Sooner or later on the spiritual awakening journey, we all taste the mysterious and intense phenomenon known as kundalini energy.
It might be smooth and subtle, or intense and explosive, but whatever the case, kundalini is a primal force of awakening.
In fact, sometimes people can experience full-blown kundalini awakenings spontaneously without any prior experience (or interest) in spiritual growth or transformation.
Have you experienced a kundalini awakening?
If you’re curious to discover whether you’re going through a kundalini awakening or something else entirely, keep reading.
Table of contents
What is a Kundalini Awakening?
Put simply, a kundalini awakening is a form of energetic awakening that causes us to transform on the mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.
Kundalini itself is a Sanskrit word that means “she who is coiled.” It refers to primordial life force energy contained at the base of the spine that is often depicted as a snake.
This serpentine energy, once awoken, travels up the various energy centers (or chakras) of the body and into your crown chakra where higher consciousness is triggered.
The result of this higher awareness is a greater understanding of your Soul (or True Nature), life purpose, and the nature of reality itself.
19 Symptoms of the Kundalini Awakening
As divine feminine energy, kundalini usually lies dormant in the root chakra (base of the spine).
However, there are a number of different situations where kundalini can be suddenly awoken spanning from trauma to drug use, all the way to years of targeted practice (such as tantra or kundalini yoga).
Below, I’ve divided kundalini awakening symptoms into two groups: “light” and “dark” signs.
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Please note that kundalini energy is neither good nor bad, instead, it’s a primordial force that simply lives within us. However, to the human mind, some of these experiences are pleasant, and others are extremely unpleasant:
‘Light’ Kundalini Awakening Symptoms
- You feel a spiritual connection with the Divine that transcends the ego
- You are bathed in bliss and boundless love
- You experience periods of Oneness where your compassion for humanity increases
- You tap into extrasensory abilities (ESP) and/or develop extraordinary gifts
- Pleasurable sensations pulsate through your body
- You’re inspired to make big, life-altering decisions and authentic changes in your life
- Synchronicity (i.e., meaningful or miraculous coincidences) increases tremendously
- You have profound insights into your behavior and past experiences
- Your empathic abilities strengthen, and you can feel everything at a profound level
- You begin to understand the nature of the mind and how it influences reality
- You keep receiving big, cosmic “downloads” of information (soul communication)
‘Dark’ Kundalini Awakening Symptoms
- You experience intense, involuntary shaking of the body that can be alarming
- Your nervous system becomes hypersensitive to external stressors (bright lights, TV violence, loud noises) and shuts down or craves total solitude
- You struggle to sleep properly
- You experience sudden and shocking moments of ego death
- You have visual disturbances that can feel alarming (e.g., objects seeming to vibrate)
- You experience intense heat, vibrations, or electricity surge through your body
- It feels like you’re having a bad drug trip while sober
- You struggle to distinguish what is real from imagined (psychosis) and feel like you’re going crazy
If you would like to learn more about each of these symptoms and the stages they correspond to, you can read my article on Kundalini Awakening Stages.
Other Kundalini Awakening Symptoms
The above kundalini awakening signs are fairly common. However, as someone who has experienced the energy of kundalini move through me, I can say that it doesn’t happen in the exact same way for everyone.
One of the most recent experiences I’ve had with kundalini, for instance, was preceded by two weeks of low-scale feelings of ‘impending doom,’ followed by the kundalini energy gently moving from my head and down through my body into my stomach.
The energy felt gentle, like a soft breath of wind, and when it reached my stomach, it felt like it was ‘working’ on something there. Then it melted away and vanished.
Here are some other, and perhaps less common, kundalini awakening symptoms:
- Feeling shattered (fragmented) or like you have no center
- Dreaming of snakes or seeing snakes everywhere (this is an alert from your subconscious mind)
- Feeling raw and extremely vulnerable, like a newborn child
- Manic and exuberant energy or the opposite, chronic fatigue (sometimes alternating)
- Frequent lucid dreams or vivid dreams
- Seeing lights or hearing music that isn’t there
- Tapping into your past life experiences (or other people’s)
- Entering spontaneous yoga poses (known as kriyas), mudras (hand poses), or pranayama (yogic breathing)
- Developing a Savior Complex or feelings of grandiosity
- Feeling intense grief for the planet and all suffering beings
- Out-of-body experiences where you (may/may not) connect with your Higher Self
- Visual and hearing changes
- Panic attacks and feelings of terror
- Strange food cravings or aversions
- Spontaneous orgasms
- Developing strange, undiagnosable physical symptoms that may manifest as autoimmune conditions, digestive issues, nausea, etc.
Have you experienced any of the signs mentioned above? Feel free to share your experience in the comments. This might help others who have undergone similar experiences to not feel alone.
Is Kundalini Awakening Dangerous?
This is a fair question, especially considering some of the symptoms mentioned above.
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To answer the question, yes and no. Kundalini energy isn’t innately dangerous or bad. It’s our energy blockages that limit the flow of kundalini that make it a painful, scary, and sometimes dangerous experience.
In Georg Feuerstein’s book Tantra: Path of Ecstasy, he explores why kundalini can go haywire:
Without prior cleansing of the nādī system, raising the serpent power (kundalinī-shakti) along the axial pathway is not only impossible but also very dangerous to attempt, for instead of entering the central channel (sushumnā-nādī) it is likely to force itself into the idā- or the pingalā-nādī, on either side of the central channel, causing immense havoc in the body and mind.
In other words, when kundalini is prematurely stimulated or aroused in an incorrect way (aka., through inadequate preparation and clearing of our energetic body), the results can be disastrous. Thankfully, the experience doesn’t last forever, and we’ll explore what to do if you’re experiencing the ‘dark side’ of kundalini awakening a little later.
But to further illustrate, Feuerstein goes on to quote the experience of yogi and mystic Gopi Krishna during his spontaneous kundalini experience. He writes:
There were dreadful disturbances in all the organs, each so alarming and painful that I wonder how I managed to retain my self-possession under the onslaught. The whole delicate organism was burning, withering away completely under the fiery blast racing through its interior. I knew I was dying and that my heart could not stand the tremendous strain for long. My throat was scorched and every part of my body flaming and burning, but I could do nothing to alleviate the dreadful suffering. If a well or river had been near I would have jumped into its cold depths, preferring death to what I was undergoing. . . . I racked my distracted brain for a way of escape, only to meet blank despair on every side. The effort exhausted me and I felt myself sinking, dully conscious of the scalding sea of pain in which I was drowning.
I’ll stop there because I know that this might be alarming to you (or alternatively, affirming, helping you to see that you’re not alone if you’ve experienced this).
In short, kundalini is a mighty potent force.
If you’re seeking to awaken it, be sure you know what you’re doing and seek out trustworthy guidance. This is not something to be trifled with.
Spiritual Awakening vs. Kundalini Awakening – What’s the Difference?
While the two sound the same, they’re slightly different in nature.
The spiritual awakening process (or what we refer to as the spiritual wanderer’s journey) tends to be emotional and psychological. Kundalini awakening, on the other hand, is energetic: it’s a surge of energy that may be either gentle and gradual, or sudden and intense.
While kundalini awakening usually comes further down the road after someone has experienced a spiritual awakening, it doesn’t always.
As mentioned previously, kundalini can arise suddenly in response to psychedelic drug experiences, sexual encounters, or even traumatic situations.
Another distinguishing factor is that kundalini energy is felt very physically whereas the spiritual awakening is usually more mind and heart oriented.
So while intense vibrations and heat may be felt in the body during kundalini awakening, during spiritual awakening there is more of a soulful quality of deep questioning, insight, and transfiguration (some refer to this as spiritual alchemy).
Can someone experience both spiritual awakening and kundalini awakening at the same time? Yes, absolutely.
It’s for this reason that both tend to lead to the experience of the Dark Night of the Soul (or the inevitable after-effect of having felt like one has ‘lost touch’ with the Divine). Ultimately, they are two sides of the same coin.
5 Hidden Traps of Kundalini Awakening
The kundalini shakti bestows liberation on yogins and bondage on the ignorant.
– Svātmarāma (15th century yogi master)
Kundalini awakening is a life-changing mystical experience that can feel magical, ecstatic, and profound. And it is. But there are also many hidden traps we can fall into after we’ve emerged out of the other end.
Some of these traps involve:
- Spiritual superiority – seeing yourself as “more awake” than others and looking down on those who are not as advanced or still “asleep” (also known as spiritual narcissism)
- Savior complex – adopting a disproportionate sense of self-grandiosity and specialness, believing that you’re sent to “save the world” (e.g., for those who have undergone kundalini psychosis, this can even mean believing they’re Jesus Christ or the next Buddha)
- Grasping and attachment – desperately trying to hold onto the blissful experiences of the kundalini awakening and being miserable (even entering crisis mode) when it’s inevitably lost (this can result in spiritual materialism and the dark night of the soul)
- Spiritual nihilism – taking universal truths and misapplying them to a human level, e.g., “all is an illusion,” “nothing ultimately matters” which breeds a sense of dissociation, emptiness, and cynicism
- Avoidance – avoiding or spiritually bypassing everyday responsibilities and focusing only on “higher spiritual matters” (this is essentially a way for the ego to avoid growing up and integrating the experience at a human level)
I explore a variety of different spiritual issues that can arise on the spiritual wanderer’s journey which you can check out in the Traps & Pitfalls section of this site.
How to Handle a Kundalini Awakening
If your kundalini has awoken and you’re feeling overwhelmed, here’s some guidance:
1. Be gentle with yourself and take care of your nervous system
Likely, your nervous system is going into overdrive if you’re having a painful kundalini experience. Some ways to calm your nerves can include:
- Taking a warm bath with essential oils like lavender (you can also try magnesium salts). If a warm bath doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, try a cold shower. Be mindful and notice how your body and mind respond to the temperature of the water.
- Find something/someone that brings you a feeling of safety. This might be cuddling your dog or cat, asking your partner or friend to hold you, finding a cozy nook in nature, or relaxing in a corner of your house that brings you comfort.
- Listen to calming music.
- Try slow guided breathing using an app like Calm or InsightTimer. (Be mindful of how your body responds. Stop immediately at the first sign of discomfort.)
- Ground yourself outdoors in nature.
- Eat grounding foods (potatoes, root vegetables, organic meat)
2. Stop all spiritual practice temporarily
Yes, your spiritual practice might be amplifying the effects of your kundalini awakening. So stop. Let yourself rest. If you crave a replacement practice, try mindfulness as it helps to ground you in the present moment. Read my article on the spiritual emergency for more helpful ideas.
3. Seek out compassionate help
If you still struggle with the kundalini energy being too intense, I strongly recommend seeking out the guidance of a transpersonal or depth psychotherapist. The best guides are those who understand the importance of integrating the mind and spirit (or spiritual psychology).
There are also people who specialize in kundalini awakening help that you can find online – but tread carefully. Trust your instincts. If you feel worse or if you get weird vibes about someone, you don’t owe them any explanation. Leave. Find someone else. You have the right to get the guidance you need.
Kundalini Awakening FAQ
Here are some other questions you might have about this powerful experience on the spiritual journey:
Usually, there is a period of long integration after the kundalini awakening experience. In other words, it takes a while for the mind, heart, and soul of a person to fully comprehend what they’ve been through and translate that into daily life. For some (extremely) rare people, kundalini awakening results in liberation from the separate self and the realization of non-dual awareness (also known as ‘enlightenment’).
There are many methods out there that help to stimulate kundalini energy. Most involve either Tantric and/or Yogic practice. Visualization, plant medicines (like psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca), certain breathwork techniques, belly dancing, and meditations also help to awaken kundalini energy. But remember to always be gentle, go slowly, and know what you’re doing. Kundalini energy is powerful and not to be messed around with.
The answer is that it varies for everyone. Some people experience the awakening of kundalini early on their spiritual path (indeed, for some it actually triggers the spiritual search). For others, kundalini awakens after many years of spiritual practice. There is no set-in-stone rule here: it depends on your unique energetic blockages, destiny, soul, and many other factors.
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As the kundalini awakens, you naturally become aware of your true nature, the nature of God, and the purpose of your existence. It is an accelerated path to God-Realization, and can create many extraordinary experiences and realizations.
– Steven Sadleir (Looking For God)
Kundalini awakening can happen gradually and subtly or explosively and rapidly on our spiritual awakening journeys.
Known as the Serpent Power, the Inner Woman, and the essence of Shakti, kundalini energy can be a force of tremendous awakening or deep enslavement. The key is to be mindful, practice spiritual discernment, trust in your soul’s strength, and seek help where needed.
Remember that the ultimate purpose of kundalini is to dissolve the inner knots that keep you small and limited, helping you to awaken to your Eternal, Primordial, True Nature.
Have you had a kundalini awakening experience? What was it like? I’d be fascinated to hear below.
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This type of awakening has never happened to me but if does, I will at least be aware and educated. Thanks for this interesting information.
This is not a healthy practice and can lead to demonic possession. Don’t do it!
I love belly dancing. It makes me feel so good and powerful. I have always felt a lot of energy when dancing. Even when I only do it in my bedroom lol. Especially when I spin around. I can feel it in me. So powerful.
I have jad a few different experiences with Kundalini Shakti and I’ve loved every time. Even when i hid in my house for two weeks because I was scared of people. It helps so much. Makes you realize how close you truly are. I’m now empathic to plants, i can feel their energy when i touch them too. I can discern when i let myself do so. More in tune with nature. Singing helps too. Soothing music. Barefoot on ground is the best.
I’ve been so hyper at times I’ve wanted to do several lifts and run. Other times I’ve wanted to ignore all and head to the forest forever. You never know what’s going to happen and i love it! Omnamashivaya <3
When I read your email ‘seeing vibrating patterns of translucent sacred geometrical energy dancing on top of everything around me.’ It reminded me that one time I woke up from a nap, I saw yellow/golden geometrical pattern (like those flowers?) flowing in front of my eyes. I thought I was hallucinating I still don’t know what they were. 🙄
My experience is nothing like those wonderful ones shown here. Once I watched a kundalini yogic meditation from India in the Hindu Kriya style. A room full of evident devotees was at the peak of the Kundalini energy experience. Some twisted and spiraled into standing positions with arms extended, while others were deep within themselves. It all depended upon the extent of their vibration and how it played within their emotional mental and physical readiness to experience these unusual energies. I have never experienced the Kundalini experience arising in my body. Only a form of chest healing once while acting as a Server at an Anglo-Catholic alter. There was a warmth in my chest and a calmness of heart with a really good feeling for the love of the divine. Another time was at home here after a very deep meditation where I felt no thoughts just a knowing and complete calmness and appreciation of my surroundings. I could have heard a pin drop and said it was a delightful sound experience. Upon reflection on reading about the Kundalini experience, I have heard it pays to move carefully and be helped by Master teachers who know how to advise on… Read more »
Aloha Nui from the Big Island of Hawaii. 2 days ago I “breathed into Samhadi”. It was at an energetic alignment workshop and only 15 kibitzes into the 4 hour workshop I went straight up, through and into Heaven or that Space of Pure Bliss. We had done several short rounds of Kali breath with specific holds then into a Toe Squat pose where we did a very brief round of Hanuman Breath as we rose to stand we were instructed to breathe into the feeling of light and to go up, up, up. I did I just rose and breathers into that feeling and it was incredible. I was just there, ko hody, no mind , just the inhalation and an expansion into joy..bliss. I heard voices “how ya doin?” “Really good” I whispered kind of surprised the instructor was talking to me so closely while I was in this pose. Then more voices and gentle touches. This is really weird I thought why is everybody looking at me? I peeked one eye open and saw I was lying down not standing up! “Am I on the floor?” I asked. Yeah, you fell down, are you okay? The others… Read more »
I went thru Spontaneous Kundalini rising about 10 years ago thru meditation. I got really good at it, and could go into a trance for about two hours at a time. At one point I felt like something un coil in the small of my back, and felt like a huge snake slither up my back. I still feel that at certain times when I meditate.
After that, it felt like I was trapped in a bug zapper. Just energy shooting out of me, my body vibrating all the time. I was messing lights and electronics up. I also started out with the shaking and tremors that I still have to this day, 10 years later. I look and feel like I’m having a grand mall seizure, but no epilepsy. I have also been diagnosed with quite a few stomach issues, and other things.
My health has fallen apart since I’ve gone thru this, and I hate it. I still go thru the energy surges, and vibrating. Going thru this was not a choice. ☹️
I went through the dark night and came out the other side maybe a year & half ago. The day after I felt my breakthrough, when I’d recognised my first core belief that I had zero faith in myself, and realised how horrible my programming/Ego was I had an intense pain in my abdomen, 2 inches below my belly button. It wasn’t digestive, and had nothing to do with my cycle. I wondered later if it had something to do with my sacral chakra or root chakra and the kundalini ? I’ve since had the pain, seemingly randomly, 5 times in the past year and a half. It seems to come on when I’m in a situation where I can walk away but I don’t. I’ve read that the sacral chakra houses the self and is the root power base for women. Is a pain in this area part of a kundalini awakening? The pain yesterday was so intense, and so painful. Loner Wolf was instrumental in helping me through the dark night, absolutely instrumental, so I thought I’d come back and ask. The pain started to subside as I told my self over and over to just let go,… Read more »
This article and so many more I’ve read on your website these last days have helped me understand my situation so much better. Two weeks ago I had my first psychedelic experience and since then I’ve felt like the trip never really ended, I was still seeing everything really bright and slightly flowing/ vibrating … A few days ago in the evening my whole body and especially my legs where shaking hard and uncontrollably for multiple minutes and I just stopped and burst into tears when my boyfriend gave me a tight embrace. I thought I had to die because my throat, heart and head have never hurt this much after experiencing this… The last months I’ve been feeling more and more outside of myself and this world and I’m now starting to see that I’ve been running from my inner pain and now it’s forced itself to the surface… It feels almost unbearable to exist right now but I’ve also felt a glimpse of the light when you’re connected with yourself and the universe and I’m determined to search for more of that light within me.
My kundalini awakening came unexpectedly after a nde. I went threw so many stages of consciousness from the primal (caveman) to now.. It was insane the visions I had were like nothing I ever seen. My body was filled with sensations and would have spontaneous orgasms with explosive visions of creation going threw my mind at once. I was not aware of what was happening,, I was full of energy running miles each day then found myself staring at the stars every night.. When I could sleep I would have dreams of a giant blue eye , tigers,goats, ect .. I ended up in a psychiatric hospital towards the end because I developed a savior complex, I didn’t know why I felt this way I thought I was God for while. Not to mention I could close my eyes and invision my self as any animal I could think of. After all this I have been left with the feeling of total dissociation. I am still recovering from complete ego death. I find myself remembering things from every moment of my life and I am processing past trauma.. Anyway I wouldn’t Change it for the world . I wonder if… Read more »