Underqualified "teachers" and naive students can be a very dangerous combination in kundalini yoga. This intense meditation technique is symbolized by a snake coiled at the base of the spine. When "awakened," the kundalini begins rising through seven chakras, or energy points, shattering barriers between the conscious and unconscious mind. Tibetan Buddhist monks call it "tummo" or "candali" meditation, according to Webster's Online Dictionary, and spend thousands of hours mastering it -- but a leading lama equates the Western attitude toward it with spiritual fast food.
The Tibetan Buddhist View
In a lecture delivered in January 2007 to the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Calcutta, Kalon Tripa S. Rinpoche, a high lama and chairman of the cabinet of the Tibetan government in exile of the Dalai Lama in India, spoke about meditation. In Buddhism, "no meditation is taught for the benefit of this worldly life....The proper intention must be the spiritual development for the sake of all sentient beings." Even preparing the mind and body for meditation is a multi-stage process that requires years of rigorous discipline. Because the objective is to gain power over deities and influence them to ease suffering, the people deemed to have the greatest power to bring positive change are the most accomplished meditators. Before being considered proficient, a monk may spend 10,000 hours in meditation, says CBC News.
The Problem With the West
In his address, the Rinpoche contrasted the Tibetan view with that held by "the advanced and busy people of America and Europe" who "need things that yield very quick results. They need fast food, fast meditation and everything which is fast. They are trying to meditate while talking on cellphone or working on laptop." Using meditation as a tool to improve efficiency and productivity, or to ease depression or tension, or for any selfish end at all, "is absolutely not the object....That is the intention of inferior people."
Qualifications for Kundalini Teachers
In the West, yoga is big business. Acquiring a certificate claiming teaching-level mastery of kundalini requires paying a modest fee, watching some videos and writing an open-book test at home. This test can be taken as many times as necessary for a passing grade. In eight weeks or less, the teacher-in-training allegedly learns basic and advanced forms of other types of yoga and gains "practical wisdom on how to run a successful yoga studio and create a high-traffic yoga web site," according to Anmol Mehta. Novices who dabble in this mind-altering meditation technique suffer mental breakdowns so often that the condition has its own clinical name: kundalini psychosis.
Kundalini Psychosis
Kundalini expert Kurt Kreuzer of the University of California, Berkeley says: "Even in the best of circumstances, the joy associated with the awakening of kundalini is likely to be attended with a certain amount of anxiety as kundalini wrests control from the ego and unconscious contents spill over into consciousness." At worst, kundalini awakening can push people into psychotic episodes characterized by visual and auditory hallucinations and bizarre behavior, he admits, and some victims "remain tormented for a lifetime." Teachers should be experienced enough to guide students through such crises and, when necessary, help find therapeutic interventions, he said.
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