Kundalini has almost become a mainstream term. As a result, it can be grossly misunderstood. Kundalini is described as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine and refers to the subtle energy that is carefully freed and travels up the spine toward the third eye center. People ranging from Buckmeister Fuller, Joseph Campbell and others, have described it as a profound, blissful, often disconcerting spiritual experience.
Kundalini Psychosis
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines "kundalini psychosis" as a "spiritual problem," rather than as a mental disorder. Kundalini psychosis can occur when someone is experimenting with psychotropic drugs, advanced yoga or meditation techniques before she is ready for them. Symptoms include seeing flashes of light, severe headaches, hearing voices and hallucinating and anxiety. People experiencing these abnormal symptoms are urged to go to an emergency room for help.
Unprompted Trance States
Kundalini rising is a not a common experience. Even for serious practitioners of meditation and other esoteric arts, this stage of spiritual growth can be elusive. Those who have experienced kundalini rising report they feel an overwhelming calmness that removes their sense of duality of separation from the external world. For example, viewing a sunset, a person experiencing kundalini rising may sense an interconnectedness that she did not notice before. Physical symptoms vary widely and include seeing subtle lights and sounds, having the feeling of an energetic "current" moving through the spine, coming in and out of trance states, and moving into yoga poses without initiating the action of doing so.
Cultivated Through Yoga or Shaktipat
The most subtle experiences of kundalini may be from a near-death experience or from working with an advanced teacher or guru in the form of a shaktipat, the transmission of energy that awakens kundalini in the student from the teacher. This is normally only done when the teacher has worked for some time with the student to prepare him for it. The experience may include a feeling of integrated being and experiencing a profound wellness and calm that cannot be disturbed by normal daily stress of work and traffic. These feelings may last for a few hours or for several weeks or months. Genuine gurus experience kundalini rising and remain in a heighten state that can lead to samadhi, the vaulted state of supraconsciousness, experienced by only a very few.
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