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.
Hello,
I have not told this before so here goes.
My first experience with Kundalini was at a meditation/yoga retreat about 14 or 15 years ago. The teacher was a man named Robert who taught TM, altough I had been practising TM for a short while I had not done Yoga before.
The routine of Yoga/Meditation was intense throughout the first day but in the evening session Robert played a tape of chanting in a language I had never heard before. Afterwords Robert said it was by Indian pundits and it was to free up energy blockages. I was sitting in a chair at the time and it felt like an unseen force was pushing my head back and my spine was rigid. I felt like I was going to fall back in my chair.
This language, I assume that it was Sanskrit was awakening something deep within me and also having an extreme physical and emotional affect. I went to bed that night feeling shaken and lightheaded.
The next day when Robert played the tape again I decided to lay on my back on the floor. This pressure increased and culminated in what i thought was like a spasm or convulsion. I was told by others that I had literally shot up about three feet of the ground from a prone position.
I really didn’t know what to make of all this as I was a young man but I was reasured by these older professional types that I was somehow lucky to have this experience.
I realised that this was important but didn’t pay it much mind and went along with my life. About a year later I was unemployed and had time on my hands so I decided to practice hatha yoga from a book. I did this every day for about a month and could feel a subtle energy building again but not as dramatic as the first instance.
At this time I had also booked a 1 day Reiki course and then after a couple of days I was to attend a 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat. For the sake of expediency during the Reiki ceremony my Kundalini surged. This was fasciliatated by the teacher expelling breath on me whilst I was seated with my eyes closed. She even stated to me that my Kundalini was rising and feeling a bit embarassed at not knowing the terminology I said “I know”.
To cut a long story short the 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat was extremely painfull and uncomfortable and yet insightfull and culminated with an experience I will attempt to formulate into words.
On my seventh or eighth night I couldn’t sleep as my legs were shaking uncontrolably. Not wanting to disturb others that were sharing the accommodation I mindfully arose and went outside. The uncontrollable shaking and warmth reached a crescendo of shooting energy and blinding white light like an explosion in my head and clear distinct images were revealed.
The first of these was a troupe of monks in I think maroon robes walking on a stone structure chanting Samahdi. The second was a bit more surreal it was an image of a young indian girl who aged before my eyes to an old woman and then reverted back to a young girl.
Anyway I have been cautious about meditating and yoga ever since. Although I later did service at the meditation retreat as a form of contribution and did experience the pulsing in the centre of my forehead and an intuition whilst meditating that thought is breath. I’m afraid I have not really had the personal courage to explore this further.
Thank you for letting me share this.
Dear Anmol,
When I read Lalitha sahasranama in the evening prayers, I experience strain in my back, below neck as if somebody is pressing it hard.But it goes off when I finish praying.Sometimes I get headache with tingling in the middle of my forehead.But the headache and tingling sometimes lasts more than an hour or two.I want to know, what should I do if it is something related to kundalini?
Regds,
Aishwarya
Cin,
Thank you so very much for sharing your experience and your positive thoughts about this site.
May the light always guide you on your journey.
Trupti
I had just gone through a very rough period in my life and was just starting the next part. When I returned home from work one day, walked upstairs and turned on the shower. I then walked into my room to get undressed, but before I could take anything off I dropped into my bed and was out just that fast. and in what couldn’t have been more than 10 seconds I had the most memorable dream I ever dreamed. in my dream I was at work the day before and there was a box on the floor just as it was the day before, only this time in my vision as I squatted down to open it the box bursted open and out sprang a snake right in my face about 6 inches from it. there was a snake in my dream and so I spent the next week at boarders books reading dreams decoded, dream dictionary etc… but nothing in these books matched the situation in my dream. The snake didn’t bite me, hiss, strike or bare fangs. It simply revealed itself to me, starred me in the eyes. I jumped out of bed thinking this is bad there was a snake in my dream. The snake was white, pure white except for a green marking on the brow, the third eye. it was two green triangles or pyramids tip to tip almost like an hour glass shape.
any ideas on what that was all about?
helloo all,
i have been learning and applying techniques from this site now for almost 2yrs and the effects are amazing. i have experienced the intense power of kundalini rising up my spine, correcting my posture and the divine presence of the all speaking to me thru all that surrounds me and within me. can be a very scary, daunting and magical experience. overwhelming truth. awesomeness you just have to experience. it is so very possible. thank you very much for your teachings.
Vanessa,
Thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us.
Love is certainly the final destination.
Wishing you all the best,
Trupti
Hi everybody,
I would like to share what I think is my kundalini awakening. About to weeks ago I did a “dance of intention” which is like a trance to clean the 7 chakras, the shamans do that in Tibet. I really had an enlighment experience with the divine light on me, in me and trough me. The light of God I think. I have felt like a bird flying in the sky. I was in communion with nature and the world. I was blessed and with a lot of love and compassion for everybody and everything. I also have seen a diamond in my third eye very bright The night after the dance I woke up at 4am with this light so intense on me and much love for my partner, my body was very hot like a fever.I had the sensation of being enlightened for a few days. I also had pain in my lower back and coccyx and all along my spine which was very straight and tense.In my neck too. I had the impression to communicate by telepathy with the healer who organise the dance of intention. I have positive energy since then. I am doing yoga and think I do have to meditate more often. I do have mental illness and I am under antipsychotic medication. I hear voices, had visions of deceased aboriginal people and bodily hallucinations…. I am more spiritual since the psychosis 2 years ago and more since 2 months.
Thank you for your website and sharing your experiences ^^.
Any comments or help is welcome :D!
Have a beautiful journey!!
Love and Light
Vanessa
Hi Gianni,
You are right – Kundalini Awakening can take the unaware by surprise!! So all those practicing – be in the moment :-)))
Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Wishing you all the best,
Trupti
Hi, I just came across your site and wanted to share some of my experiences. After learning Reiki and spending some time in a retreat over a period of about 2 years some very strange things started to happen. I would go extremely deeply into meditation and completely lose myself. My hands were buzzing with energy and it was all very confusing. While meditating one day I experienced what I can only describe as an internal explosion of energy. From my root chakra area into my stomach. It continued to push up into my chest but it was suck there. It subsided but then would come back every time I meditated. I looked into it and discovered Kundalini. This was about 5 years ago and I have been experiencing Kundalini Awakeing ever since then. It has gradually cleared me of all my negative feelings and thoughts and memories, and I feel a much deeper sense of inner peace. I do still have the pressure in the 3rd eye area, which changes intensity constantly,but I’ve got used to it now and I kind of like it really.. I would say this, anyone who is just starting out trying to awaken Kundalini should be aware that it can be pretty intense so be prepared, that was my experince anyway, yours maybe completely different.. I wish everyone a pleasant journey :-)
well its bin a while since i msgd u all…….gelloz anmolgurudev…i hope u r fine and doin gud……..plz do temme…if i do hanuman chalisa 11 ties a day…all my worried will ease?well…i hav as u said started praticing 10 things u asked me to in ur previous mails…msut say…….it does work wonders
and do temme……..is it posble dat one can get into samadhi during meditation….plz reply…..
wid due luv and regards
jhumki
Vijaykumar,
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I am sure your comment will lead everyone to the Kundalini Awakening article :-))
Love and Light,
Trupti
I just started practicing kundalini yoga a couple of weeks ago after my friend invited me to try.
And now I learned that I have been experiencing some of the sensations you describe a long time ago, before I started. Tingling in the forehead comes and goes and has been with me as long as I remember.
And 1.5 years ago I suddenly found myself in an incredible state of bliss. I felt some much warmth and love inside my chest for 2-3 weeks that I thought I can walk on water. I did not care about anything, my body felt light and I just chilled for this month enjoying this feeling. It was better than any other positive feeling/love/excitement that I ever experienced in my life. It was better than love to a woman, it was better than orgasm. And with this feeling all problems and challenges did not exist, I felt like I love every body and everything.
But then it’s gone and ever since I was wandering how to get it back again. Is there a special exercise to stimulate specifically whatever worked by itself back then?
Kundalini Awakening no doubt is a direct path to God Almighty… the path to unification with God Almighty… the creator of all things cosmic! But fully awakening of kundalini needs practice of absolute celibacy for a minimum period of 12 years in continuation! In absence of practice of absolute celibacy… nothing much in field of kundalini awakening can be realized!
The inherent kundalini Shakti… the Serpentine energy lying dormant in base of spine when aroused to its extreme… finally reaches nodal point in brain behind the forehead! Abstaining from sexual relationship… negating the invocation of negative thoughts altogether is what absolute celibacy is all about!
I started in search of God when 13 years of age! 25 years of yoga meditation landed me in laps of God Almighty… when I finally reached stage of self realization… stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi… the stage of absolute nothingness! Throughout my life I never practiced awakening of Kundalini Shakti!
In absence of a preceptor I was totally unaware what kundalini energy truly meant! Only when I gained self realization in wee hours of third of August 1993 at 37 years of age did I realize that my kundalini had awakened fully absolutely unknown to me! Awakening of Kundalini Shakti is a prerequisite to reaching stage of enlightenment… kaivalya jnana!
dear sir m new to you site,i found it really amazing full of knowledge..i just want to share some persnel experience with you,that as its written in ‘uncommon symptoms –
Complete paralysis of the body. Complete immobility and rigidity takes place. The arms and legs churn like that of a baby. It happens naturally and cannot be simulated.
i had experienced these symptoms 3 times for my whole body stiffness one day i was sleeping in morning i was willing to wake up but i cant even move my single muscle of my body was jus feeling too help less in my childhood i also faced this but this year it happend 3 times i was very much scared that my be any unnatural force/spirit was rulling my body …secondly thats written that churning of body parts number of times yes that do happen to me when i use to practice pranayam continuesly without stopage, my hands and feet churns and i just feel my whole body dipped in water or some sensational or vibrating waves in whole body, sometimes i also feels shocks at time when i go to sleep that’turiya awasth’ when i not fully slept or not awaked at that stage only i feel shocks sometimes that disturbs me a lot….and when ever i go to meditation i feel some waves in my body moving from my lower back moving upward to brain and my body move in waves slowly slowly like floating but that really a enjoyable feeling jus feels to keep sitting like that but it keep on increasing. more n more..i dnt know any kundalini medi. m too intrested in kudalini but due to non availability for any guru i cant go on this way…i can be dangerous i think..
Hi,
After reading all of the comments posted up by so many people experiencing self-realization, I just had to share my experiences as well. To start, the first experiences that I can fully remember began at the age of five or six, where I would close my eyes and pray to God and see a blue radiant light. I didn’t know what it was at that age, but I knew it answered my prayers and protected me. Soon after I began having visions and dreams of gods and goddesses of many different religions, including Jesus Christ, Shiva, Mata ji, and many more that i didn’t know of. This was scary for me at first, given my age and lack of knowledge of religion. But then, I respected it. A seven headed snake came to me in a vision and told me with a radiant voice “There are only thousands like you, and only one will make it.” I never understood what he told me until I was older.
As I grew up, I became more and more interested in meditation as well as understanding who I am. I have experienced many physical symptoms of kundalini since childhood as well – including intense energy rising up from my lower spine to above my head – it always feels amazing, but recently there have been times where I could feel slight pain in certain places. I feel energy all over my body – my hands, legs, arms and everywhere. I also have seen myself in past lives – something i never believed in until I began to see visions. I could hear people’s thoughts at times – a reminder that we are all connected. I can predict what’s about to happen – this is nothing that I spent time focusing on, but i believe that we all possess psychic abilities. I have felt as if my soul left my body while sleeping. I had a vision once of myself in spirit form, chosing the family to be born to – and it was my parents I was watching – this was a bit scary… My body also freezes when experiencing kundalini rising, to the point where i cannot move a muscle or speak. I could break the kundalini by forcing my muscles to move using all of my strength.
The experiences I have are countless… for the past 23 years i have learnt so much.. The only advice that I can give is to never get caught up in the experiences, to just take them as they come… the more positive energy you give off regardless of the situations that you encounter, the more at peace with yourself you will become. Life is a lesson for everyone. Astrology is very important, because we are all composed of energy and mathematics is the building block of our universe (both inner and outer). Never impose your knowledge onto others – only teach if people come to you for guidance. Self-realization is the ultimate goal. We are all immortal and it is only our ego’s that separate people. There is always only one I for everyone, which mathematically indicates that we are all connected to the same I.
Hi Trupti,
thank you for your reply.
What does it mean when you say that my third eye is active?
Again, many thanks,
Jiyu
Hello Jiyu,
Yes this is normal. Only worry if the pressure gets magnified to a very large degree and is too uncomfortable. In which case you should back off or slow down any meditation practice you may have.
All the best,
Trupti
It means that the Third Eye is active….
Hi Anmol,
Thanks for all the wonderful posts.
I have a question though.
I have this symptom:
Pressure in the Third Eye Region (Ajna Chakra). Been there for as long as i can remember, 10+ years
I’m not sure if that means that I should open my third eye?
Also, it’s like i can will it to tingle and not to; is that normal?
Hope to receive a reply
Many thanks,
Jiyu
please can some one out there help me understaind an experience I had about 3 years back. I was out mowing a lawn with a freind, we finished and got in our truck to leave. I started to get this weird taste, sensation on my tounge, pretty soon my tounge felt numb. after that I got this really intence cold, burning sensation running along my scalp (it felt like someone was cutting my head in two, but it felt really good, if that makes any sence). after that my whole body, every part of my being felt electrified. Soon after that I got extreamly dissy and when I came to every thing around me was brighter, larger, bolder, more animated, more detailed. For the next couple of weeks I felt good 24-7, like breathing in and out in and out it felt like there was a never ending supply of richness. I never had to think things through, I had no thoughts of dout or second guessed anything, nothing was confussing, everything seemed to make sence and was simple, I had no feelings of pain (physical or emotional) and eveything seemed to slow down a bit for me. When I slept I felt light and detached. After awhile when I would feel really good, something as simple as a good meal I started to get really, really sick to my stomach and after awhile I could not bear the pain. I felt like I got an oppertunity to understaind what life turly is in it’s riched form. The part that I don’t undersaind is why did this happen, It seemed to of happened automatical without effort. I would do almost anything to feel this way again. If someone out there has any idea of what this experiance might of been please e-mail me at nickkeleher@msn.com
I need to know that this was real and I am not crazy
Hi Anmol,
Usually during meditation I tremble a lot like Epilepsy,body gets stiffened,more sounds come out.But these all happen
once or twice during the meditation in a duration of 1 hour.Yesterday(14-01-10) I did meditation for 2 hours.
Near the Navel it trembled and something passed from stomach to Neck and strange sounds came out for 12 hours. cannot explain these feelings in words.
Today these things didn’t happen as I didn’t do meditation.I don’t know whether these can happen or not?What is this?
Is it just a body cleansing process or because of some other reason.Will it continue in futures?