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.
Makes me think of this strange, spontaneous occurances of extreme joy and a feeling of energy welling up in body while I’m at work (I work third shift). Usually happens when I’m alone on one side of the residence I work in and I find myself wanting to say, “I love you!” and I’m not sure who it’s directed at- the entire Universe, maybe?
I have been meditating for long but never had any such feelings which recently started. It all started with mild pressure between brows and some tingling sensation. The sensation kept growing over next few days to where i would feel cold (very very cold) sensation under my scalp and forehead. It even feels like I am drawing AC air towards my forehead. The feeling became more constant and now it is there all the time. Although it is a pleasant feeling, it becomes bothersome as it is there 24/7. Plus tingling and needle pinch feelings have started over my face. I get a lot of goosebumps and ‘blood running into brain’ feeling a lot.
Worst is I have trouble sleeping. I wake up and feel like I am restless a lot. It is bothering my daily work life. Not sure to see a doctor or not ?
Any advice ?
Pls help me if anyone knows or experience the numbing of the whole body it feels like there is a small electric feeling all over my body but my face was totally numb and warm and i started to feel trembling worse and worse,iwas in the middle of deep meditation and i felt its hard to control it and i couldn’t open my eyes when i done my meditation i was crying and feel scared..
Don’t let it frighten you. This is actually a good thing. Very much like when you are asleep and the body is in sleep paralysis. If your mind is awake during sleep paralysis you can experience tingling and vibration. Same thing in meditation can happen as well. During meditation one of the goals is pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses both bodily and mental/emotional. In meditation we make our body still in asana and go within. As we get very still, one can hear and feel things in body and mind as part of the ‘phases’ one goes through in a sitting. Fore example every time I sit and I can tell that my hands get ‘numb’ I know that soon the rest of my body will follow and so I have almost no external sensory input and can truly meditation. The main thing is to not get distracted by any ‘experience’ while meditating, just as you would not let thoughts distract you once you notice them. Just go back to the focus on the breath or mantra or whichever your meditation method is. Keep going. :)
any one plz help me, i m Rahul 25 years oldand im doing meditation from last 2 years.
i m feeling tingling sensations on my top of head , middle of fore head and slightly sensations to all remaining chakras.
but question is that after meditation when i stand up move to another distance by feet,why am i feel these sensations on my head and forehead with open eyes and open ears even when i talking to other.
i m always feel these sensations.
these stops when after 4-5 hours of meditation.
plz answer.
While practicing sudarshan kriya yesterday I experienced tingling and numbness in hands and legs followed by muscle spasms , felt a weird sensation run in the spine area upwards as if something was pushing through , and legs and hands were writhing , my head literally got lifted off the floor, it lasted for a few seconds , followed by complete relaxation and extreme cold , it was something I had never experienced before , felt the little scared and went completely blank !!
I am doing meditation and yoga from the age of 10……today as i mentioned that i am an engineer…but on my personal side…i have enlighted myself…now i am able to float any thing in air and i am able to read a book of pages 1024 in 10 seconds(recorded with a stop watch)…also i am able to read the thoughts of person in his mind…i know it sounds wierd and unrealistic..but yes i am able to do this…and this just an example analogus to an atom in water drop…i am now far ahead..and now i am capable to see future..yes!it is completely true and i am not saying any bull shit…
were you able to float yourself? i dream of this quite often!
Fekta hai fekta hai ..muft ka sharbat peene aaya hai
Sometimes I can see something which is totally freaky if I see my face in mirror for a long time is can see some changes in it and not only me everyone ……is this bad or good??
The rise of the kundalini has been almost a complete annihilation of the outer self for me. I shouldn’t have been so surprised by this, as the Holy Breath/Spirit showed me this in a vision 20 years prior to this present awakening taking place within me. It is more then an awakening, it is a Union with this Divine Love which must infuse into all parts of the soul. This Pure Love is
far beyond me to even comprehend: It is utterly sublime. It is expelling all that was created in the dark, which is me, the earth. But what IT offered is eternal Life which can never experience death again. I accepted that invitation, as IT asked me prior to the rise and awakening of the Kundalini. I am not even sure that
the flesh can experience this Pure Love coming out of
the center of the soul without doing great damage to it, as it is so immense and Pure, that at this moment I am
not yet readied to receive It.What I have experienced of
this Love is that it is an ecstasy that is ineffable.
Enlightment is not possible to b achieved by taking classes..yes meditation relaxes us and many are making it a business… A person who moves in deep meditation and gets enlighted shall never ever be towards material world and desires because the only aim of humans is to get pleasure and the pleasure received after Enlightment makes U away from the world…. We b mad for the normal beings….
It is sad that some people use fear to drive others to their ways. If meditation is expansion and love, why label it as Satanic? Isn’t it Chris the embodiment of love. Just because it originated in the east, some narrow minded people want to label it is as Satanic and trash whenever they can. I think any belief system that is not inclusive and fear based is only for control and hence satanic. Christ is love and the foundation of all religions is the same love. If you cut the superficial practices of religions, you see the oneness. Meditation helps to see that oneness.
Hello,
I just want to share my experience with you and hope for any advice you have for me. I am doing meditation for almost 4 yrs. After 2 yrs or so I experience during my meditation that my whole body was swaying side to side and it progressed faster and faster, it did not scare me but I was smiling at it, since I am going for enlightenment for my self. Then when I set in meditation my whole upper body would be like 10 feet tall I would be reaching for sky. this was also very joy full experience. Now I do see different color luminous lights when i go in deep meditation.
I know I am far from the enlightenment but I do feel extreme peace if i go this deep meditation.
Please kindly advise me that i am on a right path here, i have no one to ask this kind of things. But my life goal is to have enlightenment and see what it is and hope could teach to my kids some day.
Thanks,
Prakruti
Its all good, but if you were a guy you would have said 12 feet – to reach the sky. Just sayin.
Egirl, please contact me. I am very curious about your reply and feel you are close to the truth. Did you experience anything negative from doing kundalini yoga? I was just beginning but have felt so conflicted, and bit scared. Please write more.
Hello there! I ended up here when I could not find a reason for some of the things I have been experiencing.
At the age of about 9 – 13, I started feeling a pressure just between and a little above my eyes. It came and went as it pleased and when ever I would have an, let’s say, “episode” , I would feel like I could not concentrate on a single point, visually. I mean I could not handle the sensation because it proved to be, somehow, overwhelming. This feeling would also return when I would conversate with people. It felt like I was receiving some sort of vibration from them which would somehow bring back this pressure right at the same spot. (Imagine the pressure to be circular, always). This caused a problem for me. I could talk to people perfectly, I just couldn’t hold my glance with them because making eye contact gave me a full voltage blast of vibration which would intensify the pressure. This is, fortunately, the only negative aspect I have ever experienced and I consider it negligible.
The pressure did not bother my lifestyle or make things tough for me, it was just there and I learnt to live with it.
NOTE: I never went to the doctor because I liked the pressure. It was soothing and a little painful sometimes. Really don’t know how to explain it any other way.
Now I am 20 years old, and since that time I have learnt control over this feeling. Making eye contact is no problem. I can call upon the mild sensation of focused energy in the same spot and also control the intensity. When I start reaching maximum levels ( that’s what it feels like) , there is a wave that starts somewhere in the centre of my brain and rolls out in intense vibrations to a single point on top of my head and releases upwards. When this ends I feel a slight pressure on the top of my head and sometimes my eyes flutter. I feel extremely blissful and clear after this.
Sometimes I can project this pressure inwards and just catch a vague glimpses of random objects rushing by. Objects I don’t recognise seeing anywhere.
I am going to develop this further as it feels natural to do and somehow it feels like it’s only the beginning.
I get the same thing with ajna chakra pressure.
Have you managed to develop yours?
Any other changes?
So I just meditated for the first time to cleanse my pineal gland. It was something I decided to try on a whim because my sister was telling me about how it works and what it does. She sold me on the fact that it needs to be cleansed because of all the fluoride in the water. So together we sat in her room and just put on some music that we found on YouTube like pineal cleanse or something and my experience freaked e out!
What I felt in a matter of 30 minutes: Body getting heavy: CHEST, shoulders, arms legs, Breathing xtremly small and limited.
My eyes started fluttering and the muscles in my face around them started to twitch. I thought I was having a SEIZURE or that maybe I PINCHED a Nerve the way I was sitting or something.
I wanted it to stop and be relaxed but when I opened my eyes it wouldn’t stop I felt like I was being POSSESSED.
I also started to rock from side to side, I don’t know why I did, I couldn’t help it. It was a natural thing for my body to slide into.
A part of me wanted to call out to my sister so she could witness what was goin on but another part of me didnt want it to stop.
This was during the part of the music that was deep humming going in and out. When this subsided and changed to more soothing, less intense vibration what I experienced changed as well.
I tsarted to feel desire, like pleasure. Like sexual energy type of pleasure. I wasn’t thinking of anything or trying to masturbate. (Im a girl by the way) trust me, all I wanted was to relax and be stress free.
When the music ended my sister stood up and stretched. I was aware of what she was doing and since the music stopped my trance like state kind of ended and I opened my eyes
The after effect that I was feeling: my voice sounded different to me, the back of my neck felt a little sore and between my eyes, like where my eyebrows would meet in a uni brow? there was a slight pressure.
I was FREAKED out, if you cant tell.
Is this safe? Should I keep up with it? Any other experiences that can comfort me?
If anything I just wanted to get this experience out there. I’m drinking lots of water now to try and soothe the pressure on my neck and forehead. Anything else I should know?
I am extremely new at this.
My Experience.
Complete immobility and rigidity takes place.
And a string like pull upward from the center crown chakra. (Spritual Cord Pull)
Mudras…….involuntary mudra signs, I come up with a lot of them and i never have to think about making one, it just happens.
I am enrolled in the teacher certification program and though I have done yoga for 12 years now Kundalini is new to me. I am fascinated by the entirety of it. This morning as i finished a kriya designed for women’s health, I noticed my heart ‘thudding’ in my chest. It wasnt fast or irregular but was so hard and loud to me. After a few minutes it began to subside as I rested in Shav Asana.
I found this information very helpful and really appreciate the chance to share. I have had kundalini awakenings throughout my life, but the most recent one was the most intense and lasted about 30 days. The most terrifying part was the paralyzing decension of light (I experienced all of the rare symptoms in the those 30 days), but once I understood what was happening I relaxed and allowed what was happening to occur. I didn’t do much of anything over those 30 days, except sit in what some might consider meditation, but it was very active and full of visions. Eventually the mudras started and I slept very little, ate very little and was just “dancing” in the light. My path has been through the study of “A Course In Miracles,” and doing the workbook exercises. From a very young age all I was interested in was knowing God and answering life’s big questions like, “why am I here?” That pursuit paid off with many mystical experiences and the process I am undergoing now which I believe is a return to the light and being a vehicle for the Holy Spirit to work on Earth in human form. There is not anything to fear about this process. On the contrary it is ecstatic and wonderful in every way. My life is completely under the control of the Holy Spirit (Ajna Chakra) and miracles occur everyday for myself and those around me. If you are experiencing these symptoms, I recommend you just surrender and allow and don’t be frightened. It will be the most intensely wonderful experience of your life and will continue to unfold as you let go of resistance and allow it to unfold. What I am now experiencing which is just a few weeks since the end of the decension of light is what can be called a Phoenix process (rising from the ashes) where you get to “see” all of the unhealthy patterns in your life, feel the emotions around them (your walls and blocks against love) and then release them. If you have been through a kundalini awakening and are now experiencing intense negative emotions, know that this is part of the effects of the awakening. The light comes in to remove blocks of dark energy from your chakra system. If you surrender to the emotions and allow yourself to feel them and observe them with conscious presence they will move out of you with ease and grace. It takes anywhere from just a few seconds to several hours or days for these blocks to clear. It feels awful and very scary and there is a strong desire by the mind to resist what is happening, but if you can remember that it’s part of the process, and just surrender and allow, it will pass quickly and what is behind it is more love and joy and peace. Blessings to you. I hope my share has helped to ease your fears and move you through this wonderful experience with joy and peace.
thanks for reminding to just stay calm and observe
Hi, I’m practising meditation from past 6 months while doing meditation I feel pain in the space between my eyebrows still my kundalini is not awakened. Can you please tell me the reason why I experience pain in the space between my eye brows.
Please be aware that this is satanic. It’s a sneaky ploy to get you to be demon possessed. I did yoga and started having symptoms. Yes I Hadley’s of energy and bliss, but I’ve finally stopped having psychic connections to satanists and evil, evil people and events. Luckily, it was a chance for the most high God to warm me about new age things and other paranormal events that are also of the devil. Yoga is a Hindu practice and also done by sun worshipers. Please heed my warnings and stop doing yoga, meditation emptying your mind and other occultic things. It might feel good at first, but you’ll get hooked in and it will be too late. Satan and demons will flee if you command them “in the name of Jesus Chrust be gone” and mean it. Get yourself to a good bible-based church and start some other sort of exercise regime. I pray if you read this you will think about what I’ve experienced and written and get away from yoga, new age, occult and Theosophy.
Can someone please give me some peaceful and loving kind words regarding this kundalini awakening. It sounds terrifying and I’d like to view it in a different light. I stumbled upon this website after google searching the term. I’m trying to learn more about yoga, meditation, and deepening my spiritual awareness. And because I’m new to all of this, I’ll admit that this sounds like it would utterly terrify me if it were to happen. I hate when I recoil with fear so I’d appreciate if anyone can help. Thanks.
I am a teacher (and student) of a number of paths (styles/kinds) of Yoga. I have experienced Kundalini rising in many ways. The most pleasant experience was like finally coming home after a long and difficult time away. If you are fearful, then pray about it, and ask the Lord to make your rexperience a pleasant and blissful one.