What is Kundalini? is it dangerous? Is a question I get asked all the time!
In short NO, like all things personally liberating it’s been shrouded by fear. Kundalini is an extraordinary energy that exists within all of us. Kundalini Yoga practiced respectfully can be hugely transformative and empowering and yet most of us are unaware of our innate powers or know how to tap into them.
Kundalini was first mentioned in the medieval Indian tantras. These texts were encoded with sacred magical practices that drew a path for higher consciousness. It was there Kundalini was written about as a most important goddess. Like many free, radical powerful women Kundalini Maha Shakti invokes a great deal of suspicion and fear. All yoga works with the kundalini energy, Kundalini yoga has a bit more oomph and works directly with it.
“With great power comes, great responsibility” Spiderman
My Indian spiritual mother describes her as “a mysterious goddess who does not like to be talked about.” A quick google will pull up all sorts of fantastical and scary articles of people going mad from their Kundalini risings but working with Kundalini is simply a way of plugging into your own infinite creative powers. It’s exhilarating and makes you feel fully alive.
Kundal literally means coiled and Kunda translates as cave or hole. Kundalini is an immense creative energy that exists within us all, it is said to reside coiled up at the base of our spine. To activate your kundalini energy gives a full 360 degree experience of life and an understanding and deep feeling of oneness and connection to everyone and everything.
Some may find the idea of having a goddess sitting at the base of our spines, waiting to be awoken as a little disturbing! Kundalini is primarily deeply healing so I refer to this beautiful picture by Dan Hillier, to illustrate that Kundalini is not something to fear. Kundalini rising experiences are rare but they are not uncommon and can be deeply healing. There is so much to be gained as the practice can unblock energies that have been stuck for generations and liberate us from our suffering.
“We do not suffer from a lack of human potential, only a lack of unlocking it” Hank Green, 2022
We can all have the potential to access our kundalini energy through spiritual practise. Some gurus claim they can activate it within you and others find plant medicine can give similar transcendental experiences. What is lesser known is a big trauma or intense life experience can also be a catalyst for an awakening. In my own family someone had a kundalini experience when a relationship ended, I’ve had two risings during intense “non yogic” experiences because sometimes, like a lightning strike, it is awakened out of the blue.
Both kundalini experiences both felt like a firework going up my spine and exploding in my head. The sensation didn’t last long and was very pleasurable. Some people I’ve worked with have kundalini experiences that last months and they can become hard to manage. When our kundalini has risen we need to be able to integrate this energy otherwise it can can irritate the nervous system.
Read any traditional book of yoga and it will talk of the importance of in-depth cleansing preparations; from Hatha Yoga to pranayama, mantra and diet. The food you eat or don’t eat is just as important as the yoga you practise. All of these preparations are there to help strengthen the nervous system so the body can handle the extra charge of energy. But it’s a chicken and egg scenario as practising Kundalini Yoga will strengthen your nervous system.
The whole point of Kundalini Yoga, however, is to get high on your own supply of energy, without actually using an external crutch. And gently activating our own kundalini energy, without the big bells and whistles of a full blown rise. To do this is to live each day with purpose, feeling switched on, lit up from the inside, happy, calm and connected.
Kundalini Yoga is a vastly diverse practice which also has many gentle, soothing and quietly meditative practices, as well as many strong stimulating ones. As the world and times change so rapidly around us, I notice as a teacher that most people need grounding embodied practices. The moves are simple yet multi layered, often repetitive and when incorporated with breath and mantra, and sometimes mudras, can take the practitioner into a blissful transcendental state which can facilitate great insight and healing.
Kundalini is not a traditional asana based practice, but we still use mindful movements. Simple yet multi-layered, the movements are often repetitive and when incorporated with breath and mantra and sometimes mudras, the practice naturally becomes very meditative. When a class is well led, the practice can take the physical into the spiritual dimension and those that participate into beautiful healing transcendental states. The practice has saved my life over and over, and I get wonderful messages daily from those that practice with me regularly, saying the myriad ways it’s helped them. It’s weird but it works.
“this life is not for wasting. It is for reaching the wonderlands of your own consciousness”
Check out my class schedule to see where you can practice with me.
The beautiful image accompanying this piece is The Light by Dan Hillier, and is reproduced here with his permission.