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.
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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).
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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.
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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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I went through what I believe was Kundalini Awakening. It was so profoundly hard on my mind to prossces. I ended up in an mental hospital. However I am starting to understand what happened. I had no idea or any knowledge about sprital awakenings. I would be so greatful to have someone to talk to
Hi! It takes time to calm the mind after an experience like this, always take for sure that it doesn’t last forever and it’s always for the better. How long ago did your experience start?
For about the last 10-15 years, I have been struggling with severe depression following the deaths of my dad, mom, and sister during a five year period. Suicidal thoughts were common, and I’d become a kind of a zombie. Technically alive, but not living. I rarely experienced anything approaching happiness.
About a week ago, I was experiencing terrible insomnia. I had two or three hours of sleep at most each night for about five days. I started hearing music that wasn’t really there. A fan, or a running engine would be making noise, and my mind would interpret this into music. There were a few of the other hallmark signs which were listed in the article.
About two days ago I was listening to music. This isn’t unusual for me as I’ve had nearly a lifelong affinity for music, and it’s still my primary form of entertainment. I was trained as a drummer in my youth. Though I haven’t practiced or performed in many years, it remains an interest.
Now, I do not practice yoga, but I knew of Nada yoga. The band was transitioning between songs, and the music was repetitive and slowly growing in intensity towards its apex where the next song begins. At the apex, I got a sudden sensation that my spiritual energy had burst straight out of the top of my head. I was overcome with feelings of intense joy, yet I was also crying.
Afterwards, my thoughts and perceptions were clearer than they’ve been in years. I feel alive again. I’ve developed an interest in Rastafari and eating a primarily vegetarian diet.
Do you think that I experienced a kundalini awakening? If not, do you have any idea what it may have been?
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Wow. This info is amazing. Just stumbled into this article and am just stunned. Always searching for reason meaning and purpose. The physical part of my soul search began with the Death of a dear sister, so enlightened she literally vibrated love.. only after her absence did I feel the overwhelming urge to understand. Grieving w/ family friends & those in her circle just ripped me wide open. Vibrations, resonance, tingling, dancing, zooming & being welcomed by so many teachers. It’s very humbling. Literally, before her death she repeatedly invited me to the kundalunic (sp?) Yoga she practiced. Always I replied, one of these days, maybe…fear? Anxiety? Something blocked me, I was just, Stuck. Now she’s gone her force is so powerful and then I find your article researching the recurring numbers ever present. Books from people noticing a shift in me before i did, it IS more than serendipity, synchronicity is finding me Everywhere. Though still raw & new to this…it just feels Right, even when it feels like an assault on the senses. Never have felt this aliveness, this connection & humility coming together. I don’t know where this path will take me. But I know Vibration as no dictionary could adequately define.
Wow. Thank you. Thank you
Last 2 weeks, i was practicing VAM mantra and in dream, i saw to many snakes and one of the snake standing straight on his tail.
Looking for advice. I feel my “dark” kundalini experience 6 years ago has had a permanent effect on my nervous system (insomnia and hypersensitivity) and led to my postpartum psychosis. I’m also going through a massive shift in consciousness, hyper aware of every thought/emotion. I want to have more children but don’t want to activate another kundalini experience that could potentially be dangerous. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I do all the classic things you could think of : yoga, journal, get in nature, meditate, work out, mindful diet, no screen time before bed, CBD blah blah. Never had a problem sleeping until these kundalini energies started rocking my life.
Love & light
Ash
Hello,
You can get an Kundalini Reiki attunement to balance the energy, I think it will help you a lot. You can find on the YouTube free Kundalini reiki attunements , but you first need get Reiki Usui 1-2-3 attunements.
Hello,
I have read some posts on your blog. I really like them.
I have been looking for what might be the opposite to the dark night of the soul.
I would also like to keep connection with you.
One day I might write my story. XD
Best regards,
If it was the opposite of the dark night of the soul, it sounds like a pretty damn good experience. :) This article might help: https://lonerwolf.com/mystical-experience/ it’s about the Mystical Experience which you might be able to relate to!
Yes, you are perfectly right, kindalini awakening can be a tremendous awakening or a source of deep enslavement if one is not mindfull. It can be truggered by an external shock, trauma, or spiritual work. In my case, I experienced both the dark and blissful states of kundalini awakening and they were both intense….
Among symptoms I can relate to what you described above : sweating at night, tiredness, insomnia, anxiety, knowing my repressed sexuality, multiple instant orgasms, contrasting states of bliss, purity, happiness but also uncontrollable anger.
It is really important to be mindful and non-judgemental while experiencing all the states.
Only after two years I actually begun to integrate it in my current life circumstances and watch them changing tremendously for the better.
I am still working on developping a greater knowing and understanding of things.
Thank you for all the amazing work you are doing here…I consider myself very lucky to have found your site! (it is inspirational and helps me understand more indepth my own experiences)
I had Symptoms Number 1 to 10, 12, 15, 17 and 19 on my early awakening days. Today is my 29th awakening day. I been writing progress on my Facebook timeline since the day one. Things were confusing at the early stage. On my day one I felt so much energy or heat inside my body when I was hanging out with my friends. I don’t like to hangout with them that time and it made my body weaker and started to shaking but my friends didn’t spot it and I done my grounding afterwards. I started to listen my instincts the next day done lots things and I realised I been changed a lôts my behaviors and gestures. I felt like some else. I have quit lots things games, movies and etc. I started to connect with the mother nature. I felt her love and energy and felt some energy from trees. I think I can still can feel it. I spent lôts time with Nature snap more pictures. Then I started to push myself to the reality and I don’t feel much energy anymore. I don’t feel Depression and boring anymore after the awakening. I’m 22 and I still understand how it was happen I didn’t do anything like practise or drug. It’s came like that and I guess now it’s gone but Sometimes still can feel the energy or heat.
This was very helpful and insightful. I learned about Kundalini years ago when I first started my journey. I knew it was an intense process and didn’t want to rush anything, but I always kept it in the back of my mind. However, recently, I had been pushed to focus on my root chakra and go inward into Hermit mode, and I found myself immensely stuck and in a state of sensitivity and vulnerability I hadn’t felt in a looong time. However, this time, I knew this came from my spirit, so I tried to listen and feel out the next steps. I am very open to a Kundalini awakening, have always been, and if the time has come, I know what I need to do to get through this journey whole.
Hello. Some years ago I was in a breath work class. This was one that went longer than before, was in a different location with different people in a huge dark room with lots of participants. It was the same teacher that I had been with for some months. About an hour in, I began to feel a movement in the base of my spine that slowly travelled all the way up my back to my head. It was accompanied by pin points of light and colour. It was not uncomfortable at all and I felt a bit dizzy and really enjoyed the sensations. After the class finished I had trouble standing up and could not eat or drink. Even talking to the people there was difficult and I chose to separate myself to try to figure out what had happened. I thought it may be a Kundalini experience of some kind but nothing else happened. There was no change in my circumstances and those I spoke to afterwards did not know what happens next. I asked lots of people what the next step was but no one could answer me and I just put it to one side as an experience that I was meant to have on my path. Do you have any ideas?
hi
I am interested to know what you mean by “” kundalini energy can be a force of tremendous awakening or deep enslavement”? I have had the psychosis type of awakening and I am trying to find out where this is headed.. I am worried about the vague descriptions that Sadhguru gives (it can be fantastic or very bad) and the line you wrote above. I am guessing I have to choose what to believe? But I am not interested in enlightenment and prefer not to believe that I have a soul that is forcing me in that direction. And yes this is the so-called ego. Not interested in nondualism or selrealisation, what is that anyway? What live should I live, what job should I have, how to live a normal life? We are not all yogis or in ashrams. I have a young son and need to earn a living. Or are these things that can normally continue if I believe so? Very confused about the whole thing.
Hey Yolanda,
I can relate. I had an intense kundalini 6 years ago that was “dark” and induced intense insomnia I am still having to manage now. I had psychosis after the birth of my daughter and it felt very similar to the kundalini experience prior. I wish I had answers for you as I am searching for them too. I wish I could just go off to woods and meditate or seek our a guru but I also have a child to care for and a career that demands my constant attention. I wish I could turn the kundalini energies down as it has seemingly had a permanent effect on my nervous system. Best wishes to you!
How long ago this experience started? I also went through a lot of fears about these spiritual ideas and being overwhelmed about the eternal stuff. I think it’s related with a disbalance in the ckakras. It’s nothing to fear, your life isn’t gonna change to something you wouldn’t want to, you need to reorder your energies and focus on your body and the “physical” aspects of life, instincts, exercise, emotions, joy, sexuality. I had all the questions you had and with patience things were clear. Now i have the same old personal dramas, i’m still dealing with my imperfections, but now with another level of consciousness that feels really comfortable, i wish you the best!
Hi Yolanda I can understand your confusion, but having wider vision ( taking steps in the path of enlightenment) can only help you how can it harm you!? :) We all have daily stuff to do, and believe me having cosmic consciousness can only help you in your daily stuff. I can only recommend you that you find so-called a teacher for your self and practice some kind of raja yoga to feel safe and oriented. all the best