What is Kundalini Awakening? (19 Intense Symptoms)

[SunKat]

by Aletheia · Updated: Aug 31, 2024

 

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

1. You feel a spiritual connection with the Divine that transcends the ego
2. You are bathed in bliss and boundless love
3. You experience periods of Oneness where your compassion for humanity increases
4. You tap into extrasensory abilities (ESP) and/or develop extraordinary gifts 
5. Pleasurable sensations pulsate through your body
6. You’re inspired to make big, life-altering decisions and authentic changes in your life
7. Synchronicity (i.e., meaningful or miraculous coincidences) increases tremendously 
8. You have profound insights into your behavior and past experiences
9. Your empathic abilities strengthen, and you can feel everything at a profound level
10. You begin to understand the nature of the mind and how it influences reality
11. You keep receiving big, cosmic “downloads” of information (soul communication)

‘Dark’ Kundalini Awakening Symptoms

12. You experience intense, involuntary shaking of the body that can be alarming
13. Your nervous system becomes hypersensitive to external stressors (bright lights, TV violence, loud noises) and shuts down or craves total solitude
14. You struggle to sleep properly
15. You experience sudden and shocking moments of ego death
16. You have visual disturbances that can feel alarming (e.g., objects seeming to vibrate)
17. You experience intense heat, vibrations, or electricity surge through your body
18. It feels like you’re having a bad drug trip while sober
19. You struggle to distinguish what is real from imagined (psychosis) and feel like you’re going crazy

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.

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.

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:

1. 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)
2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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
5. 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:

What happens after kundalini awakening?

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’).

How to have a kundalini awakening?

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.

How long does kundalini awakening take?

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.

***

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.

 

https://lonerwolf.com/kundalini-awakening/

[Mystic Wolf]

KUNDALINI 

We see this fairly often, a person goes through an intense spiritual or transcendent experience, and afterwards they begin having some very strange things happen to them. They may start having sensations of intense heat or energy flowing through their body. They may start hearing tones, often very high-pitched. Their body may begin to feel like it’s vibrating, or they may feel pressure in their forehead. It’s common for people to believe they’re going insane or even dying when this stuff starts to happen, but don’t worry, all this is actually quite normal for a being who has chosen to raise their Consciousness, and it’s called Kundalini activation.

Now the term Kundalini itself is tied up with the various Hindu religions and also a number of Western mystery schools. As such, there’s a lot of conflicting beliefs about Kundalini and a lot of people who will tell you the “right” and “wrong” ways of going about it. I’m going to steer clear of all that stuff as much as possible, and simply share what I can confirm from my own experiences.

So, what exactly is Kundalini? There’s some differing opinions there, some personify Kundalini as a Goddess, but I’m going to focus upon Kundalini as a process. It’s a process of energetic clearing that ultimately leads to having a fully functioning chakra system. Traditionally, it’s supposed to start at the root chakra, and work its way upwards through each chakra, but from my experience and from a few others I’ve talked to, it started at the crown chakra and worked its way downwards. I’ve heard of it happening both ways.

The Kundalini process can be ridiculously intense. It’s been described as a freight train running up your spine, and I can personally vouch for that description. For a person that doesn’t really understand what’s going on, it can be very frightening. My biggest recommendation is to not resist the process. Trust that the process will bring you what you are ready for. Resistance makes things ten times more difficult and can result in a very painful and fearful process.

It is like a dangerous, rolled snake situated at the base of the spine. This extraordinary force, latent in every man, can act constructively and also destructively.

KUNDALINI might be interpreted both physically and metaphysically. The root KUNDA means “basin” or “source”. From this point of view, kundalini means the mixture of primordial elements of earth. From a worldly, mundane point of view KUNDALINI appears regularly and produces real disasters once in a while as earthquakes and eruptions of volcanoes.

One energy with many names and forms: There is one energy that keeps taking on new shapes and forms. In Tantra the name of that energy is Shakti, which is the manifesting, or feminine force that is actually one and the same with its only apparent companion Shiva, the latent, or masculine. Each time the energy takes on a new form, we give it a new name. Shakti becomes Kundalini Shakti, or simply Kundalini. Kundalini becomes the energy of Prana, which flows in patterns or channels called Nadis, and concentrates itself by forming intersections known as Chakras. The subtle energies condense and become known as earth, water, fire, air, and space, forming our experience of the gross world. With Kundalini awakening, the primal energy of Shakti awakens in its true form. 

• Shakti: The universal energy of consciousness is called Shakti. 
• Kundalini-Shakti: The word kunda means a bowl in which fire is burned. Thus, when Shakti resides in a bowl called kunda at the base of the spine, it is called Kundalini-Shakti. Going back to the river metaphor, imagine that you are holding a bowl called kunda in your hand. When you plunge the bowl into the river, you say, "I have put the bowl into the river." However, the moment you pull your hand and the bowl out of the river, you say, "I have water in the bowl." In that moment, the river was given a new name, changing it from river to water.
• Kundalini: Then, in our common language, the word Shakti is dropped away, and the energy in the bowl is simply called Kundalini. In effect, Kundalini-Shakti has been given a new name, simply Kundalini. Even though it is now called simply Kundalini, it remains none other than pure Shakti. The only difference, if you can call it a difference, is that the Shakti is now in the bowl. 
• Prana: A tiny amount of the energy called Kundalini radiates off of its subtle mass, like steam rising from a bowl of boiling water. That radiating energy is called Prana. Again, once it changes form slightly, it gets a new name. Just like the water turning to steam, while still remaining water, the Kundalini, which is still Shakti, "becomes" Prana. 
• Nadis: That Prana tends to flow in certain patterns, or lines, like the steam rising in more or less predictable channels. These lines, patterns, or channels are called Nadis. Once again, a new name is introduced. 
• Chakras, marmas: The thousands of Nadis, with their Prana (that is really both a small amount of Kundalini, and still Shakti), crisscross here and there like minor or major highway intersections. Those major highway intersections are called Chakras (minor intersections are Marmas or Marmashtanas). It is because of this crossing pattern, like highway intersections, or spokes on a wheel, that the word chakra is used, which literally translates as wheel. 
• Vayus: From there the Chakras, with their different shapes and styles of intersection, cause five flows of energy called Vayus.
• Bhutas, tattvas: These take on the qualities of earth, water, fire, air, and space, which are called Tanmatras and Bhutas at their subtle and gross levels
• Indriyas: Also from the subtle energy emerge the five Jnanendriyas or cognitive senses of smelling, tasting, seeing, touching, and hearing, as well as the Karmendriyas or instruments of action of eliminating, replicating, moving, holding, and communicating.
• Brain, body, breath: Collectively these manifests as the various aspects of our physical brain, body, and breath. Still, they are none other than the Shakti, Kundalini-Shakti, Kundalini, and Prana flowing in Nadis, which they were all along.

There is only one energy: One of the major insights of Tantra and Yoga meditation, possibly the key to the whole science of Tantra, is that there is only one energy in the whole of the universe, and our task is to know that, in direct experience. 

Experiencing that one energy: With Kundalini awakening, the full force of the dormant Kundalini comes forth from its dormant state. To awaken the Kundalini and allow it to rise through the levels of manifestation, returning to its source, is the ultimate Realization of the Absolute, which is both mother and father aspects of reality, Shakti and Shiva. Through self-effort in Tantra and Yoga meditation, and the bestowing of grace, or Shaktipat, the sincere aspirant experiences this Truth.

Kundalini Shakti is the divine spiritual power within every human being.  Known by many names in many lands, this sacred inner presence is the divine within, the sacred light and love that illumines each of us and guides us to union with the One, the ultimate Reality beyond all phenomena, from which she is inseparable and of whom she is the subtlest manifestation.  Kundalini Shakti is each individual’s own personal spiritual director, who strives to lead us to constant awareness of the Source.  It is Kundalini Shakti who empowers our striving for spiritual attainment and who works to lead us to full spiritual realization. All human beings, regardless of era, religion, or culture, are vessels of this holy omnipotent, luminous presence that ardently urges us to cooperate with her efforts to increase our spiritual awareness and growth. It is each seeker’s task to understand how best to assist her in her dedicated service for our enlightenment.

More refined and profound than energy, Kundalini Shakti is enveloped in the mantle of her own manifestation, the subtle body, which includes our energy, mind, and discerning wisdom. Within this raiment, Kundalini Shakti resides in either a contained or a released state. 

In her contained state, she is a tightly coiled static power that maintains the ordinary person’s life functions, talents, and consciousness.  Upon her release, Kundalini Shakti rises through one of several pathways in the subtle body and reaches whatever level is possible, based on the conditions at the time of the rising.  In her released state, Kundalini Shakti is dynamically active and strives to improve her spiritual status and complete her rising, pressing to elevate to the One, despite whatever blocks may impede her ascent. Her ultimate goal is our spiritual fulfillment.

There are a variety of perspectives on Kundalini provided by current texts and experts, each with their own special contribution. From our perspective, Kundalini is not a path in itself but a universal process. It is the essential common factor that is the key to all spiritual experiences regardless of an individual’s religious or spiritual orientation. Kundalini Shakti is the means for deepening our connection to our spiritual endeavor and to the Divine Source itself.

At the base of the spine is the foundational chakra, Muladhara, which holds you into a sense of having a body, of being a separate person, a connection and agreement that spirit is making with existence.  Three qualities are rooted here -- the tendency to lethargy (tamas), activity (rajas)or harmonious balance (sattva).  We each have a mix of these.  Sometimes you can see them clearly in the temperament of a new-born infant. Here also our spirit becomes identified with the limitation of time and space, and we know we are part of the earth.  Our life force is rooted here and active because we feel we are alive and pranic energy is moving throughout our body.  Kundalini is said to be the residual energy that is stored here, holding us in stasis, unless or until it is jolted into awakening and winding upward through our bodies.

            Although kundalini arises from this point this does not mean the chakra has awakened and transformed at the time of awakening.  I don't believe this happens until the rest of the transformation is done and the system is ready to embody the spiritual sense of spacious presence that a full awakening offer. Then there may be a profound letting go into living a life of internal freedom. It feels like the ground breaks underneath you and you are standing in space.

 

[SunKat]

Thank you for the additional information!

[Mystic Wolf]

Your welcome SunKat. I enjoy working with the chakras and Kundalini