I’ve received many emails about the Awakening Kundalini CD. And I thank everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences with me. There are also a lot of great questions coming in, which are an inspiration for me to write more on the subject. A recent inquiry came in about what happens when the third eye opens.
One of the most widespread misunderstandings about awakening Kundalini is that it awakens all at once, and that the Third Eye opens completely, and we will suddenly be flooded with psychic visions that might make us feel crazy and out of control.
Charkas are like an aperture of a camera lens that when opened are flooded with light, with energy with information. To take a picture, to record every little point of reflection, the aperture need only open briefly to capture hundreds of thousands of minute details.
It’s the same with the third eye, or any of the charkas for that matter. When the third eye opens, the mind is flooded with light, insights, and inspiration. This is a very common meditation experience. It can happen gradually over time, or quite suddenly. If the third eye opens wide and it’s sudden, it usually occurs for a period of time, and then re-calibrates to a new aperture setting that is more open than before, but not wide open continuously.
When we fall in love. The heart chakra opens wide. Love pours in and gushes out. The world is ripe with possibility and charged with electricity. And then our hearts settle down and get comfortable with the relationship. I’m reminded of the Zen saying, “First enlightenment. Then the laundry.” Some people complain of boredom when all the excitement subsides. This grievance applies to both people who have had dramatic Kundalini experiences and to those who are hooked on the thrill of new love, but grow weary of working to keep a relationship vital.
Beginning meditators report all kinds of phenomenon, which aren’t really phenomenon, but rather the first opening of the inner senses: Visions, profound feelings, the smelling of scents that are not physically present, etcetera. Kundalini awakens through meditation, whether you put that name on it or not. When the mind is still, Kundalini can rise.
My first significant Kundalini experience happened quite early on in my meditation practice. I experienced it as a sudden blast of golden light that exploded in my head and then cascaded through my whole body. The aperture opened wide. My brain opened up to knowledge that seemed to reside outside the borders of my conscious mind. My heart opened and I felt the presence of God. I even heard a voice that was not my own. In that brief moment, perhaps 10 minutes, perhaps 20, I don’t know, the shutter opened and I received a vision that irrevocably changed my life. When I told my meditation teacher about the event, she smiled and called it an “illumination.” She gave me the impression that this is normal and that one mustn’t get overly identified or attached to the experience.
The bliss, the excitement, the love, the new knowledge and inspiration continued on for weeks. But then, as I acted on the guidance, the energy evened out. Another way of saying it is—It became familiar. This is how Kundalini awakenings can be. At first, utterly amazing; and then the body re-adjusts and it doesn’t seem so earthshaking.
Some accounts of Kundalini experience are profoundly moving and others sound like psychotic episodes. The scary accounts I believe are to be taken with a grain of salt. Kundalini experiences are subjective. It’s all in the interpretation. If your third eye opens and you suddenly know things that you didn’t know before, or see things that you couldn’t see before it could seem frightening, especially if you have no context for it. My gut reaction to the people who write about the terrors of Kundalini, is that they are working through their fears of powerlessness and victimization. If they owned their part in the process and did not blame it on Kundalini, they would tell quite a different story.
Kundalini pushes fears and egoic structures to the surface to be released. If you don’t want to let go of these, then it’s probably best not to practice Kundalini meditation. (visit The Center for Meditation & Transformation for more information and a free guided meditation [http://www.brainsync.com/medctr_main.asp]).
Granted, some Kundalini experiences can be unsettling, but these episodes rarely last long. A woman in my meditation class had a few weeks of involuntary undulating that happened when she meditated and even sometimes when she slept, which woke her up. When I say undulating, it’s not that her body was writhing, but the energy inside her was. It was intense, and she was unable to stop it. Whenever it happened her heart would race with fear. Gradually as she accepted this process as releasing old fears and simply observed and allowed it, the undulating energy smoothed out and became pleasurable. Since then she has less fear about everything in her life and is stepping out into the world in a way she wasn’t able to before.
In answer to the question, “Will I see ghosts or spirits? How can I prevent this?” If it is important for you to communicate with “the other side” and that is part of your path in life then, perhaps, when Kundalini awakens you might have the experience of “seeing spirits” or hearing them or communicating with them. You might discover newfound psychic abilities, which you can then use to help other people. Many of the psychics and shamans I know have shared that if they didn’t use their gifts to help other people, it would drive them mad.
We each have our own unique purpose in life, and Kundalini is the carrier that transports that knowledge to our consciousness. Kundalini awakenings are not random, but rather they are an affirmation of an immensely powerful intelligence at work.
I want to underscore the importance of being open to any kind of experience as Kundalini awakens. If you have fears or resistance about how or when Kundalini will awaken, then it’s important to face those fears and get to a place inside where you’re not anxious. In the end it’s a matter of faith. Having faith in the process, having faith in the wisdom and guidance that comes to you. And believing that the universe is a safe place for you to expand, grow and learn.
Namaste!