Kundalini Awakening Symptoms
Symptoms of Kundalini Awakening
Real Life Experiences & Descriptions of Kundalini Rising
Are you going through a kundalini awakening episode or experience? Let’s find out…
Kundalini awakening symptoms are truly a very intriguing subject. Really there is no correct answer to the question, “What are the symptoms of Kundalini Rising?”, as thankfully, each of us is absolutely unique and thus, on a unique trajectory on the path to Kundalini Awakening. That said, there are some common kundalini experiences that are often reported, which I would like to share with you in this article.
Although we can draw up endless lists of symptoms from third party accounts, I would like to instead make this series about kundalini symptoms that you or I have actually experienced. In this article, I will give a recent account from one of my students about what she experienced shortly after class, and then I will add my own kundalini experiences and observations as well.
In the comments section, I encourage you to add any kundalini awakening experiences or symptoms you have felt, so others can better understand what they might be going through. Here is the recent email I received from my student, Aida:
Aida’s Experience of Kundalini Awakening:
I am a student of the “Gentle Kundalini Class”. I just finished taking a series of exercise specifically for the spine.
As I left the class I felt energized as I usually feel after each class, but this time it was a little different, I was feeling extra aware of my surrounding. Like a light turned on. My back was so straight. It lasted all day.If I could go to class every morning I would go. It makes my day start right in every way. And there are times when I am not feeling like going to class and I push myself to go and do not regret it.Thank you for being my teacher.Aida D.
For those interested, here is a link to the Spinal Warmup Kundalini Yoga Kriya we did in class that day. Thank you Aida, for sharing your personal experiences with us.
This particular experience of kundalini is very interesting and significant. This is because it is the common experience of advanced meditation and of kundalini yoga. In the article, Powerful Kundalini Yoga Battles Profound Zen Meditation, I described my own such experience with kundalini awakening, but not from doing kundalini yoga, but instead from doing Silent Mind Meditation!
Aida’s experience points at the two things that all yoga and meditation boils down to. Energy and Awareness.
My favorite description of Kundalini Yoga is, “The Yoga of Awareness,” and as you see from her account, she felt more aware, as the energy of kundalini had risen up her spine. In meditation, it is the same. The demand for intense awareness, in order to comprehend the thought process via direct perception, leads to energy (kundalini) rising up and elongating the spine. Awareness then follows.
Jiddu Krishnamurti describes this experience of kundlaini energy flowing up the spine as “The rush of water filling up and thus causing a pipe to stand erect.”
When we insist that the spine be straight during meditation, it is simply to facilitate this awakening and thus, to assist in being more aware. I have experienced kundalini rising and puling up with such force, during meditation, that it sometimes make me feel as if I am going to be launched right off the ground or as if it’s going to pull my head off and up into the sky.
Symptoms of Kundalini Awakening:
I am going to describe some of the physical symptoms my students or I have felt due to kundalini awakening. I know there are many emotional and mental symptoms as well, and you are welcome to share those with us in the comments section below. I am grouping the experiences into 3 categories, common, uncommon and rare, according to what I have observed.
Common Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Tingling in the body and brain region. Also sometimes described as ants walking, tickling energy or flushes of energy. The brain being flushed with energy is quite pleasant :-).
- Heat or cold in the system, or running along various channels and chakra centers.
- Fluttering or twitching of muscles.
- Pinching or burning in various regions of the body or brain.
Uncommon Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Pressure in the Third Eye Region (Ajna Chakra). This is pressure, tingling or other sensation in the center of the forehead. Can go on for years (14 years and counting so far for me). Caution: If the pressure, due to certain practices, intensifies to uncomfortable levels you feel are “immense”, you should cease that practice and consult a competent kundalini yoga teacher.
- Sudden bursts of energy anywhere in the body. These are almost always short lived, from a few seconds to a few minutes.
- Spontaneous yoga asans or kundalini yoga movements. They may come on spontaneously, or they may take over, as if on auto-pilot when one is practicing Kundalini Yoga Kriyas or Exercises (For an example see article: Explosive Kundalini Rising in Class Today).
- Kundalini Shakti rising up and elongating the spine.
- Incredible feeling of love and desire for your partner (not ordinary lust, alcohol induced or otherwise :-). Usually comes upon you spontaneously, deep in the night. Sex feels like it’s the first such experience and the intense feelings of attraction emanate from somewhere beyond yourself.
- Unfortunately, pain in the lower back, back of the neck and headaches.
Rare Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Experience of divine light within. Very intense light, usually pure white and incredibly beautiful. I call it the Radiation of the Lord.
- Tremendous vibratory energy (sometimes feels like it’s coming from the inner ears). Very blissful, but can intensify to the point where it would completely overwhelm your consciousness if you let it.
- Spontaneous bliss, intensely pleasurable.
- This one is a bit scary. Complete paralysis of the body. Complete immobility and rigidity takes place. As with the all consuming vibratory energy, it requires some courage to allow.
- This one is exceedingly rare. I have experienced it only once in my life, and have only ever read about it being experienced by one other – the master of awareness, G. I. Gurdjieff. The arms and legs churn like that of a baby. It happens naturally and cannot be simulated. It is also intensely pleasurable and quite a remarkable experience.
There are of course a wide range of transcendental experiences, some of which you will find described in the category Spiritual Enlightenment Experiences. Above, I have provide those that are more commonly associated with kundalini awakening, although many would argue, including Swami Vivekananda, that all enlightenment experiences have to do with kundalini entering the brain region in some capacity.
So if you have experienced some kundalini symptoms as well, please do share them with us below. I think it will benefit others identify if what they are going through is actually symptoms of the ever mysterious kundalini awakening.
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for sharing your kundalini experience with us and glad to know that going forward you are sticking to just meditation.
The tight band you felt is your Sixth Body of Light (of the 10 that your have, as per Kundalini Yoga). It is your Arc Line (or Halo). It is felt at the chest (for women only) and at the forehead as you did. You were also sensing other’s magnetic fields or Aura’s (Seventh Body of Light).
I explain a bit of that in the following article Master Number Numerology (PS: I am not trying to cleverly get you to sign up for my numerology service, its just that this is the only place where I have gone over these bodies so far on the website. So please don’t misunderstand :-).
Once again great to have you share with us, and please let us know how it goes.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Ithco,
I call this the Smile of the Buddha and you can read about it in the following article :-)
Rapid Benefits of Kundalini Yoga
Best,
Anmol
I was standing ankle deep in warm water on an island in the Gulf of Thailand some 35 years ago while a friend sat on a rock nearby. I began to feel – well, very strange indeed. I felt a burning sensation at the base of my spine, which although not particularly unpleasant made me afraid, after all I was only 22 years old at the time and had never experienced anything similar before. I was not on any spiritual journey and only had a passing interest in yoga. When the sensation began to move up my spine I was becoming seriously scared, after all I didn’t want to die so young!
When the heat reached the base of my neck my vision changed unbelievably. The normal everyday things around me took on a brand new significance, I looked towards the sky which appeared like a doorway, to what I didn’t know, I could see life forces everywhere – even the rocks glowed with life. I could tell new leaves on trees from older ones by the degree of their intensity and even the sound of the ocean took on a new meaning.
When I looked at my friend he was glowing so brightly that I could barely make out his physical form and it was at this stage that I became convinced that I was dying. When I finally spoke to him it was as though my voice was struggling to be heard above the din of new sound. I asked him to say something in our local English dialect as I believed it might ‘earth’ me in some way. He realised that there was something amiss by the look on my face and eventually ‘talked me down’
For a long timke after the experience I was very careful who I spoke to, what I said and was infinitely truthful.
It wasn’t until 15 years later that I read first about Kundalini…but I amk sure that that was what I had gone through.
Forgot to ask my questions: I felt a tight band around my chest that moved up to my forehead. Is that the feeling you get near your third eye, does it feel like a tight band, I mean? I was conscious of this feeling coming from the energy of other people in the room. It turned into a headache.
When I opened my eyes, objects in the room appeared to have a vibration to them, like I could see their energy. Is this an effect of the Kundalini Awakening or the substance? haha I laugh asking the question, bc anyone who knows me would laugh that I asked such a question. So out of my nature. Seeing everything vibrate like that made me nauseous so I had to close my eyes and lie down. Overall, I would label the entire experience as positive, but the intensity made it difficult to fully indulge. I’m thrilled to be able to replicate this during meditation. Thank you again.
Blessings,
Cynthia
Dear Anmol,
My kundalini symptoms were similar but different. I am experimenting a little later than most and had my first “herbal brownies” last week. My friend led me through a series of meditation exercises during my experiment which induced an Awakening. Tonight I watched the YouTube video trying to find a way to recreate the experience sober and it worked – almost immediately.
My sensation feels like serpents intertwining in and out around my spine coming up my back, radiating out my arms in waves of electricity and coming up over my scalp, pulling me up, but it feels like my head is going to flip or fly off, but it actually makes my head tilt forward so that I am looking down while my spine is still straight. It does feel like you are being lifted upward and nearly out of your body, but my friend explained that sensation comes from your new body awareness. I cannot explain the intensity of this experience. I am excited but scared of it at the same time. Under the influence, the powerful snaky energy started rising just by my friend talking about it, no matter what position I was in (lying down, etc.) just by thinking about it. I am so glad that I have found a way to repeat this without the use of mind-altering substances. I have no intention of ever using such again. It was purely an upayah (sp?) for me. I really appreciate your article and this website.
Blessings to you and yours.
Namaste,
Cynthia
Hello. I just started practicing kundalini yoga recently and had the experience of my lips trying to smile without my collaboration. Only some of my facial muscles seemed to get involved. It was too funny. Now looking for info on this, I stumbled onto your site…..where does a beginner go first for research? Thanks.
Hi Kathleen,
Yes I have experienced this beautiful white light. You will find it described in the article above under “Rare Symptoms”.
Great to hear you are benefiting from the website :-).
Best,
Anmol
Hello, Anmol, I am so happy to have found your websight. I have always considered myself a spiritual person and since I have started praticing kundalini yoga and zen meditation around a month ago, I have become much more calm and relaxed. I have to tell you that this morning, as I was meditating I was focusing on my breathing and felt my mind going still as if i was in a empty dark room and it felt so peaceful and then this light started to appear and become brighter like a white light and it felt beautiful and then it was gone. and I couldn’t seem to bring it back. What do you make of this and have you experienced this? Love your websight!!!
Hi Sherri,
Thanks for sharing your kundalini experiences and your feedback. Glad you are enjoying the website.
Best,
Anmol
The Reiki 2 attunement usually brings about a reaction more so then the others. My belief is it acts like a balancing of the chakras. I also experienced some symtoms with the 2nd attunement as in a terrible headache that came on right after the process and did not leave for a day or two. This has been a most interesting site thank you for your time.
Hi Janell,
Yes this is typical of a kundalini awakening. Take it easy while the body adjusts and integrates the energy that was unleashed. Reiki is closely associated with kundalini and the chakra system.
Thanks for sharing with us. Keep us updated on your experiences.
Best,
Anmol
i had an experience the other day like none I have ever had before, was wondering if it may have been a kundaalni thing.
i was preparing to receive my reiki level 2 attunment by first doing my yoga and then meditatining. when i began to receive the attunment, it was nothing i have ever experinced. First this spot on my lower spine began to contract on its own then various parts of my body, various muscles began contracting, followed by my lower section vibrating, like shaking, followed by limbs and my head and neck. my third eye had this sensation close to pain. The whole time i was seeing flashes of color behind my eyelids and white lights. all i can say is it felt like a current going through me with the spot on the spine contracting the whole time.
Has anyone had something like this before? Is it just the reiki attunment? Can a reiki attunment affect kundalani? Kundalani is something im aware of, but not something i have ever activiely sought to awaken. i’ve been exhausted since this, 3 days ago.
I believe that I had my first vision last night. it wasn’t a dream since I was awake but the the vision was very wierd and a little disorienting.
I woke up at 3 AM and meditated while in bed. The muscle twitches were intense and there were also instances of uncontrollable kriyas – my hand felt like it was stabbed by a needle (at the pinky) then it started shaking, then stopped after a few seconds…the same thing with my feet and legs.
While meditating, I saw myself get up from bed
(although aware that I was still lying down on my bed, how weird is that!) and saw my big screen TV at the left of the bed (this is weird since my TV is downstairs in the family room). looking at the TV screen, I saw a mist on the screen that took on the shape of a face and it smiled at me (I don’t recognize the face but it was the face of an older person….wrinkles and all although unrecognizable since its color was that of smoke and no other discernable colors to distinguish it). I was startled and went back to bed…as I look at the right side of the bed, I saw four people in white robes and cloaks covering their faces. two of them where at the exact right side of the bed and the other two were at the right side of the foot of the bed. the two that were at the foot of the bed were smaller, like children. all of them where facing me, and although I couldn’t see their faces, it felt that their eyes were staring at me but I didn’t feel that they were evil or malicious.
when I opened my eyes, no one was there, the TV was not there (of course). it felt like a dream but I was awake and aware during this meditation session which felt like it lasted only for minutes but when I looked at the clock, the meditation session actually lasted for two hours.
weird vision indeed, though I’m sure it’s only the first of many that is to come.
Hi Rainbow,
Yes this is a kundalini experience. Might by good to start a yoga and meditation program to help you make progress now that the process has begun.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Anmol,
Thank you for your kind words about my site!
I actually wrote this before the above post, but it didn’t get published so I am trying it again.
I’ll try to keep my explanation about handling the kundalini heat as brief as possible. It may only be a theory, and I probably need to try it out again to see if it really does work, but I was amazed and happy that it worked so fast.
I know that the heat is caused by an imbalance between the ida and pingala. With my last episode–about a month ago–it was beginning to be overwhelming for me, occurring every few minutes along with electric shocks throughout my body, almost to the point where it wouldn’t subside. My body felt like a furnace with no way for the heat to escape.
I decided to work on different areas of my body to find the blockage. Knowing that the energy that triggers kundalini first enters the feet and comes up through the legs, I started to focus on that area first.
Using my mind, I imagined a brush (like a wide, stiff paint brush) going up and down, over and over again, right through the whole of my foot. I also imagined this brush going up and down through the inside of each of my legs.
While intensely working on my right foot, I noticed very different sensations of energy; it became more pulsating within my foot and seemed to be dissipating. I continued for another 5 minutes or so until the sensation was gone. It has not returned since.
I currently brush my feet (using visualization only) on a regular basis to keep my energy balanced. I now have more kundalini spikes at night and feel a lot more energy rushing up through my legs during these spikes. And like I said in the above post, now I have the energy gently flowing out the top of my head constantly lately, but I think this is also due to the fact that I’ve been doing breathwork on my chakras.
Hope this helps somebody…I know how tormenting it can be!
BTW, Anmol, I like a lot of your articles that I found on the Articlesbase website and will reprint some of them in my blog.
Linda
Also, after reading many of the posts here, I’d like to give some helpful advice.
1. Acupressure has worked miracles to get rid of not only the intense headaches associated with it, but helps all other areas of the body affected by kundalini as well. No matter if it’s kundalini or not, acupressure works on all levels: physical, emotional, and spiritual. It sounds like a lot of individuals here can be helped by it and it’s easy to do.
There is a book – unfortunately now out of print – that details a short but comprehensive acupressure routine. It is called ‘Acupressure Step by Step’ by Jacqueline Young. You can get a used copy of it. It will help open up the meridians to allow the extra energy to work its way through, a great complement to one’s yoga and meditation routines. I now have no more headaches, whereas I had to take pain meds daily for years.
2. I believe you cannot suppress kundalini; once it starts, it won’t stop until it does what it needs to do. It is better to try to facilitate the clearing of the energy from your body through kundalini yoga, acupressure, energy work, mantras, etc.
3. I suggest using the chakra techniques Anmol outlines in many of his articles. From what I’ve read in the above posts, and compared to my own experiences, it sounds like, rather than full-blown kundalini, they are experiencing individual chakra effects, where there is extra energy building up in a chakra and then it emanates certain symptoms trying to handle the extra energy. This can be a precursor of kundalini, however, like it happened for me.
Linda
the post above is just part of the article….the whole article contains explanations of the chakras as well as the relation of kundalini rising to St. John’s revelations (apocalypse)…the article explains that St. John’s apocalypse is actually the process of kundalini rising as explained by Edgar Cayce.
found an interesting article about Kundalini and Edgar Cayce’s (sleeping prophet) explanation of the chakras:
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing your kundalini experiences with us. Glad to hear she is unfolding in you mostly peacefully and pleasantly.
If you can share your technique for handling the heat that would be very helpful.
Btw: I love you blog and the design. You certainly do have a great talent for that.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Anmol,
I just found your site; very nice!
I, too, am a kundalini experiencer. Mine has been ongoing for several years now. The kundalini will rise when I am fully relaxed either during meditation or falling asleep/waking up. It will feel like a thick, powerful pipe traveling up my spine. My body will rock back and forth from the force of it. Sometimes it breaks through my crown chakra and I have amazing visions.
I have so many different symptoms with it – none really unpleasant except for the intense internal burning (not as intense as Gopi Krishna’s experience), but I am sure I discovered a technique to alleviate and prevent it.
Something I haven’t read of happening to others is that my meridian points are constantly being activated. I will experience an electric shock in one point, and it will spread throughout the rest of my body. Not unpleasant, just very interesting to observe.
Lately the energy has been gently flowing out the top of my head like a fountain. I’ve been doing different chakra techniques and I think that is what is causing that symptom.
Anyway, thought my experiences would add to the rest of the interesting information on this page.
Kind regards,
Linda