It seems to be a reorganization of how the brain works, perhaps a new way that energy is distributed as the prana intensifies after kundalini arises or following a shattering insight that wipes out the old way of connecting the dots of our thinking. Many people experience this after an awakening of energy, or following a great change of perspective after an awakening of consciousness. It can last a short while, or continue for months. If it causes you headaches, try a meditation practice in which you bring awareness down into the chest, parallel to the heart but to the right of the sternum, (where the spiritual heart is said to reside, or the source of consciousness). Just rest your focus there. Or bring attention and breath down into the belly. Energy follows attention, so move your attention somewhere else. Be sure you are eating healthy and adequately, avoiding intoxicants, bringing balance into your life and not indulging in toxic thoughts and negativity. Talk to the energy as if it is a goddess, asking her to take it easy or take some time off. This may all sound trite in the midst of dramatic crisis, but they are methods that help. Sometimes cranial-sacral work, or acupressure can also help to calm and redistribute energy that gets too intense in one area of the body. Some people find hugging trees, or walking in the sand or ocean, calms things down.
Why is my life changing so much?
This is a process that ends the old patterns of your life, challenging anything that is not authentic, or no longer useful. It is like taking a house down in order to remodel it, bringing in more light and more flexibility, and letting life flow in and out of it more gracefully. If you have asked for a spiritual awakening, this is the response. Many people do not understand the deep and profound shifts that are inherit in true spiritual realization, for it causes you to be “born anew”, as the Bible said. This is not the old little “me” who gets to become someone better. Rather it is falling into the root of what you always were and always will be, the indestructible, universal and loving spaciousness that is the ground of being, the kingdom within. This that becomes awake to itself then uses the life and the body in a new way that is not familiar to the ego, no longer driven by the ego desires and demands. Instead there is a gentle leaning, or an inner message, or a happiness to serve in whatever arises in the life. A new clarity and wisdom becomes available. When we see what we truly are, we can no longer cling to the remnants of what we thought we were, because they are seen to be as insubstantial as the image in a broken mirror. Freedom is the capacity to move from this new place, this changed life, and discover the wonders and quiet happiness it can bring. When kundalini awakens its intention is to bring you fully into this new home. It offers the paradox of stillness and radiant living, emptiness and fullness, compassion and love.
APPENDIX
Books About Spiritual Awakening & Kundalini
(Annotated Bibliography by Bonnie Greenwell)
(This is a partial listing of the many books available which include some discussion of kundalini, or present a good introduction to yoga or spiritual awakening for people seeking ways to support their own kundalini awakening.)
Adyashanti. (2008) The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment. Boulder, CO. ( Offers clarity on the kinds of experiences that often follow an awakening, and the passage from awakening to liberation.)
Adyashanti. (2003). My Secret is Silence. Los Gatos, CA. Open Gate Sangha. (Brief sayings and poetry by a remarkable awakened teacher that touch the heart, unsettle the mind and bring insights related to spiritual awakening.)
Adyashanti. (2006). Emptiness Dancing. Sounds True, Boulder, CO (A collection of dharma talks by Adyashanti, describing the major themes of his teachings.)
Aurobindo, S. (197l). Letters on Yoga. (4 parts) Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram. (Discussions about spiritual development, problems and stages of spiritual practice, and transformation of physical and subtle bodies. Esoteric, lengthy, but interesting & readable for those interested in yoga philosophy.)
Bentov, I. (1977). Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness. New York: Bantam. (Introduces idea of physio-kundalini complex, and explores scientific approach to consciousness.)
Caplan, Mariana. Halfway Up the Mountain: The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment. (An excellent compilation of teachings from several traditions warning of the delusion of enlightenment which follows intense spiritual experiences.)
Cousins, Gabriel. (1986). Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet. Boulder: Cassandra Press. (Good discussion of Kundalini and subtle body theory, sharing some of his personal experience, and introducing dietary approach to supporting spiritual processes.)
Edwards, L. (1996). The Soul’s Journey: Guidance from the Goddess Within (Av. from Dr. Edwards at 45 Lake Shore Dr., Putnam Valley, NY 10579.) (A personal account of visionary and awakening experiences, and his approach to establishing a relationship with the “divine presence”.)
Freke, T. & Gandy, P. (2002). Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians. (Fabulous book with incredible research about early Jewish and Christian Gnosticism, which is the best analogy I have seen that shows how Jewish and Christian mystical practices originally led to self-realization or enlightenment in the same way it is described in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Nothing here about kundalini, but tremendous clarity about self-realization, and how it happened that the Christian churches no longer recognize or support it.)
Goel, B.S. (1985). Third Eye and Kundalini. India: Third Eye Foundation. (Hard to find; a detailed autobiographical description of the awakening of an Indian intellectual who studied Freud and Marx. Shows clearly emotional problems, self-doubts, and other problems that can accompany awakening.)
Greenwell, B. (1995). Energies of Transformation: A Guide to the Kundalini Process. Shakti River Press. Ashland, OR (A comprehensive overview of Eastern and Western views of Kundalini, including 23 case histories, descriptions of seven categories of symptoms, and guidelines for assisting someone in this process. Currently out of print). Contact www.kundainiguide.com for updates)
Greenwell, B. (2014) The Awakening Guide, Shakti River Press, Ashland, OR. (a companion to The Kundalini Guide, focused on the awakening stages that follow.) Available late 2014 on Amazon
Grof, S. and Grof, C. (1990). Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis. Los Angeles, CA. Tarcher. (An anthology of many experiences. A good overview of a varieties of spiritual emergency including information on NDE, psychic opening, Shamanic openings, kundalini.)
Grof, C. (1990). The Stormy Search for the Self. Los Angeles, CA. Tarcher. (Information similar to the above, but includes Christina’s personal experiences and information on addiction and spiritual emergence, and general guidelines for working with spiritual emergence.)
Gupta, S. (1971). The Laksmi Tantra -- A Pancaratra text. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J.Brill. (Available at CA. Inst. of Integral Studies, S.F. CA., library; scriptures describing Kundalini as a goddess, and the methods and outcomes of a relationship with her.)
Hari Dass, B. (1981). Ashtanga Yoga Primer. Santa Cruz: Sri Rama. (Basic introduction to the practices of Ashtanga or eight-limbed yoga, including use of yogic locks, pranayama and asana. A how-to book; no specific references to Kundalini.)
Harrigan, J. (2000). Kundalini Vidya: A Comprehensive System for Understanding and Guiding Spiritual Development. (A detailed description of kundalini science including the chakras, nadis and movement of kundalini energy, based on the kundalini tradition in Tamil.) Available through Patanjali Kundalini Yoga Care at www.kundalinicare.com)
Harris, B. and Bascom, L. (1990). Full Circle: The Near-death Experience and Beyond. New York: Simon & Shuster. (An enjoyable story of Harris’s personal story of NDE and the impact it had on her life, with a scientific commentary.)
Irving, Darrel (1995). Serpent of Fire: A Modern View of Kundalini. York Beach, ME: Weiser. (A basic discussion of the myth and reality of Kundalini awakening, including details of the author’s experiences, two interview
s with Gopi Krishna, and comparisons of Kundalini with bipolar illness.)
Jayakar, P. (1986). Krishnamurti: A Biography. San Francisco: Harper & Row. (Describes in some detail Krishnamurti’s kundalini experiences.)
Joy, B. (1979). Joy's way: A Map for the Transformational Journey. Los Angeles J.P. Tarcher. (Joy, a physician and healer, describes his kundalini experiences and theories regarding subtle body energy.)
Judith, A. (1996). Eastern Body Western Mind; Psychology and the Chakra System. Berkeley: Celestial Arts. (An extensive exploration of the chakra system as a seven-leveled philosophical model of the universe, and of chakras as the transmitters of life force energy. Offers a detailed description of the relationship of psychological forces to the chakras.)
Kalweit, H. (1988). Dreamtime & Inner Space: The World of the Shaman. Boston: Shambala. (If you think your kundalini experience has echos of Shamanic experience this is an excellent overview of the inner world of the shaman, with several descriptions that sound much like kundalini phenomena, and helpful perspectives on near-death, out-of-body and other altered state experiences.)
Kason, Y. (1996). A Farther Shore: How Near-death and Other Extraordinary Experiences Can Change Ordinary Lives. San Francisco : Harper Collins (An excellent, thorough description of the Kundalini process, using the model proposed by Gopi Krishna, and expanded by Dr. Kason, who was a physician specializing in work with people who report spiritual experiences. Many vignettes and stories of people in various spiritual processes with some emphasis on the awakening of spiritual, psychic and creative abilities.)
Karanjia, R. K. (1977). Kundalini Yoga. New York: Kundalini Research Foundation. (Good descriptions and information regarding Kundalini)
Keating, Thomas (2006) Open Mind, Open Heart Bloomsbury Academic Press (An excellent introduction to meditation from a Christian perspective, including many of the conditions that arise).
Kennett, J., and MacPhillamy, Rev. D. (1977). How to Grow a Lotus Blossom. Mt. Shasta, CA.: Shasta Abbey. (Describes Kennett's personal experiences during her third stage kensho, or spiritual awakening, with many visionary experiences. A radical book to be offered from a Zen Buddhist monk -- also see The Wild,Wild Goose, a book about her initial awakening experiences.)
Kennett, J. (1979). The Book of Life. Mt. Shasta, CA.: Shasta Abbey. (Describes theories regarding bodywork based on ancient Anma massage to help people with energies awakened due to meditation.)
Kalsa, Newberg, Rhada, Wilbur, Selby et al (2009) Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening, Boulder: Sounds True. (A modern anthology of various perspectives of kundalini awakening, with a chapter by Dr. Greenwell.)
Krishna, G. (1993 rev. by Leslie Shepherd). Living With Kundalini. Boston: Shambala. (His detailed autobiography, a version of Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, updated and expanded, describing a wide range of difficult experiences and ultimate transformation with Kundalini, and providing much theory.)
Lad, V. (1984). Ayurveda: The Science of Self-healing. New Mexico: Lotus. (Describes Indian medicine as taught for thousands of years in relationship to diet, food categories, exercises and constitutional aspects which balance the elements and the body to attune it physically, emotionally and spiritually.)
Lumiere-Wins, John and Lynn Marie. (2000). The Awakening West: Evidence of a Spreading Enlightenment. Clear Visions Publications, Oakland. (Interviews with 15 contemporary spiritual teachers, primary of the Advaita or Non-dual traditions, with insights into their personal stories and experiences of awakening.)
Malik, Arjan. (1991 & 1994). Kundalini and Meditation. Published by Ajay Kumar Jain, Manohar Publications, 2/6/ Ansari Rd. Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002. ( A nice story of a classic awakening with a teacher in India.)
Maharshi, Sri Ramana. (1989).Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi. Published by Venkataraman, Sri Ramansramam, Tiruvannamalai. (An excellent collection of talks given by a great modern Advaita teacher and sage of India, who is credited with bringing the teachings of non-dualism back into the forefront of India teachings. Many modern non-dual teachers have come from his lineage, and this book is one of several that give clear and understandable teachings on the nature of Self and Self-inquiry.)
Mishra, R. (1959). Fundamentals of Yoga. New York: Lancer. (Excellent introduction to yoga theory and practice.)
Mishra, R. (1963). Yoga Sutras: The Textbook of Yoga Psychology. New York: Anchor. (Excellent interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.)
Mookerjee, A. (1983). Kundalini, the Arousal of the Inner Energy. New York: Destiny. (Easy to read, skims a broad range of information on chakras, subtle energies, tantra and kundalini.)
Motoyama, H. (1981). Theories of the Chakras: Bridge to Higher Consciousness. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House. (Describes his personal experience with kundalini, and relates specific changes to the movement of kundalini through the chakras; suggests practices for opening each chakra.)
Moss, Richard (1986). The Black Butterfly. Berkeley, Ca. Celestial Arts. (A Western physician and healer describes his experiences of awakening and his work leading seminars.)
Muktananda, S. (1978). Play of Consciousness. Ganeshpuri, India: Gurudev Siddha Peeth. (Autobiography describing his experiences, and presenting clearly the significance of the guru in Indian spiritual practices, and many experiences of visions, energy and consciousness.)
Muktananda, S. (1979). Kundalini: The Secret of Life. South Fallsburg, N.Y.: SYDA Foundation. (Small book with descriptions of the positive aspects of kundalini.)
Narayanananda, S. (1950). The Primal Power in Man or the Kundalini Shakti. Gylling, Denmark: N.U.Yoga Trust & Ashrama. (Includes discussion of some problems of kundalini & recommendations.)
Paulson. G. (1995). Kundalini and the Chakras: A Practical Manual. Llewellyn Pub. (A good introduction with an esoteric slant and emphasis on practices for the chakras from a woman with a Christian background, esoteric “New Age” language, and experience with people who have activated kundalini energy in her training programs.)
Pradhan, V.G. (1969). Jnaneshwari: A Song-sermon on the Bhagavadgita (Vols. 1-2). London: Blackie and Son. (Inspiring poetic interpretation of the Gita, a classic Indian scripture. This is the only version of the Gita (I know of) in which kundalini is specifically described and discussed.)
Prasad, R. (1969). Nature's Finer Forces (rev. ed.). London: H.P.B. Press. (Complex and specific description of prana, the subtle body, and the science of breath according to Indian scriptures.)
Radha, S. (1978). Kundalini Yoga for the West. Boulder, CO.: Shambala. (Presents Radha's views of the chakras, with psychological issues and practices for transformation.)
Radha, S. (1981). Diary of a Woman's Search. Canada: Timeless. (Autobiography describing her spiritual experience in India, with emphasis on her psychological struggles and yoga practices.)
Radhakrishnan, S. and Moore, C. (1957). A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University. (Good history of Indian thought and scripture without discussion of kundalini.)
Ring, Kenneth (1992). The Omega Project: Near Death Experiences. UFO Encounters and Mind at Large. New York: William Morrow. (An outstanding scientific study of the presenting conditions and early childhood patterns of people who report NDE and UFO experiences and report some of the phenomena related to kundalini awakening.)
Rishabhchand (1953). The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. (2 vol.) Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram. (Excellent and understandable introduction to teachings of yoga as interpreted by Aurobindo; discusses specific problems and solutions regarding the spiritual life.)
Sannella, L. (1987). The Kundalini Experience. Lower Lake, CA. Integral Publishing. (Important book for Western therapists written by physician, comparing kundalini with psychosis and speculating on the reasons for awakening. Includes many symptoms and case histories.)
Saraswati, S. (1984). Kundalini Tantra. Mungar: India: publ. by Sri G.K. Kejriwal at Bihar school of Yoga. (This is an excellent overview of the kundalini trad
ition and philosophy, including experiences and practices which awaken and nurture the process.)
Saraswati, S. (1967 or 1982). Taming the Kundalini Published by Bihar School of Yoga, India. (Letters from the Swami to his students with lots of guidance about their process.)
Satprem. (1970). Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. (Good overview of the Aurobindo teachings).
Scott, M. (1983). Kundalini in the Physical World. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul. (Views of a scholar who has studied tantra and yoga and describes kundalini as an earth energy, relating it to the energy flows of the entire planet.)
Selby, John (1992). Kundalini Awakening: A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth. Bantam Books. (Has simple exercises and is a gentle guide, as it says it is. This book is a very simplified approach to the experience.)
Singh, J. (Trans.) (1979a). Siva Sutras: The Yoga of Supreme Identity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. (Classical scripture describing higher consciousness.)
Sivananda, S. (1935). Kundalini Yoga. Himalayas: Divine Life Society. (Classical discussion of the practice of Kundalini Yoga, including descriptions of the subtle body, and specific yoga practices.)
Sivananda, S. (1969). Spiritual Experiences (Amrita anubhava). Himalayas, India: Divine Life Society. (Discusses some of the ecstasies and problems of spiritual aspirants )
Some, Malidoma (1994). Of Water and Spirit. Penguin Books. (A remarkable story of a spiritual teacher trained in the African Shamanic tradition. Kidnapped in Africa, and taken to a Jesuit mission school, and raised for 15 years by Europeans, he then returned to his home and underwent shamanic initiation.)
St. Romain, P. (1991). Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality. New York: Crossroads. (A Christian perspective of the awakening process, told by the experiencer.)
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