Kundalini syndrome

The Kundalini syndrome is a set of sensory, motor, mental and affective symptoms associated with the concept of Kundalini. It has been reported predominantly by people who have had a near-death experience, or by practitioners of asian spiritual practices. The term "Kundalini Syndrome" has been used as a category for discussion within the schools of transpersonal psychology and near-death studies. The phenomenon is sometimes called the "Kundalini-syndrome", the "Physio-Kundalini syndrome", or simply referred to as a "syndrome". Other researchers, while not using the term "syndrome" , have also begun to address this phenomenon as a clinical category, or as a recognizable symptomatology.

The appearance of the symptomatology is believed to occur in connection with a near-death experience, or with prolonged, intensive spiritual or contemplative practice, as practiced within a few sub-disciplines of meditation or yoga. Other factors that may trigger this symptomatology includes a variety of intense personal crises or experiences. According to writers in the field of transpersonal psychology the process is not always sudden and dramatic, it can also start slowly and increase gradually in activity over time. If the accompanying symptoms unfold in an intense manner that destabilizes the person, the process is usually interpreted as a spiritual emergency.

Symptomatology

Researchers affiliated with the fields of transpersonal psychology and near-death studies have suggested some common criteria that describe this condition, of which the most prominent feature is a feeling of energy or heat rushing up the spine.

The Kundalini Scale

Ring & Rosing developed the Kundalini Scale, a nine-item scale to assess psychophysical changes, and symptoms of kundalini activation, in near-death experiencers.

Table 1: The Kundalini Scale

Symptoms
1. Feelings of energy in the hands.
2. Feeling deep ecstatic sensations.
3. Experiencing severe, or migraine type, headaches.
4. Awareness of energy discharges, or currents, flowing through the body.
5. Sensations of tickling, itching or tingling on, or underneath, the skin.
6. Awareness of internal lights or colors.
7. Hands feeling hot.
8. Sensations of extreme heat or cold moving through the body.
9. The body shakes, vibrates or trembles.

Thalbourne and Fox also developed a measure called The Kundalini Scale, a 32-item true-false questionnaire described elsewhere , but augmented by three items for Thalbourne's 2001 study.

The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index

Greyson developed the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index, a 19-item dichotomous questionnaire, in order to study kundalini and its effects . The Index includes 4 major categories: motor symptoms, somatosensory symptoms, audiovisual symptoms and mental symptoms.

Table 2: The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index

Category	Symptoms
Motor symptoms	1. Body assuming and maintaining strange positions for no apparent reason.
	2. Body becoming frozen or locked into strange positions and immovable.
	3. Breathing spontaneously stopping or becoming rapid, shallow, or deep for no apparent reason.
	4. Spontaneous involuntary bodily movements.
Somatosensory Symptoms	5. Spontaneous deep ecstatic tickle or orgasmic feeling.
	6. Physical sensations starting in the feet, legs or pelvis, and moving up the back and neck to the top of the head, down the forehead, over the face, then to the throat, and ending in the abdomen.
	7. Extreme sensations of heat or cold moving through the body.
	8. Moving pockets of bodily heat or cold being extreme enough to burn or otherwise affect someone else or an inanimate object.
	9. Pains in specific parts of the body that begin and end abruptly.
	10. Tingling, vibration, itching or tickling on the skin or inside the body.
Audiovisual symptoms	11. Internal noises, such as whistling, hissing, chirping, roaring or flutelike sounds.
	12. Internal voices.
	13. Internal lights or colors illuminating parts of the body
	14. Internal lights bright enough to illuminate a dark room.
Mental symptoms	15. Observing oneself, including one's thoughts, as if one were a bystander.
	16. Sudden, intense ecstacy, bliss, peace, love, devotion, joy, or cosmic unity.
	17. Sudden intense fear, anxiety, depression, hatred or confusion.
	18. Thoughts spontaneously speeding up, slowing down, or stopping altogether.
	19. Experiencing oneself as physically larger than the body.

Prosnick & Evans developed the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index-7 (PKSI-7), a 7-item short-form drawn from the 19-item Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index . The short-form was found to have positive correlations with NDE-6, a 6-item scale drawn from Greysons 16-item Near Death Experience Scale.

Other Contributions

Although more anecdotal, and less systematic than the taxonomies listed above, both Kason and Scotton confirm many of the features presented by Ring & Rosing and Greyson. Kason presents her overview under the heading "Symptoms associated with kundalini".

Table 3: Other contributions to the overview of symptoms

Author	Symptoms
Kason (2000)	Cranial pressures.
	Expansion of consciousness.
	Inner sounds.
	Energies up the spine.
	Vibrating or tickling sensations in the lower back.
	Light experiences.
Scotton (1996)	Energy rising in the spine.
	Experience of hot-cold energy.
	Experiencing energy (synesthetically) as light.
	Fear and anxiety.
	Persistent bradycardia (slow heart rate).
	Tachycardia (abnormally rapid heart rate).
	Cool skin.
	Flushed skin.
	Spontaneous trance states.
	Spontaneous assumption of yogic postures.

However, Transpersonal literature indicates that the overview of symptoms is not meant to be used as a tool for amateur-diagnostics. The interpretation of symptoms is not straightforward. According to writers in the field, symptoms associated with Kundalini-activity might not always represent such activity, but instead be an indication of other medical conditions, in need of attention. Kason emphasizes that any unusual or marked physical symptom needs to be investigated by a qualified medical professional:

It is important to remind STE-experiencers, their friends, and their families that all unusual or marked physical symptoms need to be investigated by a qualified medical doctor, even when the experiencer feels certain that the symptom is nothing more than the expression of the transformative energy in the body. One can be experiencing kundalini activity and also have physical problems that need medical attention. [...] It could be a serious, even life threatening, mistake to assume, without medical guidance, that any of the symptoms listed on the following pages do not have a medical cause.

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Terminology

Commentators seem to use different terms when describing the symptomatology. These terms are similar to, but not quite synonymous with, the term "Kundalini syndrome". However, they all seem to describe, more or less, the same phenomenon, or the same main features of the symptomatology.

The terms "Kundalini Syndrome" or "Physio-Kundalini Syndrome", or the references to a "syndrome", are mostly used by writers in field of Near-Death Studies , but also by writers in the field of Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology. The terminology of "syndrome" seems to have a closer relationship to the language of medicine and statistics, than the other terminologies. The terminology of "syndrome” is also the main basis for two measuring instruments developed by Near-death researchers: The Kundalini Scale and the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index .

Other terms, such as "Kundalini awakening", is a term used by Transpersonal Psychology , but also by writers representing both the fields of Transpersonal Psychology and Near-Death Studies . This term seems to have a closer relationship to the language of yoga, and the yogic tradition, than the terminology of "syndrome". Greyson is one of the authors that uses both the terminology of "syndrome" , and the terminology of "awakening".

Scotton uses a term called "difficult kundalini experiences", when discussing clinical aspects of the phenomenon. Overall, he seems to prefer the term "Kundalini experience", but he also uses the terminology of "awakening". Other commentators who use the term "Kundalini experience" includes Thalbourne . In his 1993-article Greyson reviews many of the discussions of Kundalini-symptomatology. In this review he cites, and uses, many of the similar terms associated with kundalini symptomatology, such as: "kundalini activation", "kundalini awakening", "kundalini phenomena", "kundalini activity" and "kundalini arousal" .

Academic and clinical discussion

Discussion of Kundalini-symptomatology has appeared in a few mainstream academic journals, including Psychological Reports, where M. Thalbourne operates with a 35 item "Kundalini Scale". In addition to this, the understanding of Kundalini-symptomatology as a clinical category has been briefly mentioned in two mainstream publications, one article from The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease , and one article from The Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Also, in an article from the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, authors Grabovac & Ganesan use the term "Kundalini episodes" to describe a category to be used in a proposed academic lecture series on religion and spirituality in Canadian Psychiatric Residency Training.

A more marginal publication, but historically significant in relation to the topic at hand, was the early groundwork of commentator Lee Sannella. In the book "The Kundalini Experience" (first published in 1976) he was as able to group symptoms into categories, which Kason picked up with some modification. For Sannella, the indications consist of motor phenomena – auto-movement, unusual breathing, and paralysis; sensory phenomena – tickling, sensations of hot and cold, inner lights or visions, and inner sounds; interpretive phenomena – emotions, distortions of thought, detachment, disassociation, and a sense of oneness; and non-physiological phenomena – out-of-body experiences and psychic perceptions. According to Transpersonal theory the awakening of such energies are "accompanied by alterations in physiology and consciousness understood in terms of the Hindu chakra system". Knowledge of the chakra map may therefore be helpful regarding the interpretation of symptoms.

In the book “The Stormy Search for the Self”, Stanislav Grof, whose wife Christina underwent the dramatic shaktipat experience, gave prominence to increased levels of energy, shaking, memories of traumas, extreme emotions, inner sounds, visions, sexual arousal, and difficulty controlling behaviours. They recommended anyone having these experiences have a medical examination by a clinician knowledgeable about kundalini because of the similarity between these symptoms and indications of psychiatric and medical problems. The biological plausibility of meditative practices and Yoga causing acute psychotic illness has been suggested by a psychiatrist as being related to alterations in neurophysiological parameters such as P300 which may be used to prescribe or proscribe yogic and meditative practices to certain people.

Commentators mention the dangers, or psychological difficulties, associated with intense or excessive practice of spiritual disciplines . According to writers in the field, such practices may, in unfortunate instances, trigger kundalini symptomatology, and lead to states of spiritual emergency. Greyson notes that contemporary western culture is poorly equipped to deal with signs of kundalini activity. Therefore, such activity might lead to major disruptions in the social and psychological functioning of people experiencing kundalini symptoms. According to Greyson, such disruptions are often confused with psychotic disorders.

Even though the symptoms, at times, may be dramatic and disturbing, several theorists tend to interpret the kundalini phenomenon, and the related symptomatology, as largely non-pathological , even maturational . Sovatsky, representing the hermeneutic of kundalini yoga, tend to interpret the energetic manifestations of Kundalini awakening as a “spinal puberty”, a spiritual and somatic maturation of body and soul. Other writers also interpret the phenomenon as a psycho-spiritual and transformative process. Kason , for example, tend to view the symptoms as part of a spiritually transformative experience, a "psycho-spiritual house-cleaning". Several commentators seem to imply that the phenomenon has a developmental and evolutionary significance for humanity, signifying both biological and spiritual evolution.

Both Greyson and Scotton underline the importance of differentiating between Kundalini phenomena on the one hand, and mental illness, or psychopathology on the other hand. According to Scotton, Kundalini-symptoms may, or may not, be associated with psychopathology, but are not reducible to any psychopathology. He thinks that it is important to differentiate between the signs of Kundalini and the symptoms of pathology, and not subsume the signs of Kundalini under a pathological diagnosis. He also notes that classical western psychiatric treatment may not be the most appropriate approach towards kundalini symptomatology. He does mention a few circumstances (mainly involving psychotic ideation) where he finds drug treatment to be appropriate, but he prefers to handle Kundalini episodes with as little physiological intervention, and drug intervention, as possible.

On the other hand, Sovatsky believes that it is important to differentiate between Kundalini, as a yogic energy term (and as a marker for Kundalini awakening), and the symptoms of different preliminary yogic processes or pranic imbalances. According to this view, many reported Kundalini phenomena may rather be signs of the precursor energetic state of pranotthana. The difference between pranotthana and Kundalini is also noticed by other commentators, such as Bynum. A similar observation is also mentioned by Greyson , who refers to commentators who believe that Kundalini symptomatology is a less profound effect of bioenergy or prana. Sovatsky also notes that: kundalini has become a catch word at this early time in its entry in American culture... and attracts those with unspecified, chronic neurological/psychiatric complaints in search of an explanation for their symptoms; the use in the West of Gopi Krishna's problematic kundalini experiences as a standard giving the awakening a reputation as more dangerous than it is.

The field of Transpersonal Psychology describe several phenomena that can be understood as a spiritual emergence , or as a spiritual emergency. In addition to mystical experiences, near-death experience, "shamanistic initiatory crisis", and "psychic opening", the authors mention kundalini awakening: "a complex physio-psycho-spiritual transformative process described in the Yogic tradition". If there is an uncontrolled emergence of spiritual phenomena, causing a significant disruption in a persons daily life and daily functioning, then we may speak of a spiritual problem. Spiritual problems have been discussed in relation to the DSM-IV diagnostic category "Religious or Spiritual Problem".

According to Turner and his associates, religious and spiritual experiences, when deemed as problems "need to be subjected to more research to better understand their prevalence, clinical presentation, predisposing intrapsychic and interpersonal factors, outcome, relationship to the life cycle, and ethnic factors. Although there is a wealth of clinical literature on these problems, the clinical research on religious and spiritual problems is minimal, with the exception of the many well-designed studies on NDE (Near-Death Experiences) They indicate in the article their hope that increasing research and an openness to alternative cultural narratives, among the authors of DSM-IV, "will help reverse the predicaments surrounding psychiatry's treatment of religious and spiritual issues, i.e. "occasional, devastating misdiagnosis; not infrequent mistreatment; an increasingly poor reputation; inadequate research and theory; and a limitation of psychiatrists' own personal development".

Bentov's "Physio-kundalini syndrome"

Itzhak Bentov devoted an appendix of his 1977 book Stalking the Wild Pendulum: The Mechanics of Consciousness to what he called “Physio-kundalini Syndrome”. Bentov's colleague Lee Sannella subsequently also used the term to describe the incidence of physiological phenomena found to be coexistent with experiences of kundalini. Both Bentov and Sannella, concurred with Gopi Krishna's view that kundalini is a symptom of an evolution toward higher states of consciousness.

These researchers were especially interested in kundalini problems - unusual physiological occurrences that tended to happen in situations where subjects practiced long periods of meditation without proper guidance or supervision. Many of Bentov and Sannella's case studies were mostly practitioners of Transcendental Meditation as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Bentov and Sannella held positive views of meditation as a means of releasing stresses in the body. Their main concern however was that unusual bodily reactions or mental states related to kundalini arousal might lead to inappropriate and potentially harmful medical interventions.

According to Bentov:

As has been mentioned before, the human nervous system has a tremendous latent capacity for evolution. This evolution can be accelerated either by meditative techniques, or it can occur spontaneously in an unsuspecting individual. In both cases, a sequence of events is triggered, causing sometimes strong and unusual bodily reactions and unusual psychological states. Some of those people who meditate may suspect that these reactions are somehow connected with meditation. Others, however, who develop these symptoms spontaneously, may panic and seek medical advice. (Sometimes individuals of both groups may seek medical advice.) Unfortunately, however, Western medicine is presently not equipped to handle these problems. Strangely, in spite of the intensity of the symptoms, little or no physical pathology can be found.

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On the other hand, Sannella said:

In my discussion of diagnosis, I will show that it is possible to recognize the physio-kundalini process and to distinguish it from psychosis, even when these two conditions are temporarily co-present in a particular individual. This distinction will help make it possible for clinicians to avoid the serious mistakes that have been made in the past. A faulty diagnosis can not only further complicate a case, but also deprive the person who has all the symptoms of an awakening or awakened kundalini of the great transformative and spiritual potential this signals.

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Bentov went so far as to speculate:

The psychological symptoms tend to mimic schizophrenia. It is very likely, therefore, that such individuals may be diagnosed as schizophrenics and be either institutionalized or given very drastic and unwarranted treatment. It is ironic that persons in whom the evolutionary processes of Nature have begun to operate more rapidly, and who can be considered as advanced mutants of the human race, are institutionalized as subnormal by their normal peers. I dare to guess, on the basis of discussions with my psychiatrist-friends, that this process is not as exotic and rare as one would like to believe, and possibly 25 to 30 percent of all institutionalized schizophenics belong to this category – a tremendous waste of human potential. It is my hope that as the material presented here gradually reaches the more open-minded physicians and psychotherapists, and as the syndrome described becomes more widely known, nontraumatic methods of dealing with these symptoms will be developed, methods that will not stop but slow down and control the rate at which the evolutionary process is progressing, thus allowing the patients to develop at a safe, acceptable rate and to function normally in everyday environment.

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Kundalini Awakening

Sign of spiritual emergency

In their 1990 book, transpersonal psychologists Grof and Grof coin the term “spiritual emergency” to describe “critical and experientially difficult stages of a profound psychological transformation that involves one's entire being.” They contrast it with the more gradual process of “spiritual emergence.” They describe the awakening of Kundalini as one of ten varieties of spiritual emergencies.

These terms are subsequently also used by kundalini writers Sovatsky and Yvonne Kason.

Psychosis

In their seminal works, Gopi Krishna and Bentov both noted resemblance between kundalini awakening in its early or undirected state and the state of psychosis. Some years later, Kason set about creating criteria to distinguish between some undergoing a spiritual emergency and someone experiencing psychosis. In a spiritual emergency, for example, a person is challenged by experiences, while in psychosis they are overwhelmed by them.

Problems

Prevention

In the ages-long Kundalini Yoga tradition, a student is only initiated into the practices that awaken the kundalini after a master accepts them as worthy of instruction. The aspirant then takes up their practice, following a strict regimen under the watchful eyes of the master, who for all intents and purposes serves as their counselor and priest.

Yogi Bhajan agreed with Bentov and Sannella and Krishna that problems with kundalini arousal are the result of subtle blockages that must be cleared:

These hallucinations ... and nerve weaknesses mean nothing. If a student practicing Kundalini Yoga is very blocked up in the spine and pranic nadis, he may have a one time experience when the channels are cleared. These things may happen when someone's nervous system has not been properly prepared, or if they do not use the mantra or the breathing technique properly. The real measure of kundalini rising is your consciousness from breath to breath and the courage you bring to your life. These momentary flashes brought on by weakness have nothing to do with kundalini.

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Sannella advises that the doubts and fears that might arise during the kundalini process be handled in a supportive environment like a spiritual hermitage or monastery. Anyone encountering difficulties should consult with someone with experience in this area. He also cautions that breathing exercises are hazardous unless practiced under the guidance of a competent spiritual teacher.

Treatment

Bentov defined kundalini difficulties as the release of blockages in the body-mind system, best treated by a gentle program of meditation, yoga and breathing exercises:

...the stresses in the system are actually energy patterns, and they have to be converted and eliminated from the body. One of the most common forms into which these stresses are converted is body movement. It is not unusual to see people who are meditating go through different involuntary body movements, such as moving the arms, head, shaking of the whole body, etc. The heavier the stresses that are given off, the stronger the movements may become. There are other ways in which these stresses may come out. These are a direct release of emotions, which may take the form of depressions, crying, and general emotionalism. Other ways may manifest simply as temporary pain in different areas of the body. All considered, meditation combined with light body-toning exercises, such as some hatha yoga postures and mild breathing exercises, can be the most effective, inexpensive, and fastest system for the removal of stresses from the body. I don't want to give you the impression that anyone who meditates will have the symptoms described above. On the contrary, by far the largest majority of people who practice meditation have very pleasurable or even blissful sensations, and those who have any of the stress symptoms will eventually outgrow them as the level of stress in their bodies diminishes. They then begin to enjoy a feeling of growing inner peace and tranquillity, which is not obtainable by any other means.

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Scotton offers a program of “grounding” interventions, including a prohibition of any consciousness-altering activity – especially the practices that triggered the episode, regular meals – even in the absence of appetite, hot baths to relax and draw the person back to their body, and immersion in routine tasks such as cleaning, mild exercise, laundry, and routine interaction with others.

Scotton continues:

Concerning what may be psychotic symptoms, the best course is to assess for level of functioning and “spread” of the seemingly psychotic symptoms. If the dysfunction seems circumscribed to the kundalini content and experience and the previous psychiatric history is negative for psychosis, the best course is probably supportive with as little drug intervention as possible. If the dysfunction is pervasive and includes psychotic ideation in unrelated areas, appropriate neuroleptic treatment is indicated, with later working through of the spiritual aspect of the experience.

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In Farther Shores, Yvonne Kason devotes a large part of the book to understanding and intervening in Spiritually Transformative Experiences. She covers a number of factors, including who has spiritual emergencies and why. Kason then offers up a number of strategies for living with spiritual transformation. Central to these is a balanced lifestyle.

The following is her 10-point Basics of a Balanced Lifestyle:

• Develop and stick to a regular routine – have regular rising, bed, and meal times and set aside regular periods each week for exercise.
• Get plenty of sleep and rest and set aside regular times for daily relaxation and weekly recreation.
• Do not skip meals. Eat a nutritious, well-balanced diet. You don't need to deprive yourself of occasional treats, but avoid junk foods in general.
• Keep the amount of stress and hectic activity to a minimum.
• Communicate and share your thoughts and feelings with a supportive person daily, or as often as possible.
• Keep your sex life moderate, and pay attention to your body if it seems to be telling you to cut down.
• Spend time in nature; get plenty of natural daylight.
• Avoid toxins and self-destructive habits such as smoking and drugs; keep alcohol consumption to a minimum.
• Get regular physical exercise, at least two or three times a week.
• Spend a moderate amount of time each day in meditation, prayer, and/or a spiritual practice.

Kason also offers up a long list (26 items) of grounding strategies, including, “1. Stop meditating. 2. Decrease all forms of concentration... 22. Visualize your energies withdrawing from your head region, moving down the base of your spine, and staying there...”

Kason provides seven indicators of healthy spiritual transformation:

• You will find yourself developing more noble traits of character, such as compassion, universal love, gratitude, charity, truth, honesty, and humility.
• Your desire to be of service to humanity will grow and may become a primary focus as your feelings of unity with all humankind and all creation grow.
• You will have an intense inner yearning for the divine.
• You may experience a spontaneous flow of tears and overwhelming emotion at the mention or thought of the divine.
• You will find yourself developing a more clear, discerning intellect and deeper psychological insights, along with a deeper moral fibre.
• You may find yourself developing new gifts of inspired creativity.
• You will find yourself repeatedly experiencing mystical states of consciousness.

Evolution

Sannella observed: “Today kundalini awakenings occur more frequently, with and without training.” He suggested a significant cause. “People experience kundalini phenomena more frequently because they are actually more involved in disciplines and lifestyles conducive to psychospiritual transformation.” Sannella contrasted this situation with Carl Jung's observation in 1932 during a seminar on the kundalini that the awakening of this force had rarely, if ever, been witnessed in the West. Stanislav Grof considers Jung's view that the awakening of Kundalini was exclusively an Eastern phenomenon and that it would take at least a thousand years before this energy could be set in motion as “probably the most remarkable error of his entire career.”

Bentov and Sovatsky both compared the awakening of Kundalini with the onset of puberty in the sense that the nervous system can start functioning on ever higher levels of consciousness. Sovatsky describes it as a “post-genital puberty” as spiritually matured identities become embodied and empowered.

Kason called for research to validate what she called “the kundalini model” to prove a biological basis for Spiritually Transformative Experiences. A few years later Bruce Greyson at the University of Virginia set out to provide the beginnings of such evidence.

In 2000, the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology published Greyson's paper titled “The Neuropsychological Correlates of the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome” about a study in which he invited a group of 321 volunteers from the International Association for Near-Death Studies to fill out a dichotomous questionnaire indicative of degrees of presence of five neuropsychological traits associated with kundalini arousal. These traits were: cerebral dominance, temporal-limbic hyperconnection, a construct known as “fantasy proneness,” another called “absorption,” and a tendency toward disassociation. As a result of his study, Greyson was able to conclude that kundalini arousal is accompanied by a distinctive neuropsychological profile, as his subjects who reported physio-kundalini symptoms also tended to score themselves highly on measures of fantasy-proneness, disassociation, absorption, and temporal-limbic hyperconnection.

Greyson admitted it was impossible to say whether kundalini experiences cause or facilitate these neuropsychological traits or whether persons with this distinct neuropsychological profile are more vulnerable to kundalini arousal. Nonetheless, he concluded that his findings supported Gopi Krishna's claim that kundalini is the force behind biological and spiritual evolution since kundalini arousal appears to be accompanied by specific neurobiological distinctions, as must any engine of biological evolution.

Gopi Krishna

The phenomenon of kundalini energy run amok in the absence of expert guidance first gained popular and academic attention with the case of Gopi Krishna. On his own, Krishna had practised an arduous routine of pre-dawn meditation from the age of seventeen years. In 1937, at the age of thirty-four, Gopi Krishna began to experience dramatic and distressing changes in his body and consciousness. Knowing very little about kundalini, he began to read as much as he could with his altered consciousness. Gradually, with the little helpful information he was able to glean and with the passage of twelve years, Gopi Krishna's kundalini awakening led to the development of new, inspired creativity. Gopi Krishna founded the Kundalini Research Institute and set out to learn more about and to teach others about kundalini. He is the author of several books.

Based on his traumatic experiences, Gopi Krishna conveyed a twofold message of immense dread and great hopefulness around the awakening of Kundalini.

The power, when aroused in a body not attuned to it with the help of various disciplines or not genetically mature for it, can lead to awful mental states, to almost every form of mental disorder, from hardly noticeable aberrations to the most horrible forms of insanity, to neurotic and paranoid states, to megalomania and, by causing tormenting pressure on reproductive organs, to an all-consuming thirst that is never assuaged.

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I am confident that when the laws about Kundalini are known, the life span of man will increase to as much as 150 years, out of which the greater part will be for his enjoyment and for the exercise of all his faculties. These supermen will be prodigies of the highest order. They will have command of all the premier languages of the world and will be able to write in prose and verse in all of them. They will have command of all the sciences, and in that condition will be able to guide even the highest specialists.

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Gopi Krishna was influential as the first widely published author on the subject of kundalini. He attracted Yvonne Kason, a transpersonal psychologist who helped to further popularize his story and integrated his lessons into her practice. Together with a few collaborators, she established the Kundalini Research Network.

According to Stuart Sovatsky: "the use in the West of Gopi Krishna's problematic kundalini experiences as a standard gives the awakening a reputation as more dangerous than it is."

Gopi Krishna described the symptoms of what he thought was kundalini awakening based on his own experiences. From his early years of turmoil, he described a stream of light and a roaring sound in his head, a rocking sensation, a sense of slipping out of his body, followed by a sense of detachment and disinterest, weakness in his arms and legs, fatigue and uneasiness. After many years of effort to understand and master the mysterious kundalini, Krishna was able to report a much happier syndrome:

...in the place of a roaring noise in my ears, there was now a cadence like the humming of a swarm of bees, enchanting and melodious, and the encircling glow was replaced by a penetrating silvery radiance, already a feature of my being within and without. The marvellous aspect of the condition, lay in the sudden realization that although linked to the body and surroundings I had expanded in an indescribable manner into a titanic personality, conscious from within of an immediate and direct contact with and intensely conscious universe, a wonderful inexpressible immanence all around me.

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From his vantage, Bentov catalogued his own list of indications:

Over the years of my involvement with this area, I have seen many cases of spontaneous and systematic evolution of the nervous system. There are some physiological changes occurring in the body associated with the attainment of these different levels of evolution. These changes may come about slowly, over a period of years, and go unnoticed, or they may occur suddenly. Some of the symptoms resulting from these changes may be very mild and some very powerful, depending on the amount of stress accumulated in the body. ...the stresses in the system are actually energy patterns, and they have to be converted and eliminated from the body. One of the most common forms into which these stresses are converted is body movement. It is not unusual to see people who are meditating go through different involuntary body movements, such as moving the arms, head, shaking of the whole body, etc. The heavier the stresses that are given off, the stronger the movements may become. There are other ways in which these stresses may come out. These are a direct release of emotions, which may take the form of depressions, crying, and general emotionalism. Other ways may manifest simply as temporary pain in different areas of the body.

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DSM-IV: Possible parallels

While kundalini problems are not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, through the efforts of David Lukoff, Francis G. Lu and Robert P. Turner, a new diagnostic category called “Religious or Spiritual Problem” was included in the fourth edition, DSM-IV published in 1994. This category was proposed to offset the tendency of mental health professionals to ignore or pathologize religious and spiritual issues brought into treatment. While acknowledging the consensus within transpersonal psychology that kundalini awakening is a form of spiritual emergence, or emergency, and should not be diagnosed or treated as a mental disorder, some psychologists note it could precipitate forms of mental disorders or exacerbate preexisting conditions.

DSM-IV does include in its "Glossary of culture-bound syndromes" the diagnostic category "Qi-gong Psychotic Reaction", described as "an acute, time-limited episode characterized by disassociative, paranoid or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms[...] Especially vulnerable are individuals who become overly involved in the practice." As such, some practitioners believe it to be a case of kundalini energy in disarray. Over-zealous practitioners of Kundalini, Qigong or Buddhist meditation, without proper guidance or restraint, were observed to lose touch with reality.

Sovatsky acknowledges the qi-gong psychotic reaction as an experience of nonordinary consciousness not unlike what Americans involved in qi-gong, meditation or yoga have experienced. He cautions those who would pathologize this kind of emergency: “That some problems arise as a result of the most auspicious of spiritual experiences, long documented in diverse religions, must, in such cases, also be considered.”

References

• American Psychiatric Association (1994) "Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV". Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association
• Apte, Vaman Shivram, “The Student's Sanskrit-English Dictionary,” Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1976
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Further reading

• Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Andrew Newberg, Sivananda Radha, Ken Wilber, John White, Stuart Sovatsky, Gopi Krishna, Barbara Harris Whitfield, Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, et al., Boulder, Colorado, Sounds True, Inc., 2009 ISBN 978-1-59179-728-9
• Whitfield, Barbara Harris (1995) Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the near-death experience and other doorways to our soul (Health Communications, 1995).
• Yogi Bhajan with Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, The Mind: Its Projections and Multiple Facets, Santa Cruz, NM, Kundalini Research Institute, 1998 ISBN 0-9639991-6-8

External links

• Kundalini Research Foundation - founded by Gopi Krishna
• Kundalini Research Institute - the teachings of Yogi Bhajan
• Kundalini Research Network - co-founded by Yvonne Kason