the body as well as an esoteric form of yoga. I explain more in this classic reprise video.
Transcript
It’d be easy to dismiss the ancient Eastern concept of kundalini as an old wives tale. But it’s far from that. It’s just that as Westerners – we’re rooted in a totally different paradigm. So I find that people who connect with me either have little interest in understanding kundalini energy or are quite enthralled with the concept of kundalini awakening or kundalini activation, as it’s often called.
See, in the East – India and them parts – “going inward” – that is, seeking higher consciousness has been a focus for thousands of years. We think of Holy men sitting in caves and ashrams, meditating many hours a day – to the exclusion of most anything else. This was a real thing. The Eastern mind put Soul or the concept of it, under a metaphorical microscope, if you will. Focusing on the sensations, created not so much by our physical being but that of the invisible energies, the life force, moving through our physical body. Are you with me?
There are involved metaphysical explanations for this, but let me really simplify it. This energy of kundalini, often depicted as a snake (Here’s a Buddha with a snake around her neck – symbolizing the rising of this kundalini energy). Normally, this energy is said to be sleeping at the base of the spine – like a coiled snake. Getting it activated and rising is an advanced move… as depicted in this buddha, making her an enlightened being. And “enlightenment” is yet another baffling term to our Western minds. Many people who connect with me, say they are seeking enlightenment and asking me if I can help them with that. I’ll say more about that later.
But in ancient Eastern spiritual texts, the rising of the kundalini is said to be essential to the spiritual evolution of a human being. Let me say that again, the rising of the kundalini is said to be essential to the spiritual evolution of a human being. Once you get the kundalini rising from the base of the spine, it’s described as moving upward and clearing out energy blockages – transforming and releasing fear, anxiety, self-doubt, shame, anger and so much more. This kundalini energy has been described as an incinerator that burns your inner psychic garbage and purifies the Soul. Who wouldn’t want that, yeah?
BUT, and it’s a BIG BUT. It’s not a walk in the park – this potent energy that’s flushing through you. There are all kinds of negative accounts from people who, not being ready, have experienced wild and traumatic psychological problems – or what we might call “triggering” – through kundalini awakenings. So what does this coiled snake story – this 5-thousand year-old story out of Hinduism – have to do with us today?
Our Western science is actually connecting the dots on this. While the East has framed the experience in a spiritual context… as in how our Soul is getting in touch with us, our researchers and scientists are explaining it physiologically – what’s happening in the body and especially as it relates to our nervous system. There’s the polyvagal theory, developed by the imminent scientist Stephen Porges. He is showing that the bundle of nerves in our body, called the vagus nerve – and this baby runs from our brain stem and connects with all our major organs, can, when optimized, help us release trauma stored in our bodies.
Now get this parallel… in the East, with the kundalini, they call it releasing blocked energy in our bodies and in the West, it’s trauma stored in the tissues of our body. Blocked energy …. Stored trauma. Same thing.
This is where I say Science and Soul meet – particularly in my work called Emotional Liberation. And the upshot is this: That in order to do this work of releasing trauma that has manifested in difficult emotions such as fear and anxiety, shame, anger, we need to get ourselves in strong physical condition so we can call up these emotions. Otherwise, it’s intolerable… it’s suffering.
In Western science – it’s said we need to do this by toning our vagus nerve and in the Eastern tradition, we have to do this by strengthening our chakra system – the invisible energy centers that are described as wheels moving the kundalini energy through. Here’s a rendering of the heart chakra.
But we have to be ready to do this otherwise we’re weak and unprepared to move this energy through … and, hence, if we’re not prepared that can cause “re-traumatizing” or in other words a re-experiencing of initial traumas that underpin the difficult emotions that we’re wrestling with.
So returning to my earlier mention of folks coming to me discussing enlightenment, which I see rather as a release of difficult emotions – this is what we do in Emotional Liberation … through active, ancient Eastern meditation, we move this energy through with specific practices from the kundalini tradition. I’m not so much about calling it “Enlightenment” as I am calling it Emotional Liberation. The more you do it, the stronger your nervous system, or your chakra system becomes so that you can move the blocked energy through in a healthy, calculated way… often with the thoughtful use of cannabis. This is what I did with the deep trauma that I carried and was able to release. And this is what I want to teach you to do.
So, what are your thoughts in regard to this ancient Eastern perspective and the modern western science perspective. Have you encountered kundalini energy and what was your experience? Drop down to the comments section and let us know.
I’m Becca Williams and I want to see you lead your most magnificent life … and that means either moving the kundalini through or releasing the difficult emotions. However you see it.