SURVEY / RESULTS

Results

We have created a short survey to help us understand potential patterns in Kundalini and spiritual awakening and to explore how the Collective could further develop.

The latest results are below. However the more people that complete the survey the more robust and detailed the results will be so if you have not filled out the form please consider doing so.

The survey is designed to be short and is two parts.

Part one is about people’s spiritual awakening journey and what has helped during challenging times. This information will be shared

Part two is getting feedback about the site itself so we can improve services.

If you are new to the site you may just want to fill out the first section and you can return at a later point to give us feedback on the site after you use it,

The survey is anonymous and no personal data is collected. You only need to answer the questions that you want to.

We would really appreciate if you could complete this short survey.

THANK YOU

SURVEY LINK:

https://forms.gle/s2jd23UwJ84eAZGJ7

RESULTS

As of Jan 2026 with 85 contributors.

You can download the raw spreadsheet here and read below a summary and analysis of the results run through using two AI models, the first is Google's AI Notebook LLM and the second is Chat GPT 4o.

GOOGLE NOTEBOOK LLM

Briefing Doc: Kundalini Collective Questionnaire Analysis

Briefing Document: Analysis of the Kundalini Awakening Experience

Executive Summary

This document synthesizes findings from a comprehensive questionnaire on the Kundalini and spiritual awakening process. The data reveals that this experience is a profoundly transformative, long-term journey marked by extreme paradoxes. Respondents report timelines spanning from months to entire lifetimes, with the most challenging phases frequently rated at the highest levels of difficulty (8-10 out of 10).

The core of the experience is a duality of immense suffering and profound benefit. Challenges include severe psychological distress bordering on psychosis, debilitating physical pain, and the complete disruption of personal and professional life, including social isolation, loss of relationships, and financial ruin. Conversely, the reported benefits are equally significant, encompassing the healing of chronic anxiety, a greatly enhanced sense of purpose and intuition, a deep connection to the divine, and the elimination of the fear of death.

Navigating this intense process requires a diverse toolkit of coping mechanisms. Key strategies include grounding practices (connection with nature, specific diets), spiritual disciplines (meditation, prayer, yoga), and, crucially, community support from peers and knowledgeable therapists who understand the phenomenon. For many, the ability to connect with others on a similar path is the most critical factor in mitigating the profound sense of isolation that often accompanies the awakening.

Feedback on the Kundalini Collective, the organization that conducted the survey, indicates that its most valuable function is providing this sense of community. While users express gratitude for the platform, they also offer specific suggestions for improvement, including enhancing website functionality, increasing the accessibility and geographical diversity of meet-ups, and broadening the range of content to support individuals at different stages of their journey.

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1. The Nature of the Kundalini Awakening Experience

The questionnaire responses paint a vivid picture of the Kundalini awakening as a complex, multi-faceted, and highly individualized process. The data highlights its long-term nature, extreme intensity, and the paradoxical coexistence of profound benefits and severe challenges.

1.1. Duration and Intensity

The duration of the awakening process varies dramatically among respondents, underscoring that it is not a singular event but a prolonged journey of transformation.

Timeline: Experiences range from a few months ("7 months") to many decades ("48 years," "55 years"). Several respondents describe it as a "lifetime" process or one that began in early life.
Difficulty: The most challenging phases are consistently rated as extremely difficult. A significant majority of respondents provided a rating of 8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale.
Duration of Difficult Phases: The length of the most acute phase is also highly variable, from "10 minutes" or "several weeks" to protracted periods such as "4.5 years - this entire time has been a dark night of the soul - nonstop" and "off and on for many years."

1.2. The Paradox of Benefits and Challenges

A central theme emerging from the data is the profound duality of the experience. It is simultaneously described as the source of the greatest suffering and the most significant blessings in a person's life. One respondent encapsulated this by stating, "It has simultaneously been one of the worst things and the best thing they has ever happened to me."

Profound Benefits

Despite the difficulties, the process is reported to yield extraordinary positive outcomes across all domains of life.

Extreme Challenges

The journey is frequently marked by periods of intense suffering that can dismantle a person's life. One individual starkly described their experience as, "I have been in hell for 4.5 years. I have never experienced a single moment of bliss, joy, ease, love, divine connection, or insight."

2. Navigating the Process: Coping Mechanisms and Support

Respondents employ a wide array of strategies to manage the intense difficulties of the awakening process. The most effective approaches often involve a combination of grounding techniques, spiritual practices, professional help, and, most importantly, community support.

2.1. Key Strategies and Resources

Community and Peer Support: This was one of the most frequently cited and critical forms of help. Connecting with others who have undergone similar experiences validates the process and alleviates profound feelings of isolation. Resources mentioned include the Kundalini Collective, When Lightning Strikes, and other support groups.
Spiritual Practices: While some found it necessary to stop intense practices, many relied on meditation, prayer, yoga, chanting, and surrendering to the process. As one person noted, "Surrendering to Shiva and asking him to guide me" was their method.
Grounding Techniques: A common theme was the need to ground the intense energy. This included spending time in nature, "lying on the earth," eating specific foods like red meat and potatoes, and engaging in physical activities like walking and gardening.
Professional & Expert Guidance: Many sought help from therapists, particularly those personally familiar with Kundalini. Books by authors such as Bonnie Greenwell, Gopi Krishna, and Stanislav Grof were instrumental for providing a framework of understanding.
Lifestyle Adjustments: Respondents emphasized the importance of rest, simplifying life, dietary changes, creative expression (journalling, art, dance), and reducing stressors.
Self-Acceptance and Inner Work: Strategies like "Acceptance and going with the flow," self-love, and "trust and faith in my own inner strength" were vital for navigating the psychological turmoil.

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3. Feedback and Analysis of the Kundalini Collective

The questionnaire included a detailed section for feedback on the Kundalini Collective's resources. The responses indicate that the organization's primary value lies in its ability to foster a sense of community.

3.1. Core Value and Discovery

Most Valuable Aspect: Overwhelmingly, respondents cited "connecting with 'real people'," "knowing I am not alone," and the "significant reduction of isolation" as the most valuable part of the collective.
How Users Find the Collective: Discovery is primarily organic, through Google searches, YouTube videos (Brent Spirit was mentioned multiple times), word of mouth, or referrals from related networks like the Spiritual Crisis Network.

3.2. Platform and Program Usefulness

Respondents rated the usefulness of various aspects of the Kundalini Collective on a scale of 1 to 10. The tables below summarize the ratings provided, noting that not all users had engaged with every feature.

3.3. Suggestions for Future Development

Respondents offered several suggestions for how the Kundalini Collective could evolve:

Expand Reach and Awareness: Engage in activism to make spiritual awakening a more widely understood phenomenon.
Facilitate Deeper Connection: Create more opportunities for in-person meetings in various regions and facilitate connections in smaller, more personal groups (e.g., via Telegram/Signal).
Maintain Authenticity: As the community grows, implement structures to maintain the genuine, peer-to-peer support that members value so highly.
Diversify Offerings: Provide more content tailored to different stages of the awakening journey and consider exploring teachings with "deeper layers of truth" to counter "pop-spirituality."

CHAT GPT version 5.2 Analysis

Report

Summary and Analysis of the Kundalini Collective Questionnaire

Executive Summary

This dataset documents the lived experience of 85 individuals undergoing spiritual and Kundalini awakening. The findings reveal a consistent pattern:

Awakening is widely experienced as intense and difficult, often scoring at the highest levels of personal challenge.
Participants report a significant lack of understanding and support from mainstream systems.
Peer-based community support, particularly through the Kundalini Collective, plays a critical stabilising and integrative role.
Despite the hardship, many participants describe deep long-term transformation, including greater compassion, purpose, and connection.

The data positions Kundalini awakening not as a fringe phenomenon, but as a modern transformational process occurring inside ordinary lives, without adequate cultural, medical, or psychological frameworks to support it.

1. Dataset Overview

Sample size: 85 respondents

Questionnaire: 29 items

Data type: Mixed-methods

Quantitative (1–10 scales)
Qualitative (open narrative responses)

Focus areas include:

Duration and intensity of awakening
Challenges and benefits
Support systems
Usefulness of Collective resources
Reflections on community value

This makes the dataset both statistically informative and experientially rich.

2. Quantitative Findings

2.1 Intensity of experience

Participants rated the most difficult phase of their awakening:

Mean difficulty: 8.1 / 10
Median: 8
Standard deviation: 2.1

This places the typical experience firmly in the high-intensity range.

Interpretation:

For most respondents, awakening is not mild or gentle. It is a major life disruption that tests emotional, psychological, and physical resilience.

2.2 Usefulness of support resources

Average usefulness ratings (where applicable):

Website: 7.6 / 10
Forums: 6.5 / 10
Blogs: 6.8 / 10
Zoom meet-ups: 6.9 / 10
Podcasts: 7.8 / 10
One-to-one support: 5.6 / 10
Zoom groups: 7.1 / 10

Interpretation:

No single resource solves everything. What stands out is that multi-layered support matters: information, community, and relational contact together create stability.

3. Qualitative Themes

Across open responses, five dominant themes appear repeatedly.

Theme 1 — Awakening as transformational crisis

Participants consistently describe:

Psychological upheaval
Loss of familiar identity
Periods of fear, confusion, and isolation
Physical symptoms with no clear explanation

Awakening is experienced less as a “spiritual high” and more as a threshold state — a crossing from one way of being to another.

This aligns strongly with the concept of spiritual emergency, though many respondents never encounter that language in professional settings.

Theme 2 — Systemic misunderstanding

A major thread running through the data is the failure of existing systems to respond appropriately:

Medical professionals often pathologise
Mental health services struggle to distinguish crisis from illness
Religious institutions often lack experiential frameworks
Friends and family do not know how to respond

This creates a second layer of suffering:

not only the experience itself, but the absence of recognition.

Theme 3 — The power of peer recognition

The Kundalini Collective is repeatedly described as:

A place of safety
A space of validation
A language-giving environment
A community where experiences make sense

Participants often describe the moment of finding the Collective as a turning point in their process.

In social science terms, the Collective functions as a containment field for non-ordinary experience.

Theme 4 — Long-term integration and growth

Despite hardship, many respondents report lasting positive outcomes:

Greater emotional depth
Increased compassion
Heightened intuition
A clearer sense of meaning
Stronger connection to life and others

This shows that awakening follows a recognisable arc:

Disruption → Disorientation → Integration → Transformation

Theme 5 — A desire for better futures

Participants consistently express hope for:

Better public understanding
More trained professionals
Clearer guidance pathways
More visible communities
Reduced stigma

There is a strong sense that what they experienced should not remain hidden or marginal.

4. Analysis

4.1 What the data reveals culturally

This dataset does not simply describe individual stories. It reveals a cultural lag.

Human consciousness experiences are evolving faster than:

Healthcare systems
Psychological frameworks
Religious institutions
Public language

As a result, people undergoing profound transformation are left navigating a 21st-century experience with 20th-century tools.

4.2 Reframing the phenomenon

The data strongly supports a reframing of Kundalini awakening as:

Not pathology
Not fantasy
Not fringe mysticism

But as a legitimate human developmental process that:

Is intense
Is destabilising
Requires containment
Produces long-term growth

In developmental psychology terms, this looks like a threshold state similar in scale to major identity transitions.

4.3 The role of community as infrastructure

One of the most important findings is structural rather than personal:

Where institutions fail, community becomes infrastructure.

The Kundalini Collective is not just a support group.

It functions as a parallel care system for experiences that mainstream frameworks do not yet understand.

This suggests that peer-based, experience-informed networks may be the most scalable model for supporting spiritual emergence in the modern world.

5. Implications for a Foundation

Based on this data, a foundation working in this space could legitimately position itself around five core commitments:

Awareness – normalising spiritual emergence
Education – training professionals and families
Support – strengthening peer-based containment
Advocacy – influencing health and wellbeing systems
Community – making the invisible population visible

The dataset provides evidence that this work is not optional — it responds to a real, unmet human need.

6. Conclusion

This dataset documents a quiet but significant cultural reality:

Thousands of people are undergoing profound inner transformation in a world that has not yet learned how to recognise, support, or integrate them.

The Kundalini Collective emerges in the data not simply as a helpful resource, but as a prototype for a new kind of social structure — one that meets human consciousness where it actually is, rather than where institutions assume it to be.

In that sense, this dataset is not only about Kundalini awakening.

It is about the future of how society holds transformation.