I thought it would be a nice idea for all of us to post the key tips that have helped us survive & thrive during the transformational kundalini years. Ideas include what are the major things ( wisdom, diet, lifestyle etc) which have aided you in your journey. Looking forward to reading all your suggestions.
top of page
bottom of page
Get out of your own way. Easier said, than done.
That's lovely Tom. I think prayer is very powerful- asking for help especially!
Breathe. Belly breathing has honestly saved me. During inner challenges and difficult symptoms deep breathing has helped me transcend challenges and keeps me grounded in my body.
Slow down. It’s easy to be rush around life. Eating quickly, moving quickly, short attention spans, rushing to the next meeting or next activity. K asks us all to slow down in its own way. Slow down and allow yourself to become more accustomed with the moment.
Let go & surrender : K asks us to let go of our attachments. Career, relationships, habits, addictions. The journey to inner freedom means being freed of all attachments, getting good at letting go is a key skill for getting buy.
Exercise: any sort of movement can help us return to our body, it helps with grounding and bringing you back to the simple pleasures of living.
Food. Your diet has an effect on the energy. We are all different, for some you might need to start eating more meat which helps ground the energy. I was a vegetarian before kundalini. Meat was the only thing that really helped ground my energy. For others they might need to stop eating meet, or sugar. In short, listen to your body, and what it needs.
Stay Normal. We are challenged with an assortment of unusual, and sometimes chaotic experiences. I found it helpful to lead a simple and fairly normal life to help ground the process. It takes a while to step into the awakening journey. In truth, it’s perfectly normal and it asks for you to walk the path of normality. In doing this we are allowed to witness and experience the extraordinary in every day reality.
Grounding. Grounding can happen in a million different ways. Diet, walking bare foot, sleeping, grounding mats and sheets, drinking water, breathing, hugging, being in nature, being with animals. You will need to explore for yourself what works and what doesn’t.
Have faith. Trust in the process, what ever happens you have chosen this path. Know that you are learning and evolving, and growing. Always know there is meaning and purpose to your journey. You can do this.
Prayer. Prayer has been a fundamental part of my journey. Helping me along the way and giving me solace and peace during stormy periods.
Journal. Write every day about your journey. It will process and make sense of what is happening.
- Create a calm safe environment where you can let the process unfold
- Take part in activities that ground you
- Allow space in your life, in your body, in your mind
- Visit nature
- Make contact with a transpersonal psychotherapist to explore your process
- Trust your intuition to guide you
- Be gentle
Therapy: Getting to know emotional patterns, knots, blocks and 'your story' is helpful so it's easier to let it go.
Bodywork: touch is grounding and can help shift, open and release blocks. I like cranio- sacral.
Spend time listening to/ hanging out with an awakened teacher.
Relax as much as possible: walks in nature, epsom salt baths, Yoga Nidra, hugs, sunshine, slow and long out-breaths.
Try and keep the heart open: cultivate gratitude, sing, chant, be with kids, be in nature, create.
Simplify life: work less, be more quiet, limit external stimulation, meditate.
Find friends who speak the language of awakening and can normalise the process.
1) Surrender; there are many layers to surrender and it will become a bedrock of your spiritual life. In the early stages of the kundalini process surrender to the movement of energy. Later become okay with what is, even where it might not fit with your plans, because fighting reality is futile. Finally surrender that part of you that makes up your personality by exploring your inner world to find a deeper sense of who you are.
2) Develop your attention; find a practice that helps you to quieten the mind and find an attentive awareness. This will have a gentle quality to it and it won't be too involved in what it observes. It will allow whatever is arising without any imprinting of ideas or preferences. It will hold what is.
3) Ground the energy; engage in activities that ground the energy into your legs or centres the energy into your dan tien/hara. As you develop your attention this can be as simple as sending your awareness to the lower energy centres.
4) Try to remove stress. Stress isn't a good state for this process where energy is heightened and the sympathetic nervous system can be more easily triggered. Later in the process when you are more grounded and centred you'll be able to handle more stress but you'll more likely prefer a peaceful life.
Well, I had an initial eruption which I could not manage as I was going through an unusual period of extreme anxiety where ancient trauma was bubbling up. The key things that have helped me, I can be put in 3 different phases; the initial crisis, the recovery, and then reaping the benefits.
At the beginning having some understanding of what was happening really helped.. I ended up in hospital being told I had "psychotic depression", and put on heavy meds....not great. Because I knew that this was kundalini I had an alternative framework. It would have been very scary just to have had their pathological one.
Secondly, although none of them really understood what was happening to me friends and family were very supportive...I had daily visits from many people which made me feel very fortunate.
After a very difficult 4 months I was able to function again. It helped though during this, and the first phase, to stop all spiritual practice and concentrate on grounding myself. Going out for walks was the main thing...and being in Nature.
A major breakthrough a year later was meeting others (at Emerging Proud) who had experienced "spiritual emergence",,,,,and the growing sense of being in a community of people who were on a similar path.
Reaping the benefits.
What helped here has been changing perceptions.
Around the time of going to the Emerging Proud Event (so a year or so after the crisis phase) I woke up one morning and felt different. I realised that the childhood trauma that I had suppressed had gone, and negative emotions I had held about my mother had evaporated.
I realised that my kundalini experience was not a curse but a gift.
I cannot remember if it was during phase 2 or 3....but at one point I realised that what was important was not "me" but what I could contribute.
I also realised that what was important was having positive intention, and there was no point being anxious about outcomes. Both the above greatly helped to reduce any remaining anxiety.
I had also experienced that I was not a self (this having no inherent existence) but that I was part of the universal consciousness.
I realised then that this a process with probably no end.
Finally, I have found the books and webinars of Bonnie Greenwell very helpful, as well as the friendship and growing community of the "Kundalini Collective". Both being so positive in helping me to grow my understanding of the process, and to hopefully help me to make the best possible use of it for myself, and more importantly others.
I had it very easy since the beginning, which I can see is not common. I don't know whether it was pure luck or the fact that I trusted it fully. It was scary when it started but it made me feel powerful, happy and free. After realising there was nothing unhealthy about it I simply enjoyed it and let it happen.
Many months later, when I felt overwhelming pain in my chest, I would lay down and relax, focusing on my breath. The pain would always go away after that.
I tend to be very calm so I guess that helped too. I was always open to the unexpected and welcomed every sensation, letting go of every tension in my body when things were getting too crazy. It worked for me and now the flow of energy has been replaced by a sort of peace. No more fluctuations or bursts, just a feeling that I'm pulsing, as if my whole being was a wave of energy.
1) Surrender to the process.
2) If it gets overwhelming, stop for a moment and focus on your breath.
3) Try to be good to yourself during the initial phase, ie try not to second guess the process, reject it, or see yourself as doing something wrong or negative.
4) in the medium term, try and develop a safe space to explore this process both internally and externally.