Kundal goddess The “rising” of kundalini or the incident of awakening is happening today in what can only be described as a watershed moment in our history.  The experience of Awakening is itself so singular for how what was once a spark becomes a self-supporting ‘flame’ of inner energetic phenomena. It is so obviously different from anything else one can experience that it instantly puts you in a new place. New territory. It can be so intense, so fast, so rapid a change, that your old self is just speeding to keep up!

It is important to bear in mind that there are some teachers who have counseled that kundalini can only be awakened a certain way, or that the symptoms or process proceeds in a specific fashion.  During my initial awakening experience, I made friends with a number of  people who were all experiencing a wave of activation, and all were westerners and had no practice and thus had no idea what was happening to them initially.  I have read broadly about the current phenomenon of awakenings and if there is anything I can impart to you is that the moment that you say it can only happen a certain way, there will always be someone whose life experience shows that this just is not so.  To understand what I mean, it is useful to realize that we come to this experience with different backgrounds and different accumulations of material that the kundalini will help to release in the body and in consciousness.  To that end, then, what kundalini must do with one person will be experienced differently for another. Kundalini is a verb, which is to say that it is simply prana in abundance.  This prana is itself highly intelligent and will do the work when you learn the art of getting out of your own way. I have had numerous clearings in one center and have had centers untouched until other work or other clearings were done.  Not all of it was an orderly process.  But bearing in mind that the energy is intelligent, you can learn to trust the process and allow the energy to continue to flow and to do its work.

Now please bear in mind that what I have done is attempted to group some symptoms into certain regions of awakening.  Even though I do so, do not consider this to be an absolute.


Beginning symptoms:

a sense of time slipping or going fast

something is up but you just don’t know what

tingling on the skin

hair standing on end or feeling that way

tingling that moves all over the body


changes in dreams (more vivid, prophetic, intense, etc.)

Hearing sounds that are not physically there

hearing voices, music, etc.

Seeing lights (phosphorescent glows in the room at night, on the walls, etc)

brilliant star-like lights when eyes are closed

Sudden flashes of light when eyes are closed

Changes in digestion

changes in body fluids being generated


Certain areas of the body feeling tightness or opening such as the third eye, a common chakra that opens in a rather spectacular way sometimes (intense pressure as if the head is in a vice and a growing spread of this pressure on the forehead).  Other  chakras can also be affected.

Onset of Awakening:

A sense that a fluid like energy or force is moving up the center of the body or spine.

Whip-like energy moving up the body

Sensation of the energy centers being “pierced” by the energy (this is not a painful experience)

Sudden desire to move to release the energy in what might be sudden jerks or strange motions that feel good to do, sometimes repeatedly.

A feeling of energy rushing from the base to crown chakra in the head.

A rushing or whooshing sound

Intense rushes of energy in the body

Extreme ecstasy

Extreme fear

Extreme joy

Laughing (sometimes hard to control)

crying (sometimes hard to control)

Change in diet (more and also less)

change in libido (more and also less)

feelings of electrical shocks moving in the body

awareness of feeling the thoughts of others and other psi abilities

Seeing a range of beings and forms both directly and through the third eye.

Seeing objects moving at the edge of vision (often expressed as shadow-like)

Tension in the body which can lead to:

body pain in various places in the body (where there are blocks)

Flu-like symptoms (often corresponding to moving blocks)

Feeling of being one with all things

transcendent sense of being, old self changed, only a small part of the bigger picture but bigger by being part of All (what?)….

“death” of ego – rearrangement of the ego structure to allow for nondual awareness.

Feelings of heat as well as cold.  The heat can get so strong that people have felt as though they might burn up.  This heat can often come on prior to the movement of a lot of old blocks followed by a strong flow of energy afterward.(I always sensed that while the energy was really hot, it felt therapeutic and healing – I am also a glassblower and no stranger to heat so….)

A feeling of movement in the body, a sense of falling or moving while standing still. Tied to chakra activation.

A feeling in the energy centers of turning or motion.  Chakras or energy centers become highly active.

Strong reactions to emotional issues, a difficulty controlling or keeping emotions on even keel. You can become explosively angry-be patient with yourself and develop strategies for letting these feelings out without their impacting other people around you-a significant amount of psychological material that was blocked rises to the surface of awareness.

There can be feelings of dread (this leads to what some call kundalini syndrome but is the result of resisting the inevitable flow of change now upon you).

Visionistic experiences where you are taken down into worlds, into regions of knowing.  The mind seems to be operating very differently now.  The brain seems to be better “synced” together.

Unusual synchronistic events or happenings.  Clocks show 11:11 and other unusual number patterns as well as events that border on the bizarre for how they seem “orchestrated” to follow our thoughts.  You think about a writer whose work you have never read or even knew existed, you think how you would like to read what they have to say  and later that day someone hands you the book.  Not later in the week; later that very day!

Loss of awareness of the singularity of the “I” and a growing awareness of the self as connected to all things, what nonduality is all about.

Experience of loving in a way you had never experienced before.

A feeling that the universe is a living breathing being full of awareness.

One word:  GNOSIS.

One thing important to bear in mind is that while these are categorized based on their general appearance during stages of awakening, don’t think that this is in any way absolute.  There is a LOT that is said about this phenomenon that obviously is happening differently from what some sources say.  Kundalini can and does jump around…..it does not always move in a linear upward fashion.

One challenge that face people who do not have a practice and who come to kundalini as “overly mental” or rational, is that one can enter into psychosis or what is called “kundalini syndrome.”  It is important to know how to work with the energy so that it can continue to do its work unchallenged by the struggling personality.  Being able to know how to work with kundalini is the next stage in the process and it can be a lifelong effort. To learn more about this aspect of the experience, search under Dark Night Of The Soul and about how to cope with kundalini.

Updates when possible.  Have you experienced some unusual effects from kundalini that are not here?  Your additions are encouraged and welcome!