Home      introduction


From the ancient Sumerians to present day America, there is to be found in every branch of spiritual knowledge, all religious paths and philosophies and recently even some branches of psychology, references to Kundalini's enlightening energy. Granted, it is oftentimes veiled in archaic language, rituals, symbols, metaphors or myths.

Study any culture’s mystical texts and if you are aware of Kundalini’s signs, symptoms and phenomena, you will always find its awakening touted as the path by which humans may reach their most supreme and ultimate goal; illumination through Union with their Creator.

Kundalini-enlightenment by its very nature is experiential. For clarification, I will use my own process as model. My Kundalini awakening was the result of seventeen years of daily practice of hatha yoga that included asanas, (postures) pranayam, (breathing techniques) and meditation. Vedic scriptures tout these three as being the alarm used by the yogi or yogini to awaken Kundalini and begin the spiritual journey.

Kundalini literally means, She Who Is Coiled. According to the Vedic Scriptures, Kundalini is the universal energy consciousness that manifests from Brahman, the Godhead. This energy appears in its dynamic state, “Shakti,” while creating the cosmos and humanity.

In descending order, Mother Shakti creates three bodily sheaths in humans. The causal one contains our faculties for consciousness and bliss. The second, the subtle body holds our minds, ego, energy, emotions and senses and the third, final one, is our physical body.

After seating into us the patterns for our personality, physiology and intellect, Kundalini Shakti conceals Herself in the sacrum of our bodies in what is known as the Muladara or root chakra. Here She lies coiled, three and a half times, in the shape of a serpent until awakened. Rising up through the spine, Shakti, which is a feminine energy, animates the other vortices or chakras along the way until she reaches Sahasrara, the crown chakra where Shiva, which is the masculine energy, resides. It is this re-union of the Goddess Shakti with Lord Shiva which produces enlightenment. Then our separation becomes Oneness with Divinity again.

Since the chakras overlay and incorporate the endocrine system, they maintain energy distribution and balance throughout the body until Kundalini awakens, which accelerates their activity and they undergo many changes. Our psyche’s response to these hormonal changes during the enlightenment process brings personality changes, paranormal abilities, increased creativity and transpersonal experiences at the three different levels of consciousness: subtle, causal and atman. A brief list of an awakened Kundalini’s signs and symptoms are as follows.

1. Heat. From mildly soothing warmth to feeling like one is being roasted alive.

2. Kriyas. Involuntary shaking, jerking, trembling or flailing spasms of the body.

3. Energy. Sensations of energy that rush, hop, zing or undulate up the spine.

4. Light. Luminosity either interior or exteriorly, or being engulfed by the light.

5. Sound. Inner sounds like buzzing bees, roaring waterfalls, crickets chirping.

6. Sexual Sensations. Extreme sexual arousal that is directed up through the body.

7. Psi Experiences. Precognition, clairvoyance, out-of-body or alien contact.

8. Mystical. Unitive experiences, holy trances, sacred deities, enlightenment.

9. Emotional. Waves of bliss and joy or terror, fear of dying or going crazy.

Naturally the above experiences could be misdiagnosed as any number of physiological or psychological aberrations. Here a thorough medical check-up is of paramount importance and my first advice to anyone displaying any of the above phenomena.

Knowledge of the Kundalini enlightenment process is definitely not confined to India. It is an integral part of the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Taoism, Christianity, the Jewish Kabbala, Sufism and the Spirituality of Native Americans. Celts, Druids, Shamans and the Pharaohs of Egypt practiced its disciplines. In ancient Greece it was the speirema, or ‘coiled serpent’ which brought episteme, (the highest degree of knowledge) so succinctly elucidated by Plato.

Whether you are describing the Buddhist’s Nirvana, the Yogi’s Samadhi or the Christian Mystic’s, Unico Mystico; delve deeply enough into their hearts and you will encounter the Serpent of Wisdom, Kundalini. It is this same Sacred Energy that is referred to as Chi in the Chinese language. In Japanese it is the Ki energy as in Seiki. To Tibetans it is Tumo and to Taoists, it is Huo. Known as The Holy Spirit to Christian Mystics, it is the N/um energy responsible for the trance state of !Kia, to the !Kung Bushmen of Africa.

Since the 1960's when the Beatles introduced and popularized meditation and yoga, Americans have become so familiar with these terms they are practically synonymous with stress release, relaxation, vitality and health. Research shows, however, that the word Kundalini is practically unknown in the general populace. Yet, millions across the globe are experiencing its vicissitudes. If sages and mystics down through history are to be believed, a release of the Kundalini power in an ill-prepared body can be cataclysmic.

On August 9, 1945, Alice A. Bailey, a metaphysician, equated it with the nuclear power of the atom bomb. She believed the atomic bomb to be a metaphor for the release of this energy in humanity at that time in history. As my own experiences will verify, it was a macrocosmic mirror of the microcosmic process known as Kundalini awakening.

As predicted from many cultures, Kundalini awakening is the illuminative energy that prophets predict will fuel humanity’s next evolutionary leap into higher states of consciousness. Symbols shown to me during my own awakening process corroborate this.

A vast number of our population now meditates. If we accept that the ultimate purpose of meditation was specifically designed, as a part of all traditional practices, to awaken Kundalini, then it is only reasonable to assume that we will see a definite increase in these types of cases. Judging by the increasing numbers of attendees at international conferences on Kundalini each year, this has already begun. The volume of e-mail requests that I answer daily, from people displaying signs and symptoms of Kundalini awakenings and seeking explanations for their experiences, has also increased.

Statistics show that it is to their ministers; doctors and counselors that people instinctively turn for help, at the first sign of trouble. Dr.Yvonne Kason, the author of, “A Farther Shore” and my first Kundalini doctor, having conducted a worldwide questionnaire for the Kundalini Research Network, states that she believes there are, “Thousands, perhaps even millions of people like her, who are having spiritually transformative experiences.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Everything from life shock, trauma, childbirth, adolescence, menopause, psychotherapy or life passages can precipitate a release of Kundalini energy. Whenever the Soul signals its readiness to make its return journey to Union with its Source, this sacred energy will fuel that process.

Therefore we, as spiritually responsible ministers, counselors, doctors and therapists, acting in the best interests of our clients certainly need to have at least, a rudimentary knowledge of the Kundalini-enlightenment process.

In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association approved a new diagnostic code for the DSM-IV, a handbook used by psychiatrists, psychologists and doctors. Psychologist David Lukoff and two psychiatrists, Francis Lu and Robert Turner proposed this diagnostic code, called, “V62.89 Religious or Spiritual Problem.” This new code heralds a breakthrough for those of us experiencing Kundalini awakenings, because it sanctions research, training and treatment in realms previously considered outside the reality paradigm of psychology.

In theory, this means that one could now go to the medical establishment and talk about supernatural phenomena without automatically being labeled psychotic and medicated. Provided, of course, that this code be quoted, and one’s medical advisor has been trained to recognize the difference between a spiritual emergence process and psychoses.

This book is intended, in part, to give you an introductory knowledge of how to recognize the spiritual emergence process produced by an awakening of Kundalini energy. Pointing out its many varied, yet distinguishing features, will allow you to decide whether you are capable of helping the multitudes in our midst, who may be experiencing this illuminative process as a crisis, and having problems integrating the changes it brings into their daily lives.

From the nature of a client’s problem, try to ascertain if you are truly in a position to help them. If there is any doubt in your mind, please refer them to someone you believe could better handle their problem. It is my suggestion that one make the acquaintance of at least one clinical psychologist or psychiatrist who has some metaphysical leanings, to whom clients could be referred. I can attest to the availability of such counselors’ existence today, some even advertising themselves as capable of working with a Kundalini crises, but their number is still limited.

When my awakening process began in earnest, in 1983, there was very little help available to me. I had to rely primarily on family, friends and what literature was available. It is only in the last few years that I have come to trust the Goddess Kundalini as confidante, guide and mother. To learn to trust something that one perceives as alien, terrifying, painful, abusive, and about to cause one's death at any moment, requires a superhuman strength born of daily hatha yoga practice, meditation and keeping blank mind.

This book is my truth. I have smelled, tasted, touched, been seared by and gone insane with, Kundalini energy. I come to share that unrelenting God-Goddess force which has been a constant companion and my primary teacher.

If you have picked up this book then you, too, must have an interest in yoga, meditation, Kundalini or enlightenment. Perhaps you are experiencing spiritually transformative energies or know someone who is. If so, remember that though the process is challenging, one does emerge a more enlightened and better person with new virtues and vistas for the eternal truths, which you may use to improve self or share with others.

My truth is not yours, although our truths may resonate. You have your God or Goddess, as I have mine. I have my Light, as do you. If we can come together and share our stories, perhaps a tiny spark of my truth will strike an answering chord in yours and between us, a little more knowledge will be added to the pool of wisdom from which we all may draw. In sharing, we create more and more Light upon our Great Mother planet Gaia, thereby helping Her and ourselves to heal into peace and plenty.

Aum, Aum, Aum.