What is Kundalini?

For hundreds of years,

spiritual seekers have sought after this sacred, mysterious power

called kundalini. It’s a word that derives from the Sanskrit language, which is ideally

used in Hindu scriptures. It’s very rarely ever talked about in the West, and most

scientists, doctors, psychologists, and other health professionals have never heard of it.

Most people will look at you as if you’re crazy if you try to explain what’s happening to

you. Yet it’s been the single most significant event of my life. I’ve come to know this

mysterious, powerful force has been called many things in various cultures across the

ages.

For thousands of years,

this experience would be found in traditions such as Sufi; it

could be found in trance cults that expanded across Greece and Asia. You find it in the

Kalahari, at the heart of the oldest continuous culture on the planet. You find it in Tibet,

and of course, you find it in full expression in India; the traditions of Kundalini revolve

around this experience of interiorized lightning.

Carl Jung talked about this life force consciousness back in the 1920s when he

returned from a trip to India. He claimed that we here in Western society are maybe 500

years away from experiencing this phenomenon.

My own personal experience proves

that the great psychologists’ forecast was correct, even if the time frame was not.

For me, things really began to change and shift energetically in my life around 2007. At

this point, I had been part of a 12-Step program for 6 years. I’d gotten well underway in my

own spiritual quest, searching for freedom. Albeit I’d still never heard the word Kundalini

up to this point. I’d say a serious meditation practice and a life packed with trauma in

every chapter of it had seriously primed me for what lay ahead. Yet I could never

have imagined in my wildest dreams what was to unfold.

Nothing could have prepared me for the bolt of lightning that ignited at the base of my

Spine, it shot up my spine and out through my head whilst I was driving my car. With it,

the contents of my subconscious spilled upwards and into my mind’s eye at an

accelerating speed. In a split second, my life changed forever.

As this foreign energy erupted into my system, striking me into sheer fear and panic, which would last for

many days. It was the great Goddess Kundalini introducing herself to me. Out of the

darkness, awakening was being born; it’s what I’d always wanted. It’s what my soul had

yearned for; unbeknownst to the ego and personality, this was to be the greatest

blessing. There have been cycles of phenomena, periods of time when I could hardly walk as the

energy coursing through my body almost sent me over the edge.

At times, I struggled

couldn’t hang with people I once did, as certain energies would almost leave me feeling

like someone was choking the life out of me. There were also times I couldn’t hold a

job down for months at a time as this mysterious force worked its way through every

fiber of my being. At times, I could feel it work on various parts of my body for days at a

time.

The path of Kundalini awakening has been ever so demanding; it’s like a great big

master cleanse. Burning through all the impurities that no longer serve my higher self.

I’ve been forced to drop people from my life, habits, unhealthy foods, and behaviors. The

dark memories and traumas from the beginning of my life have resurfaced to be healed

and integrated. This is the work.

There’s an intelligence and a purpose to all of it.

Without sounding cliché, it’s the beginning of the journey that returned me back to myself.

There have been so many challenges and trials, one after another at times. What’s undeniable

to me is that whatever this great force is, it has my best interests at heart, and I can’t deny that I’ve been held with love every step of the way. I’m blessed; I’ve stayed the course and got to experience many of the treasures that come with the Kundalini experience.